ALGIERS: Algeria has intensified a crackdown on an anti-government protest movement, targeting social media users in a bid to stop demonstrations resuming once coronavirus restrictions end.
Weekly protests rocked the North African country for more than a year and only stopped in March due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The “Hirak” protest movement caused the downfall of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April 2019 after 20 years in power. It has continued demanding an overhaul of Algeria’s governance system, in place since independence from France in 1962.
Authorities have made about 200 arrests linked to the protests since the country’s coronavirus restrictions came into effect three months ago, according to Said Salhi, vice president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights.
“The authorities have taken advantage of the lull to arrest the maximum number of activists,” he said.
Protesters are being pursued for “crimes of opinion and expression connected to posts on social media, particularly Facebook,” he said, with some of their homes searched and mobile phones confiscated.
Most of the authorities’ actions are based on changes to the penal code that were passed in April amid the health crisis and have been denounced by human rights activists.
Salhi called the moves “an irresponsible attack, verging on provocation, against fundamental human rights.”
On Thursday, more than 20 opposition activists were summoned to appear in seven separate hearings, mostly in trials that had been delayed due to the pandemic.
Those accused include figures in the protest movement, political activists, journalists and people accused of mocking the regime online.
“The government doesn’t believe in change, it refuses to listen to the people,” lawyer Mustapha Bouchachi was quoted as saying this week in French-language daily Liberte.
“In my opinion, it is making these arrests to break the Hirak,” he added.
According to detainees’ rights association CNLD, 60 prisoners of conscience are currently jailed.
In a sign the government might be nervous about the public mood, several academics rushed to its defense in official media this week, accusing a “neo-Hirak” of being “in the service of a foreign plan.”
But press freedom group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called on the Algerian authorities to “stop using the justice system to muzzle the media.”
“The increase in legal proceedings against Algerian journalists is extremely worrying and indicates a blatant deterioration of press freedom in Algeria,” RSF director for North Africa, Souhaieb Khayati, said in a statement.
Four Algerian journalists were prosecuted or sentenced to prison this week.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has also urged Algerian authorities to “stop using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse to clamp down on press freedom.”
Some of Algeria’s coronavirus lockdown measures have been gradually lifted since June 7.
But gatherings, including the weekly Hirak marches, are still strictly forbidden.
Algeria has officially reported 11,385 cases and 811 deaths from the COVID-19 illness.
Provincial areas have seen sporadic mobilizations in support of detainees in recent weeks, particularly in the northeastern Kabylie region, while streets in Algiers and Oran have remained quiet.
Protesters in Kabylie’s two main towns Bejaia and Tizi Ouzou on Friday called for the government to step down, videos shared online showed.
The CNLD reported about 10 arrests were made in Bejaia and several more in Tizi Ouzou.
An anti-government coalition within the Pact for the Democratic Alternative has urged Algerians to “stay mobilized but vigilant in order to engage forcefully in the resumption of peaceful protests” when the health situation allows.
And although there were calls on social media to restart weekly protests on Friday, activists, lawyers, student associations and political parties warned of the health risks.
But instead of crushing the unprecedented, leaderless protest movement, the crackdown could have the opposite effect.
“There is a general feeling of ‘hogra’” prevailing among the population, said Salhi, using an Algerian term that refers to injustice and abuse of power.
“Some are already planning to go back to the streets” despite the coronavirus risk, he said.
Algeria cracks down on activists in bid to break protest movement
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Algeria cracks down on activists in bid to break protest movement
- The “Hirak” protest movement caused the downfall of former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in April 2019 after 20 years in power
- Authorities have made about 200 arrests linked to the protests since the country’s coronavirus restrictions came into effect three months ago
Here’s a look at the US military presence in the Middle East
- Normally, about 34,000 US forces are deployed to US Central Command, which covers the entire Middle East. That number grew in the early months of the Israel-Hamas war to about 40,000 as additional ships and aircraft were sent in
- The US has one aircraft carrier in the region, the USS Abraham Lincoln, which had been slated to leave around mid-October
WASHINGTON: The US has increased its military presence in the Middle East by several thousand troops, sending an array of fighter jets and other aircraft to bolster the protection of US forces and allies.
The decision brings the total number of American troops in the region to as many as 43,000, including more than a dozen warships.
Israel’s latest surge in attacks in Lebanon, including strikes that have killed Iran-backed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallahand several of his top commanders and officials, is a significant escalation that has fueled fears of all-out war in the Middle East.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has increased the readiness levels of additional US forces so they are prepared to deploy for any contingency, Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said.
Austin and other leaders “remain focused on the protection of US citizens and forces in the region, the defense of Israel and the deescalation of the situation through deterrence and diplomacy,” said Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary.
Here’s a look at the US military presence in the Middle East:
Troops
Normally, about 34,000 US forces are deployed to US Central Command, which covers the entire Middle East. That number grew in the early months of the Israel-Hamas war to about 40,000 as additional ships and aircraft were sent in.
It spiked to nearly 50,000 when Austin ordered two aircraft carriers and their accompanying warships to stay in the region as tensions roiled between Israel and Lebanon.
