GENEVA: At a time when seemingly everyone in Europe is wearing masks to battle COVID-19, the Swiss go to the polls Sunday to vote on a long-laid proposal to ban face-coverings, both the niqabs and burqas worn by a few Muslim women in the country and the ski masks and bandannas used by protesters.
The issue strikes at the intersection of religious freedom, security, the economy and women’s rights.
Critics say the proposal “Yes to a ban on covering the face” is an ironic throwback to a time not long ago when violent extremism was a greater concern than global pandemic, and say it would unfairly stigmatize Muslims who wear full face-covering burqas or niqabs, which have open slits for the eyes, in Switzerland.
Proponents, including populist, right-wing movements behind the idea, say it’s needed to combat what they consider a sign of the oppression of women and to uphold a basic principle that faces should be shown in a free society like that of the rich Alpine democracy.
The issue is one of three measures on national ballots in the vote culminating Sunday — most voters in Switzerland cast ballots by mail – as part of the latest installment of regular Swiss referendums that give voters a direct say in policymaking.
Other proposals would create an “e-ID” to improve security of online transactions — an idea that has run afoul of privacy advocates — and a free-trade deal with Indonesia, which is opposed by environmentalists who have concerns about palm oil plantations on the archipelago in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
The face-covering measure has come to be known colloquially as the “burqa ban.” It would put Switzerland in line with countries like Belgium and France that have already enacted similar measures. Two Swiss regions also already have such bans.
One campaign poster presented by the Swiss People’s Party — a populist, right-wing party that is the leading faction in parliament and has strongly backed the measure — features a caricatured image of the scowling eyes of a woman in a burqa above the words: “Stop Islamic Radicalism.”
A coalition of left-leaning parties have put up signs that read: “Absurd. Useless. Islamophobic.”
Support appears to have been eroding, but the vote is expected to be tight. An initial poll for public broadcaster SSR by the gfs.bern agency in January found more than half of voters backed the proposal, but a second poll published on Feb. 24 showed the figures had dipped to under half. Some remain undecided.
The Swiss government opposes the measure, arguing that it could crimp economic development: Most Muslim women who wear such veils in Switzerland are visitors from well-heeled Arabian Gulf states, who are often drawn to bucolic Swiss lakeside cities. The justice minister insists existing laws work just fine.
The measure would make it punishable by fines to cover the face in public in places like restaurants, sports stadiums, public transport or simply walking in the street — though exceptions are made for religious, security and health reasons, as well as for the Swiss traditional Carnival celebrations.
A counter-proposal would require people to show their faces if requested to do so by authorities.
It’s another indication how Switzerland is grappling with security issues and cultures and people from abroad. In the past, Swiss voters have approved a ban on the construction of minarets in the Alpine country whose flag carries the cross.
Andreas Tunger-Zanetti, a researcher who heads the Center for Religious Studies at the University of Lucerne, estimates at most a few dozen Muslim women wear full-face coverings in the country of 8.5 million people, and says the issue is really about Switzerland’s take on religion and ability to “cope with diversity.”
Swiss mull ‘burqa ban’ in vote centering on security, rights
https://arab.news/jzsgr
Swiss mull ‘burqa ban’ in vote centering on security, rights
- The face-covering measure has come to be known colloquially as the “burqa ban.” It would put Switzerland in line with countries like Belgium and France that have already enacted similar measures
- The issue strikes at the intersection of religious freedom, security, the economy and women’s rights
Thousands to be evacuated after Mount Ibu eruption
TERNATE: Thousands of islanders are set to be evacuated after a volcano erupted in eastern Indonesia, spewing a towering column of smoke and ash into the atmosphere, officials said Wednesday.
Mount Ibu, located on the remote island of Halmahera, erupted for a fifth time this year on Wednesday, sending a column of smoke four kilometres (2.5 miles) into the sky.
The volcano's alert status was subsequently raised to the highest level by Indonesia's Geological Agency.
"Following the increase in Mount Ibu's (alert) level, today we will evacuate residents in five villages," said local disaster management head Wawan Gunawan Ali.
He added that local authorities were planning to evacuate approximately 3,000 residents from nearby villages on Wednesday evening.
Many residents had already gathered in a village hall, ready for evacuation, an AFP reporter on the ground reported.
Mount Ibu has shown a significant increase in volcanic activity since last June, following a series of earthquakes.
In the first weeks of January alone, the volcano, which is one of Indonesia's most active, erupted four times.
Residents living near Mount Ibu and tourists have been advised to avoid a five to six kilometre exclusion zone around the volcano's peak and to wear face masks in case of falling ash.
As of 2022, around 700,000 people were living on Halmahera island, according to official data.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity as it lies along the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Last November, Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki, a 1,703-metre (5,587-foot) twin-peaked volcano on the tourist island of Flores erupted more than a dozen times in one week, killing nine people in its initial explosion.
Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi province erupted more than half a dozen times last year, forcing thousands from nearby islands to evacuate.
German minister says ‘historic opportunity’ to support new Syria
- Schulze announced that Berlin was expanding an international hospital partnerships program to include facilities in Syria
Damascus: Germany’s Development Minister Svenja Schulze promised to support Syria’s “peaceful and stable development” as she visited Damascus on Wednesday to meet with the interim authorities.
“After over 50 years of dictatorship and 14 years of civil war, Syria now has the chance of peaceful and stable development,” Schulze said in a statement.
Her visit comes a little over a month after Islamist-led forces toppled longtime president Bashar Assad.
Schulze is due to meet with the new leadership as well as aid organizations “to identify how Germany can support the development of a peaceful, stable and inclusive Syria,” the minister’s statement said.
