Displaced 12-year-old boy becomes Gaza’s youngest medic
NewsFeed 12-year-old Zakaria es-Sersek is a volunteer medic at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza. Inspired by seeing medical staff working around the clock, he now assists doctors with newly-developed skills. Published On 4 Apr 20244 Apr 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Russia scales up its attacks as Ukraine warns of urgent need for weapons
Ukraine has repelled a battalion-sized mechanised assault on its eastern front – the first attack of such a scale in five months – proving the resilience of its defences, but raising concerns that Russia is becoming increasingly ambitious as it gears up for an expected major offensive. The attack on Sunday reportedly included three dozen tanks and a dozen infantry fighting vehicles, and struck near Tonenke, a village close to Avdiivka, the city Russia overran on February 17 and has been inching westward from ever since. A Ukrainian serviceman reported that a third of the tanks and two-thirds of the infantry fighting vehicles were destroyed. “The start was very good. We carried out combined fire,” said a Russian trainer of Storm-Z assault forces. “On subsequent approaches, which lasted until lunchtime, the fire supply dwindled to sparse artillery fire … and then significant losses began.” Yet he noted that the last group of vehicles to enter the fray suffered no losses, possibly indicating that local Ukrainian defences had been exhausted: “I would venture to cautiously suggest that these regular visits could ultimately overload the enemy’s strike capabilities.” “We are trying to find some way not to retreat,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Washington Post’s David Ignatius in an interview published two days before the battle. “If there is no US support, it means that we have no air defence, no Patriot missiles, no jammers for electronic warfare, no 155-millimetre artillery rounds,” he said. “It means we will go back, retreat, step by step, in small steps.” Some $60.1bn in United States military aid the administration of Joe Biden requested last December has been stalled by a small group of lawmakers loyal to former President Donald Trump, who hopes to return to power in the November election. Europe was stepping in to cover some of the shortages. A Czech initiative had reportedly located a million artillery shells around the world which would start to be delivered to Ukraine this month; and France pledged hundreds of reconditioned armoured personnel vehicles. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskii told Ukrinform that Avdiivka would not have fallen if deliveries of Western military aid had been more constant, and that the Ukrainian counteroffensive that reclaimed much of Kharkiv and Kherson in September 2022 would have been more sustained. He said Ukrainian soldiers were outnumbered, and outgunned by a ratio of 6:1, but despite this Russians were suffering staggering losses – 570 tanks, 1,430 armoured vehicles and 1,680 artillery systems in the last two months alone – thanks to changes in tactics that optimised available resources. Russia creeps forward Although Ukrainian forces had largely managed to stabilise the front line following the fall of Avdiivka, Ukraine was not prepared to stop another major Russian offensive, Zelenskyy told the US broadcaster CBS. “Partners are sometimes really happy that we have stabilised the situation,” Zelenskyy said. “No, I say we need help now.” And that stabilisation is not 100 percent solid. Russian forces have continued to make marginal advances. Most of these have been in the neighbourhood of Avdiivka. Despite their defeat on Sunday, they made marginal gains west of Tonenke, and were photographed in the settlements of Semenivka and Berdychi, both northwest of Avdiivka, on Monday and Tuesday. To the south, they advanced into the settlement of Novomykhailivka, southwest of Donetsk city, on March 27. And at the northern end of the front, in Luhansk, they began to creep into Bilohorivka on Tuesday. Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu boasted in a Tuesday conference call with military personnel that Russian forces had gained 403sq km since the beginning of the year. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, put the figure at 305sq km since January 1, and a total of 505sq km – five times the size of Paris – since Russian forces went on the offensive in October. Russia trying to power down Ukraine’s industry Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s power plants, and in the past week began to bomb hydroelectric power stations in addition to thermal power plants. The Kaniv Hydroelectric Power Plant, 80km southeast of Kyiv, and the Dnister Hydroelectric Power Plant, 300km southwest of Kyiv, just north of the Moldovan border, have been among the main targets. The barrage of drones and missiles that targeted these dams and other infrastructure was massive: 60 Iranian-designed Shahed drones and 37 missiles of various types. Ukraine managed to down 58 of the drones and 26 of the missiles, but Zelenskyy stressed the need for greater air defence. “It is necessary to replenish supplies more quickly,” he said. Zelenskyy told the Washington Post that air defence ammunition was running low, and CBS that Ukraine could lock its skies to Russian attacks with another five to seven Patriot batteries. “The range of possible outcomes from most advantageous to most dangerous – is very wide and will remain so until it is clear whether the US will resume military support,” said the ISW. The other great variable, it said, was Ukrainian manpower, and on Tuesday Zelenskyy signed into law a long-awaited bill lowering the conscription age from 27 to 25. The bill is expected to raise up to half a million new soldiers for Ukraine, though Syrskii said a more efficient rotation of existing manpower had made that scale of recruitment unnecessary. Russia also reached a new milestone on March 22, when it completely destroyed one of the largest thermal power plants in Kharkiv. “All units were destroyed” at the Zmiivska power plant said its operator, Tsentrenergo. “The degree of destruction is different.” Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russia had launched 140 drones and 190 missiles against civilian infrastructure far from the front lines in just one week, from March 18 to 24. French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu said his country would provide Aster 30 surface-to-air missiles to strengthen air defence. Ukraine fights back Ukraine’s response has been to target Russian energy infrastructure back – specifically oil refineries – and on Tuesday a Ukrainian drone struck
At least 11 killed in attack on Iran’s IRGC in border province: State media
Several wounded in clashes in restive Sistan-Baluchestan province which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. At least 11 Iranian security force members have been killed in an attack on an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) headquarters in the southeastern border province of Sistan-Baluchestan, state media reported. In the ensuing overnight clashes with security forces, 16 members of Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) – a Sunni armed group – were killed, Iranian state TV reported on Thursday. The attack took place in the towns of Chabahar and Rask in Sistan-Baluchestan which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan. Reporting from Tehran, Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari said it was one of the deadliest attacks carried out by Jaish al-Adl. “Gunmen stormed various security and military compounds simultaneously … and they also had suicide vests on,” Jabbari said, adding that the fighting continued for several hours. “The terrorists failed to succeed in achieving their goal of seizing the Guards headquarters in Chabahar and Rask,” Deputy Interior Minister Majid Mirahmadi told state TV. Ten security officers were injured in the fighting in the impoverished region, which has a predominantly Sunni Muslim population. Jabbari said the attack took place at a very “critical time” for Iran, coming days after its consulate in Damascus, Syria, was hit in a suspected Israeli missile strike for which Iran pledged revenge. Brigadier-General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in the IRGC’s Quds Force, and his deputy, General Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi, were killed in Monday’s attack. “Many questions will be asked about how this attack was able to be carried out at this time,” Jabbari said. Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 and is blacklisted by Iran as a “terror” group. The group claimed responsibility for an attack in December that killed 11 officers, one of the deadliest assaults in years, at a police station in Sistan-Baluchestan’s city of Rask, about 1,400km (875 miles) southwest of the capital, Tehran. It also said it was behind a strike on a police station in Rask that killed one officer on January 10. Later that month, Iran struck two bases of the group in Pakistan with missiles, prompting a rapid military riposte from Islamabad targeting what it said were separatist armed rebels in Iran. Jaish al-Adl says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for ethnic minority Baluchis in Shia-dominated Iran. It has claimed responsibility for several attacks in recent years on Iranian security forces in Sistan-Baluchestan. The area has long been plagued by unrest and the site of frequent clashes between Iranian security forces and Sunni fighters, as well as drug traffickers. Iran is a key transit route for narcotics smuggled from Afghanistan to the West and elsewhere. Adblock test (Why?)
