Bangladesh calls for Rohingya repatriation amid rise in deadly sea journeys
Bangladesh calls for Rohingya repatriation amid rise in deadly sea journeys/node/2234716/world
Bangladesh calls for Rohingya repatriation amid rise in deadly sea journeys
Evacuated Rohingya from Myanmar sit on the shorelines of Lancok village, in Indonesia's North Aceh Regency, after some 100 people were rescued from a wooden boat. (File/AFP)
DHAKA: Bangladeshi authorities on Wednesday renewed calls for international pressure on Myanmar to enable the repatriation of Rohingya refugees amid an alarming increase in deadly boat journeys by sea.
The number of Rohingya attempting to cross the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal has seen a four-fold surge, according to data released by the UNHCR on Tuesday. More than 3,500 people attempted to cross the waters in 2022, compared with 770 a year earlier.
The UNHCR has also recorded “an alarming rise in the death toll,” as more than 340 Rohingya died or went missing at sea in 2022, making it one of the deadliest years since 2017, when hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh to escape a deadly military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
Most of the Rohingya boats in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal departed from Myanmar and Bangladesh, “highlighting the growing sense of desperation amongst Rohingya in those two countries,” the UNHCR said.
“Those who have disembarked report that they undertook these dangerous sea journeys in an effort to find protection, security, family reunification and livelihoods in other countries.”
While many Rohingya continue to flee Myanmar, those who found refuge in Bangladesh are leaving in search of better living conditions. Mmore than 1.2 million Rohingya live in squalid Bangladeshi camps, most of them in Cox’s Bazar district, a coastal region that with their arrival became the world’s largest refugee settlement.
Despite multiple attempts by Bangladeshi authorities, UN-backed programs for repatriation or resettlement to third countries have failed to take off, which according to the country’s top official for refugees, is fueling the growing crisis.
“The repatriation of the Rohingya is the only solution to this crisis. There is no alternative,” Mizanur Rahman, refugee relief and repatriation commissioner in Cox’s Bazar, told Arab News.
“Our appeal to the international community is to put more pressure on the Myanmar government to take their people back as soon as possible by creating a conducive environment in Rakhine state.”
Rahman said that the number of refugees embarking on perilous sea journeys in search of a better life is likely to further increase given the situation.
Conditions in the camps are deteriorating amid a drop in international aid for refugees since 2020, and Bangladesh, a developing country that itself is facing multiple post-pandemic challenges and spends an estimated $1.2 billion a year to host the Rohingya, is struggling to cope with the surge in numbers.
The UNHCR has called for a “humanitarian responsibility” in the region to evenly distribute the Rohingya among various countries.
“The current crisis in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea is a crisis of solidarity,” UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said on Tuesday.
“The region and the international community need to support efforts to address the root causes of displacement in Myanmar. Until these are resolved, refugees will continue to undertake dangerous journeys in search of safety.”
Zelensky says excluding Ukraine from US-Russia talks about war is ‘very dangerous’
Zelensky’s remarks followed comments Friday by Trump, who said American and Russian officials were “already talking” about ending the war
Without security guarantees from Ukraine’s allies, Zelensky said, any deal struck with Russia would only serve as a precursor to future aggression
Updated 57 sec ago
AP
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that excluding his country from talks between the US and Russia about the war in Ukraine would be “very dangerous” and asked for more discussions between Kyiv and Washington to develop a plan for a ceasefire.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Zelensky said Russia does not want to engage in ceasefire talks or to discuss any kind of concessions, which the Kremlin interprets as losing at a time when its troops have the upper hand on the battlefield.
He said US President Donald Trump could bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the table with the threat of sanctions targeting Russia’s energy and banking system, as well as continued support of the Ukrainian military.
“I think these are the closest and most important steps,” he said in the interview in the Ukrainian capital that lasted for more than an hour.
Zelensky’s remarks followed comments Friday by Trump, who said American and Russian officials were “already talking” about ending the war. Trump said his administration has had “very serious” discussions with Russia, but he did not elaborate.