“It would be wrong of us not to use this historic window of opportunity to support Syria in embarking on a peaceful new beginning,” she said.
“Germany can do a lot to support the new beginning for... Syrian society.”
Germany is home to Europe’s largest Syrian diaspora community, having taken in nearly a million people from the war-ravaged country.
A German study last month said that if they returned home, Germany could face labor shortages, particularly in the health care industry.
Schulze announced that Berlin was expanding an international hospital partnerships program to include facilities in Syria.
The expansion is part of reconstruction efforts but also aims at retaining “vital” medical professionals in Germany, according to the statement.
Schulze said that while “Syria’s new rulers are keen to regain the skilled workers and professionals who fled the country” during the civil war since 2011, “Germany also has an interest in retaining them.”
Under the expanded program, “doctors from Germany can visit Syria to conduct medical training courses or to train their Syrian colleagues in using new equipment,” the minister said.
“And Syrian doctors can come to Germany for training on both medical and organizational issues.”
Syria has seen a flurry of diplomatic activity since Assad’s fall on December 8, with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also traveling to Damascus earlier this month.
Mozambique inaugurates new president amid deadly unrest
MAPUTO: Mozambique kicked off an inauguration ceremony Wednesday where President-elect Daniel Chapo will be sworn into office after weeks of deadly political unrest, but the main opposition leader has vowed to “paralyze” the country with fresh protests against the fiercely disputed election result.
Venancio Mondlane had already called for a national strike in the days leading up to the inauguration and threatened on Tuesday to curtail the new government with daily demonstrations.
Mondlane, 50, who is popular with the youth, maintains the October 9 polls were rigged in favor of Chapo’s Frelimo party, which has governed the gas-rich African country since independence from Portugal in 1975.
“This regime does not want peace,” Mondlane said in an address on Facebook Tuesday, adding that his communications team was met with bullets on the streets this week.
“We’ll protest every single day. If it means paralysing the country for the entire term, we will paralyze it for the entire term.”
Chapo, 48, called for stability on Monday, telling journalists at the national assembly “we can continue to work and together, united... to develop our country.”
International observers have said the election was marred by irregularities, while the EU mission condemned what it called the “unjustified alteration of election results.”
The swearing in ceremony was expected to be snubbed by foreign heads of state, a move “which sends a strong message,” Maputo-based political and security risk analyst Johann Smith told AFP.
Former colonial ruler Portugal is sending Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel.
“Even from a regional point of view there is a hesitancy to acknowledge or recognize that Chapo won the election,” Smith said.
However, neighboring South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa was at the ceremony.
Amid tensions, security forces blocked roads throughout the capital Maputo and around Independence Square, where the swearing-in is being held.
The extent of the unrest from now on “depends on how Chapo will tackle the crisis,” analyst Borges Nhamirre told AFP.
The inauguration of parliamentary lawmakers Monday was held amid relative calm.
The streets were deserted, with most shops closed either in protest against the ceremony or out of fear of violence, while military police surrounded the parliament building and police blocked main roads.
Still, at least six people were killed in the Inhambane and Zambezia regions north of the capital, according to local civil society group Plataforma Decide.
Unrest since the election has claimed 300 lives, according to the group’s tally, with security forces accused of using excessive force against demonstrators. Police officers have also died, according to the authorities.
Chapo, who is expected to announce his new government this week, could make concessions by appointing opposition members to ministerial posts to quell the unrest, said Eric Morier-Genoud, an African history professor at Queen’s University Belfast.
There have also been calls for dialogue but Mondlane has been excluded from talks that Chapo and outgoing President Filipe Nyusi have opened with the leaders of the main political parties.
Chapo has repeatedly said however that he would include Mondlane in talks.
Mondlane, who returned to Mozambique last week after going into hiding abroad following the October 19 assassination of his lawyer, has said he was ready for talks.
“I’m here in the flesh to say that if you want to negotiate... I’m here,” he said.
According to official results, Chapo won 65 percent of the presidential vote, compared to 24 percent for Mondlane.
But the opposition leader claims that he won 53 percent and that Mozambique’s election institutions manipulated the results.
Frelimo parliamentarians also dominate the 250-seat national assembly with 171 seats compared to the Podemos party’s 43.
Russia fires over 40 missiles at Ukraine’s energy sector: Zelensky
KYIV: Russia launched more than 40 missiles and over 70 attack drones in an overnight barrage that targeted Ukraine’s energy sector, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday.
“More than 40 missiles were involved in this strike, including ballistic missiles. At least 30 were destroyed. There were also more than 70 Russian attack drones overnight,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media.
Preventive power cuts introduced in Ukraine following a massive Russian missile attack
- Ukraine’s air force detected multiple missile groups launched by Russia during a nationwide air-raid alert
KYIV: Russia launched a massive aerial attack against Ukraine on Wednesday, forcing the country to introduce preventive power cuts, the Ukrainian energy minister said.
“The enemy continues to terrorize Ukrainians,” Herman Halushchenko wrote on Facebook, urging residents to stay in shelters during the ongoing threat and follow official updates.
The state energy company Ukrenergo reported emergency power outages in the Kharkiv, Sumy, Poltava, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, and Kirovohrad regions.
Russian forces launched missile strikes targeting energy infrastructure in the western Lviv region early Wednesday, said the city’s mayor, Andrii Sadovyi.
“During the morning attack, enemy cruise missiles were recorded in the region,” he said.
No casualties or damage were reported.
Ukraine’s air force detected multiple missile groups launched by Russia during a nationwide air-raid alert, though initial reports indicated no damage.
Wednesday’s attack has further exacerbated the strain on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which has been a frequent target during the nearly three-year-old war.
