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Dash camera video shows the moment an elephant charges at a truck with a man inside in South Africa, Tuesday, June 1. Norman Nukeri, a fuel supply driver in Hoedspruit, was on his way to a client’s lodge on June 1 when he stopped for elephant crossing the path. One elephant started coming toward the vehicle then left its path but returned and charged toward the truck and driver. The animal made contact and crumpled the vehicle’s hood, leaving Nukeri stunned but unharmed. (REUTERS) 
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The top U.S. diplomat in Hong Kong said the imposition of a new national security law had created an “atmosphere of coercion” that threatens both the city’s freedoms and its standing as an international business hub. In unusually strident remarks to Reuters this week, U.S. Consul-General Hanscom Smith called it “appalling” that Beijing’s influence had “vilified” routine diplomatic activities, such as meeting local activists, part of a government crackdown on foreign forces that was “casting a pall over the city.” Smith’s remarks highlight deepening concerns over Hong Kong’s sharply deteriorating freedoms among many officials in the administration of President Joe Biden one year after China’s parliament imposed the law. Critics of the legislation say the law has crushed the city’s democratic opposition, civil society and Western-style freedoms. FILE – Hanscom Smith, the U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong and Macau, attends a meeting in Hong Kong, China, May 17, 2021.The foreign forces issue is at the heart of the crimes of “collusion” with foreign countries or “external elements” detailed in Article 29 of the security law, scholars say. Article 29 outlaws a range of direct or indirect links with a “foreign country or an institution, organization or individual” outside greater China, covering offenses from the stealing of secrets and waging war to engaging in “hostile activities” and “provoking hatred.” They can be punished by up to life in prison. “People … don’t know where the red lines are, and it creates an atmosphere that’s not just bad for fundamental freedoms, it’s bad for business,” Smith said. “You can’t have it both ways,” he added. “You can’t purport to be this global hub and at the same time invoke this kind of propaganda language criticizing foreigners.” Smith is a career U.S. foreign service officer who has deep experience in China and the wider region, serving in Shanghai, Beijing and Taiwan before arriving in Hong Kong in July 2019. He made his comments in an interview Wednesday at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Hong Kong after Reuters sought the consulate’s views on the impact of the national security law. In a response to Reuters, Hong Kong’s Security Bureau said that “normal interactions and activities” were protected, and it blamed external elements for interfering in the city during the protests that engulfed Hong Kong in 2019. “There are indications in investigations and intelligence that foreign intervention was rampant with money, supplies and other forms of support,” a representative said. He did not identify specific individuals or groups. Government adviser and former security chief Regina Ip told Reuters it was only “China haters” who had reason to worry about falling afoul of the law. “There must be criminal intent, not just casual chat,” she said. Smith’s comments come as other envoys, businesspeople and activists have told Reuters of the chilling effect on their relationships and connections across China’s most international city. Private investigators say demand is surging among law firms, hedge funds and other businesses for security sweeps of offices and communications for surveillance tools, while diplomats describe discreet meetings with opposition figures, academics and clergy. Fourteen Asian and Western diplomats who spoke to Reuters for this story said they were alarmed at attempts by Hong Kong prosecutors to treat links between local politicians and foreign envoys as potential national security threats. In April, a judge cited emails from the U.S. mission to former democratic legislator Jeremy Tam as a reason to deny him bail on a charge of conspiracy to commit subversion. Tam, one of 47 pro-democracy politicians charged, is in jail awaiting trial; his lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. FILE – Lawmakers Jeremy Tam and Alvin Yeung of the Hong Kong Civic Party speak in front of a row of riot police officers during a demonstration against a proposed extradition bill in Hong Kong, China, June 12, 2019.”It’s appalling that people would take a routine interaction with a foreign government representative and attribute something sinister to it,” Smith said, adding that the consulate did not want to put anyone in an “awkward situation.” In the latest ratcheting up of tensions with Western nations, Hong Kong on Friday slammed a U.K. government report that said Beijing was using the security law to “drastically curtail freedoms” in the city. Hong Kong authorities also this week lambasted the European Union for denouncing Hong Kong’s recent overhaul of its political system. ‘Tough cases’ loomAlthough local officials said last year that the security law would affect only a “tiny minority” of people, more than 100 have been arrested under the law, which has affected education, media, civil society and religious freedoms among other areas, according to those interviewed for this story.Some have raised concerns that the provisions would hurt the business community, a suggestion Ip dismissed.”I think they have nothing to worry about unless they are bent on using external forces to harm Hong Kong,” Ip said. “I speak to a lot of businessmen who are very bullish about the economic situation.” Retired judges familiar with cases such as Tam’s said they were shocked at the broad use of foreign connections by prosecutors. One told Reuters he did not see how that approach would be sustainable, as the government accredits diplomats, whose job is to meet people, including politicians. Hong Kong’s judiciary said it would not comment on individual cases. Smith said Hong Kong’s growing atmosphere of “fear, coercion and uncertainty” put the special administrative region’s future in jeopardy. “It’s been very distressing to see this relentless onslaught on Hong Kong’s freedoms and backtracking on the commitment that was made to preserve Hong Kong’s autonomy,” he said. 