“They may have their own relations, but talking about Ukraine without us — it is dangerous for everyone,” Zelensky said.
He said his team has been in contact with the Trump administration, but those discussions are at a “general level,” and he believes in-person meetings will take place soon to develop more detailed agreements.
“We need to work more on this,” he said, adding that Trump understandably appeared to be focused on domestic issues in the first weeks after his inauguration.
The nearly three-year war in Ukraine is at a crossroads. Trump promised to end the fighting within six months of taking office, but the two sides are far apart, and it is unclear how a ceasefire deal would take shape. Meanwhile, Russia continues to make slow but steady gains along the front, and Ukrainian forces are enduring severe manpower shortages.
Most Ukrainians want a pause in fighting to rebuild their lives. The country faces near-daily Russian attacks on homes, and strikes on power systems have plunged entire cities into darkness.
Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced, unable to return to their homes after vast tracts of the country’s east have been reduced to rubble. Nearly a fifth of Ukraine is now occupied by Russia. In those areas, Moscow-appointed authorities are swiftly erasing any hint of Ukrainian identity.
With Trump back in the White House, Ukraine’s relationship with the US, its largest and most important ally, is also at a tipping point.
In an initial phone call with Trump during the presidential campaign, Zelensky said, the two agreed that if Trump won, they would meet to discuss the steps needed to end the war. But a planned visit by Trump’s Ukraine envoy, Keith Kellogg, was postponed “for legal reasons” Zelensky said. That was followed by a sudden foreign aid freeze that effectively caused Ukrainian organizations to halt projects.
“I believe that, first and foremost, we (must) hold a meeting with him, and that is important. And that is, by the way, something that everyone in Europe wants,” Zelensky said, referring to “a common vision of a quick end to the war.”
After the conversation with Trump, “we should move on to some kind of format of conversation with Russians. And I would like to see the United States of America, Ukraine and the Russians at the negotiating table. ... And, to be honest, a European Union voice should also be there. I think it would be fair, effective. But how will it turn out? I don’t know.”
Zelensky cautioned against allowing Putin to take “control” over the war, an apparent reference to Russia’s repeated threats of escalation during President Joe Biden’s administration.
Without security guarantees from Ukraine’s allies, Zelensky said, any deal struck with Russia would only serve as a precursor to future aggression. Membership in the NATO alliance, a longstanding wish for Kyiv that Moscow has categorically rejected, is still Zelensky’s top choice.
NATO membership is the “cheapest” option for Ukraine’s allies, and it would also strengthen Trump geopolitically, Zelensky argued.
“I really believe that these are the cheapest security guarantees that Ukraine can get, the cheapest for everyone,” he said.
“It will be a signal that it is not for Russia to decide who should be in NATO and who should not, but for the United States of America to decide. I think this is a great victory for Trump,” he said, evidently appealing to the president’s penchant for winners and business deals.
In addition, Zelensky said, Ukraine’s 800,000-strong army would be a bonus to the alliance, especially if Trump seeks to bring home US troops who are stationed overseas.
Other security guarantee proposals should be backed up by sufficient weapons from the US and Europe, and support for Kyiv to develop its own defense industry, he said.
Zelensky also said a French proposal to put European forces in Ukraine to act as a deterrent against Russian aggression is taking shape, but he expressed skepticism, saying many questions remained about the command-and-control structure and the number of troops and their positions. The issue was raised by French President Emmanuel Macron and with Trump, he said.
“I said in the presence of the two leaders that we are interested in this as a part of the security guarantee, but not as the only guarantee of safety,” he said. “That’s not enough.”
He added: “Imagine, there is a contingent. The question is who is in charge? Who is the main one? What will they do if there are Russian strikes? Missiles, disembarkation, attack from the sea, crossing of the land borderline, offensive. What will they do? What are their mandates?”
