SACP Limpopo PEC Statement

30 January 2017
POLOKWANE

The SACP Provincial Executive Committee held an ordinary meeting on 29 January 2017 in Polokwane.

The meeting adopted a programme of action for 2017. The main focus was on unity of the working class and African majority in particular and blacks in general to advance radical socio-economic transformation towards a better life for all.

International context

The discussed international campaigns for anti-imperialism, solidarity with the oppressed Palestinians, the Saharawi people and free political activity in Swaziland, including a call for the release of political prisoners, among others Amos Mbedzi. As part of this international solidarity programme and its immediate campaigns, the SACP in Limpopo will push for an end to the genocidal economic blockade imposed on Cuba by the United States.

The PEC called for the United Nations to take democratic, decisive action to bring about world peace, stability in the Middle East and in particular, against the imperialist wars that take the lives and displace many Turkish and Syrian people.

Give no quarter to vandals and hooligans who are hell-bent on holding post-school education hostage!

The SACP supports the activist leadership interventions by the Ministry of Higher Education to ensure that working class children access learning and skilling opportunities. Free quality education is key for progress for the working class. The rich and affording classes must pay for their children in post-school system.

In this regard the meeting congratulated the class of 2016 matriculants who are now poised to enter the post-schooling education system and further their education and training. The socio-economic conditions of the working class can be improved with more young people seizing opportunities in vocational and technical studies which are as important as academic university studies.

There are six Technical and Vocational Training colleges with more than 15 campuses across Limpopo Province, in all districts.

It is now a week since classes have started in TVET colleges and the learning and teaching is proceeding stably despite few glitches experienced on the release of results in few instances. The PEC urged students to sustain stability and learning throughout the year.

The meeting urged the Limpopo Provincial Government to urgently address the inadequate supply of learner support material like textbooks in remaining schools. In addition, the placement of all learners who are currently struggling to find space in schools must be addressed as matter of urgency to avoid loss of learning and teaching time.

Workers` unity is key for the success of a revolutionary struggle to build a better life for all.

The SACP will continue to work with COSATU and other organised trade unions to ensure that the attempts at forming an imperialist trade union movement led, among others, by likes of Vavi and Jim does not succeed.

COSATU in Limpopo held a successful march on 26 January and the turnout by thousands of workers is a clear indication of confidence in our revolutionary union ally.

Limpopo Province will not be a political playing ground for the so-called Premier League faction.

The SACP is ready to ensure that our people, the peoples` liberation movement and the revolutionary alliance remain united.

The PEC encourages all structures of our movement as a whole to close ranks and isolate money laundering factionalists who are desperate to capture the liberation movement.

The SACP and electoral options

The SACP in the province will continue to deepen the consultation process with its membership, the working class communities in both urban and rural places, including the workplace, regarding the posture and the position of our Party towards the electoral options for the immediate and long term period. The main question is whether the status quo in terms of the alliance`s electoral strategy must remain, or whether the SACP should participate through a reconfigured Alliance, or whether it must directly contest elections on the ballot under its own name. The final decision will be made by the National Congress in July 2017.

Crime and corruption

These are the biggest threat to progress of the national democratic revolution and the SACP will enhance its fight against corruption, fraud, nepotism and patronage in Limpopo Province.

Economic transformation and worker ownership

At the same time, the SACP will work tirelessly for the inclusion of the working class and the poor in the mainstream of economic production through cooperatives by ensuring the implementation of the 10% - 30 % set asides.

The incidents of racial attacks on farm workers is condemned and the denial of bail for Mark Scott-Crossely is welcome. Scott-Crossely was responsible for the murder of Nelson Chesale whose body was later thrown into the lions den. The SACP calls for life incarceration of Scott-Crossely as he poses danger to society.

For more information please contact:

Kganyago Gilbert (Provincial Secretary) - 082 6090 551
Thobejane Machike (Spokesperson) - 082 307 0095

Statement by the African National Congress on the Readmission of the Kingdom of Morocco to the African Union (AU)

31 January 2017

The African National Congress (ANC) notes the regrettable decision of the African Union (AU) to readmit the Kingdom of Morocco to the organization.

The 54-member bloc voted overwhelmingly to readmit Morocco following a lengthy debate at the 28th AU Summit in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on Monday. Thirty-nine of the 54 states approved Morocco's return to the AU.

This decision represents a significant setback to the cause of the Sahrawi people and their quest for self-determination and independence in the Western Sahara. The Western Sahara is one of Africa's last remaining colonial outposts.

The ANC enjoys longstanding fraternal ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro (POLISARIO), and with the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

The ANC notes that this decision paves the way for the Kingdom of Morocco to take their place amongst the community of nations and to enjoy the benefits of AU membership- whilst the Sahrawi people continue to suffer under an unjust occupation of their ancestral land.

By readmitting Morocco the AU is tacitly endorsing the longstanding occupation of the Western Sahara. Morocco has to date failed to comply with successive UN resolutions on the issue of the Western Sahara, most importantly the holding of a referendum on self-determination.

The ANC further notes that it was mainly countries led by former liberation movements on the continent, amongst them South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique as well as Botswana and Algeria - who opposed the decision. All of these countries have been active supporters of the rights of the Sahrawi people and their right to an independent homeland.

The ANC, whilst respecting the decision of the AU, hopes that in coming months the AU will not allow the matter of the independence of Western Sahara to be swept under the carpet of political expediency. Rather the quest for the self-determination by the people of Western Sahara takes centre stage on the AU agenda.

Issued by the African National Congress
Enquiries
Edna Molewa 076 462 5529
Chairperson: ANC NEC SubCommittee on International Relations

Zizi Kodwa 082 330 4910
National Spokesperson

Africa Must Not Forget Innocent Saharawi

January 31, 2017
Mabasa Sasa in Addis Ababa—
Zimbabwe Herald

Africa’s sole colony is the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic. Some know it as Western Sahara.

All these many years after the rest of the continent gained its independence, this tiny corner of North Africa remains under colonialism.

But that is not the full horror of the matter: SADR is under occupation by another African country — Morocco.

Over the centuries, different peoples have occupied this territory, much-like with the rest of the world.

Around the 8th century, historians tell us, Arab expansionists gained control of the area and within 300 years their influence had spread across much of Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula.

Another power of the time, the Mali Empire, collapsed roundabout the 12th century, allowing Morocco to establish authority over much of the Western Sahara.

Morocco fought off Portuguese imperialists up to the 1500s.

This proud empire was divided at the Berlin Conference, with France and Spain taking over the territory.

As the “winds of change” swept that part of the continent in the 1940s and 1950s, nationalists — under the banner of the Polisario Front — fought a bruising war with Spain in a bid for independence.

By 1975, Spain had realised that the game was up and negotiated independence with the Polisario Front.

Morocco was expected to be the good neighbour. It was already a stable nation, it could have given its newly independent neighbours a helping hand in the heady early days of freedom.

After all, back in 1777, Morocco became the first country in the world to recognise the United States as an independent nation; and by 1786 the two had signed the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship.

Surely, if it could stretch such a welcoming hand across the Atlantic, it could do the same across the border.

But good neighbours are not as easy to find today as they were.

Morocco claimed sovereignty over the SADR, prompting the United Nations to intervene.

The UN mission’s conclusion was that the people of the SADR did not want to be under Moroccan occupation and wanted their independence restored. For them, neither Spanish nor Moroccan imperialism would do.

The International Court of Justice upheld this wish and agreed with the SADR’s right to self-determination.

This did not matter to Morocco and they deployed their troops even as Spain was pulling out. Morocco could not deploy troops when SADR was under Spanish colonisation. They could not deploy troops to free the land.

