‘We want Sonko’: Senegal opposition boosted after leaders freed before vote
The release of firebrand Sonko and his right-hand man Faye could help opposition chances in the March 24 election to replace outgoing President Macky Sall. Celebrations broke out among Senegal’s opposition supporters after two of their top leaders were freed from jail 10 days before the country’s delayed presidential election. Firebrand politician Ousmane Sonko and his close aide Bassirou Diomaye Faye were released late on Thursday in a move that could boost the opposition’s chance to win in the March 24 election and replace outgoing President Macky Sall. Sonko, the charismatic anti-establishment politician who has won over crowds of youngsters by promising to fight corruption, had been behind bars since July, serving a two-year sentence for corrupting the youth. He was barred from running for the presidential race due to a separate case involving defamation charges. His supporters maintain Sonko’s legal woes were an outcome of efforts to keep him away from competing in the elections. Excluded from the presidential race, Sonko urged his supporters to vote for Faye, a lesser-known politician and deputy of his now-dissolved PASTEF party. “Ousmane is Diomaye,” was the message his supporters spread from prison. Faye was also in jail but on administrative detention — a state of arrest that does not bar him from contesting in the election. “Sonko represents hope for the entire nation,” said Cheick Diara, a young Senegalese man cheering in the streets of Dakar on his release. “Look what is happening around the youth, they want change – we want Sonko in power,” he said. Bassirou Diomaye Faye was picked by Ousmane Sonko to replace him in the presidential race [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters] Faye’s mission is now to bank on Sonko’s popularity to win the country’s top job. Dressed in a sky-blue tunic and a white cap, he was welcomed as a hero by a crowd gathered in front of Cap-Manuel prison in the capital Dakar as the news of his release started circulating. “The way from prison to the presidential palace is now paved,” said human rights activist Alioune Tine, noting that their release will re-energise the opposition front. “President Sall thought he could neutralise their popularity by putting them in prison, but he understood that it wasn’t working – he was forced to release them,” added Tine, who held a key role in mediating between Sall and the opposition following Sall’s attempt to delay the vote, which was originally set for February but then postponed by the outgoing president. Faye’s programme includes the establishment of a new national currency and the renegotiation of the country’s mining and energy contracts between the government and private conglomerates. Central to his campaign is also a review of the relations with former colonial power France whose economic interests in the country are perceived by some in the opposition as a form of neo-colonialism. He has also promised to tackle youth unemployment: Three out of 10 Senegalese aged 18 to 35 are jobless. The crisis is further exacerbated by the speed at which the population is growing – it doubles every 25 years, according to Afro Barometer data. “This is a radical youth for a radical change who wants to see a new way of doing politics,” said Hawa Bo, associate director of the Open Society Foundation. “They want to break with clientelism, endemic corruption and lack of accountability,” she added. The anti-establishment presidential hopeful’s election could have significant implications for the region’s economy and the country’s plan to become an oil producer by the end of 2024. Senegal is the region’s number one recipient of foreign aid, including a $1.8bn loan from the International Monetary Fund. Supporters surround the car of Senegalese opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was released from prison along with the presidential candidate he is backing in the March 24 election, Bassirou Diomaye Faye [Zohra Bensemra/Reuters] Meanwhile, Sall’s governing Alliance of the Republic party has bet on Amadou Ba, a former prime minister. He ran the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning from 2013 to 2019 and was the country’s top diplomat between 2019 and 2020. His victory would mean policy continuity with the previous government, something that would likely reassure foreign investors. Western allies are also closely monitoring developments in Senegal after months of protests have rocked Senegal’s image as a rare bastion of stability in a region plagued by military coups. The latest round of demonstrations took place after Sall postponed the elections originally planned for February. The decision plunged Senegal into uncertainty with critics saying the move amounted to a constitutional coup for Sall to get a third mandate. Presidents in Senegal have a two-term limit. The Constitutional Court overruled the delay and elections were finally set for March 24. In an attempt to quell tensions, Sall passed a controversial amnesty law – under which Sonko and Faye were released on Thursday – that critics have said is an attempt to make a clean exit from power and avoid being targeted once he is out of office. Sall’s second term was marked by restrictions on civil liberties, a ban on demonstrations and internet shutdowns. At least 40 people were killed and more than a thousand political opponents ended in jail since 2021, according to Human Rights Watch. Adblock test (Why?)