US prosecutors spar with judge over order in Trump classified document case
United States prosecutors involved in the criminal indictment of Donald Trump in Florida have questioned a judge’s order that they indicate risks tipping the case in the former US president’s favour. Their 24-page filing was issued late on Tuesday, as part of an ongoing case looking into Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving office. In the filing, Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team of prosecutors rebuked Judge Aileen Cannon for ordering that instructions be provided to an eventual jury suggesting that Trump could have kept the classified documents as part of his “personal” record-keeping. The judge’s order appeared to be a hat tip to the defence’s argument that the Presidential Records Act (PRA) entitled Trump to keep the sensitive government documents, something Smith and his team have disputed. “That legal premise is wrong,” Smith and his colleagues wrote, adding that any jury instruction to that effect would “distort the trial”. The court filing was an unusual display of public discord between the prosecutors and the judge, who Trump nominated to the bench. Special Counsel Jack Smith has questioned a judge’s order that appears to lend credence to a Trump defence argument [Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo] Questions over judge Judge Cannon, who serves on the federal court in the Southern District of Florida, has previously faced scrutiny over decisions she has made in the long-running classified document case. In September 2022, for instance, she granted the Trump legal team’s request to have a “special master” appointed to filter through the classified documents retrieved from the former president’s home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. Legal experts decried the move as unprecedented, and it delayed the US Department of Justice from having full access to the documents as part of its investigation. An appeals court ultimately ended the special master’s review. In Tuesday’s court filing, meanwhile, Special Counsel Smith and his team argued that Judge Cannon’s order would not only colour a prospective jury’s perception of the facts, but also slow the case down significantly. No trial date has been set in the classified documents case. It was the first federal criminal indictment Trump faced as a result of Smith’s investigations. “Whatever the Court decides, it must resolve these crucial threshold legal questions promptly,” Smith and his colleagues wrote. “The failure to do so would improperly jeopardize the Government’s right to a fair trial.” Judge Aileen Cannon, seen here in a screenshot from her Senate confirmation hearings, has faced scrutiny for her handling of Trump’s legal proceedings [US Senate/AP Photo] Allegations of withholding documents The case began in 2021, shortly after Trump left office that January. According to the indictment, the National Archives and Records Administration attempted to retrieve classified documents it believed remained with the former president. But Trump and his allies allegedly refused to return the documents, instead attempting to conceal them in unsecured locations at his Mar-a-Lago estate, including in a bathroom and shower area. In March 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened a criminal investigation into the matter, and a grand jury subpoenaed Trump to return all the classified records. Special Counsel Smith, who was appointed by the US Justice Department that November, has accused Trump of obstructing that subpoena and other efforts to recuperate the documents, which contained national security secrets. The government ultimately recovered more than 300 classified documents from the Mar-a-Lago resort, where dozens of public events had taken place. Trump faces 40 felony charges in relation to the classified documents case. His aid Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago employee Carlos De Oliveira were also charged. Multiple legal battles The former president, however, has consistently denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty. As part of his defence, he argued that he had declassified the documents before leaving office, though audio recordings have since surfaced where he indicates otherwise. “As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Trump said in a piece of audio from 2021. Trump’s legal team has also raised the question of whether these documents fall in the realm of “personal” records under the Presidential Records Act. But in Tuesday’s court filings, Smith and his fellow prosecutors sought to quash that argument. “Trump has never represented to this Court that he in fact designated the classified documents as personal,” they wrote. “The reason is simple: he never did so.” Smith and his team also asserted that, by invoking the Presidential Records Act, Trump sought to make his actions “impervious” to judicial review. “It would be pure fiction to suggest that highly classified documents created by members of the intelligence community and military and presented to the President of the United States during his term in office were ‘purely private’,” the court filings said in one sharply-worded section. Trump is the subject of four separate criminal indictments, including the classified documents case. He has framed all four, however, as being the product of a politically motivated “witch hunt” designed to derail his re-election efforts in November. The first slated to go to trial is a state-level case in New York, concerning alleged hush-money payments during the 2016 presidential race. It is scheduled to start on April 15. On Wednesday, a New York judge rejected Trump’s attempt to further delay that trial. Adblock test (Why?)