They could deploy troops to colonise their neighbours.

Mauritania also briefly moved in but left the territory after a short occupation. And so from Spanish colonialism the people of SADR entered Moroccan imperialism and formed a government-in-exile in Algeria.

In 1982 the then-Organisation of African Unity, working through the able leadership of Brigadier Hashim Mbita and the African liberation committee, admitted SADR as a member.

(NB: as I write this, African leaders are preparing to receive the Hashim Mbita Volumes as part of that historical body of work that informs the principles of the AU. Surely, can they with one hand accept these volumes while with the other extending a welcoming hand to Morocco)

In 1984, Morocco left the OAU in protest. Morocco wanted African leaders to sanction its colonisation of a fellow African country. For more than three decades, Morocco has insisted on its “right” to colonise another African country.

For years Morocco has not been a member of the continental bloc.

For years Morocco has rejected UN-proposed referenda because it knows that any vote will clearly show that the people of SADR do not want to live under their rule.

Today, as nearly 200 000 Saharawi live as refugees. They live in abject poverty as Morocco imposes dominion over their phosphate mineral rock, uranium and oil.

As all that happens, many African leaders are ready to readmit Morocco as a member of the AU. Never mind that nothing has changed. Never mind that Morocco uses napalm and white phosphorous against people who are simply asking for their freedom.

Are African leaders in awe of Morocco because since 1950 it has been the second-largest recipient of American money in Africa?

Is it because African leaders are easily bought off? Is it because African leaders simply don’t know the difference between principle and expedience?

Kwame Nkrumah taught us that the freedom of one African country is meaningless while another remains oppressed.

Let us not forget that valuable lesson.

AU Summit: Searching for New African Consensus in the Age of Trump

January 31, 2017
Opinion & Analysis
Yann Bedzigui and Liesl Louw-Vaudran
Zimbabwe Herald

A dark cloud has hung over the African Union (AU) following Brexit and new American isolationist policies, and has prompted AU officials to call for greater unity among member states. On the eve of the final meeting of the 28th AU Summit, the message is that Africa can only weather this storm by relying on its own resources.

In her opening address last week, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the outgoing chairperson of the AU Commission said that ‘Africa’s only protection in these treacherous global waters’ is to honour commitments like setting up its own Continental Free Trade area as soon as 2017, the deadline set by the AU.

The ‘neo-conservative pushback’ against women’s rights and the threat against multi-lateralism calls for the revival and strengthening of ‘the spirit of pan-Africanism’ she said.

Abdalla Hamdok, acting director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, said that ‘regional cooperation and policy coordination for Africa’s development cannot be emphasised enough’.

These calls — along with statements made from the podium, and the presence of so many heads of states — create a semblance of unity. Yet the AU is more divided than ever.

On a number of crucial issues, it is clear that the continent is far from united, and there is little evidence of the pan-African solidarity that prevailed during the early days of the organisation. The consensus politics resulting from a common desire for unity is, to a large extent, a thing of the past.

For example, Morocco’s bid to rejoin the AU has created a stir that pits countries and regions against each other — with apparently little appetite for compromise.

‘Sitting in the AU with Morocco as a state, while the whole foundation of the AU is built on the struggle against colonialism, is actually unthinkable,’ one Southern African diplomat told ISS Today on the margins of the summit.

This takes some deciphering. For many African states, several of which have emerged more recently from colonialism and apartheid, the continued claims of Morocco over the Western Sahara goes against everything they stand for. They believe Morocco should not be allowed in before the Western Sahara is given independence. Emotional arguments abound.

Despite these reservations, however, the fact remains that a majority of states believe that Morocco has a right to be in the AU, even if only from a geographical point of view.

Algeria, a staunch supporter of the Western Sahara, has conceded this. Last week Algeria’s Foreign Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, told Radio France International that Morocco’s demand should be accepted for the sake of “geographical coherence”. However, he said the ‘historical coherence, based on the struggle for liberation, decolonisation and the victory over apartheid’ should also be respected.

The contentious issue is now whether Morocco should be allowed to campaign from within the AU for the Sahrawi Arab Republic to be expelled from the organisation. Countries like Algeria and South Africa would strongly oppose this.

On the other hot topic of the summit — namely the election of a new chairperson of the AU Commission — competition among states has led to some negative campaigning.

The names of five candidates are on the table — seemingly representing regional blocs, although there is no clear solidarity among regions of the AU. In Central Africa, for example, two candidates are being fielded: Chad’s Foreign Minister, Moussa Faki Mahamat and Agapito Mba Mokuy, Foreign Minister of Equatorial Guinea.

Instead of seeking to make compromises for the sake of unity, it seems states are now going directly into elections, ready to fight it out publicly. At no stage in the process has the AU Commission chairperson emerged as a unifying figure. On the contrary, some say these rifts have been exacerbated by her positioning and South Africa’s strong bid to have her elected in 2012.

In addition, AU member states have for some time been at loggerheads over their membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Again in Addis Ababa last week, states like Senegal, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire argued against a call by the AU that African signatories of the Rome Statute should withdraw from the ICC. South Africa, which has already withdrawn, is in favour of greater African solidarity against the ICC.

The divisions among the continent’s leaders are not only evident when it comes to the big issues and decisions that confront African heads of state. More mundane matters, such as the election of African candidates for the United Nations (UN) system, are also seeing confrontational campaigning as never before.

According to an AU insider, candidates to key positions at the UN used to be assigned following a lengthy and orderly process whereby proposed names would be circulated months before final decisions were taken at a summit. Consensus would then be reached through a process of give-and-take, and compromises reached long before the AU assembly endorses them.

Lately however, some states have been throwing their names in the hat without AU endorsement. “This is a breach of the way things are normally done in the AU. Many people think that countries who do this should be sanctioned,” said a former AU ambassador.

Does the open confrontation between states mean that the AU is becoming more democratic? Is this a better way to go about things than consensus politics behind closed doors, where the will of the strongest role player prevails — usually powerful states within the AU?

It’s not only at the AU where states lobby for positions. Political intrigue of this sort abounds in multilateral organisations such as the UN.

However, rather than openly acrimonious debate and voting that often ends in a deadlock, these organisations tend to use negotiations and compromise. For multilateral organisations to move forward, states should clearly define their interests and their positions, and be willing to compromise.

When the various leaders take up their positions behind the microphone at the official sessions of the summit this week, they will no doubt repeat the call for Africa to stand together in an increasingly troubled world. They will recall the important steps that have been taken towards greater solidarity on the continent — such as the recent successes by the regional organisation, the Economic Community for West African States to oust the Gambia’s ex-president Yahya Jammeh through a show of force and unity among leaders willing to uphold democracy. There is no doubt that this was a major achievement and set a precedent for dealing with leaders who cling to power.

They will also point to progress with economic trade blocs — which are increasingly functioning well — and continent-wide campaigns. These include rooting out archaic practices that are harmful to women, or efforts to harness the blue economy; something that also requires countries to stand together.

Yet when it comes down to decision-making within the AU, there is still a long way to go. African states are seemingly threatened by increasing globalisation and are clinging to their sovereignty and not budging from their positions, regardless of the consequences.

The AU and the new commission that should emerge from this summit can do better to promote the ideals of African solidarity through its leadership and setting an example of unity of purpose. — ISSAfrica.

Zimbabwe President Mugabe Decries Lure of Money Over Principle• . . . as Africa Readmits Morocco • . . . Puts Saharawi to the Sword

February 1, 2017
Zimbabwe Herald

President Mugabe is welcomed by Vice Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko (right) on arrival at Harare International Airport yesterday. The President was in Ethiopia for the African Union Summit. — (Picture by Tawanda Mudimu)

Mabasa Sasa recently in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia—

President Mugabe has lamented the sad sacrifice of principles as an increasing number of African leaders put monetary benefit above ideology.