India rejects US concern over citizenship law as ‘misplaced, unwarranted’
New Delhi’s strong response follows the US State Department saying it will ‘closely monitor’ the implementation of the religion-based law. India has rejected comments by a United States official raising concern over the implementation of a religion-based citizenship law as “misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted”. On Monday, just weeks before the general election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government announced rules to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which makes getting Indian citizenship easier for non-Muslim refugees from three Muslim-majority South Asian nations: Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The move sparked sporadic protests with critics, including Muslims groups and opposition parties, saying the law discriminates against Muslims and undermines India’s secular constitution. On Tuesday, a US Department of State spokesperson expressed concern about the law and said Washington is “closely monitoring how this act will be implemented”. “Respect for religious freedom and equal treatment under the law for all communities are fundamental democratic principles,” the spokesperson added. In response, a spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said the CAA was an “internal matter” and the US State Department’s statement was “misplaced, misinformed and unwarranted”. Spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said the law was “in keeping with India’s inclusive traditions and our longstanding commitment to human rights” and “grants a safe haven to persecuted minorities”. “The CAA is about giving citizenship, not about taking away citizenship. It addresses the issue of statelessness, provides human dignity and supports human rights,” he told reporters in New Delhi. “Lectures by those who have a limited understanding of India’s pluralistic traditions and the region’s post-partition history are best not attempted,” he said, referring to the colonial-era division of the Indian subcontinent to create the state of Pakistan in 1947. The United Nations, which also expressed concerns about the CAA’s enforcement, had called the CAA “fundamentally discriminatory in nature” when it was passed in parliament in 2019. Modi’s government did not implement the law that year as nationwide protests broke out over its passage. In eastern parts of New Delhi, Muslim neighbourhoods were attacked for days, and dozens of people were killed. Activists and human rights groups said the law, combined with a proposed national register of citizens, could discriminate against India’s 200 million Muslims – the world’s third largest Muslim population. Some fear the government might remove the citizenship of Muslims without documents in some border states. Rights groups also note the law leaves out Muslim minority groups like the Shias from India’s neighbouring Muslim-majority countries while also excluding countries where Muslims are a minority, like the Rohingya in Myanmar. On Thursday, Amnesty International said the CAA was “a blow to Indian constitutional values and international standards” and demanded its repeal. “The Citizenship Amendment Act is a bigoted law that legitimises discrimination on the basis of religion and should never have been enacted in the first place. Its operationalisation is a poor reflection on the Indian authorities as they fail to listen to a multitude of voices critical of the CAA,” said Aakar Patel, chairperson of the board at Amnesty International India. Next week, India’s top court will hear nearly 200 petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the law implemented before the general election, local media reports said on Friday. India is expected on Saturday to announce the date of the vote, scheduled to be held in April and May, in which Modi is seeking a third straight term. Adblock test (Why?)
Fast food giant McDonald’s suffers global tech outage
‘System failure’ shutters some restaurants for hours, leading to complaints from customers on social media. Fast food giant McDonald’s has experienced systems failures in several countries that led to some of its restaurants being shuttered for hours, but ruled out cybersecurity issues as a potential cause of the problem. The United States-based chain said the “technology outage” on Friday affected operations in outlets around the world, including Australia, Japan and the United Kingdom. McDonald’s in Japan wrote on X that “operations are temporarily out at many of our stores nationwide” and called the incident a “system failure”. Patrik Hjelte, owner of several McDonald’s restaurants in central Sweden, told local newspaper Nya Wermlands Tidningen that all of the chain’s “restaurants are connected to a global network and that is what’s messed up”. It was not immediately clear how many stores were affected globally. Outage tracking website Downdetector reported a spike in problems with the McDonald’s app, while media outlets reported that customers from Australia to the UK had complained of issues with ordering. The fast food chain has about 40,000 restaurants worldwide, with more than 14,000 stores in the US. In February, it reported that it had missed its first quarterly sales target in nearly four years, citing Israel’s war on Gaza as a factor. The slump came after customers in Muslim-majority countries called for a boycott of the chain in response to its Israeli franchisee donating thousands of free meals to the Israeli military. Earlier this month, Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram also faced technical issues that disrupted global services for hundreds of thousands of users for more than two hours. Adblock test (Why?)