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The United Nations high commissioner for human rights said Friday that violence in Myanmar is rising, deepening the crisis that began with the February 1 coup that toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.”In just over four months, Myanmar has gone from being a fragile democracy to a human rights catastrophe,” Michelle Bachelet said in a statement in Geneva, Switzerland. Bachelet put the blame on the military leadership, known as the Tatmadaw, saying it was “singularly responsible” for the crisis and “must be held to account.”“State security forces have continued to use heavy weaponry, including air strikes, against armed groups and against civilians and civilian objects, including Christian churches,” she said. “The international community needs to unify in its demand that the Tatmadaw cease the outrageous use of heavy artillery against civilians and civilian objects,” Bachelet said.Bachelet’s office said there are credible reports that at least 860 people have been killed by security forces since February 1, and more than 4,800 people, including opponents of the junta, activists of civil society and journalists, have been arbitrarily detained.The U.N. human rights chief will brief the Human Rights Council on the situation in Myanmar during its next session in July, the office said. 
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People in Taiwan, which had held off COVID-19 throughout most the global pandemic, are panicking about their health and income this month as the island grapples with its first major outbreak and shutters businesses amid limited vaccine supplies.Taiwan’s coronavirus total since the start of the global pandemic stood at 12,500 on Friday, with 385 deaths. More than 90% of the cases were recorded since May 15.   Officials in Taipei say their political rival China intervened in a vaccine import deal earlier in the year. Japan and the United States have announced vaccine donations this month to help compensate for the shortage as officials scramble to order imports and fast-track trials of a domestically produced vaccine.  People have become “really concerned” since mid-May and have begun looking for vaccines despite possible side effects, said Joanna Lei, CEO of Chunghua 21st Century Think Tank in Taiwan. Many Taiwanese with dual citizenship in the United States have hopped on U.S.-bound flights this month to get vaccines.   Taiwan is “far” from the double-digit vaccine rate that might offer “herd immunity”, she said. An estimated 1% of Taiwan’s nearly 24 million people were vaccinated as of mid-May.  “I think the really scary part is the government has no plan,” Lei said. “And they don’t have a real survey of the land because they did not do broad testing, so they actually have no clue about where things are happening.”  People line up to get their coronavirus disease (COVID-19) test at Songshan airport following an increasing number of locally transmitted cases in Taipei, Taiwan, June 2, 2021.More than 84% of Taiwanese worry about relatives getting the coronavirus and about 65% say their income will be “hit”, according to a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation survey released May 25. More than half of respondents called the current COVID-19 wave a “disaster” caused by humans rather than by nature.   “I see people are all quite nervous about whether their family members are going to get infected by this virus,” foundation Chairman You Ying-lung said. “You’ll find that a high proportion are very worried.”   Without vaccines, Taiwan is looking at an unknown period of forced business closures and income losses, particularly in events, recreation and restaurants. Those businesses have been shuttered or scaled back since May 15. Operators are expecting government stimulus aid if business dips far enough below pre-May 15 levels.   “For us in food and beverage, we should be optimistic about aid, because if it’s not enough, I can’t sustain the business,” said Chien Chia-hsing, owner of the 6-year-old Aussie Café in Taipei. His normal daily customer load of 50 has dropped to just a handful who get takeout. “I hope that the government can do its utmost to allocate money.” People wait to be vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during a vaccination session organized by the local Taiwan Affairs Office in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, China June 4, 2021.Vaccine diplomacy Japan sent 1.24 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine last week despite a protest from China, Tokyo-based Kyodo News Service reported. Washington will donate 750,000 doses, U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth announced Sunday as she visited Taiwan with two other lawmakers.   “For over a year, we’ve seen that COVID-19 strikes without regard to national borders – and we know we won’t be able to truly end the COVID-19 pandemic at home without ending it everywhere,” the senator said on her website.  Washington and Tokyo are long-standing friends of Taiwan, as all three fret over territorial disputes or deeper political issues with China.     “You always want to help friends,” said Alex Chiang, associate professor of international politics at National Chengchi University in Taipei. “They have to show friendship and that they care about the people of Taiwan.”   Taiwanese officials blame China for standing in the way of foreign-made vaccines.   “Taiwan access to vaccines continues to be slowed down by Chinese interference, while they insist we buy Chinese made ones,” presidential spokesperson Kolas Yotaka said May 19 on Twitter.     Taiwan was approaching a deal with German pharmaceutical firm BioNTech in January for millions of vaccine doses, but interference by “external forces” threw off the agreement, health minister Chen Shih-chung told local media a month later without naming China directly.    Taiwan bars Chinese-made vaccines because of their poor record before COVID-19, Chen said in an interview in January. The government’s Central Epidemic Command Center would not say for this report how many vaccines it expects from foreign sources by year’s end but pointed to “insufficient” capacity to make them worldwide.     China has claimed self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, when Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists lost to the Communists and rebased in Taipei. Beijing has threatened use of force, if needed, to take Taiwan and resents foreign assistance to the island.  
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U.S. President Joe Biden begins his first overseas trip in London; what are the expectations? Plus, who was behind a deadly attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 10 at an international charity clearing land mines? And, what countries are more likely to carry out state-sponsored cyber attacks?
 
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The top U.S. envoy to Belarus told U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that the country’s dependence on Russia had significantly increased. The warning came as a U.S. Senate panel considered policy options in response to Belarus’ detention last month of opposition blogger Raman Pratasevich. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more from Capitol Hill.Producer: Katherine Gypson. Camera: Alexei Gorbachev.
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Apple on Monday said a new “private relay” feature designed to obscure a user’s web browsing behavior from internet service providers and advertisers will not be available in China for regulatory reasons.The feature was one of a number of privacy protections Apple announced at its annual software developer conference Monday.It will also be unavailable in Belarus, Colombia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkmenistan, Uganda and the Philippines, Apple said.The “private relay” feature first sends web traffic to a server maintained by Apple, where it is stripped of its IP address. From there, Apple sends the traffic to a second server maintained by a third-party operator who assigns the user a temporary IP address and sends the traffic onward to its destination website.The use of an outside party in the second hop of the relay system is intentional, Apple said, to prevent even Apple from knowing both the user’s identity and what website the user is visiting.Apple has not yet disclosed which outside partners it will use in the system but said it plans to disclose them in the future. The feature will not likely become available to the public until later this year. 
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For more than six months, fighting has engulfed Ethiopia’s Tigray Region. Those in the thick of the fighting tell VOA they are so angry they can barely speak.
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U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will be in Guatemala and Mexico this week on a trip that spotlights migration issues at the southern U.S. border. Michelle Quinn reports.