This follows the irregular — but not unexpected — decision by 39 African Union (AU) members to vote for Morocco’s readmission into the bloc despite it being in breach of the organisation’s founding principles, values and the AU Constitutive Act.

Morocco colonised its neighbour, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic in 1975, but was nonetheless welcomed as a member of the AU at the bloc’s 28th Ordinary Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Monday.

Prior to the summit, Morocco had boasted of having the support of about 40 AU members, and countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia and Algeria lobbied hard for the continental organisation to stand on principle.

This, however, was scuppered — said President Mugabe — by a combination of Morocco’s financial muscle, the meddling of former colonial powers, and a lack of ideological grounding on the part of some African leaders.

President Mugabe made the remarks in an interview at Harare International Airport yesterday soon after returning from the Summit.

He said, “I think its lack of ideology. They (the African leaders who backed Morocco) have not had the same revolutionary experience as all of us and there is too much reliance on their erstwhile colonisers…

“We will still fight and see whether in fact Morocco is abandoning its occupation of parts of Saharawi.

“You see, as things are at the moment Saharawi claims that Morocco is occupying part of its territory and Morocco has been denying (this).

“Morocco has been even going ahead saying there is no opposition to the people of Saharawi coming together with Morocco, which is a matter which has been twisted.

“And the matter, mind you, has gone up to the United Nations. It was decided that if Morocco argues and claims that Saharawi indeed is not opposed to being part of Morocco, let there be a referendum.

“We have been waiting for the referendum and Morocco has been resisting that … So we have to fight the matter both at the level of AU and the level of the United Nations but unfortunately for now we had not established a court. If we had established a court which would then be the authority to declare that it is not correct, it is not right for Morocco to be admitted until it gives up its claim of Saharawi. We are still to establish that court.

“But you see, others are saying ooh no, let us allow Morocco to come in and so forth … rules don’t matter, it is material aspects that matter.

“Morocco has been working for quite a long time, building mosques here, giving money at times. But the game is not lost. We will fight the issue to the end.

“But anyway that is a quite a blow for some of us, we believe in rules, in the principles and we have wanted to see Morocco declare at least, that yes, we have given up the claim of occupation.”

President Mugabe also said Sadc’s candidate to replace South Africa’s Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as AU Commission Chair, Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi of Botswana, had fallen victim to a dim view taken of her Head of State, General Seretse Khama Ian Khama.

Gen Khama rarely attends regional and continental meetings, is a firm supporter of the International Criminal Court when the wider AU is against it in its present form, and is generally seen as uninterested in African affairs.

He was not seen backing his own Foreign Minister for the key AU post even as the rest of Sadc campaigned for her, and it came as no surprise when she lost the vote to Chadian Foreign Minister and former Prime Minister Moussa Faki.

President Mugabe said, “We worked hard behind the scenes and the poor lady tried her best. But the other countries were arguing that ah, you are a daughter whose father never appears at the AU and sometimes takes positions contrary (to the bloc’s). So she had no chance.”

Nonetheless, Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs Ministry sources said Zimbabwe had stood by the Sadc candidate knowing full-well that she was likely to fall by the wayside “as a matter of principle”.

A candidate must have the support of two-thirds of the AU leadership to become Commission Chair.

The Summit was themed “Harnessing the demographic dividend through investment in the youth”.

President Alpha Condé of Guinea took over as AU Chair from Chad’s President Idriss Déby Itno; while Zimbabwe’s Deputy Prosecutor-General Ms Florence Ziyambi was re-elected to serve another two-year term as Vice-Chair of the bloc’s Advisory Board on Corruption.

On his return, President Mugabe was met at Harare International Airport by Vice-Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, several Cabinet ministers, senior Government officials, and service chiefs.

‘Readmission Violates AU Norms’

February 1, 2017
Zimbabwe Herald

President Mugabe led a gallant charge to get continental leaders to stand on principle on the matter of Morocco’s readmission into the African Union, but the majority still made a decision that violated organisational norms and potentially impinged on international law, Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi has said.In an interview in Addis Ababa following closed door talks between President Mugabe and South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma. This was after 39 of the AU’s 54 members voted to readmit Morocco, Minister Mumbengegwi said the bloc must nonetheless strive to resolve the quest for self-determination of the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, better known as Western Sahara.

Morocco left the then OAU in 1984 after the organisation had two years earlier recognised the SADR’s sovereignty.

Morocco invaded the SADR upon the latter’s independence from Spain in 1975, and claims ownership of that country, as well as asserting sovereignty over land in Algeria, Mali and Mauritania.

Article 3(b) of the AU’s Constitutive Act calls for the defence of the “sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of its member states”, while Article 4(b) demands “respect of borders existing on achievement of independence”.

President Mugabe yesterday met President Zuma to deliberate on these violations of the AU Constitutive Act.

After that engagement, Minister Mumbengegwi said: “It’s most unfortunate, really, because our Constitutive Act is very clear as to the founding principles of the organisation, and therefore any new member who wants to join the organisation must first comply with the principles of the organisation they want to join.

“And the most outstanding founding principles of the African Union, which it inherited form the OAU, are the question of self-determination, the question of not using violence, the question of not occupying a fellow member state, the question of decolonisation.

“Now to have a member state who is in violation of all these principles being admitted into the organisation is something that we did not expect, we didn’t think it would happen.



“It was most unfortunate but obviously the question of Western Sahara is not going to go away; it is an issue that those of us who feel that we must respect our principles, we must respect the Constitutive Act, we are going to continue to push for the self-determination of Western Sahara in spite of Morocco’s admission into the AU.”

The Foreign Affairs Minister continued: “This is an issue that the AU must push because no member state can be in the organisation without defined territorial boundaries that are recognised at international law.

“This is the situation that we are facing now with Morocco; they are a member without clearly defined borders that are recognised at international law. And to make it worse they are in occupation of a member state of the AU.”

He said those who voted for Morocco’s readmission were of the view that the Northern African kingdom would be pressed to comply with the Constitutive Act afterward, a position he described as “extraordinary”.

“All organisations all over the world insist that a new member must comply with the founding principles of the organisation before they are admitted into the organisation.

“Now this has been turned upside down in the AU where a member who is in violation of the fundamental principles is admitted on the expectation that after they are admitted they will comply.”

On efforts to make Africa’s leaders see reason, Minister Mumbengegwi said President Mugabe had “worked very hard (during the 28th Ordinary Summit of the AU) to try and instil sanity into the organisation, to try and underline the importance of principles, the importance of rules and regulations, the importance of rules of procedure, the importance of creating consensus, the importance of putting together a committee of Heads of State who can then facilitate the compliance of Morocco with the principles of the organisation before they are admitted”.

He went on: “But unfortunately those who were bent on admitting Morocco said principles come after majority vote; let the majority prevail even if they are wrong.

“There were I think about 12 who stood firm on principle, including Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia — in fact, most of the countries in Southern Africa stood by principles.”

African Migration: What’s Behind It?

A report by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) indicated that the total number of migrants arriving in Europe by two main sea routes (Eastern Mediterranean route, and across the Western Balkans) in 2016 fell by nearly two-thirds compared to 2015

Darcy Borrero Batista | informacion@granma.cu
January 25, 2017 11:01:43

Despite high migratory rates toward the North, South-South migration has proliferated in recent years, which in the case of Africa employs routes to the Americas. Photo: El observatorio mundial
They ask him, “Have you forgotten something?” and the emigrant responds “I wish!” in the shortest tale in the world. This phrase suffices to express the spirit of migration, a global phenomenon that, according to headlines tinged with red, has cost the lives of at least 18,500 people over the past three years. At the close of 2016, statistics from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported a total of 7,495 victims that year. In other words, 40.5% of the deaths which have occurred over the past three years took place last year, marked from its beginning by migratory waves from, among other places, Africa.

