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Tuvalu’s pro-Taiwan leader loses seat in closely watched election

Tuvalu’s pro-Taiwan leader loses seat in closely watched election

Tuvalu is one of only 12 remaining diplomatic allies of Taipei amid growing US-China rivalry in the Pacific. Tuvalu’s pro-Taiwan leader has lost his seat in closely watched elections in the tiny Pacific island nation. Prime Minister Kausea Natano failed to return to his seat on the main atoll of Funafuti, election results showed on Saturday, dealing a potential blow to Taipei’s efforts to hold onto its dwindling number of diplomatic allies. Tuvalu, home to just 11,200 people, is one of only 12 states that formally recognise Taiwan, and Natano had pledged to maintain ties with the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory. Taipei lost one of four remaining Pacific Islands allies last month after Nauru switched recognition to Beijing, following switches by Solomon Islands and Kiribati in 2019. China refuses to recognise countries that have formal relations with Taiwan, which it has pledged to “reunify” with the Chinese mainland by force if necessary. Natano’s rival, Seve Paeniu, who was returned to his seat, said he would seek the support of lawmakers to become prime minister after pledging during the election campaign to review the country’s ties with Taipei. Lawmakers are expected to meet next week to vote for a new prime minister. The election comes as small Pacific island nations such as Tuvalu are at the centre of a competition for regional influence between China and the United States and its Western allies. In November, Natano signed a far-reaching deal with Australia that gives Canberra a say in Tuvalu’s defence ties with other countries in exchange for security guarantees and a pathway to residency in Australia for Tuvalu citizens threatened by climate change. Enele Sopoaga, another potential contender for the leadership who retained his seat, has argued the deal should be scrapped because it infringes on Tuvalu’s sovereignty. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Saturday congratulated Tuvalu on the “successful election”. “We look forward to working with the new Government,” Wong said. “Australia and Tuvalu are longstanding friends, sharing an interest in building a stronger, more resilient and more peaceful Pacific.” Adblock test (Why?)

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 703

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 703

As the war enters its 703rd day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Saturday, January 27, 2024. Fighting Russian President Vladimir Putin said the Ilyushin-76 plane that crashed near the border with Ukraine was shot down by Ukrainian air defences, whether on purpose or by mistake. The death toll from Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv earlier this week rose to 11, officials said. Putin said Russia’s future ruling class should be made up of army veterans, and not “weirdos” who “show their backsides”. The remarks appeared to slam a raunchy “almost naked” celebrity party held in Moscow last month that drew fierce public backlash. A court in Moscow on Friday extended the pre-trial detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich by two months, following his arrest last year on espionage charges. A general view shows a building damaged by a Russian missile hit in central Kharkiv, Ukraine, January 17, 2024 [File: Yan Dobronosov/Reuters] Economy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the creation of a new economic body to assist businesses in wartime after several entrepreneurs voiced outrage at the arrest of a prominent banker. In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said the All-Ukraine Economic Platform would help businesses overcome the challenges posed by Russia’s invasion. Diplomacy US President Joe Biden criticised congressional Republicans for stalling military aid to Ukraine amid a lack of consensus on a separate deal to reinforce the US-Mexico border. The chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Turkey needed to cooperate better on holding Russia accountable for its invasion of Ukraine following the US government’s approval of a $23bn deal to sell F-16 warplanes to Ankara. The chief negotiator for Moldova’s Russian-backed separatist Transdniestria region announced that his team would no longer attend talks on the country’s future in areas under government control because he feared arrest. Adblock test (Why?)

Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 113

Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 113

Top UN court orders Israel to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza; US and UK conduct new attacks on Houthi targets. Here’s how things stand on Saturday, January 27, 2024: Red Sea tensions The United States and the United Kingdom launched two air attacks that targeted the port of Ras Issa in Yemen’s Hodeidah province, reported Al Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel. Yemen’s Houthi fighters have stepped up attacks on vessels transiting the Red Sea. One of their hits sparked a fire on a fuel tanker but no injuries were reported. The US military said it destroyed a Houthi antiship missile in Yemen that was ready to launch towards the Red Sea. Cruise operator Carnival joined the growing list of companies flagging a potential hit to their operations due to Houthi attacks. ICJ ruling The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and do more to help civilians, although it stopped short of calling for a ceasefire as requested by the plaintiff, South Africa. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the ICJ ruling and said Israel will continue to defend itself and its citizens while adhering to international law. Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the ruling was an important development that contributed to isolating Israel and exposing its crimes in Gaza. More global reactions here. Diplomacy US President Joe Biden spoke with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani about Gaza. They agreed that efforts to secure the release of captives taken by Hamas were key to securing a longer pause in fighting, the White House said. Argentina’s President Javier Milei said he would travel to Israel in the “coming weeks”, one of his first overseas trips since the libertarian economist took office last month after pledging strong support for Israel during his campaign. The White House expressed hope about progress in talks to release captives held by Hamas in Gaza as Biden’s Middle East envoy Brett McGurk returned to Washington, DC from a trip to the region. German state broadcaster ARD said Israel was blocking two of its long-term Palestinian workers from leaving Gaza, where they fear for their lives, citing security concerns the broadcaster said did not make sense. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said it opened an investigation into several employees suspected of involvement in the October 7 attacks. Other developments Israeli protesters blocked humanitarian aid trucks entering Gaza with crucial supplies of flour, food, tents and hygiene items, the UN said. Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF) said “vital medical services have collapsed at Nasser Hospital” due to heavy fighting and bombardments around the key medical facility in Khan Younis. A 27-year-old Palestinian man, shot by Israeli forces northeast of Jenin, died of his injuries, according to the Palestinian media. Adblock test (Why?)