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Two opposition parties in Somalia’s breakaway Somaliland region won a majority of seats in the region’s first parliamentary election in 16 years, the National Electoral Commission said on Sunday.Out of parliament’s 82 seats, the Somaliland National Party, called WADDANI, won 31 and the Justice and Welfare Party (UCID), won 21 seats. The ruling Unity and Development Party, Kulmiye, secured 30 seats, the electoral commission said.The vote had been stalled for a decade by a dispute among the three major parties over the makeup of the electoral commission, which was finally resolved.”Following the announcement of the election results, we have announced a political alliance to get the speaker of the Somaliland parliament,” WADDANI and UCID said in a joint statement, suggesting they would appoint a speaker together.The parties, which combined also won majority of the seats in municipal races, said that they aim to collaborate on city councils across the region and select mayors together.None of the 13 women who ran for parliament won their races.Politicians in the region had described the poll as an example of the relative stability of Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia in 1991 but has not gained widespread international recognition for its independence. The region has been mostly peaceful while Somalia has grappled with three decades of civil war.The three major parties put forward a total of 246 candidates. More than one million out of roughly four million residents had registered to vote, according to the electoral Commission.Presidential elections have taken place in Somaliland, despite the stalled parliamentary vote, most recently in 2017 when President Musi Bihi, from the Kulmiye party, was elected.The next presidential vote is planned for next year.
 
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The U.S. and the European Union voiced concern over Nigeria’s decision to indefinitely ban Twitter after the U.S. social media giant deleted a tweet from the president’s account for violating its rules. International human rights groups have also condemned the move, which followed previous attempts by the government of Africa’s most populous country to regulate social media. Nigerian telecoms operators complied with a government directive Friday to suspend access to Twitter indefinitely. The diplomatic missions of the EU, U.S., Britain, Canada and Ireland issued a joint statement late Saturday condemning the ban. “Banning systems of expression is not the answer,” it said. “Precisely the moment when Nigeria needs to foster inclusive dialogue and expression of opinions, as well as share vital information in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic.”  “The path to a more secure Nigeria lies in more, not less, communication,” it added. More than 39 million Nigerians have a Twitter account, according to NOI polls, a public opinion and research organization based in Nigeria. The platform has played an important role in public discourse in the country, with hashtags #BringBackOurGirls after Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in 2014, and #EndSARS during anti-police brutality protests last year. The government’s suspension came after Twitter on Wednesday deleted a remark on President Muhammadu Buhari’s account in which he referred to the country’s civil war four decades ago in a warning about recent unrest. The 78-year-old president, a former general, referred to “those misbehaving” in recent violence in the southeast, where officials blame a proscribed separatist group IPOB for attacks on police and election offices. ‘Misinformation’ “Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand,” the president had posted on Twitter. The presidency denied late on Saturday that the Twitter suspension was a response to the removal of that post.   “There has been a litany of problems with the social media platform in Nigeria, where misinformation and fake news spread through it have had real world violent consequences,” a presidency spokesman Garba Shehu said in a statement.   Shehu said the removal of Buhari’s tweet was “disappointing” and said “major tech companies must be alive to their responsibilities.” Twitter said it was “deeply concerned by the blocking of Twitter in Nigeria.” “Access to the free and #OpenInternet is an essential human right in modern society.  We will work to restore access for all those in Nigeria who rely on Twitter to communicate and connect with the world. #KeepitOn,” the company said in a statement. “VPN app” was the second most searched trend Saturday on Google in Nigeria, as virtual private networks can enable Twitter users to bypass the ban. Nigeria warned however that it would prosecute violators. “Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has directed for immediate prosecution of offenders of the Federal Government ban on Twitter operations in Nigeria,” spokesman Umar Jibrilu Gwandu said. Amnesty International condemned the ban, calling on Nigeria to “immediately reverse the unlawful suspension.””This repressive action is a clear attempt to censor dissent & stifle the civic space,” Human Rights Watch researcher Anietie Ewang said. 