One carrier strike group has since left and moved into the Asia-Pacific. But the decision to send more aircraft is moving the troop total to roughly 43,000.
The Pentagon recently said it was sending a small number of additional troops to the Middle East. Officials have not provided details about the deployment to Cyprus but have suggested the teams are part of ongoing preparations for any needs in the region, including the possibility of an evacuation of Americans from Lebanon.
The beefed-up presence is designed both to help defend Israel and protect US and allied personnel and assets. US officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of troop deployments.
Navy warships are scattered across the region, from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf of Oman, and both Air Force and Navy fighter jets are strategically based at several locations to be better prepared to respond to any attacks.
Warships
The US has one aircraft carrier in the region, the USS Abraham Lincoln, which had been slated to leave around mid-October. Austin has extended its deployment for about another month, according to one of the officials.
Austin has done the same to a few other carriers and warships in the region several times in the past year so that there has been the rare presence of two carriers at once.
A second carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, along with two destroyers and a cruiser, are in the Atlantic Ocean heading east. They will be in the European region in a few days and then travel into the Mediterranean Sea.
American military commanders have long argued that the presence of a formidable aircraft carrier — with its array of fighter jets and surveillance aircraft and sophisticated missiles — is a strong deterrent against Iran.
The Lincoln and one destroyer are in the Gulf of Oman, while four US Navy destroyers and a littoral combat ship are in the Red Sea. The USS Georgia guided missile submarine, which Austin ordered to the region last month, had been in the Red Sea and remains in US Central Command, but officials decline to say where.
There are six US warships in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. They are the USS Wasp amphibious assault ship with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard and two accompanying vessels and three Navy destroyers. The Wasp would be prepared to assist in any evacuation.
About a half dozen of the F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Abraham Lincoln have been moved to a land base in the region. Officials declined to say where.
Aircraft
The Air Force sent in an additional squadron of advanced F-22 fighter jets in August, bringing the total number of land-based fighter squadrons in the Middle East to four.
That force also includes a squadron of A-10 Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft, F-15E Strike Eagles and F-16 fighter jets. The Air Force is not identifying what countries the planes are operating from.
The US was now sending in more aircraft, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said. The additional personnel includes squadrons of F-15E, F-16 and F-22 fighter jets and A-10 attack aircraft, and the personnel needed to support them. The jets were supposed to rotate in and replace the squadrons already there. Instead, both the existing and new squadrons will remain in place to double the airpower on hand.
The squadrons would not be used in any evacuation of American citizens but would be used to defend US forces and Israel if necessary, Singh said.
The addition of the F-22 fighter jets gives US forces a hard-to-detect aircraft that has a sophisticated suite of sensors to suppress enemy air defenses and carry out electronic attacks. The F-22 also can act as a “quarterback,” organizing other warplanes in an operation.
But the US also showed in February that it doesn’t have to have planes based in the Middle East to attack targets. In February, a pair of B-1 bombers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas and flew more than 30 hours in a roundtrip mission in which they struck 85 Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force targets in Iraq and Syria in response to an attack by IRGC-backed militias that killed three US service members.
US says ‘pleased’ with improved aid access into Sudan
- “We are pleased by the significant but incremental improvements on humanitarian access,” US envoy on Sudan, Tom Perriello, told reporters in Nairobi
NAIROBI: The US envoy to Sudan on Monday said there had been a marked improvement of aid deliveries into the war-torn African country suffering a devastating humanitarian crisis.
Fighting erupted in April 2023 between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after a plan to integrate them into the military failed.
Both sides have been accused of war crimes, including deliberately targeting civilians and blocking humanitarian aid.
“We are pleased by the significant but incremental improvements on humanitarian access,” US envoy on Sudan, Tom Perriello, told reporters in Nairobi.
“We have had a couple (of) hundred trucks get through areas that were previously blocked.”
More than 25 million people — more than half of Sudan’s population — face acute hunger, according to UN agencies, with famine declared in a displacement camp in the western Darfur region, which borders Chad.
The war has already killed tens of thousands of people, with the World Health Organization declaring a toll of at least 20,000 people dead, but some estimates are up to 150,000.
“The situation is extremely dire and those who are in the best position to stop it seem eager instead to accelerate” it, Perriello said.
Several rounds of peace negotiations have failed to end the fighting.
Multiple truces brokered by the United States and Saudi Arabia in the early stages of the war were systematically violated and the process faltered.
“One track of these efforts overall is a sense of trying to restore the basic norm that even if the war continues, certain issues of humanitarian access and civilian protection should be respected,” Perriello said, blaming “a lack of sufficient will” from the warring sides.
The latest round of US-brokered talks opened in Switzerland last month.
While an RSF delegation showed up, the Sudanese armed forces were unhappy with the format and did not attend, though they were in telephone contact with the mediators.
The talks were co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and Switzerland, with the African Union, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United Nations completing the so-called Aligned for Advancing Lifesaving and Peace in Sudan Group (ALPS).
The army objected to the UAE’s involvement in the talks, accusing the oil-rich Gulf state of arming the RSF. The UAE has repeatedly denied the allegations.
