WARSAW: Poland needs to prepare its soldiers for all-out conflict, its armed forces chief of staff said on Wednesday, as the country boosts the number of troops on its border with Russia and Belarus.
Poland’s relations with Russia and its ally Belarus have deteriorated sharply since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, starting a war that is still being fought.
“Today, we need to prepare our forces for full-scale conflict, not an asymmetric-type conflict,” army chief of staff General Wieslaw Kukula told a press conference.
“This forces us to find a good balance between the border mission and maintaining the intensity of training in the army,” he said.
Speaking at the same event, deputy defense minister Pawel Bejda said that as of August, the number of troops guarding Poland’s eastern border would be increased to 8,000 from the current 6,000, with an additional rearguard of 9,000 able to step up within 48 hours notice.
In May, Poland announced details of “East Shield,” a 10 billion zloty ($2.5 billion) program to beef up defenses along its border with Belarus and Russia, which it plans to complete the plans by 2028.
The border with Belarus has been a flashpoint since migrants started flocking there in 2021 after Belarus opened travel agencies in the Middle East offering a new unofficial route into Europe — a move the European Union said was designed to create a crisis.
Warsaw has ramped up defense spending to more that 4 percent of its economic output this year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kukula also said the current high interest from candidates to join the army posed a dilemma over whether to take in more recruits than budgeted for at the expense of military equipment procurement, especially as he said interest was expected to start declining sharply from 2027.
The size of the armed forces stood at about 190,000 personnel at the end of last year, including ground, air, naval, special forces and territorial defense forces. Poland plans to increase this to 300,000 troops within a few years.
Poland must prepare army for full-scale conflict, army chief says
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Poland must prepare army for full-scale conflict, army chief says
- Poland’s relations with Russia and its ally Belarus have deteriorated sharply since Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into neighboring Ukraine
- “Today, we need to prepare our forces for full-scale conflict, not an asymmetric-type conflict,” army chief of staff General Wieslaw Kukula said
Mozambique inaugurates new president amid deadly unrest
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.
Suspected outbreak of Marburg virus kills eight in Tanzania, WHO says
- The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88 percent, and is from the same virus family as the one responsible for Ebola
NAIROBI: A suspected outbreak of the Marburg virus in northwest Tanzania has infected nine people, killing eight of them, the World Health Organization has said, weeks after an outbreak of the disease was declared over in neighboring Rwanda.
The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88 percent, and is from the same virus family as the one responsible for Ebola, which is transmitted to people from fruit bats which are endemic to that part of East Africa.
The WHO said it received reliable reports of suspected cases in the Kagera region of Tanzania on Jan. 10, with symptoms of headache, high fever, back pain, diarrhea, vomiting blood, muscle weakness and finally external bleeding.
Samples from two patients were awaiting testing at Tanzania’s national laboratory for confirmation of the outbreak, WHO said in a statement on Tuesday.
The patients’ contacts, including health care workers, have been identified and were being followed up, WHO reported.
The outbreak in Rwanda, which shares a border with Tanzania’s Kagera region, infected 66 people and killed 15 before it was declared over on December 20.
Marburg virus can spread between people through direct contact or via blood and other bodily fluids of infected people, including contaminated bedding or clothing.
An outbreak in the Kagera region in March 2023 killed six people and lasted for nearly two months.
‘Not for the poor’: Indonesians in capital face housing, commute woes
JAKARTA: Scrolling on social media, Indonesian moviegoer Jessica Sihotang stumbled across a film depicting a fellow woman in her 30s struggling to make the dream of buying a Jakarta home a reality.
Nearly two million like-minded Indonesians tuned in to watch the protagonist’s house-hunting journey when “Home Sweet Loan” was released last year, the movie’s producer said.
Residents of the megalopolis of 11 million are finding it impossible to climb the property ladder, as space shrinks and prices rise, forcing them to seek faraway homes that come with arduous commutes.
The movie sparked widespread chatter among Jakartans, as its main character’s grievances resonated with their own long-held housing woes.
“I can relate so much. I’ve been thinking about it for the past 10 years,” said Sihotang.
“I want to have my own house, but my savings have never been enough even just for the down payment,” added the 35-year-old university admissions worker.
Jakarta is where Indonesia’s growing wealth gap is most evident — with unofficial slum housing sitting below shiny new apartment complexes and skyscrapers.
Less than two-thirds of Jakartans own a home, according to Indonesia’s Central Statistics Bureau, the lowest figure compared to other provinces.
Sihotang said she cannot afford a home within 60 kilometers (37 miles) of her job.
“I have to find side hustles for additional income, or maybe try my luck for a few years abroad” before buying a property, she said.
The price of a Jakarta house is on average 20 times higher than an employee’s annual salary, a University of Indonesia survey in June found.
DAILY COMMUTE
Jakartans like Rizqi Arifuddin have resorted to buying a house in neighboring provinces.
The office worker in one of Jakarta’s main business districts commutes by train for an hour from his home in West Java province.
He then jumps on a motorcycle taxi for another half an hour to reach the office.
“I can never afford a house in the city. Even researching the prices makes me upset,” he said.
With limited space available in the cramped capital known for its brutal traffic jams, prices have skyrocketed.
Housing complexes are now being built further from the city to meet demand.
“This is the reality, people are now competing for places which at least have access to mass transportation,” said Yayat Supriyatna, an urban planner from Trisakti University in Jakarta.
“Jakarta is not a place for the poor,” he told AFP.
HOUSING CRISIS
Some Indonesians like Muhammad Faris Dzaki Rahadian and his wife have chosen to rent, rather than buy, a property close to work.
“Even with our joint income, it is still not affordable,” said journalist Rahadian, 27.
“I don’t think buying is a rational option.”
To address the housing crisis, the government will require employees from 2027 to contribute three percent of their salaries to a savings fund which they can use for housing.
But it has angered Indonesians who think it won’t be enough — or that it could be taken from them by a government many distrust.
“Who’s going to benefit? It seems to me that people are getting constantly pressured,” Supriyatna said.
Despite the grim housing market, some are still holding on to their dreams.
“Having a house, no matter how small is a symbol of peace of mind for me,” Sihotang said.
“It will give me peace when I’m old.”