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Sunday marks the 77th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied forces landed in Normandy, France, to help liberate Europe from German forces and turn the course of World War II.The June 6, 1944, operation was the largest seaborne invasion in history, involving land, sea and air forces.Nearly 160,000 troops took part in the landing, including those from the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.The anniversary of the landmark day usually draws thousands of visitors to Normandy, but for a second year, the celebrations have been scaled back because of the coronavirus pandemic.A veteran’s memoriesIn Carentan, France, Charles Shay, 96, commemorated the anniversary at a ceremony Saturday, the only U.S. veteran there. Shay was 19 and a U.S. Army medic when he landed on Omaha Beach, according to The Associated Press. The Penobscot Native American from Maine now lives in Normandy, and said he lost “many good friends” there.On Friday, the U.S. military honored retired Master Sergeant Shay during a small ceremony on Omaha Beach in Normandy, according to the Stars and Stripes newspaper.World War II history enthusiasts parade in WWII vehicles in Ouistreham, Normandy, June, 5 2021, on the eve of 77th anniversary of the assault that helped end World War II.With D-Day veterans now mostly in their mid-90s or older, there are likely only a few hundred veterans still alive, said April Cheek-Messier, the president of the U.S. National D-Day Memorial Foundation.”If you think about the fact that there are 16 million who served during World War II, there are only around 325,000 World War II veterans still living today, and of that, a very small percentage would be D-Day veterans, and we don’t know the exact number, but you can imagine they would probably only be in a few hundred,” Cheek-Messier told Fox News.Only one veteran now remains from the French commando unit that joined U.S, British, Canadian and other Allied troops in storming Normandy’s code-named beaches, the AP reported.World War II history enthusiasts parade in WWII vehicles in Ouistreham, Normandy, June 5, 2021, on the eve of 77th anniversary of the assault that helped end the war.With most of France still under strict travel restrictions for international visitors, the tourists who usually flock to Normandy to mark the D-Day anniversary will be few this year.U.S. Army Colonel Kevin Sharp and three other U.S. military officers from the 101st Airborne Division — the same division that took part in the D-Day operations — were given special, last-minute permission to attend Friday’s commemorations in Carentan.The U.S. military “really values the legacy of the soldiers and the paratroopers who came before us,” he told the AP. “It was important enough to send a small representation here to ensure that our appreciation for their sacrifices is made known.”‘They remember’Tourism may be restricted, but local residents are coming out in greater numbers, the AP said.”In France, people who remember these men, they kept them close to their heart,” Shay said. “And they remember what they did for them. And I don’t think the French people will ever forget.”By contrast, two years ago, U.S. President Donald Trump joined French President Emmanuel Macron, along with tens of thousands of international visitors, to pay their respects to D-Day soldiers on the 75th anniversary of the landing.The French government announced Friday that it planned to open its borders to foreign tourists on June 9, using a color-coded system. The new rules allow vaccinated travelers from Europe and the United States to enter the country without having to be tested for COVID-19.The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Pakistan’s top diplomat on Saturday publicly stated for the first time that his ministry had severed ties with Afghanistan’s national security adviser, Hamadullah Mohib, over incendiary remarks about its southern neighbor that undermined regional peace efforts.Shah Mehmood Qureshi made the disclosure a week after a highly placed Pakistani official told VOA that Islamabad had conveyed to Kabul “through informal channels” it would no longer conduct official engagements with Mohib.FILE – Pakistan army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa addresses the Islamabad Security Dialogue conference, March 18, 2021. (Courtesy PTV)Diplomatic sources told VOA that during a recent visit to Kabul, Pakistan’s military chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, raised concerns about Mohib’s “undignified remarks” in his meeting with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in the presence of General Nick Carter, the head of Britain’s military and key player in peace negotiations ahead of the U.S.-NATO troop withdrawal.A senior Pakistani official privy to the matter told VOA on condition of anonymity his government had lodged a strong protest with the Afghan side and had conveyed “deep resentment” in Pakistan over Mohib’s “undignified” remarks.Washington also had stopped meetings with the Afghan national security adviser over controversial remarks he made on a visit to the U.S. two years ago, though contact with him has since resumed.Mohib had accused Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, of undercutting the Kabul government in U.S.-Taliban peace negotiations.Accord set stage for drawdownKhalilzad was leading the talks that culminated in an agreement with the insurgents in February 2020, setting the stage for the foreign troop drawdown from the war-torn nation, which began May 1 and is expected to be completed by September 11.While Afghan leaders accuse Pakistan of being behind the Taliban’s violent campaign in their country, U.S. officials, including Khalilzad, have persistently praised Islamabad for bringing the insurgents to the negotiating table to discuss a peace arrangement with the Afghan government to end the war.The controversy stemming from Mohib’s remarks again has highlighted political tensions and historic mistrust plaguing relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which share a nearly 2,600-kilometer border.