Turkey’s election authority reinstates pro-Kurdish mayoral election winner
Election authority reverses ejection of Kurdish winner of mayoral race in city of Van in eastern Turkey. Turkey’s election authority has reinstated a pro-Kurdish mayoral election winner in the eastern city of Van after the annulment of his victory provoked clashes. The Supreme Election Board (YSK) announced on Wednesday that it has overturned a decision by the regional election commission in eastern Turkey to remove Abdullah Zeydan, the candidate of the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (DEM). The reversal is viewed as another boost for the Turkish opposition following Sunday’s local elections, which dealt a blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamic-oriented Justice and Development Party (AKP), after their wins last year in the presidential and parliamentary elections. Zeydan had garnered more than 55 percent of the vote in the municipal elections on Sunday, but the regional electoral commission claimed he was ineligible to stand due to a previous conviction, and handed the mayoral seat to a candidate from AKP who had won 27 percent of the vote. Zeydan had been arrested and jailed in 2016 after criticising the Turkish army’s air campaign against outlawed Kurdish fighters in the Kurdish-majority southeast. He was released in 2022. The removal provoked violent protests on Tuesday that lasted throughout the night across the province, which lies on Turkey’s eastern border with Iran. The authorities cracked down. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 89 people were detained, for joining unauthorised rallies and chanting slogans in praise of a “separatist terror organisation”, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that has been blacklisted by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. DEM has often been accused by the Turkish authorities of links to the PKK. The movement is the third-largest party in Turkey’s national parliament. However, on Wednesday, DEM said the YSK had decided to reinstate Zeydan as the mayor of Van as “a result of the resistance of the Kurdish people”. Kürt halkının, dostlarımızın ve demokratik kamuoyunun direnişi sonucunda Van Büyükşehir Belediyesi Eş Başkanımız Abdullah Zeydan’a mazbatasının verilmesine karar verilmiştir. Her Bijî Berxwedana Gelê Kurd! pic.twitter.com/EoZTIjrtCD — DEM Parti (@DEMGenelMerkezi) April 3, 2024 The YSK considered an appeal by DEM and ruled to reinstate Zeydan, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The decision was taken by a majority of the board’s members, the agency said. Over the years, Erdogan’s government has removed elected pro-Kurdish mayors from office for alleged links to Kurdish fighters and replaced them with state-appointed trustees. Besides the victory in Van, DEM also claimed the mayorships of other large towns in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast, including Diyarbakir, the region’s largest city. Before the election board’s decision to reinstate Zeydan, Istanbul’s re-elected mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, seen as a likely rival to Erdogan, called the events in Van a “total aberration”. “We will be following this meaningless practise of double standards from Van,” Imamoglu, whose party backed the DEM in its battle against the Van ruling, told a crowd of about 500 supporters gathered outside Istanbul’s main court after he was officially given a mandate to serve five more years. Adblock test (Why?)