Russian elections set to make Putin longest-serving leader
NewsFeed People in Russia and the territories it has annexed are voting in a three-day election that is set to make President Vladimir Putin country’s longest-serving leader. Al Jazeera’s Dorsa Jabbari has been at a polling station in Moscow. Published On 15 Mar 202415 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
‘Russian Time’: How Burkina Faso fell for the charms of Moscow
In the heart of Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, a poster advertising free Russian language courses has been attached to the large, iconic model of a globe on a road intersection which locals refer to as the “United Nations roundabout”. In the 1980s, the Soviet Union (USSR) had a strong presence in Africa through diplomatic representation and cultural centres, including in Burkina Faso. Three decades since Russia left large parts of Africa amid the breakup of the Soviet Union, however, signs of its return are visible in Burkina Faso, where the capital’s walls are adorned with pro-Russian graffiti, and Russian flags fly in the streets. “Something has changed, and it is eye-catching. You can feel it immediately, walking the streets and the roundabouts,” said a resident who asked to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions from the government, which has been controlled by the military since a coup in January 2022. In the aftermath of that coup, which overthrew the elected president, Roch Marc Christian Kabore, Russian flags began to appear during anti-French protests. At a time when Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is seeking re-election for a fifth term as leader of the country this weekend, is no longer welcome in many parts of the world following the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow is seen as a friend in Ouagadougou. A view of the United Nations roundabout in Ouagadougou on November 5, 2020 [Olympia de Maismont/AFP] A football tournament, a graffiti festival, a photo exhibition, film screenings, a public conference, and a daily radio show called “Russian Time”, during which hosts speak in a mixture of French and Russian, are some of the events that take place in Ouagadougou every day, as local frustration for former coloniser France has been exploited by Russia to secure influence in the country. Organisations such as the African Initiative – which describes itself as “an association of Burkinabè and Russians whose aim is to strengthen friendship and mutual understanding, peace and harmony between the peoples of Burkina Faso and Russia” – and Russia’s cultural centre, The Russian House, are working to promote Russia’s image in the country. This charm offensive began in early 2022 and has gained ground significantly since a grand Russia-Africa summit was held in Saint Petersburg at the end of July 2023. During that summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to send aid to Burkina Faso and duly followed up on January 26 this year with an official donation of 25,000 tonnes of wheat as part of that promise. In spite of France Dissatisfaction with French influence has grown on two fronts. One of these is cultural. One researcher who did not wish to be named explained that many people in Burkina Faso do not identify with what they see as the West European country’s progressive policies, such as same-sex marriage, and see less permissive Russian attitudes as more in line with their own. “Russia is popular in Burkina Faso today because people are fed up with French politics,” explained a Burkinabe university professor and researcher who also requested anonymity. “The Russians sensed that France poorly negotiated its turn with Africa. It has arrived in a country in the throes of a divorce with France,” the researcher added. “In the case of Burkina Faso, Russia is making significant diplomatic gains by repositioning itself in areas that have traditionally been Western strongholds. And the best part is, it can achieve this at a lower cost,” said Newton Ahmed Barry, a Burkinabe journalist currently in exile in France. Bags of Russian wheat donated to Burkina Faso are displayed at an official donation ceremony in Ouagadougou on January 26, 2024 [Fanny Naoro-Kabre/AFP] Like Mali and Niger – two neighbouring countries led by military governments – Burkina Faso’s primary complaint against the former coloniser, however, is its inability to curb threats from armed groups in the Sahel region since 2013. France had been providing military support to Sahel countries in this fight, with troops deployed in Mali since 2013, in Niger since 2014, and special forces that have been based in Ouagadougou since 2009. Despite this, armed groups have remained powerful, and protests filled with Russian flags and images of Vladimir Putin took place in Ouagadougou in January 2023 to demand the departure of the French military and its ambassador. Russia has tried to step into the void. Under the leadership of Captain Ibrahim Traore, who took power in a second coup in September 2022, Burkina Faso has strengthened its military cooperation with Russia, seeking support from Moscow in its fight against armed groups. “It is an official and assumed option to