Asked if he put those questions directly to Macron, he smiled and said: “We are still in the process of this dialogue.”
Following a statement by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that the war has set Ukraine back by 100 years, Zelensky urged Rubio to visit Ukraine.
Rubio “needs to come to Ukraine, first of all, to see what Russia has done,” the Ukrainian president said. “But also to see what the Ukrainian people did, what they were able to do for the security of Ukraine and the world, as I said, and just talk to these people.”
Trump orders steep tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, China
Trump has declared the national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to back the tariffs, which allows sweeping powers to address crises
Updated 02 February 2025
Reuters
US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports and 10 percent on goods from China starting on Tuesday to address a national emergency over fentanyl and illegal aliens entering the US, White House officials said.
Energy products from Canada will have only a 10 percent duty, but Mexican energy imports will be charged the full 25 percent, the officials told reporters.
Trump has declared the national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to back the tariffs, which allows sweeping powers to address crises.
The White House officials said there would be no exclusions from the tariffs. Moreover, in the case of Canada specifically, they said the “de minimiz” US tariff exemption for small shipments under $800 would be canceled.
The moves follow through on a repeated threat Trump has made since shortly after winning last year’s presidential election, and they likely will trigger retaliation and risk igniting a trade war that could cause broad economic disruption for all countries involved.
It was unclear if Trump, who golfed at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Saturday before signing the order, would speak to the media about the duties.
Trump set the Feb. 1 deadline to press for strong action to halt the flow of the opiate fentanyl and precursor chemicals into the US from China via Mexico and Canada, as well as to stop illegal immigrants crossing US borders.
Less than two weeks into his second term, Trump is upending the norms of how the United States is governed and interacts with its neighbors and wider world.
On Friday, he pledged to proceed with the levies despite acknowledging they could cause disruption and hardship for American households.
A model gauging the economic impact of Trump’s tariff plan from EY Chief Economist Greg Daco suggests it would reduce US growth by 1.5 percentage points this year, throw Canada and Mexico into recession and usher in “stagflation” at home.
“We have stressed that steep tariff increases against US trading partners could create a stagflationary shock — a negative economic hit combined with an inflationary impulse — while also triggering financial market volatility,” Daco wrote on Saturday.
That volatility was evident on Friday, when the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar both slumped after Trump vowed to fulfill his threats. US stock prices also fell and Treasury bond yields rose.
US Democrats anoint new leader to take on Trump for ‘working people’
Much of Democratic success going forward will be in how the party presents itself to an American public weary of politics
Updated 02 February 2025
AP
NATIONAL HARBOR, United States: US Democrats picked a 51-year-old progressive activist on Saturday as their new leader, who must rebuild a party still reeling from last year’s crushing presidential defeat — and figure out how best to oppose Republican Donald Trump.
“The Democratic Party is the party of working people, and it’s time to roll up our sleeves and outcompete everywhere, in every election, and at every level of government,” Ken Martin, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), said in a statement.
The DNC, the party’s governing body, raises millions of dollars each year to support and build infrastructure for candidates across the country, culminating every four years in the presidential election.
Martin, a relative unknown outside of the party, stressed the need for Democrats to reconnect with blue collar voters, and to take the electoral fight to all 50 states — even bastions of conservative politics.
“Donald Trump and his billionaire allies are put on notice — we will hold them accountable for ripping off working families, and we will beat them at the ballot box,” Martin said.
Party grandees were meeting near Washington as the DNC carries out a postmortem of their November loss.
They elevated Martin, formerly the chair of the party’s Minnesota branch, to devise their national battle plan.
“This is not a game of chess where everyone is moving their pieces back and forth in a respectful, timed manner. This is guerilla warfare in political form,” said Katherine Jeanes, deputy digital director of the North Carolina Democratic Party, ahead of the vote.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore, a rising Democratic star, warned that the party must “not to go into hiding until the next general election.”