Gaza ceasefire talks stall as Israel and Hamas dig in
Revived talks on a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appear to be making little progress, with the two sides showing few signs that they are ready to compromise on their demands. Israeli objections to the return of displaced residents to their homes in Gaza is a key issue holding up the negotiations, Qatari officials said on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Hamas said that it will not budge on its conditions to release captives it holds in the besieged and bombarded territory. Alongside the United States and Egypt, Qatar has been running behind-the-scenes talks in a bid to secure a truce and the release of Israeli captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails after nearly six months of war. “The return of the IDPs [internally displaced people] to their homes, which the Israelis didn’t agree to yet … is the main point we are stuck on,” Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani told a news conference in Doha. Another outstanding issue is the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released by Israel in exchange for each hostage freed by Hamas, Sheikh Mohammed said, noting however that he believed this “can be bridged”. However, Hamas’s senior political leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that his movement will stick to its conditions for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Palestinian group insists that an Israeli military withdrawal must happen before it releases the remaining captives taken in its assault on southern Israel on October 7. “We are committed to our demands: the permanent ceasefire, comprehensive and complete withdrawal of the enemy out of the Gaza Strip, the return of all displaced people to their homes, allowing all aid needed for our people in Gaza, rebuilding the Strip, lifting the blockade and achieving an honourable prisoner exchange deal,” Haniyeh said in a televised speech marking al-Quds (Jerusalem) Day. Israel has said it is interested only in a temporary truce to free the captives, while Hamas has said it will let them go only as part of a deal to permanently end the war. Sticking points Sheikh Mohammed said the major sticking points remained the same as those that stymied a deal during negotiations in Paris in February. Talks were set to resume in Cairo last Sunday, Egyptian TV channel Al-Qahera reported, two days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave approval for fresh negotiations. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for the failure in achieving a deal. In recorded comments shown at a Hezbollah meeting on Wednesday, Haniyeh said Israel “continues to procrastinate stubbornly, and does not respond to our fair demands for an end to the war and aggression”. The day before, Netanyahu’s office claimed, after an Israeli negotiating team had returned from another round of discussions in Cairo, that Hamas has hardened its stance. “In the framework of the talks, under useful Egyptian mediation, the mediators formulated an updated proposal for Hamas,” the premier’s office said. However, senior Hamas official Basem Naim said on Tuesday that the group had not been sent any new proposals. No effect The US said on Wednesday that it did not expect the Israeli strike that killed seven World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza to affect ceasefire talks. “The ceasefire and hostage negotiations are ongoing,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters in a briefing. “I wouldn’t anticipate any particular impact on those discussions as a result of the strike yesterday.” He said the incident was not a standalone in the conflict, in which too many aid workers have been killed. “It’s not the first time that this has happened and so yes, we’re frustrated by this,” Kirby said. United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Wednesday said the intergovernmental organisation had suspended movements at night in Gaza for at least 48 hours to evaluate security issues following the incident. The UN’s World Food Programme is continuing operations during the day, including daily efforts to send convoys to the north of Gaza “where people are dying,” Dujarric said. “As famine closes in we need humanitarian staff and supplies to be able to move freely and safely across the Gaza Strip,” he told reporters. Adblock test (Why?)
Outrage grows over Israel’s deadly attack on Gaza aid convoy
There is growing outrage around the world after Israeli air strikes killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) charity, as the country faces increased scrutiny over its conduct in the war on Gaza. WCK, one of two NGOs spearheading efforts to distribute aid brought by boat, said a “targeted Israeli strike” on Monday killed Australian, British, Palestinian, Polish and US-Canadian staff. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israeli forces “unintentionally” killed the aid workers and promised an inquiry. The military said on Wednesday it had committed a “grave mistake”. “It shouldn’t have happened,” military chief Herzi Halevi said in a video message as he blamed the strike on a “misidentification – at night during a war in very complex conditions”. Several of Israel’s key allies have expressed outrage at the deaths and called for an independent investigation into the attack. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had spoken to Netanyahu and conveyed that his country was “outraged” by the “completely unacceptable” death of the Australian worker, Zomi Frankcom. Albanese said he raised the importance of full accountability and transparency, and that Netanyahu had committed to a comprehensive inquiry. Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the attack and Netanyahu’s subsequent reaction have caused “understandable anger”. “Mr. Prime Minister Netanyahu, Mr. Ambassador Livne the vast majority of Poles showed full solidarity with Israel after the Hamas attack,” Tusk said in a post on social media platform X. “Today you are putting this solidarity to a really hard test. The tragic attack on volunteers and your reaction arouse understandable anger.” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the strike “unconscionable”, adding it was “an inevitable result of the way the war is being conducted”. “It demonstrates yet again the urgent need for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages, and the expansion of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” he said in a speech to the UN General Assembly. The UN says the war has killed almost 200 aid workers, including more than 175 members of the UN staff. Earlier, US President Joe Biden said he was “outraged” and demanded that Israel’s investigation into the strikes “must be swift, it must bring accountability, and its findings must be made public”. He said Israel had not “done enough to protect civilians”. The US, which gives $3.8bn in annual military assistance to its longtime ally Israel, has so far resisted calls to condition any arms transfers amid the war in Gaza. Asked on Tuesday whether incidents like the killing of WCK staff gave the US pause in light of its recent approval of a new weapons package worth $2.5bn, Secretary of State Blinken said Washington had “a longstanding commitment to Israel’s security and to help it ensure its ability to defend itself”. Canada and the United Kingdom have also condemned the attack and called for a thorough investigation. A Palestinian inspects a vehicle in which World Central Kitchen employees were killed in an Israeli attack [Ahmed Zakot/Reuters] The attack on the aid workers comes amid a growing hunger crisis in the coastal enclave, with a recent UN-backed report saying famine in northern Gaza was imminent. Last week, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza without delay. Nevertheless, Israel continues to hinder the work of the NGOs attempting to distribute food aid, including the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from accessing northern Gaza, where hunger is at its extreme. Israel has accused UNRWA employees of participating in Hamas’s October 7 attacks, leading to a host of countries suspending funding to the agency. However, Israel has yet to provide evidence to support its claim, and several donors, including the European Union, Canada and Australia, have resumed funding. An investigation by Al Jazeera’s Sanad Verification Agency found that the Israeli army attacks on the convoy were intentional, based on research using open-source information, witness testimonies, and images from the site. At least 32,916 people have been killed, mostly women and children, in the Israeli assault on Gaza since October 7, according to Palestinian authorities. Adblock test (Why?)
One in 10 Afghan children under five malnourished, 45 percent stunted: UN
Roya carefully spoon-feeds her daughter fortified milk in a ward for malnourished children, praying the tiny infant will avoid a condition that stalks one in 10 children in Afghanistan after decades of conflict. The nine-month-old had been hospitalised three times already in remote Badakhshan province because her mother had trouble breastfeeding. “She has gained a bit of weight. She has a bit of a glow,” 35-year-old Roya said, cradling Bibi Aseya at the Baharak district hospital. “She drinks milk as well, but she still doesn’t smile,” she added. “I would stay awake day and night. Now I can sleep.” Poor nutrition is rife in a country plagued by economic, humanitarian and climate crises two and a half years since the Taliban returned to power. Ten percent of children under five in Afghanistan are malnourished and 45 percent are stunted, meaning they are small for their age in part due to poor nutrition, according to the United Nations. Afghanistan has one of the world’s highest rates of stunting in children under five, said Daniel Timme, communications chief for UNICEF. “If not detected and treated within the first two years of a child’s life, the condition [stunting] becomes irreversible, and the affected child will never be able to develop mentally and physically to its full potential,” he said. “This is not only tragic for the individual child but must have a severe negative impact on the development of the whole country when more than two out of five children are affected.” A plunge in international aid and medical professionals leaving the country have weakened an already vulnerable health system, and women and children are particularly impacted, NGOs said. Hasina, 22, and her husband, Nureddin, are volunteers at one of the hundreds of community-based health posts supported by UNICEF in Badakhshan, a mountainous region that borders Pakistan, Tajikistan and China. The couple is an initial lifeline for the more than 1,000 residents of Gandanchusma village. “We gather women and children and weigh the babies. If they are malnourished, we support them and refer them to the clinic,” a 30-minute walk away, Hasina said. In warmer weather, she added, she sees more cases of malnutrition due to water-borne illnesses. Nearly 80 percent of people in Afghanistan lack sufficient access to clean water, according to the UN Development Programme. Aisha, who asked that her real name not be used, had a clean water pump installed at her home in the Badakhshan town of Khairabad through a UNICEF project. But she said the women around her still lack access to information. “The women who had some education could boil water, provide medicine or make homemade medicines, but the women who did not have any education were less capable,” she said. In a recent report warning of the frailty of the Afghan health sector, Human Rights Watch underscored the outsized impact on women because of restrictions on their movement, education and employment. Aisha and her peers share information but worry that doing so is not enough to combat their web of challenges, both social and economic, that contribute to poor nutrition and stunting. “At the village level, it is difficult for us because we have many illiterate mothers,” another Khairabad resident, Amina, said. “We need more health and community workers to raise awareness among the people, distribute medicines for malnourished children and provide family planning and healthcare advice.” Adblock test (Why?)