make Russia the partner, replacing all other partners, namely, Westerners and mainly France,” Barry said. He added that the move is not a “diversification of partnerships”, but rather a clear choice to rely on Russia to equip the army and protect the regime – similar to Russia’s involvement in Syria, the Central African Republic and Mali. In November 2023, the first group of Russian soldiers landed in the capital city of Burkina Faso, followed months later by another group of about 100 Russian military advisers. A ‘laboratory’ for Russian expansion Since then, the signs of a shift from French to Russian influence have become increasingly apparent. In Ouagadougou, large French-owned companies like the telecom giant Orange or the brewer Brakina are still present. But, apart from these businesses, significant changes are happening politically, diplomatically and, lately, increasingly culturally. These “influence initiatives” recall the ones in the Central African Republic (CAR), where Russia, through the Wagner mercenary groupexp, anded its influence in the country in 2018 and, from there, onto other countries in the region, such as Mali. Observers refer to the CAR as a “laboratory” for expanding Russian influence in sub-Saharan Africa through Wagner. While Wagner has no current official presence in Burkina Faso, they say this process is being repeated there, too. “Burkina is becoming the laboratory of the post-Prigozhin Russian presence, where the dominant actor is the Russian state,” Maxime Audinet,
Al-Shabab fighters killed as overnight siege of Mogadishu hotel ends
Storming of hotel near Somalia’s presidential palace highlights resilience of the al-Qaeda affiliate. A 13-hour siege of a popular hotel near government buildings in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, has ended after the al-Shabab fighters who had taken control of the building were killed by security forces. “All the terrorist gunmen were killed, and the situation has returned to normal now,” police officer Abdirahim Yusuf told the Agence France-Presse news agency on Friday. “The security forces are carrying out a thorough clearance and investigations.” He didn’t mention how many fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked group were killed. Fighters had stormed the SYL Hotel in a hail of bullets late on Thursday, and al-Shabab claimed responsibility in a brief statement. The attack on the hotel, popular with government officials, demonstrated the group’s continued ability to strike the capital despite a major military offensive by the internationally backed federal government and local clan militias, supported by an African Union (AU) mission and United States air strikes. As part of the attack, a suicide bomber drove a car loaded with explosives in front of the hotel, killing at least five people, the German Press Agency dpa reported. “As far as we know, one terrorist, three hotel security officers and two members of the security services were killed in the attack,” police spokesman Qasim Ahmed Roble said on Friday. Omar Mahmood, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said it was a “highly significant attack that shatters a sense of calm in Mogadishu”. “It also serves as a signal from al-Shabab that despite much heralded efforts by this government to weaken them, the group remains active and resilient and even able to hit the government close to home,” Mahmood added. The SYL Hotel has been the target of several al-Shabab attacks despite being in a high-security area of the city due to its location opposite the presidential palace. Somali security officers take positions on the rooftop at a section of the SYL Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, on March 15, 2024 [Feisal Omar/Reuters] Strong presence Al-Shabab has been waging war against the Somali government for more than 16 years. The armed group was born out of Somalia’s many years of anarchy after a 1991 civil war. Over time, an AU-led force with the backing of the US and other countries pushed the group out of Mogadishu. Since then, al-Shabab has been battling the government and the AU-mandated peacekeeping mission as it seeks to establish a new administration based on its interpretation of Islamic law. It retains a strong presence in rural Somalia and has carried out numerous attacks against political, security and civilian targets, including in Mogadishu. In August 2022, 21 people were killed and more than 100 injured in a 30-hour siege on the Hayat Hotel in the capital. Two months later, 100 people were killed and 300 were wounded in twin car bombings in Mogadishu. In February this year, at least 10 people were killed in multiple attacks in a crowded market in Mogadishu. That same month, the group claimed responsibility for an attack on the General Gordon military base in Mogadishu, which killed several people, including four Emirati soldiers and a Bahraini military officer. Al-Shabab sees the United Arab Emirates as an “enemy” of Islamic law for backing the Somali government in battling the armed group. It has also carried out attacks in neighbouring Kenya in retaliation for Nairobi’s provision of troops and material to the AU force in Somalia. Adblock test (Why?)