The moment calls for boldness, added Shasti Conrad, chair of the party’s Washington state branch, saying that many Americans have lost the faith.
“They don’t trust us to be able to make things better. They don’t trust that when we are given power, that we know how to use it,” Conrad said.
And the fight starts now, she added — there can be no waiting until the next presidential election, set for 2028.
Facing a Republican majority in Congress and a second term for Trump, who has roared back into the White House with all the provocative rhetoric of his first administration, Democrats say they must pick their battles.
“We have to be able to decipher crazy rhetoric versus policy violence,” said Conrad, and not be like a “dog chasing the car.”
While many are “exhausted” after the last election campaign, Jeanes said the party must learn to respond to the frantic pace of shock moves from the Trump administration.
Much of Democratic success going forward will be in how the party presents itself to an American public weary of politics.
That includes engaging with voters “in places that have sometimes been uncomfortable” for Democrats, according to Conrad.
After his victory in November, Trump credited a series of interviews on largely right-wing podcasts, including the popular “Joe Rogan Experience,” for aiding his return to the White House.
“We need to be getting on sports podcasts and video games and trying to make sure that we’re reaching into apolitical spaces,” Jeanes said.
US military conducts airstrikes against Daesh operatives in Somalia
US military officials have warned that Daesh cells have received increasing direction from the group’s leadership that relocated to northern Somalia
Updated 01 February 2025
AP
WASHINGTON: The US military has conducted airstrikes against Daesh operatives in Somalia, the first attacks in the African nation during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes by US Africa Command were directed by Trump and coordinated with Somalia’s government.
An initial assessment by the Pentagon indicated that “multiple” operatives were killed. The Pentagon said it assessed that no civilians were harmed in the strikes.
Trump, in a post on social media, said a senior Daesh planner and recruits were targeted in the operation.
“The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians. Our Military has targeted this Daesh Attack Planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done. I did!” Trump said. “The message to Daesh and all others who would attack Americans is that “WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!”
Trump did not identify the Daesh planner or say whether that person was killed in the strike. White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Pentagon’s counterterrorism strategy in Africa has been strained as two key partners, Chad and Niger, ousted US forces last year and took over key bases that the US military had used to train and conduct missions against terrorist groups across the Sahel, the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert.
US military officials have warned that Daesh cells have received increasing direction from the group’s leadership that relocated to northern Somalia. That has included how to kidnap Westerners for ransom, how to learn better military tactics, how to hide from drones and how to build their own small quadcopters.
The Daesh affiliate in Somalia emerged in 2015 as a breakaway faction from Al-Shabab, Al-Qaeda’s East African link, and is most active in Puntland, particularly in the Galgala Mountains, where it has established hideouts and training camps and is led by Abdulkadir Mumin.
While its influence is relatively limited compared to Al-Shabab, Daesh in Somalia has been involved in attacks in southern and central Somalia. The group funds its activities through extortion, smuggling, and illicit taxation, particularly in some coastal areas where it has attempted to control local businesses.
Despite facing counterterrorism pressure from Somali security forces, US airstrikes and Al-Shabab rivalries, it continues to operate in remote and urban areas, seeking to expand its influence through recruitment and propaganda.
The number of Daesh militants in the country are estimated to be in the hundreds, mostly scattered in the Cal Miskaat mountains in Puntland’s Bari region, according to the International Crisis Group.
Saturday’s operation followed military airstrikes on Jan. 30 in northwest Syria, killing a senior operative in Hurras Al-Din, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, US Central Command said.
Russian attacks on Ukraine kill 15, including 4 at a boarding school sheltering civilians in Kursk region
Fighting in the nearly three-year war has shown no signs of de-escalating, despite US President Donald Trump’s promise to enact a ceasefire within “24 hours” of taking office on January 20
Updated 5 min 40 sec ago
AFP
POLTAVA, Ukraine: Russia fired dozens of missiles and drones at Ukraine overnight and early Saturday, killing 15 people, Kyiv said.