The Sundarbans dilemma: Islands swallowed by water, and nowhere else to go

The Sundarbans dilemma: Islands swallowed by water, and nowhere else to go

Sundarbans, India – Panchanan Dolui, who lives on Mousuni Island in the Indian Sundarbans, has shifted homes three times due to floods and river erosion. Each time, he moves farther from the receding edge of the island to avoid displacement. He has watched the river eat away vast tracts of land. “Where do we go? There is nowhere to go,” he laments. Located in West Bengal state in eastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh, the Sundarbans forest system is a cluster of low-lying islands and represents the largest mangrove ecosystem in the world. It is home to several endangered species and acts as a natural barrier against cyclones, storm surges and other environmental hazards. The forests are also natural agents of carbon capture and sequestration. But things are changing fast. Four cyclones that hit the eastern coast of India from 2019 to 2021 – Fani, Amphan, Bulbul and Yaas – point to the increasingly unpredictable weather in the Sundarbans caused by climate change and rising sea levels. Now, the Sundarbans are increasingly “not safe for human habitation”, says Kalyan Rudra, chairperson of the West Bengal Pollution Control Board. The spate of recent cyclones has compounded climate-induced displacement that the people of the Sundarbans have confronted in previous decades. Lohachara was one of the first inhabited islands to disappear under the sea in 1996, forcing residents to relocate to neighbouring islands, often without documents or property deeds. In the face of limited options for making a living and without sufficient development in the region, migration has become a coping strategy for many residents. There have been several waves of migration within the Sundarbans, often on the same island, to avoid flooding from embankment breaches, tidal bores and storm surges. Since Cyclone Aila in 2009, distress migration driven by economic vulnerability has resulted in men taking up work as informal migrant workers across India. Women-headed households in the Sundarbans are more common than in any other area of India because of distress migration. But these households are often marked by debt burdens, a high number of dependents and limited livelihood options. Meanwhile, increasing land salinity due to severe cyclonic storms and tidal wave action, which carries seawater from the Bay of Bengal into the Sundarbans delta, impedes soil productivity. Increased salinity forces farming changes Salinity-resistant paddy farming is an important form of climate change adaptation in the area, and it has become increasingly popular over the past decade. Increased salinity, however, has also led to brackish water shrimp farming on a commercial scale, causing land degradation. The health of women who perform the poorly paid labour of prawn seed collection, which involves standing up to six hours in saltwater, is adversely affected. Increasing salinity is a leading cause of reproductive health problems among rural women in the Sundarbans, including pelvic inflammation and urinary tract infections. Increasing salinity has also led to a severely degraded mangrove ecosystem, affecting biodiversity and causing a loss of forest reserves that sustain local communities. The ire of tigers The pressure on forest resources also amplifies man-animal conflict in the area. The Sundarbans are home to tiger widows, women whose husbands went into the Sundarbans reserve for fishing or honey collection and were killed by tigers. There is no official recognition of such deaths because entry into the forest became illegal for its dwellers once the area was declared a tiger reserve in 1973 and came under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Pradip Chatterjee, former president of the Dakshinbanga Matsyajibi Forum or the South Bengal Fishers’ Union, calls these tiger deaths “be-aini mrityu”, or illegal deaths, marked by the erasure of the person’s existence. He notes that the local police station refuses to make entries of the tiger deaths because of their “illegal” nature, hampering the process of applying for compensation – a bureaucratic labyrinth that requires the deceased’s kin to produce a police report and death certificate. Recently, the Calcutta High Court acknowledged tiger deaths in a landmark decision, ordering the West Bengal Forest Department to pay full compensation to two tiger widows. How the marginalised are sidelined Continuing climate disasters not only slow down the recovery but also exacerbate pre-existing vulnerabilities of caste and gender. For example, government relief after disasters is often selective and contingent on existing land holdings, such as after Cyclone Amphan. “Our two-room house collapsed and trees had fallen on them. We couldn’t enter our house any more,” former Sundarbans resident Neela Ghosh said. “But relief workers went to those houses that were unaffected and where the owners don’t live. We are sitting outside our broken home and receiving very meagre funds.” As erosion across the Sundarbans continues, officials struggle to agree upon areas suitable for the relocation of the most vulnerable residents. West Bengal recorded the longest stretch of shoreline erosion in India at 63 percent with 99sq km (38sq miles) of land lost due to coastal erosion from 1990 to 2016. This has a direct effect on the landless, marginal residents of the Sundarbans, who reside closest to the riverbanks. In a telephone interview, a Forest Department official says prime land was already occupied in the Sundarbans and people located on the edge – usually the most marginalised and vulnerable – would only be relocated to another edge. The remaining public land is not fit for habitation or agriculture, meaning the only area that could be converted into habitable or agricultural land was forest, the official added. So, in responding to people forced from their homes because of erosion, government policy will have to walk a fine line in not claiming more forest land for relocation. Decisions around where to relocate residents are made more difficult by the fact that erosion has made some islands, including Sagar Island, to which planned relocation has been taking place, unsafe for human habitation, according to Rudra. However, there are some areas of the Sundarbans where sediment build-up is taking place, which presents possibilities. “We can identify such areas which are less vulnerable and