The Sudanese army on Monday rejected an accusation by the UAE that it had attacked the home of its ambassador in Khartoum.
Djibouti ‘profoundly alarmed’ by Mideast situation
- Permanent UN representative: Israel insists ‘on maintaining its occupation of Palestinian territory in perpetuity’
- Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have ‘accelerated the regional conflagration we all feared’
NEW YORK CITY: The two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “is the only solution that can lead to lasting peace and security,” Djibouti’s permanent UN representative told the 79th UN General Assembly on Monday.
However, Israel insists “on maintaining its occupation of Palestinian territory in perpetuity,” Mohamed Siad Doualeh said.
Djibouti is “profoundly alarmed” by the situation in the Middle East, including the West Bank, where “violence continues unabated,” he added.
“We’re profoundly saddened by the continued loss of lives, in particular children in Gaza, the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, the indiscriminate and continued bombings, and the unlawful occupation in the form of a total siege,” Doualeh said.
Furthermore, Israel’s attacks on Lebanon have “accelerated the regional conflagration we all feared,” he added.
Djibouti is hopeful that all parties involved agree to the 21-day ceasefire called for by the US and France last week, as it is imperative to avoid “all-out war” at all costs, he said.
Doualeh also spoke about the conflicts in Yemen, Ukraine and Africa, particularly Sudan, as well as Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
Such “geo-economic fragmentation and trade wars” negatively impact global economic growth and, combined with the “crisis of confidence” among UN member states, undermines the credibility of the “multilateral system,” he said.
Doualeh urged the UNGA to “redouble our efforts, overcome our divisions and undertake collective action” in order to end conflicts and put in place policies, investment programs and partnerships to make up for the delays in the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
He also emphasized the need for reform of international financial institutions so that “they’re able to respond promptly and effectively to the emergencies and the systemic shocks facing many countries in the world.”
He added: “Financial institutions must provide developing countries with greater subsidies and access to financing under favorable conditions while maintaining their risk tolerance for investments in sustainable development.”
At least 11 Palestinians killed in Israeli strike in Gaza’s Nuseirat camp, Gaza medics say
GAZA: At least 11 Palestinians were killed, including women and children, in an Israeli strike on a house in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza Strip, Gaza medics told Reuters early on Tuesday.
UN peacekeepers patrol southern Lebanon — what is their mandate?
- Hezbollah is a heavily armed militant group that is Lebanon’s most powerful political force
UNITED NATIONS: United Nations peacekeepers were deployed to patrol Lebanon’s southern border with Israel in 1978 after Israel invaded south Lebanon.
The mandate for the operation — known as the UN Interim Force in Lebanon or UNIFIL — is renewed annually by the 15-member UN Security Council.
Following a month-long war between Israel and Lebanese militants Hezbollah in 2006, the mandate for UNIFIL was expanded when the council adopted resolution 1701.
WHAT IS THE BLUE LINE?
The Blue Line is a UN-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Israeli forces withdrew to the Blue Line when they left south Lebanon in 2000. Any unauthorized crossing of the Blue Line by land or by air from any side constitutes a violation of Security Council resolution 1701.
WHERE DO PEACEKEEPERS OPERATE?
The area of operations for UN peacekeepers is marked by the Litani River in the north and the Blue Line in the south. The mission has more than 10,000 troops from 50 countries and about 800 civilian staff, according to its website.
WHAT DOES RESOLUTION 1701 MANDATE?
It allows peacekeepers to help the Lebanese army keep the area of operations free of weapons or armed personnel other than those of the Lebanese state.
That has sparked friction with Iran-backed Hezbollah, which effectively controls southern Lebanon despite the presence of the Lebanese army. Hezbollah is a heavily armed militant group that is Lebanon’s most powerful political force.
The peacekeeping mission is also directed by resolution 1701 “to take all necessary action in areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities, to ensure that its area of operations is not utilized for hostile activities of any kind.”
HOW DO PEACEKEEPERS DEAL WITH VIOLATIONS OF RESOLUTION 1701?
The peacekeeping mission is required to report all violations to the UN Security Council. The UN secretary-general reports to the council every four months — “or at any time as he deems appropriate” — on the implementation of resolution 1701.
According to UNIFIL’s website, peacekeepers take preventive measures when monitoring the Blue Line, which includes the airspace above it, through coordination, liaising and patrolling to prevent violations.
Whenever there is an incident “UNIFIL immediately deploys additional troops to that location if needed to avoid a direct conflict between the two sides and to ensure that the situation is contained,” according to the UNIFIL website.
The mission also liaises with the Israeli and Lebanese military “to reverse and bring an end to the situation without any escalation.”
VIOLATIONS
The UN secretary-general has regularly reported violations of resolution 1701 by both sides.
A November 2022 report to the Security Council said that “the continued self-acknowledged maintenance of unauthorized weapons outside state control” by Hezbollah and other armed groups was a “persistent, grave violation.”
The same report also said “continued violations of Lebanese airspace by Israeli aircraft and uncrewed aerial vehicles remain of deep concern.”
UN peacekeepers’ freedom of movement has also been regularly impeded, according to UN reports.
The most recent report to the council by the secretary-general in July cites all the same issues.