Ukraine and Russia also traded blame for a strike on a boarding school sheltering civilians in the Ukrainian-occupied town of Sudzha in Moscow’s Kursk region, where Kyiv launched a major cross-border assault last August.
The Ukrainian military said four people were killed in the attack, with dozens more rescued as rescuers cleared the rubble. Russia has not given a toll.
Fighting in the nearly three-year war has shown no signs of de-escalating, despite US President Donald Trump’s promise to enact a ceasefire within “24 hours” of taking office on January 20.
At least 15 people were killed in Russian strikes on central and eastern Ukraine overnight Friday to Saturday, according to regional authorities and police.
This photograph taken on February 1, 2025 shows a residential building heavily damaged by shelling in Lyman, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
Eleven of those, including a child, were killed by a missile that hit a residential building in the central city of Poltava, the local administration said.
Firefighters could be seen searching through the smoldering ruins of a building in AFP images from the scene.
“God saved us,” said Olena Svyryd, a resident of a neighboring building.
“Opposite us, on the fifth floor, a woman, my friend, was taken out. No, she’s not alive. She was crushed by the wall. There were a lot of casualties,” she told AFP.
Kateryna Yamshchykova, acting mayor of Poltava, said rescue operations were ongoing.
“Doctors in the hospital are fighting for our wounded,” she told AFP.
Ukraine accused Russia on Saturday of killing four people in a strike on a boarding school sheltering civilians in the Kursk region town of Sudzha, which Kyiv has occupied for over five months.
Moscow responded Sunday by accusing Kyiv’s forces of launching the Sudzha attack.
“On February 1, the Ukrainian Armed Forces committed another war crime by launching a targeted missile strike on a boarding school in the city of Sudzha,” said a statement from Russia’s defense ministry.
The defense ministry did not mention any deaths, while Kursk region’s active governor Aleksandr Khinshtein said “there is no reliable information about the number of victims yet.”
Kyiv launched a surprise cross-border offensive into the Kursk region last August, seizing dozens of villages and small towns including the regional hub of Sudzha — home to about 6,000 people before the fighting.
“Russian aviation struck a boarding school in the town of Sudzha, Kursk region, with a guided aerial bomb,” the Ukrainian military’s general staff said on Telegram.
“The strike was carried out on purpose,” it added.
People sit on beds after evacuation from the frontline at a center for displaced people in Pavlohrad, Ukraine, on Feb. 1, 2024. (AP)
It said “dozens of local residents were inside the building preparing to evacuate” at the time of the attack, and that rescue work was under way.
“In the course of the rubble removal works, 84 civilians were rescued and provided with medical aid, their health condition is satisfactory, four are in serious condition, and four people died,” it said in a later post.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia “devoid of civility,” sharing a video on social media showing a heavily damaged building, as well as a wounded man lying on the ground.
“They destroyed the building even though dozens of civilians were there,” Zelensky said in a post on X. “Russian bombs destroy Ukrainian homes the same way. And even against their own civilians, the Russian army uses similar tactics.”
A Russian official in Kursk told AFP last week that authorities were working “constantly” to secure the return of Russian civilians caught behind the front lines.
Thousands of Russian civilians are thought to be trapped by fighting in the border region.
Moscow has been advancing on the battlefield for over a year, and its invasion of Ukraine will this month hit the three-year mark.
The Russian military said Saturday its troops had “liberated” the village of Krymske in the northeastern suburbs of the city of Toretsk.
Toretsk in the eastern Donetsk region has been in the Kremlin’s sights for months, as its capture would enable Russia to obstruct vital Ukrainian supply routes.
Both Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have said they are ready for talks on ending the war, but neither side has said when or how.
Trump has been critical of the billions Washington has spent arming Ukraine, while threatening to impose additional sanctions on Russia if Putin does not reach a “deal” to end the war.
Putin said last month he was willing to hold talks with Ukraine, but not with Zelensky, whom he called “illegitimate.”