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Female Cameroonian activists and opposition members have appealed to the United Nations Security Council, meeting Monday, to discuss possible solutions to escalating Boko Haram terrorism and the separatist crisis in the central African state. They are also asking the U.N. to force Cameroon to respect human rights, release political prisoners and negotiate a cease-fire with armed groups. The government has refused to respond to their appeal.Twenty female leaders say in a letter to the U.N. Security Council that Cameroon, once the bastion of stability in Central Africa, is today conflict-ridden and on the brink of catastrophe.They say that more than 10,000 Cameroonians have died in the Boko Haram conflict on Cameroon’s northern border with Nigeria and the separatist crisis in the central African state’s English-speaking western regions. They accuse Cameroon’s government and rebels of gross human rights violations.Edith Kah Walla is the president of the Cameroon People’s Party and founding member of Stand Up for Cameroon, which advocates for a peaceful transition to rebuild Cameroon.She says the women want the Security Council to include Cameroon on their agenda. “We want the U.N. to give us help now,” said Walla. “We do not want them to wait till the situation is so bad, and then to start telling us that they are bringing U.N. soldiers [peace keeping troops] here. We want them to act now. Our population is dying. Over a million children are out of schools. We cannot sit by as our country falls apart. There is no peace without respect for human rights, without justice.”Walla said the women want the U.N. to require Cameroon to respect human rights and release all nonviolent political prisoners linked to Boko Haram, separatists and the political crisis in the central African state.The women say that for the sake of peace, U.N. member states should ask Cameroon to allow free public discussions on political transition. Cameroon’s 88-year-old President, Paul Biya, has been in power for close to 40 years and is accused of wanting to hang on to power until he dies.  Ejani Leonard Kulu is a Cameroonian political analyst at the U.N. University for Peace in Addis Ababa. He says it is very unlikely that the United Nations will take up the female leaders’ proposals.  He says the U.N. has already helped Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Benin contribute troops to a joint task force to fight Boko Haram.”The U.N. is a partner in managing the crises in Cameroon,” said Kulu. “If we should take Boko Haram, remember the Multinational Joint Task Force. It is financed and supported by the U.N. The crisis in the North West and South West, the U.N. has pronounced itself on several occasions that it is an internal problem which Cameroon can solve.”Kulu said Cameroon female leaders should have carried out advocacy with the five permanent members of the Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States to ensure discussion of Cameroon at the Security Council. In another letter, the female leaders ask International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to stop disbursing funds until the Cameroon government shows proof of transparent management.Tomaino Ndam Njoya is mayor of the western town of Foumban, an official of the Cameroon Democratic Union and a former lawmaker in Cameroon’s National Assembly.Njoya says the female leaders are not indifferent to the high wave of corruption and theft of public funds in Cameroon. She says many government ministers have been asked to explain what happened to a $335 million IMF loan intended to stop the spread of COVID-19. She says it would be unfair to continue to give loans to Cameroon when the government has not accounted for amounts already received.Cameroon government spokesperson Rene Emmanuel Sadi did not respond when contacted by VOA about Njoya’s comments.  In a release read on state radio, Cameroon promised to investigate corruption and punish those found guilty.Cameroon, a majority French-speaking country, is facing several problems, including the separatist crisis in its English-speaking western regions and Boko Haram terrorism on its northern border with Nigeria.Cameroon also suffers the spillover of the crisis in the Central African Republic, with attacks by rebels on its eastern border and political tensions from Biya’s long stay in power.