‘No means no’: How Portugal resisted the far right, but only just
When the March elections in Portugal saw the hard-right political party, Chega, quadruple its parliamentary representation from 12 seats to 50, one conclusion appeared overwhelmingly obvious. Overnight, it looked as if Europe’s most westerly country had become the continent’s latest front line between populist, ultra-conservative parties enjoying surging support and more traditional, centrist formations facing crumbling voter backing. The Chega electoral earthquake – and the narrowest of victories for the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition over the incumbent Socialists by just 80 seats to 78 – showed how voter support for the two main parties had slumped to its lowest level since 1985. But when it comes to running the country, albeit with much shakier support than they would like, for now Portugal’s long-standing political establishment remains at the helm. On April 2, Luis Montenegro, whose conservative Social Democratic Party (PSD) constitutes AD’s principle component, is set to be sworn in as leader of a new minority government, and he will do so without counting on default parliamentary support from the hard-right “new kid on the political block”. “Governing under the current circumstances is anticipated to be challenging,” warns Sofia Serra-Silva, a political scientist at the University of Lisbon’s Social Science Institute. “The new government will navigate a fragmented parliament, with the Socialist Party strongly established as the opposition and Chega applying pressure from the right. For the AD, securing a simple majority will be a complex task.” So, while the PSD celebrates its return to power for the first time since 2015, the question of how a minority centre-right government will successfully legislate its policies – while avoiding a power-sharing agreement with Chega – will be central to the country’s political future. That dilemma, in turn, overlaps with a second, more deep-rooted issue: How will a political establishment with an apparently chronic case of withering electoral support handle Chega’s seemingly relentless rise in the polls? Supporters of the far-right Chega party react to the first exit polls during the general election in Lisbon, Portugal, on March 10, 2024 [Pedro Rocha/Reuters] ‘Cordon sanitaire’ unlikely Both predicaments have parallels across Europe, but Serra-Silva argues that the idea of a “true cordon sanitaire, meaning complete non-cooperation” – as is the case in Germany, for example, between the traditional parties and the hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) – “in Portugal seems unlikely”. “Despite the centre-right party leader’s campaign assertion of no coalition with Chega, internal opinions and past collaborations, like Chega’s support for PSD in Azores, suggest a more nuanced stance.” “The ‘no means no’ statement [by Montenegro] referred only to cabinet formation, not precluding other forms of cooperation.” Meanwhile, grassroots voter-level concern is rising in some quarters about how Chega’s ideas are becoming increasingly mainstream, paralleling their sharp rise in political influence. “I am concerned because of the election result but also because I think the attitude of Portuguese people towards these kinds of politics is changing a bit,” says Alexandre Pinto, a language teacher in Lisbon. “The taboo towards displaying racist or xenophobic attitudes is disappearing and the end result is Chega. Of course, these things don’t change abruptly. But perhaps what was hidden has now become more open.” While Serra-Silva says a clear-cut cordon sanitaire in parliamentary politics is very unlikely, Pinto argues that on a practical level, some kind of agreement is needed between the traditional parties to handle the rise of a party as notoriously volatile as Chega. “I wouldn’t call it a cordon sanitaire – the Socialists have already had that discussion. But when it comes to solid policies for defending democratic values, I believe understanding between the two traditional parties must be reached, because, basically, we don’t know what Chega will do.” The events in Portugal’s parliament last week, where Chega backtracked on an agreement with the PSD over their votes for parliamentary president and vice-president – positions of largely symbolic importance – highlight the complexities the government faces in navigating agreements, Serra-Silva says, and “showcase how the far-right has disrupted Portugal’s traditionally stable two-party system”. On the other hand, Serra-Silva argues that historically, finding common ground on numerous policy issues for the two main