Migrant crisis: Turkey scrutinises deal at EU summit

 

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he wanted to keep a humanitarian perspective

EU leaders are holding talks with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in Brussels in an attempt to reach a deal over the migrant crisis.

An EU proposal would see Turkey offered financial aid and political concessions in return for taking back all migrants travelling to Greece.
EU leaders have watered down the incentives and correspondents say it is unclear if a deal can be done.
Nevertheless, Mr Davutoglu said he was hopeful of finding "common ground".
But he added that he wanted to keep a "humanitarian perspective" on the crisis.
EU leaders agreed on a joint position to put to Turkey after late-night talks. The plan suggests that for every Syrian refugee sent back, another Syrian would be resettled in the EU directly from refugee camps in Turkey.

Ahead of Friday's talks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that Turkey had to meet international standards of protection for all migrants.
She said that the legal resettlement of Syrian refugees could start a few days after the first returns from Greece.
However, she added that the EU needed to be ready to start returning migrants from Greece to Turkey rapidly to avoid a "pull factor" creating a surge of migrants before the new system takes effect.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Europe should look at its own record on migrants before it told Turkey what to do.
In an uncompromising speech broadcast on television, he said: "At a time when Turkey is hosting three million (migrants), those who are unable to find space for a handful of refugees, who in the middle of Europe keep these innocents in shameful conditions, must first to look at themselves."

 Thousands of migrants and refugees have been camped at the Greece-Macedonia border
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite has warned that the plan to return people to Turkey is "on the edge of international law" and difficult to implement.
Mr Davutoglu has said he will not accept Turkey becoming an "open prison" for migrants.
To meet concerns over the plan's legality, the leaders discussed providing assurances that each person claiming asylum will be given a full hearing in Greece, the BBC's Damian Grammaticas reports from Brussels.
Human rights group Amnesty International placed a large screen outside the Brussels summit that read: "Don't trade refugees. Stop the deal."
French President Francois Hollande warned that "I cannot guarantee that there will be a happy outcome" to the search for a solution.
Since January 2015, a million migrants and refugees have entered the EU by boat from Turkey to Greece. More than 132,000 have arrived this year alone.
Tens of thousands are now stuck in Greece as their route north has been blocked

Crisis explained in seven charts
Under initial proposals, the EU had suggested it would double financial aid to Turkey promised last year, make a fresh push on talks over Turkey's eventual membership of the EU and offer visa-free travel to Europe's Schengen states.
However, those proposals have since been watered down, lowering expectation on greater financial help and talks on EU membership and linking visa-free travel to 72 conditions to which Turkey must agree.
A number of EU countries have raised concerns about what is on offer to Turkey amid a clampdown by the Ankara government on academics and journalists.
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.
 

Saudi Arabia to End 'Major Combat Operations' in Yemen

FILE - Yemeni people inspect the damage after an airstrike by Saudi-led coalition in Sana'a, Yemen, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. 

VOA News

Last updated on: March 17, 2016 6:06 PM

Saudi Arabia says it is ending its "major combat operations" in Yemen, one year after launching Arab coalition airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
A Saudi military spokesman, Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri, told the Associated Press Thursday that the coalition will continue providing air support to Yemeni forces and help build an army.
"The aim of the coalition is to create a strong cohesive government with a strong national army and security forces that can combat terrorism and impose law and order across the country," al-Asiri said.
He said a small number of coalition troops will stay on the ground in Yemen to train Yemeni soldiers
The White House said it welcomes the Saudi statement and added there is a dire need for a political solution in Yemen.
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital of Sana'a in 2014. They sent the internationally recognized government of President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi fleeing to exile in Saudi Arabia before returning to the southern port city of Aden.

FILE - A young boy who lost his leg in the Yemen war uses a prosthetic limb at a government-run rehabilitation center in Sana'a, Yemen, Saturday, March 5, 2016.