A report by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) indicated that the total number of migrants arriving in Europe by two main sea routes (Eastern Mediterranean route, and across the Western Balkans) in 2016 fell by nearly two-thirds compared to 2015, when more than one million migrants entered the European Union (EU). Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis accounted for the largest share of migrants arriving on the Greek islands; a favored route due to its geographical proximity to the Middle East.

However, the number of migrants arriving via the Central Mediterranean route rose by nearly one-fifth to 181,000, the highest number ever recorded, reflecting a steadily increasing number from the African continent.

The decline in the first two routes, with a total of 364,000 migrant arrivals in 2016, reflects the intensification of border controls, as well as intercontinental agreements to prevent the entry of migrants. Meanwhile, the necessary cooperation among affected nations and international organizations, to directly tackle the causes of what has also become an increasing problem for the recipient countries, is lacking.

The question should be how to address the adverse situations present in the emitting African countries, which are translated into increasing migration, and not how to contain international migratory rates, as the latter almost always results in retrograde measures such as the announcement from the United States of the possible construction of an anti-immigrant wall. A similar measure was adopted by the Hungarian government, which last October announced the building of a high-tech fence along its southern border to attempt to curb irregular migration. This will certainly control one symptom of the phenomenon, but not its multiple causes.

While this absurd wall so far remains in the realm of dangerous utopias, the reality is that many who have obtained refugee status are currently dying from the cold in Greece and other European countries, due to the influx of a polar air mass that almost killed 19 migrants in Bavaria. In these cases, a refugee's status can become that of a corpse. According to the IOM report, most of the deaths and disappearances of the past year took place in the Mediterranean Sea, a route used daily by thousands of people trying to reach Europe to escape violence and poverty in the Middle East, North Africa, and areas of Asia. North Africa was described as the most affected region, considering the use of Libya’s coasts as an important departure point toward Italy and Greece, the main entry points for migrants and refugees to Europe.

While the figures are worrying, the real alarm is triggered at the thought of the bodies that are not counted, disappeared in foreign lands and waters. Numbers aside, basic human logic suggests that migrating is a personal decision that entails rights and duties. International laws and policies, on the other hand, increasingly tilt the balance toward the criminalization of this right, exercised in different ways and for diverse causes.

In the face of these setbacks, IOM Director General William Lacy Swing – an agency integrated with the United Nations system – is advocating measures to ensure safe and legal migration for all, stating, “We are past the time for counting. We must act,” as reported by Prensa Latina on January 6. Likewise, according to the PL report, “the UN insists on the urgency of adopting comprehensive responses to the phenomenon, based on human rights and attention to root causes.”

However, this discourse has been repeated so often, that it has lost its credibility and not resulted in the desired effect, instead forming part of a vicious circle in which it tends to serve only as superficial justification of the migratory phenomenon. Merely stating the fact that economic and political crises, wars, famines, natural disasters, and underdevelopment in general provoke the movement of citizens outside their national borders, is insufficient to addressing the issue. What lies behind all these general causes is the contemporary geopolitical configuration, which has deep roots in the spoils of colonialism and neo-colonialism.

Today the European powers, the former “mother countries” of the African nations, close their doors to those from their former colonies, as if these almost suicidal attempts to “enter” were not to a large extent due to the plundering of this continent, resulting in dysfunctional economies, abysmally unequal resource distribution, or what is the same: the existence of increasingly rich political elites that propel the mounting impoverishment of the rest of the population.

Although this appears another constantly repeated line, specialist studies continue to point to the fact that nothing will stop migration as long as there is underdevelopment and poverty, as long as neoliberal economic policies continue to be imposed on the countries of the South, and not until the current international economic order is transformed.

However, if one digs deeper into the African migratory flow, contrary to common prejudices, certain myths are dismantled: despite the high migration rates to the North, South-South migration has proliferated in recent years, which in the case of Africa employs routes to the Americas. Equally significant is the fact that most African migrants do not opt for a destination outside of the continent, but rather seek solutions in more developed countries of the region itself, such as Angola and South Africa. On the other hand, according to the book África en movimiento. Migraciones internas y externas (Africa in motion: Internal and External Migration), by selected authors including Mbuyi Kabunda and Godwin O. Ikwuytum, “it has been demonstrated that it is not the poorest who emigrate, but the most fortunate.”

This paradox leads us to question the use of aid by international organizations in the stigmatized continent, when this is not a source of economic growth, with the corresponding effective distribution of resources as, ultimately, the wealth goes abroad. It is not a matter of directly and exclusively associating migration with underdevelopment, but of analyzing the underdevelopment-development relationship and its impact on the movement of thousands of people beyond their homes.

African Union Condemns U.S. Blockade Against Cuba

On the last day of the African Union Summit, held in Ethiopia, Heads of State and Government of the continental organization reaffirmed their unanimous rejection of the genocidal policy against Cuba

Prensa Latina | internet@granma.cu
January 31, 2017 09:01:18
Photo: www.rtve.es

On January 31, the 28th African Union (AU) Summit, held in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Abeba, approved a resolution demanding an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba for more than half a century.

On the last day of the event, Heads of State and Government of the continental organization reaffirmed their unanimous rejection of the genocidal policy against the island.
The resolution also welcomes progress made between the governments of the Republic of Cuba and the United States of America toward improving their bilateral relations and creating mutually beneficial ties, based on peaceful coexistence.

Regarding U.S. policy toward the island, the text calls on President Donald Trump to consider the positive results achieved in bilateral relations over recent years.

Meanwhile, speaking during the plenary session held January 30, President of the AU Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, demanded an end to the blockade as well as the return to Cuba of the territory illegally occupied, against the will of the Cuban people and government, by the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo.

Salvador Valdés Mesa Participates in Cuban Solidarity Act in Ethiopia

The Cuban Vice President participated in a solidarity act in honor of the Caribbean island, alongside 300 Ethiopians who have studied in Cuba over recent decades

Prensa Latina | internet@granma.cu
January 30, 2017 11:01:35
Photo: Prensa Latina

Addis Ababa.— On January 28, Salvador Valdés Mesa, a Council of State vice president, participated in a solidarity act in honor of the Caribbean island, alongside 300 Ethiopians who have studied in Cuba over recent decades, reported PL.
The moving encounter, which took place in the capital's Martyrs' Memorial Park, was organized by Cuban solidarity associations in the country, in honor of the historic leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, and the 163 compatriots who lost their lives defending Ethiopia against Somali aggression.

Mayor of Addis Ababa, Deriba Kuma, welcomed the Cuban delegation, led by Valdés Mesa, in the country to attend the 28th Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union (AU); and highlighted the bravery of the internationalist soldiers.

Valdés Mesa noted that also being celebrated the same day was the 164th anniversary of the birth of Cuba's National Hero, José Martí. "We pay well-deserved tribute to the Cuban combatants, who 40 years ago, led the most honorable expression of Cuban internationalism in Ethiopian lands."

Over 10,000 Cubans fought alongside brave Ethiopian soldiers, under the so-called Operation Baraguá, which took its name from the greatest revolt carried out during Cuba's independence struggles against Spain, according to PL.

The objective was to free the Ogadén territory occupied by Somalia, which was finally achieved in March 1978, and as such Ethiopia regained its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In 2007, Ethiopian authorities, with the support of Cuban solidarity associations in the country, erected a memorial to the 163 martyrs of the Caribbean nation at the site where the solidarity act was held.

Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa Arrives in Ethiopia

Salvador Valdés Mesa, a Council of State vice president, will participate as a special guest to the Twenty-Eighth Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union, to be held January 30-31

Prensa Latina (PL) | informacion@granma.cu
January 27, 2017 10:01:01
Photo: Granma

Addis Abeba.— Salvador Valdés Mesa, a vice president of Cuba's Council of State, arrived in Ethiopia January 26, where he will participate as a special guest to the Twenty-Eighth Ordinary Session of the Summit of the African Union (AU), to be held January 30–31.

 Prior to the event, Valdés is making an official visit to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, during which he will hold meetings with leaders of the African nation in order to strengthen the historic ties with Cuba.

On arrival at the Addis Abeba Bole International Airport, the Cuban official was received by the Deputy Chairperson of the AU Commission, Erastus J. O. Mwencha, and Education Minister Shiferawu Telkemarian, on behalf of the Ethiopian government. The Cuban Ambassador to Ethiopia, Juan Manuel Rodríguez, was also present.

Valdés, who will speak before delegates to this high-level event as a special guest, is heading a delegation which includes Gerardo Peñalver, director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba; Ángel Villa, director of the Ministry’s Sub-Saharan Africa Department; and Brigadier General Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez, decorated Hero of the Republic of Cuba.

Valdés will inaugurate a photographic exhibition on the life of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro, which chronologically depicts some of the main meetings between the Caribbean leader and African statesmen.

As part of his intense work schedule, the Cuban official will also meet with several dignitaries attending the event.

During his stay in Addis Abeba, the member of the Communist Party of Cuba Political Bureau will meet with representatives of the island’s medical collaborators working here, Cubans residing in the city, and a group of Ethiopians who studied in Cuba.

To date, the island has participated as an observer nation to both the AU Foreign Ministers’ meetings and the Presidential Summits since it was first invited to attend the Organization of African Unity (OAU – predecessor to the AU) Summit held in Lomé, Togo, in 2000.

In September 2007, Alpha Oumar Konaré, then chairperson of the AU Commission, visited Havana, where both parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding to ensure greater fluidity in bilateral ties and strengthen cooperation in several areas.

Since 2010, the AU has approved seven consecutive resolutions rejecting the United States economic, commercial and financial blockade of Cuba, imposed in 1962 and still in force today.

The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, made an official visit to Havana in October 2015, during which she held a fraternal meeting with President Raúl Castro Ruz, and undertook a broad program of activities which concluded with the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Cuba.

New Voices of Latin American and Caribbean Literature

Prize winners included writers from Ecuador, Cuba, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil

Mireya Castañeda | internet@granma.cu
January 30, 2017 11:01:29

The 2017 Casa de las Américas Poetry and Research Prizes went to Cubans Reynaldo García (right), and Emilio Jorge Rodríguez, respectively. Photo: Yander Zamora

The winners of the Casa de las Américas Prize 2017, whose significance for the continent and the Caribbean was demonstrated by the submission of some 400 texts, were announced during the closing event of the cultural program (January 16-26) in the institution's Che Guevara Hall.

During the final session, which was attended by Cuban intellectuals Abel Prieto, minister of Culture; Roberto Fernández Retamar and Miguel Barnet, Presidents of the Casa de las Américas and the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba (UNEAC), respectively, competition judges announced the prize winners, providing an explanation for each decision.

First, Jorge Fornet, director the Casa's Literary Research Center, called on Uruguayan author Milton Fornaro to read out the considerations that led the panel of judges to unanimously award the Prize in the novel category to Incendiamos las yeguas en la madrugada, by Ecuadorian Ernesto Carrión. This was no doubt a surprise, given that Carrión is a poet and author of renowned works such as La muerte de Caín, El libro de la desobediencia, and Carni vale.

The judges noted that the novel "offers a crude and vibrant social portrait, whose intention is not only to explore a stratified and violent urban landscape, where disenchantment and nightmare are the constants of a life equation, but manages to give the story a specific literary weight, combining a dynamic structure with well placed areas of suspense, credible characters and conflicts which, far from being confined to a specific context, shed light on a human situation, perceptible across the entire continent."

The Prize for historical-social essay was presented by Mexican Berenice Ramírez López, to Pedro Agudelo Rondón for América pintoresca y otros relatos acráticos de América Latina.

In their considerations, jury members noted that Agudelo "reinterprets the concept of imagination, with the aim of creatively thinking about Latin America in dialogue with its multiple manifestations of different cultural traditions," doing so with clear and elegant prose.

This 58th edition of the Casa Prize saw 150 works submitted to the Brazilian fiction category. According to the decision by judges, read out by author Guiomar de Grammont, the Prize was unanimously awarded to Outros cantos, by Maria Valéria Rezende, an important literary figure and outstanding writer with works which range from novels such as Quarenta Dias and Vasto Mundo, tochildren's and youth literature.

Regarding Outros cantos, the jury noted that it is "based on travel memoirs, the narrator recalls the choices and personal sacrifices she made whilst working in the northeast of Brazil teaching adults to read and write…The work reflects on how ethical and human values have been supplanted by those of a consumerist society which stifles popular and traditional manifestations..."
The Prize for testimonial literature provoked a kind of journey back to the beginning. The reasons for unanimously awarding the Prize to Lloverá siempre, by Artentine Liliana Villanueva, were announced by her compatriot Stella Calloni: "It’s a long interview with Uruguayan journalist and author María Esther Giglio, who coincidently won the Casa de las Américas Prize for testimonial literature (with La guerrilla tupamara) when the genre was included for the first time in 1970. She guides the conversation with originality, without questions, she has a catchy colloquial language, open, sincere; and a unique, warm voice, with touching moments, and others which emerge from the intelligent wit that this "historic legend" from her country is known for; and whose work gave a new dimension to journalistic and literary genres. Her life, told without pretense, reveals to us a woman who was the lawyer of the first two political prisoners from the Tupamaros movement, and herself persecuted and finally exiled."

Perhaps because they were Cuban, Fornet decided to announce these two winners last. The first was Reynaldo García Blanco, winner of the Poetry category, with a majority vote for Esto es un disco de vinilo donde hay canciones rusas para escuchar en inglés y viceversa.

In their comments, read out by Leonel Alvarado from Honduras, the jury emphasized the "expressive clarity of the writing," noting that the author "presents poems of refined writing, not devoid of well placed humor and serious irony. With an insightful perspective, the anthology presents characters and situations from contemporary culture without straying from free verse or prose poetry."

Speaking briefly to Granma International, after stating before attendees to the closing ceremony that for him poetry is an act of faith, García Blanco explained that he tries to capture the daily life and dynamics of his country in most of his works (which include Instrucciones para matar a un colibrí and Campos de belleza armada).

The last Casa 2017 Prize to be announced was the award for studies into the African legacy in modern-day Latin American and the Caribbean. According to their considerations, delivered by Dominican Silvio Torres-Saillant, the judges unanimously chose to award the Prize for the book Una suave, tierna línea de montañas azules, byEmilio Jorge Rodríguez, who "traces important chapters in the history of exchanges between Cuba and Haiti through studying Nicolás Guillén's relationship with writers, artists and intellectuals from the Haitian Society…The author documents Guillén's vision of the country, through rigorous research, a rich bibliography, and meticulous use of archive materials…"

Commenting on the title of his Prize winning work, Emilio Jorge Rodríguez, essay writer, literary critic and author of texts such as Literatura caribeña. Bojeo y cuaderno de bitácora andReligiones Afroamericanas,explainedthatit wastaken from a phrasebyGuillén about Haiti in 1943.