parties, the PSD and Socialists, has proved possible. She points to a Socialist offer of support on March 19 for a rectification of the 2025 State Budget in order to prioritise the welfare of key public-sector workers as one such area where potential new deals could be struck. According to Serra-Silva, Luis Montenegro’s future strategy hints at bypassing parliament when necessary and governing by decree, “reflecting a practical response to legislative hurdles”. “However, this approach has its limitations, as evidenced by the recent difficulties encountered during the election of the Parliament’s president,” Serra-Silva says. “Given these constraints, the question arises: Will Montenegro seek support from Chega or the Socialists?” Portugal’s Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Democratic Alliance (AD) leader Luis Montenegro reacts following the result of the general election in Lisbon, Portugal, on March 11, 2024 [Pedro Nunes/Reuters] Can minds meet? Meanwhile, the idea of using persuasion and discussion to enable society to absorb the shock waves caused by the far right also has its grassroots supporters. Among them is Dr Francisco Miranda Rodrigues, president of one of Portugal’s top associations of mental health professionals, the Ordem dos Psicologos Portugueses. “If we want more progressive ideas to have a place in the future, we have to deal with a context in which there are a lot of people who don’t think in a progressive way,” he argues. “If we just fight this, rather than talking to other people who think in a different way, we are doing just the opposite of what we want to happen. We are just adding more fuel to the fire, and we are going to render both sides more extreme.” His idea that it is by no means impossible for mainstream society to engage in dialogue with Chega voters – and perhaps return them to mainstream politics in the process – was already in circulation
Portugal’s minority government takes office, faces fragmented parliament
With just 80 seats in 230-seat parliament, the government will need the support of the opposition to pass legislation. Portugal’s new centre-right minority government led by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro has been sworn in amid uncertainty about its long-term viability as it faces a highly fragmented parliament. The Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition won the March 10 election by a slim margin over the outgoing Socialist Party (PS). Montenegro said on Tuesday that the government was determined to govern until the end of its four-and-a-half-year mandate and promised to act with “humility, patriotic spirit and capacity for dialogue”, while demanding the same from the opposition. “The [expected] investiture in parliament [next week] can only mean the opposition will respect the principle of letting us work and execute the government’s programme,” he said. With just 80 seats in the 230-seat legislature, the AD will need the support of either the far-right Chega party, which quadrupled its parliamentary representation to 50 members of parliament, or the centre-left PS, which secured 78 seats, to pass legislation. Chega, an anti-immigration party whose fast rise reflects a political tilt towards right-wing populism across Europe, has demanded a government role or a long-term agreement to support the AD, but Montenegro has repeatedly refused to negotiate. Speaker elected with PS support Montenegro’s precarious position was exposed last week when Chega rejected his candidate for parliamentary speaker, who was ultimately elected with PS help. The PS warned, however, that such support was a one-off to unblock parliamentary activities. Portugal, a country of 10.3 million people, is receiving more than 22 billion euros ($23.6bn) through 2026 from the EU to fuel growth and enable economic reforms. The government has promised tax reductions for families and companies, and higher pensions. It has also promised to quickly address shortcomings in public healthcare, especially long waiting lists for treatment, and a housing crisis, as well as resolve simmering disputes with police and teachers over pay and work conditions. The government can push some of its agenda through parliament with opposition support but the key piece of legislation – and its first big test – will be the 2025 budget. Failure to approve a budget has in the past habitually resulted in early elections in Portugal, and it is likely that the AD will be forced to negotiate the spending plan, and possibly other measures, with the PS. “The PS … must be clear about its attitude: be a democratic opposition or a blockade,” Montenegro said. Adblock test (Why?)