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Authorities in Cameroon are battling vaccine hesitancy with only eleven percent of doses received since April dispensed, most of them due to travel requirements. Cameroon’s government and clergy have been struggling to get the public to accept that the vaccines are safe.A group of 70 Cameroonian Muslims gathered at the Djoungolo government hospital in Yaoundé Friday to be vaccinated against COVID-19.Coordinator of the Council of Imams and Muslim Dignitaries of Cameroon, Moussa Oumarou says vaccine hesitancy meant he had to convince the group.He says Cameroon’s government asked the clergy to convince their followers that the vaccines could save their lives.Oumarou says every religion that puts God first seeks to protect human lives. He says it is both a divine and civic obligation to protect lives by accepting to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. Oumarou says the council has asked all Imams and Muslim dignitaries in Cameroon to accept to be vaccinated and to encourage all their faithful to be vaccinated.Cameroon health officials say only 75,000 people have been inoculated since April, when the government received 700,000 doses.And most of the doses administered, say officials, went to people who were planning to travel outside of Cameroon, including expatriates.37-year-old college teacher in Yaoundé Rigobert Fonbanla says many Cameroonians don’t trust authorities’ urging the jab after a COVID funds scandal and seizure of fakes. Cameroon Investigates Missing $335 Million in COVID Funds Official statement urging calm comes after rights groups and opposition asked government to explain what happened money loaned by International Monetary Fund to fight COVID-19″The same government that is asking people to accept to be vaccinated against COVID-19 is the same government that is investigating the authenticity and origin of the coronavirus vaccines,” said Fonbanla. “There is a possibility that corrupt government officials may have imported fake COVID-19 vaccines or produced dubious COVID-19 vaccines. I will wait for investigations announced by the government to be complete before I can decide whether I will be vaccinated or not.”Most of a $335 million International Monetary Fund loan to Cameroon to fight COVID disappeared.Last week at least 15 ministers were called up at the supreme state audit office to justify their management of the funds.In December, Cameroon announced that its military seized several tons of fake COVID drugs and vaccines from neighboring Nigeria, raising fears that other fakes might be in circulation.Cameroon’s Health Minister Manaouda Malachie says the COVID vaccines being used are good quality and recommended by the World Health Organization.He says the vaccines are not obligatory but will be administered freely to all civilians who want to save their lives from the deadly coronavirus. Malachie says Cameroon’s President Paul Biya is very keen to have transparency on all COVID-19 vaccination procedures. He says the state of Cameroon cannot joke with the lives of its citizens.To encourage Cameroonians to get the jab, hospitals in the northwest region in April said they would wave a usual $2 consultation fee.In May, Cameroon’s government instructed all its ministers and senior officials to be vaccinated in public.
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Facebook said Friday it would suspend Donald Trump’s accounts for at least two years, retaining a ban on the former U.S. president that it imposed after determining he incited the deadly January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. “At the end of this period, we will look to experts to assess whether the risk to public safety has receded,” Facebook Vice President Nick Clegg wrote in a blog post Friday.  The social media giant’s independent oversight board upheld its block on Trump, which was enacted after the riot because the company said his posts were inciting violence. On January 6, Trump implored thousands of supporters who had come to Washington for a “Save America March” to “fight like hell” to overturn his defeat, just before the riot aimed at preventing the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory. Five people died, including a federal police officer. The ban expires on January 7, 2023, two years after Facebook first blocked the former president. The timing of Facebook’s decision will reduce Trump’s ability to influence midterm congressional elections in November 2022, but his account could be restored well before voters go to polls in 2024 should Trump decide to seek the presidency again that year. In response to Facebook’s decision, Trump said in a statement it is “an insult to the record-setting 75M people, plus many others, who voted for us in the 2020 Rigged Presidential Election. They shouldn’t be allowed to get away with this censoring and silencing and ultimately, we will win.” FILE – The founder and CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg speaks during the 56th Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 15, 2020.In a separate statement he added, “Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. It will be all business!” Zuckerberg is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Facebook. At the White House briefing Friday, press secretary Jen Psaki said the ban was the company’s decision. “Our view continues to be, though, that every platform, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, any other platform that is disseminating information to millions of Americans, has a responsibility to crack down on disinformation, to crack down on false information whether it’s about the election or even about the vaccine, as we are trying to keep the American public safe.” 