Who is Julia Sebutinde? The judge against all ICJ rulings in Israel’s case

Who is Julia Sebutinde? The judge against all ICJ rulings in Israel’s case

The United Nations’ top court ordered Israel on Friday to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in its military offensive in Gaza, but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. South Africa alleged that Israel’s campaign in Gaza amounted to genocide in the case and had asked the court to order Israel to halt the operation. In the anticipated decision, made by a panel of 17 judges, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered six so-called provisional measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza. Those measures were approved by an overwhelming majority of the judges. An Israeli judge voted in favour of two of the six. But Uganda’s Judge, Julia Sebuntinde, was the only judge who voted against all of them. Here is what we know about her, and why she voted the way she did: First African woman to sit on the ICJ Born in February 1956, Sebutinde is a Ugandan judge serving her second term at the ICJ. She has been a judge at the court since March 2021. She is the first African woman to sit on the international court. According to the Institute for African Women in Law, Sebutinde comes from a modest family and she was born during a period when Uganda was actively fighting for independence from the British Colonial office. Sebutinde attended Lake Victoria Primary School in Entebbe, Uganda. After finishing primary school, she went to Gayaza High School. She later pursued her degree at Makerere University and received a bachelor of laws degree in 1977, at the age of 21. Later, as part of her education in 1990, at the age of 34, she went to Scotland where she earned a master of laws degree with distinction from the University of Edinburgh. In 2009, the same university honoured her with a doctorate of laws, recognising her contributions to legal and judicial service. Before being elected to the ICJ, Sebutinde was a judge of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. She was appointed to that position in 2007. Sierra Leone’s case: Charles Taylor over war crimes Throughout her professional career, Sebutinde has been no stranger to controversies. In February 2011, Sebutinde was one of three presiding judges in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes committed in Sierra Leone. During that time, the Special Court found Taylor guilty on 11 accounts, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, terrorism, murder, rape and the use of child soldiers, resulting in a 50-year prison sentence. On February 8, London barrister Courtenay Griffiths, who represented Taylor, walked out of proceedings after judges refused to accept a written summary of the ex-Liberian president’s defence at the end of his trial. On February 28, a disciplinary hearing to censure Griffiths was indefinitely adjourned because Sebutinde declined to be present, withdrawing “on principle”. This decision came after her earlier dissent from the order requiring Griffiths to apologise or face disciplinary action. ICJ case in Palestine Fast forward to 2024, Sebutinde once again captured headlines, this time for being the only judge who voted against all measures sought by South Africa in its genocide case against Israel. In a dissenting opinion, Sebutinde stated the following: “In my respectful dissenting opinion the dispute between the State of Israel and the people of Palestine is essentially and historically a political one.” “It is not a legal dispute susceptible to judicial settlement by the Court,” she added. She also said that South Africa didn’t demonstrate that the acts allegedly committed by Israel were “committed with the necessary genocidal intent, and that as a result, they are capable of falling within the scope of the Genocide Convention”. Experts argued that Sebutinde failed to conduct a thorough assessment of the situation. “I think what the dissenting opinion gets wrong is that genocide is not a political dispute, it’s a legal matter. Both South Africa and Israel signed the Genocide Convention in 1948 and accept the jurisdiction over breaches of the Genocide Convention and failure to prevent genocide,” Mark Kersten, assistant professor at the University of the Fraser Valley focusing on human rights law, told Al Jazeera. “You cannot simply say this is something for history, this is something for politics. Of course, history and politics play a role,” he added. The ambassador of Uganda to the United Nations also expressed a different opinion. “Justice Sebutinde ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine,” he said in a statement on Twitter. Justice Sebutinde ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine. She has previously voted against Uganda’s case on DRC. Uganda’s support for the plight of the Palestinian people has been expressed… — Adonia Ayebare (@adoniaayebare) January 26, 2024 Adblock test (Why?)