Despite being mobbed by colleagues and friends,Rodríguez took a moment to respond to a question by GI as to what inspired him to conduct such an investigation.

He noted that "surprisingly enough there is only one prior reference to Guillén's vision of Haiti, of just one page in a book by Ángel Augier, and I've written 198."

The Casa Prize 2017 is over. After 58 uninterrupted years it continues to attract the attention of authors from the region. Year after year, writers continue to put their trust in the competition and the verdict of judges, for one simple reason: the only thing that counts in this literary competition is quality.

Venezuela Delivers 1.4 Million Housing Units

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro announced on January 19 that the Great Housing Mission Venezuela (GMVV, Spanish acronym) had reached the goal of delivering 1,400,000 homes throughout the country

AVN | internet@granma.cu
January 25, 2017 12:01:29

Caracas.- Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro announced on January 19 that the Great Housing Mission Venezuela (GMVV, Spanish acronym) had reached the goal of delivering 1,400,000 homes throughout the country.

"Today we reach an incredible goal, after so much war: 1,400,000 homes built and delivered to our people. Let's continue winning," Maduro posted to his Twitter account.

In another message, he said that despite the economic war and the drop of over 70% in crude oil prices, the Bolivarian Revolution has not stopped investing in social care policies.

"In 2016, foreign exchange earnings fell by 87% and we built twice as many new homes for our people. Doing more with less. (We are) succeeding " he said.

Since April 2011, the GMVV has changed the lives of almost 1.4 million families, who have claimed their right to a decent, safe and comfortable home that gives them the opportunity to access essential basic services and a more humane habitat.

The construction of these homes has meant a great national effort and the first of this size undertaken in Venezuela, through a socialist vision, in which housing is no longer conceived as a commodity but as a result of a joint work.

This effort included a national registration, granting of land, materials, machinery, supplies and financing for construction, as well as the active participation of the people, which has been responsible for raising 60% of town planning.

The construction of the new homes was achieved in spite of the constant national and international economic attacks aimed at putting an end to the social achievements won by the Venezuelan popular classes in the last 16 years, as well as the 60% slump in crude oil prices since mid-2014.

President al-Assad: Affected Syrian Industrialists Who Stood Their Ground Are a Source of Pride

31 January، 2017

Damascus, SANA – President Bashar al-Assad received on Tuesday a number of industrialists from Damascus and its countryside who were affected due to the crisis and lost their facilities, but have been back to work with small workshops.

Discussion during the meeting focused on the difficulties facing the Syrian industrialists under the current circumstances and the possible solutions needed for overcoming these difficulties that would enable industrialists to get back on their feet and develop their industries, which would contribute to pushing the economic wheel forward.

The President said the Syrians’ will to live is one of the most important factors that has helped Syria stand its ground in the face of what it is going through, noting that the Syrian industrialists who have remained steadfast and continued their work despite of the losses they suffered are “a source of pride”.

He noted that the war waged on Syria has not been limited to the military aspect, as it has other aspects, including the economic one, stressing that the industrialists’ insistence to continue work, even if on a small scale, has positively contributed to keeping the country’s economic wheel moving.

The industrialists, for their part, spoke of the losses their factories have suffered during the war, and how these losses did not discourage them from continuing their work, as they resorted to relying on small workshops that would help them survive until they are back to their factories.

They affirmed that despite the difficulties, they have been able to resume their work and are determined to bring production to its former level so that they can achieve their objective of returning back to the Arab and international markets.

President al-Assad to Maduro: What is Going on in Syria and Venezuela a Price for Their Commitment to Sovereignty and Independent Decision

30 January، 2017

Damascus, SANA- President Bashar al-Assad received on Monday a telephone call from President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, dealing with the latest developments in Syria and Venezuela.

President Maduro congratulated President al-Assad and Syrian people on the important achievements in the war against terrorist organizations which are backed by counties hostile to Syria, adding that these achievements came as a fruit for the exceptional struggle showed by the Syrians and their support to the leadership against this war.

The Venezuelan President affirmed his country’s firm support to Syria, hoping peace and stability would return to Syria as soon as possible.

President al-Assad, for his part, appreciated Venezuela’s stances and President Maduro for supporting Syria, stressing that what is going on in the two countries of foreign attempts to weaken them, through striking stability and spreading chaos in both countries, are a price of their commitment to their sovereignty and independent decision and rejection of the west’s dictates and their tools at the expense of the people’s interests in the two countries.

Mazen

Syrian Army Eliminates ISIS Terrorists, Including Foreigners, in Deir Ezzor and Homs

31 January، 2017

Deir Ezzor, SANA- A number of ISIS terrorists, some of them of foreign nationalities, were killed and injured due to the army continued operations against their hideouts and gatherings in Deir Ezzor province.

SANA reporter in the province said that an army unit shelled ISIS terrorists’ gathering in the surroundings of al-Thardah Mountain in the southern countryside of the province, destroying their heavy machinegun-equipped vehicle and killing a number of them.

The reporter added that the army air force carried out a series of airstrikes on the ISIS terrorists’ gatherings and movement axes in al-Ummal (workers) neighborhood, in the surrounding of al-Makaber (cemeteries) area, destroying a number of their vehicles, some equipped with 23mm canon and eliminating a number of them.

Other army units, in cooperation with the supporting forces, clashed with ISIS terrorist groups in Tabiyeh Jazirah on the northern parts of Deir Ezzor city, killing a number of terrorists, some of them of Kuwaiti and Iraqi nationalities.

Terrorist nicknamed Abu Jarah al-Kuwaiti, Majed Khalil al-Jadaan, Abdullah Jamal al-Afer, Majoud Hammad al-Qurish and Malek Qais al-Jalal were identified among the killed terrorists.

In the village of Hajin in the countryside of Abu Kamal city, 3 ISIS terrorists were killed, one of them of Iraqi nationality, due to the explosion of a land mine planted by the popular defense groups in the eastern region.

Homs

Army units established control over new points in the T4 area as part of an expanding military operation against ISIS terrorists in the eastern countryside of Homs province.

SANA’s reporter in the province said that Army units, backed by supporting forces, established full control over all hills in al-Tayas area and continued advancing to the southeast of the 4th station for oil transfer after inflicting heavy losses upon ISIS in weaponry and personnel.

The reporter added that an army unit reestablished control over new points toward the strategic junction of Jihar, destroying many of the vehicles, dens and gatherings used by the terrorist organization.

He also said that all the hills surrounding of the abandoned battalion came under the full control of the Syrian Arab Army.

Earlier today, army units targeted gatherings and movements of terrorists from Jabhat al-Nusra and other groups affiliated to it in the northern countryside of Homs.

SANA reporter in Homs said the army units killed at least 6 terrorists and destroyed 3 vehicles equipped with machineguns as it targeted their positions in Deir Foul and al-Rastan to the north of Homs city.

The reporter added that the terrorists Abu Talha al-Anzi from Saudi Arabia, Mousa Qaison Abu Qutada, Mohammed al-Deik, Khaldoun al-Homsi, Suliman Kanaan and Ahmad al-Am were identified among the dead.

English Bulletin


Army units establish control over new areas in T4 area eastern Homs, inflict heavy losses upon ISIS terrorists

30 January، 2017

Homs, SANA – Army units working in eastern Homs broadened control range in T4 area after killing the last gathering of ISIS terrorists to the southeast of the fourth Station for transferring oil.

SANA reporter in Homs said that an army unit in cooperation with the supporting forces and backed by artillery and warplanes established control over the areas of Abu Tawala well and Boyout Jarbou al-Izzo to the southeast of the fourth station after fierce battles with ISIS terrorists where many of them were killed or injured.