Why Putin is desperate for a big election win
For many, the outcome of the Russian presidential election, scheduled to take place between March 15 and 17, is already known. President Vladimir Putin is facing little competition from the other candidates on the ballot after the election commission barred any challenger who could have garnered some public support from running. Yekaterina Duntsova, a former TV journalist, who in November announced her intention to run, was disqualified shortly after submitting her application; her candidacy had attracted too much public attention and interest for the Kremlin’s liking. Boris Nadezhdin, a liberal politician, who had called for the end of the war in Ukraine, was also not allowed to run, after showing the potential to attract the anti-Putin vote. Putin clearly does not want his election victory to be called into question and would like to see a landslide win that would give him the mandate to continue his policies, including what he calls “the special military operation” in Ukraine. A landslide victory would “prove” Russian society fully supports his war and enable him to take unpopular measures, including announcing a second wave of mobilisation. Putin’s plan is likely to amass enough troops to launch a new major offensive, break through the Ukrainian defences, and take Kharkov, Odesa and perhaps even Kyiv. Then he hopes Donald Trump would come to power in the US and negotiate and sign a peace deal on Russian terms. The reason why the Kremlin is so desperate for a big win in the presidential election is because it realises the majority of the Russian population is not too enthusiastic about the war. Currently, all official pollsters in the country report in their surveys high support for the war (about 70 percent). But their method of polling involves the narrow question “Do you support the special military operation?” Given the passing of legislation criminalising criticism of the Russian military and the detention and imprisonment of many who have dared openly declare their opposition to the war, few respondents would be willing to say “no” and risk getting in trouble. The Kremlin knows that. Independent pollsters, like the Chronicles Project, take this fear into account and add more questions to detect public sentiment, such as “Do you support the end of the operation?” and “Do you support the top federal budget priority should be the army”. This approach reveals that the “consistent supporters of war” are just 17 percent of those polls. Among them are undoubtedly, civil servants and people employed by the military-industrial complex, which is now receiving large government orders and driving some of the country’s short-term economic growth. If you look at the Telegram channels of the leading “war correspondents” – pro-government bloggers who write about the war – the dominant theme in their messages and posts is not the victories of the Russian troops, the effectiveness of Russian weapons or even the constant criticism of the poor state of affairs in the Russian army, the corruption, and so on. Rather, it is their disdain for the perceived public indifference to the war. These bloggers constantly complain about ordinary Russians displaying little interest in developments on the battlefield and even sometimes hostility towards the participants in the “special operation”. Indeed, the majority of Russians – who may answer “yes” to a question on whether they support the war – generally try not to think about the conflict or get involved in politics at all. Many of them consider the war inevitable and feel they cannot do anything about it. This is, no doubt, a reflection of what psychologists call “learned helplessness” – the result of decades of living under oppressive regimes. This silent and passive obedience – a mode of survival – is very often mistaken for support for Putin’s regime and the war. At the same time, there is a large group, roughly 20 percent, who are openly against the war and Putin’s regime. These are people with democratic and anti-war convictions. In February and March 2022, they took to the streets to demonstrate their opposition to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. About 20,000 people were detained across the country, which reflects the scope and scale of these demonstrations. The extent of anti-Putin sentiment was also made apparent by the unprecedented attendance of the farewell for opposition politician Alexey Navalny, who died in prison in February. Tens of thousands of people came to say goodbye and lay flowers on the grave of a man who had dedicated his entire political career to fighting Putin’s regime. By contrast, the funerals of prominent pro-war figures, such as Wagner mercenary company founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a plane crash in August, and Vladen Tatarsky, a well-known “war correspondent” assassinated in Saint Petersburg in April last year, did not draw such crowds. This group of opposition-minded citizens has now been called to challenge Putin at the polls. Members of the Russian opposition, including Navalny’s widow Yulia, have encouraged people to show up at the polling stations and either vote for any of the other candidates on the ballot or to spoil it. The idea is to shrink Putin’s expected victory of 80 or 90 percent to, say, 45-55 percent. The incumbent would still win but such a large protest vote would demonstrate to the Kremlin and the political elite that he does not really have the kind of legitimacy he claims. Is this a viable strategy? In principle, the inert majority tends to ignore elections. Those who do show up, will likely cast a vote for Putin not because they support everything he does, but because for them, he is a symbol of stability and the only hope that the situation will improve. It is still quite difficult for the apolitical majority to make a direct logical connection between the president, his policies and the deterioration of the situation in Russia. They tend to associate their standard and circumstances of living directly with local authorities, at most with the governors. Putin personally is always above the fray.