 
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Shops remained shuttered, some government workers hadn’t been paid and the town’s main hospital was laid to waste. But the Tigrayan fighters still claimed victory, swaggering through the streets of Hawzen with their guns.It wouldn’t last long.Hawzen, a rural town in the ethnic Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, is a microcosm of the challenge facing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed — and a warning that the war here is unlikely to end soon.When The Associated Press arrived in May, Tigrayan fighters had recently retaken Hawzen from Ethiopian government troops, laying claim again to land that has switched control multiple times since the war began in November.Ethiopian government soldiers ride in the back of a truck on a road near Agula, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, May 8, 2021.To the Ethiopian government, the fighters are terrorists who have defied the authority of Abiy in the federal capital, Addis Ababa.But almost everyone the AP spoke with in Hawzen supported them and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, the party of the region’s ousted and now-fugitive leaders.”The people elected us, so we are not terrorists,” said fighter Nurhussein Abdulmajid, standing confidently in the middle of the road with a gun on his shoulder, as a crowd listened. “He [Abiy] is the one who is the terrorist. A terrorist is someone who massacres people.”Larger warThe battle for Hawzen is part of a larger war in Tigray between the Ethiopian government and the Tigrayan rebels that has led to massacres, gang rapes and the flight of more than 2 million of the region’s 6 million people.While the government now holds many urban centers, fierce fighting continues in remote rural towns like Hawzen.The AP was able to get through an Ethiopian military roadblock and cross the front line to get a rare look at a town held by Tigrayan fighters, who carried light weapons they said they had seized from opponents.If anything, recent atrocities appear to have increased support for the TPLF.One 19-year-old said she had been raped by an Ethiopian soldier and was now six months pregnant. After trying and failing to terminate the pregnancy herself, she is now desperately hoping someone in a local hospital will help her.A pharmacist, center, speaks to patients as he sits among the packages of medicine able to be recovered in Hawzen, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, May 7, 2021. The hospital was damaged and looted by Eritrean soldiers, witnesses said.As soon as possible, she said, she wants to join the rebels.”I want to go,” she said, as she broke down in tears. “You will die if you stay home, and you will die if you go out there. … I would rather die alongside the fighters.”The AP does not name victims of sexual abuse.The TPLF was on top of a coalition that ruled Ethiopia for nearly three decades. That changed in 2018, when Abiy rose to power as a reformist. He alienated the TPLF with efforts to make peace with its archenemy, Eritrea, and rid the federal government of corruption.   Tigray’s leaders fought back. In 2020, after a national vote was suspended because of the pandemic, the TPLF went ahead with its own elections in the region.Asserting that Tigrayan fighters had attacked a military base, Abiy sent federal troops into Tigray in November. Government forces are now allied with militias from the rival Amhara ethnic group as well as soldiers from neighboring Eritrea, who are blamed for many atrocities.’Protracted’ conflictAbiy acknowledged recently that the highly mobile Tigrayan guerrillas were stretching the Ethiopian military, springing ambushes from the rugged highlands where they hide.In April, the International Crisis Group predicted that entrenched resistance on both sides meant “the conflict could evolve into a protracted war.”Billene Seyoum, a spokeswoman for Abiy’s office, told reporters on Thursday that “the suffering of Ethiopians who are victims of a situation that is not of their choosing is a source of pain.” Efforts to alleviate the suffering of Tigrayans “have been marred by various challenges given the complexity of any armed engagement,” she said.Residents of Hawzen said the town of a few thousand people had seen fighting four times since November. Many spoke disapprovingly of Abiy, saying they no longer trusted him to keep them safe. Mikiele Kahsay, 16, sits in a wheelchair at the Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, May 6, 2021. The teenager was wounded when a shell landed near him as he was kicking a ball at a school field in Bizet.As the two sides fight, civilians are suffering heavily. More and more children are caught up in shelling in Hawzen and other nearby areas, with at least 32 admitted to the regional Ayder Hospital in Mekelle for blast injuries from December to April. Thirteen left with limbs amputated, according to official records.Some of those victims might have had limbs saved if they had received first aid at the nearest health centers. But such facilities are shells right now — systematically looted, vandalized and turned upside down.Eritrean soldiers set up camp in the Hawzen Primary Hospital, which once boasted of equipment ranging from X-ray machines to baby incubators. Now it is trashed and looted, and heaps of stones litter the compound where fighters had set up defensive positions.Many Tigrayans from contested towns like Hawzen end up in camps for the internally displaced in Mekelle, mostly women and children. And so the fight continues.
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