The reporter pointed out that members of the army demined explosives and mines in the area and started chasing down the fleeing terrorists towards al-Badiya area.

He added that an army unit re-established control over the hills overlooking the eastern part of the fourth station after inflicting heavy losses upon the terrorists in weaponry and personnel.

Deir Ezzor

An army unit and the supporting forces carried out military operation against the gatherings of ISIS terrorists in al-Maqaber area at the southern outskirts of Deir Ezzor city, establishing control over new points after killing a number of terrorists, according to SANA reporter in Deir Ezzor.

Another army unit targeted a gathering of vehicles equipped with heavy machineguns at the surrounding area of Panorama at the southwestern outskirts of the City.

The reporter pointed out that army units destroyed two radio-controlled planes for ISIS loaded with bombs over al-Maqaber area and a cannon at the surrounding of al-Tharda mountain to the south of Deir Ezzor city.

SANA reporter said that the Army’s air strikes destroyed a number of vehicles of the terrorist organization in the villages of al-Salehiya and al-Bogheilia and in the neighborhoods of al-Ummal and al-Mohandiseen, killing or injuring a number of the terrorists.

In a similar context, the Russian cargo planes dropped 26 packages of food and humanitarian aid over the besieged residential neighborhoods in Deir Ezzor as the Syrian Arab Red Crescent received and distributed them to the residents.

R. Milhem / Ghossoun


General Command of the Army: Security Restored to Towns and Villages of Wadi Barada

29 January، 2017

Damascus, SANA – The General Command of the Army and the Armed Forces announced that the Syrian Arab army and the popular defense groups and the supporting forces have accomplished their mission of restoring security and stability to the towns and villages in Wadi Barada area in the western countryside of Damascus after a series of successful military operations.

In a statement on Sunday, the General Command said the military operations in Wadi Barada took place in an area of a very complex geography and were carried out with accuracy to avoid civilian casualties.

It pointed out that these operations have contributed to creating the favorable conditions to allow the achievement of settlement and reconciliation agreements in a number of these villages and towns, citing those of Bassima, Ein al-Khadra, deir Muqren, Ein al-Fijeh, Deir Qanoun, Kafr al-Zeit, al-Husseiniyeh, Kafr al-Awamid, Birhalia, Afra and Wadi Barada Souq.

The total area that was liberated in Wadi Barada amounts to 400 km2, according to the Army’s General Command.

The Command reaffirmed in the statement its determination to continue carrying out its national mission of fighting terrorism, expressing its appreciation of the “sincere” efforts played by several national figures and forces that contributed to the restoration of security to Wadi Barada area.

H. Said

Chad's Foreign Minister Secures Top Post at African Union

Chad's Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat addresses attendees during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, October 1, 2015.  REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/Files

By Ed Cropley | ADDIS ABABA

African Union leaders chose Chad's candidate to chair the 54-nation body on Monday at a summit where the divisive issues of Africa's relationship to the International Criminal Court and Morocco's readmission to the AU were on the agenda.

In the last round of voting, Chadian Foreign Minister Moussa Faki Mahamat beat Kenya's top diplomat Amina Mohamed to secure the post as head of the commission of the AU, which is headquartered in the Ethiopian capital.

A Chadian official told a group of reporters that his nation's candidate had secured 39 votes in the final round. Faki, born in 1960, has served as foreign minister since 2008. His previous posts also included a stint as prime minister.

In a race usually resolved in behind-the-scenes talks before a summit vote, three of the AU's four major regions vied for the post – the south, the east and the largely Francophone west – with some regions pushing more than one candidate.

Outgoing commissioner, South Africa's Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, stayed in post an extra six months after leaders failed to agree a candidate in July. She is now tipped as a contender to succeed her ex-husband, Jacob Zuma, as South Africa's president.

Further divisions are likely to be exposed when heads of state decide whether to approve the re-admission of Morocco. The North African kingdom quit the AU’s predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, three decades ago amid a dispute over the body's recognition of Western Sahara, most of which has been controlled by Morocco since 1976.

INTERNATIONAL COURT

However, King Mohammed VI has been making diplomatic efforts over the last year to try to win Rabat’s readmission. Continental heavyweights Algeria and South Africa have been backers of the Sahrawi Republic, the domestic political movements that lays claim to the territory along the northern Sahara’s Atlantic seaboard.

Neither has said explicitly it will oppose Morocco's re-entry. Preliminary meetings have also been dominated by disputes over the International Criminal Court (ICC), which countries such as South Africa and Kenya say is a tool of Western imperialism that unfairly targets the continent.

Conversely, Nigeria, Botswana and other states say the Hague-based court is an important legal backstop for countries whose domestic justice systems have been compromised by civil conflict.

“You have all these calls for unity but actually if you look at the AU now, it is more divided than ever – over Morocco, the regional divisions and the ICC,” said Liesl Louw-Vaudran, an AU expert at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria.

“It’s unprecedented.” During Dlamini-Zuma's time in charge of the AU, the medical doctor has focused on reforming the AU’s dysfunctional internal bureaucracy and drawing up a long-term plan for improving the lives of Africa’s underprivileged citizens, especially women and children.

However, she has been criticized for failing to heal the rifts created by her election and not doing more to prevent conflict in countries such as South Sudan, which the United Nations says is tilting towards genocide.

(Reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by Edmund Blair and Ralph Boulton)

'Let Them In,' Say Protesters in Detroit Airport Rally Against Trump Order

Thousands of protesters gathered at the the Detroit Metro Airport McNamara Terminal to protest an executive order signed by President Trump, banning refugees and freezing Visas for people from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, on January 29, 2017. Melanie Maxwell | The Ann Arbor News

Melanie Maxwell | melaniemaxwell@mlive.com
Gus Burns | fburns@mlive.com By Gus Burns | fburns@mlive.com
January 29, 2017 at 9:40 PM

As a protest in Hamtramck against President Donald Trump's executive order banning immigrants from seven select mostly-Muslim countries dissipated Sunday afternoon, Jan. 29, the Muslim call to prayer played from a former industrial building now converted to a mosque.

Inside the baggage claim area of Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Sunday evening, as thousands of people chanted, raised signs and listened to speakers opposed to Trump's immigration order, dozens of Muslims knelt and prayed toward Mecca. They used a cellphone application to figure out the proper direction to face.

Orders issued by Trump during his first week in office, including a directive to begin construction plans for a Mexico border wall and a temporary ban on certain refugees and immigrants from a group of Muslim majority countries, acted as a lightning rod for opposition.

Traffic coming off Interstate 94 at the Detroit-area airport slowed to a crawl as protesters late to the rally that began about 4 p.m. waved signs from their windows.

"Welcome to America," read the handwritten sign sticking up from the open passenger window of one black sedan.

Another SUV drove with an Iraqi flag rustling out the window while a rap song with lyrics blasting Trump played from inside.

As the traffic jam crept into a tunnel beneath a runway, a chorus of horns filled the air.

There were at least four protests in the Detroit area Sunday in response to the controversial executive order, one in Hamtramck, which has one of the highest concentrations of Muslim residents in Michigan, including many who came from Yemen, one of the countries Trump named in the ban; another at Dearborn's Henry Ford Centennial Library; the largest took place at Detroit Metro Airport's international terminal; and a sit-in was planned at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Protesters gathered in Ann Arbor and planned a demonstration at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids Sunday.

Outside Hamtramck City Hall, hundreds gathered in a circle filling the lawn. New and first-generation immigrants stood alongside activists and politicians, several holding signs calling for Trump to be impeached, or comparing his intent to create a border wall and to ban certain immigrants with pre-World War II Nazi Germany.

As the Hamtramck rally died down, many were not done protesting. They instead hopped in vehicles bound for the airport.