Israeli forces accused of new massacre of people waiting for Gaza aid
NewsFeed Witnesses say Israeli helicopters and tanks opened fire on crowds of desperately hungry people waiting for aid in north Gaza, where Israeli forces have repeatedly been accused of attacking aid seekers. Published On 15 Mar 202415 Mar 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 161
At least 20 Palestinians have been killed and more than 150 injured in Gaza after Israel attacked a crowd of people waiting for humanitarian assistance. Here’s how things stand on Friday, March 15, 2024: Fighting and humanitarian crisis OpenArms, an aid ship bound for Gaza is close to the coast, according to MarineTraffic.com data. The aid ship departed from Cyprus on Tuesday, towing a barge containing about 200 tonnes of flour, rice and protein. Separately, at least 20 Palestinians were killed and more than 150 injured in northern Gaza City on Thursday, after Israel attacked a crowd of people waiting for humanitarian assistance. Mohammed Ghurab, director of emergency services at a hospital in northern Gaza, reportedly said on Thursday that people were wounded by gunshots at the Kuwait Roundabout in Gaza City. He told the AFP news agency that there were “direct shots by the occupation forces” on people waiting for a food truck. Meanwhile, according to a Reuters report, Hamas has submitted a new Gaza ceasefire proposal that includes the release of Israeli captives in exchange for freedom for Palestinian prisoners, 100 of whom are serving life sentences. In a post on X, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Hamas was “continuing to hold to unrealistic demands”, adding that a new update will be released on Saturday. The Prime Minister’s Office this evening: Hamas is continuing to hold to unrealistic demands. An update on the issue will be submitted to the War Cabinet and the Security Cabinet tomorrow. — Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) March 15, 2024 Regional tensions President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said on Friday that Egypt is pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, to increase the amount of aid entering the Strip and to allow displaced people in the south of the enclave to move to the north. El-Sisi also warned against an Israeli incursion into the city of Rafah, where an estimated 1.5 million people are sheltering close to Gaza’s border with Egypt. US Senator Chuck Schumer called for new elections in Israel on Thursday, calling the “extremist” government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “obstacles to peace”. Israeli ambassador Michael Herzog responded, saying that Israel’s “democratic ally” should not comment on the country’s “domestic political scene”. On Friday, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini thanked Australia for becoming the latest country to restore funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. Violence in the occupied West Bank Armed Israeli settlers carried out attacks in the occupied West Bank on Friday, setting a car on fire and raiding a school, according to local media reports. Israeli military vehicles entered the West Bank city of Tulkarem where three Palestinians were arrested, the Wafa news agency reported on Friday. Israeli forces also raided the nearby town of Bal’a, north of the city. Israeli forces have also arrested a Palestinian man during a raid on the town of Arraba, south of Jenin, according to local media. Adblock test (Why?)
Australia to unfreeze UNRWA funding as Israel attacks Gaza aid seekers
Australia to restore $6m in funding to embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees and pledges additional Gaza aid. Australia says it will restore funding to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees weeks after it lost millions of dollars in international support following allegations by Israel that some of its staff in the Gaza Strip were involved in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Friday that the country was “unpausing” funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), refuting Israel’s accusations that 450 members of the agency’s staff had participated in the attacks in southern Israel that sparked the current war. Australia is lifting the pause on funding for UNRWA following steps to strengthen the integrity of UNRWA operations. pic.twitter.com/RD5FhRH7B2 — Senator Penny Wong (@SenatorWong) March 15, 2024 “The best available current advice from agencies and the Australian government lawyers is that UNRWA is not a terrorist organisation,” Wong told reporters in Adelaide while she announced a new aid package. As well as reinstating $6m in stalled funding for UNRWA, Australia has pledged an additional $2.6m to UNICEF, the UN’s agency for children, to provide urgent services in Gaza. It will also deploy a C-17 Globemaster plane to deliver defence force parachutes to help with the airdropping of humanitarian supplies to the enclave’s starving population. The deliveries have been criticised as inefficient and costly, and humanitarian groups have called on Israel to stop blocking aid deliveries by land. Friday’s decision to reinstate funding follows similar moves by Canada, Sweden and the European Union to resume support for the agency, which had seen about 15 countries freeze funding while the Israeli allegations were investigated. The freeze slashed UNRWA’s funds by an estimated $450m and left it on the brink of collapse. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini thanked Australia for becoming the latest country to restore funding to the agency, which employs roughly 13,000 people in Gaza and is the main supplier of food, water and shelter there. “Your support is testament to your commitment to humanitarian principles & the plight of #PalestineRefugees during unprecedented crisis,” he wrote in a post on X. “I hope that other donors who have temporarily paused their contribution will make similar announcement & support the Agency to reverse the widespread hunger in #Gaza & to remain a life line for Palestine Refugees across the region.” Thank you #Australia for joining donor countries who have maintained/increased their funding and those who have recently announced their contribution to @UNRWA at this critical time in #Gaza and the region. Your support is testament to your commitment to humanitarian principles… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) March 15, 2024 Israeli forces have attacked thousands of Palestinians waiting for food and other humanitarian supplies in Gaza. At least 21 people were killed in the latest attack on Thursday at Gaza City’s Kuwait Roundabout, a central hub for the arrival of aid trucks. At least five people were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli air strike on an UNRWA-run aid distribution centre and warehouse in Rafah in southern Gaza, where more than half of the enclave’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced. Adblock test (Why?)