"Racism is not patriotism," "Let them in," and "Don't repeat history," read some of the signs they packed with them.

The executive order temporarily freezes travel to the United States for refugees and visa holders from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The order won't impact diplomats, government officials or employees of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but there have been reports of refugees headed to the United States being turned around, students blocked from flying to the United States to attend college and an Iraqi interpreter who spent a decade working with the U.S. Army stopped from entering the country.

A federal judge on Saturday night enacted an emergency stay ordering the release and halt of deportation for any travelers no longer allowed in the United States under the changes ordered by Trump.

"In order to protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles," Trump's order reads. "The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law.

"In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred ... or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation."

The immigration ban order is available here in full here.

"The majority of people come here for opportunity, or to get their education here," said Zryan Hassam, who is from Kurdistan in northern Iraq and attended the rally at Detroit Metro Airport.

He moved here with his family to study medicine. He now works as a paramedic in Detroit and says he's saved "many lives."

Hassam said it's natural for the United States to want to vet immigrants, but he feels the process is already very thorough.

"I don't blame that," Hassam said. "There's no way we are going to say, 'Hey, everybody, come here.'

"For me and my family, I did five years of interviews with Homeland Security. There is investigation ... They want to know what kind of background you have. Are you a safe guy? Are you a bad guy?"

Under the current order, Hassam, who has a visa and carries an Iraqi passport, said he wouldn't be allowed to travel home or visit family.

"You have to respect human beings," he said. "We are beautiful together ... Because we are Muslim, should not make us enemies."

Also among the crowd was Josh Berkow, 35, a Jewish man who lives in Detroit.

His mother and grandparents were refugees after World War II and spent seven years after the end of the war living in a U.S.-run refugee camp for Jews in Germany.

"Jews have a position of great privilege in this country, but we are a historically persecuted people," he said. "We have responsibility to stand with other persecuted people, whether it is us or somebody else, because it originally was us and still is in other parts of the world."

Saudi Airstrikes on Yemen May Amount to War Crime: UN Report

Sun Jan 29, 2017 6:56PM
presstv.ir

A man who was wounded in a Saudi airstrike on a funeral in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, lies on a hospital bed on October 9, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

The United Nations says Saudi Arabia's deadly airstrikes against Yemen "may amount to war crimes," strongly urging Riyadh's allies in the campaign, including the US, Britain and France, to respect international humanitarian law.

An annual report prepared by UN experts, who monitor sanctions and the conflict in the war-torn Yemen, investigated 10 Saudi-led coalition strikes from March to October last year that claimed the lives of at least 292 civilians, including about 100 women and children.

"In eight of the 10 investigations, the panel found no evidence that the airstrikes had targeted legitimate military objectives," the experts said in the 63-page report, which was presented to the UN Security Council on January 27.

The report, as was quoted by Reuters on Saturday, further said that the panel reached a firm conclusion that the Saudi-led coalition had not met the "international humanitarian law requirements of proportionality and precautions in attack" for all the 10 investigated airstrikes.

According to the UN experts, the member states of the so-called Saudi-led coalition are Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan.

The panel added that the "violations associated with the conduct of the air campaign are sufficiently widespread to reflect… a broader policy of attrition against civilian infrastructure."

Saudi Arabia has been engaged in the deadly campaign against Yemen since March 2015 in an attempt to bring back to power Yemen's former President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a staunch ally of Riyadh, and undermine the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The UN report further said forces loyal to Hadi, including officials and security forces, committed "widespread and systematic violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law and human rights norms" against the Yemeni people during the abovementioned period.

The Saudi war has so far claimed the lives of at least 11,400 Yemenis, and taken a heavy toll on Yemen's facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said recently that the military aggression against Yemen had killed nearly 1,400 Yemeni kids, injuring hundreds more.

Rights groups have described the United States and the United Kingdom as complicit in the bloodletting given their provision of deadly weapons to the Saudi regime during the bombardment campaign.

At Least 18 Daesh Terrorists Killed in Turkey’s Operations in Northern Syria

Mon Jan 30, 2017 1:11AM
presstv.ir

A militant walks with his weapon on the outskirts of the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, January 26, 2017. (Photos by Reuters)

Turkish forces have killed 18 Daesh terrorists during operations in northern Syria over the past 24 hours.

According to a statement released by the Turkish army on Sunday, some 130 terrorist targets, including hideouts, defense positions, headquarters, weapons and vehicles were also shelled in the operations.

Turkish fighter planes also carried out raids against various terrorist-held positions in al-Bab, destroying ammunition depots, checkpoints, tunnels and nine buildings.

Earlier in the month, Russia announced that Turkish jets had joined the anti-Daesh operations in Syria’s al-Bab.

The statement noted that the US-led coalition also engaged in airstrikes in the region, destroying terrorist infrastructure.

A militant smokes a cigarette with his weapon in his arm on the outskirts of the northern Syrian town of al-Bab, Syria January 26, 2017.

It noted that some 87 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were also found and neutralized during the operations as well as 55 mines.

On Friday, at least 10 civilians, including a child, were killed during Turkish airstrikes in and around al-Bab.

In August last year, the Turkish air force and special ground forces launched Operation Euphrates Shield inside Syria in a declared bid to aid the Free Syrian Army militants and rid the border area of Daesh terrorists and fighters from the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Democratic Union Party (PYD), who have been making gains under the aegis of the US and other Western countries. Ankara has already made it clear that it will not tolerate Kurdish territorial gains close to its frontiers.   

Trump Chats With Saudi, Abu Dhabi Leaders About 'Safe Zones'

By NAHAL TOOSI
01/29/17 06:10 PM EST

President Donald Trump held calls Sunday with the king of Saudi Arabia and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi — pledging cooperation against terrorism, requesting their support for the creation of safe zones in Syria and beyond, and indicating he will enforce the Iran nuclear deal instead of abandoning it.

The White House readouts of the calls include no mention of one especially sensitive topic: Trump’s Friday executive order that includes a temporarily ban on the entry of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.

Although neither Saudi Arabia nor the United Arab Emirates are among the seven targeted countries, many of their subjects are outraged by the executive order, which critics have dubbed a “Muslim ban.” At the same time, skeptics have noted that Saudi Arabia was home to 15 of the 19 Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers, making its exclusion from Trump’s order especially puzzling.

In his call with Saudi King Salman, the president “requested, and the king agreed to support, safe zones in Syria and Yemen, as well as supporting other ideas to help the many refugees who are displaced by the ongoing conflicts,” the White House said.

It was not immediately clear what Trump meant by “requested” safe zones in those two war-struck countries or what the Saudis are willing to do. Past talk of creating such havens has run into the reality that U.S. lawmakers are cool to any move that could lead to the deployment of American troops in the Middle East.

Trump and Salman also “agreed on the importance of rigorously enforcing the [nuclear deal] with Iran and of addressing Iran’s destabilizing regional activities.”

The language about Iran suggests that Trump is acquiescing to requests from even some critics of the nuclear deal not to abandon it. That being said, if the U.S. pursues enforcement too rigorously, it’s possible that Iran may feel it is being unfairly targeted and walk away from the agreement, which gives it relief from sanctions in exchange for dismantling its nuclear program.

The Saudi monarch also invited Trump to “lead a Middle East effort to defeat terrorism and to help build a new future, economically and socially, for the people of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the region.” That segment was left unexplained.

The White House gave fewer details about Trump’s conversation with Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, other than to suggest the call went well and covered traditional subjects such as fighting terrorists.

“The president also raised the idea of supporting safe zones for the refugees displaced by the conflict in the region, and the crown prince agreed to support this initiative,” according to the White House readout.