The fighting in Yemen, along with the Saudi-led airstrikes, have obliterated entire neighborhoods and killed more than 6,000 people - mostly civilians. They include 119 killed by an aitrstike on a market northwest of Sana'a Tuesday.
The U.N. says 80 percent of Yemeni civilians are in dire need of food and medical help.
The Saudi-led coalition entered the fight last year. Some Mideast experts say the coalition action did nothing to help push all sides toward a peace settlement.
The U.N and human rights groups accuse the coalition of deliberately firing at civilian targets - a charge the Saudis deny.

 

Sudan Threatens to Close Border with South Sudan

John Tanza

Last updated on: March 17, 2016 2:40 PM

Sudan is threatening to close its border with South Sudan and deport more than 300,000 South Sudanese students on grounds that the South is supporting rebels fighting the government of President Omar al-Bashir.  
Ibrahim Mohamud Hamid, a senior assistant to Bashir, aired the accusation and warnings on Thursday.
South Sudan’s Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin denied his government is supporting rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, or SPLA North, who are fighting the Sudanese government in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states.
Marial, speaking to VOA's South Sudan in Focus program, said his country is working to bring peace to Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile.
"President Salva (Kiir) and the government are fully committed to see that there is peace in Sudan and peace in South Sudan," he said.  "And the president is very clear that we will not support any armed insurgency against the Republic of Sudan."
Sudan and South Sudan signed a cooperation agreement four years ago to stop supporting rebels in each other’s territory, to promote trade and to create two viable states.
But the border was closed until earlier this year, when Sudanese President Bashir ordered it open to help the South cope with its ongoing economic crisis, caused by the country's civil war.
Rabi Adelati, a senior member of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party, backed Hamid's accusation and said Juba’s support to Sudanese rebels is creating tension between the two countries.
"This will really affect security, affect peace and affect the [South Sudan] government," Adelati said.  "As you know the situation in South Sudan is vulnerable.... And I think that if the stance of (South Sudan’s) government [is] to cooperate with SPLM-North, this will definitely result in negative impact on the two countries," he said.
Adelati said it is time for the Sudanese government to tighten security along its borders with South Sudan.
South Sudan's Marial said his government can end the conflict in Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile states if given a chance to do so.
‘’Some of these problems can actually be resolved by enhancing our trade, encouraging the movement of the people, educating our children together," he said.
"’We have that relationship, whether it is a social relationship, whether we were in one country before.  This can be used for the advantage of South Sudan putting pressure on our brothers and sisters in the Sudan so that they can reach a peaceful agreement that will make our region a viable region, politically, economically and even socially and culturally,’’ he added.
Sudan and South Sudan have struggled to maintain good relations since the South broke away and won independence in 2011.
South Sudan’s foreign minister expressed concern last year about reports that Sudanese President Bashir promised military support to rebel leader Riek Machar to forcefully take power in the world’s youngest nation.
VOA fellow Nadia Taha contributed to this report.

Russia Sends Arms to Iraqi Kurds for IS Fight

Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take part during a training session by coalition forces in a training camp in Irbil, north of Iraq, March 9, 2016.

Rikar Hussein, Fatima Tlisova

March 17, 2016 5:14 PM

Russia sent arms this week to Iraq’s Kurdish region to be used by Peshmerga forces fighting the Islamic State group, Russian and Kurdish sources said.
The arms were delivered Monday and included five anti-aircraft autocannons and 20,000 shells, Artem Grigoryan, the attache to the Russian consul general in Irbil, told RIA Novotsi.
The delivery came one day after Ilya Morgunov, Russia's ambassador to Iraq, met with Kurdish President Masoud Barzani to discuss closer relations between the two sides and provision of military assistance to the Peshmerga fighters.
“The Russian ambassador reiterated his county’s support to the Kurdistan region and showed Russia’s willingness to provide military assistance to Peshmerga in the fight against terrorism,” a statement from the Kurdistan region’s presidency read.
A pro-Western region and an effective U.S. ally in fighting IS, Iraqi Kurdistan has received military assistance from several countries, including the United States and Germany. The Kurdish attempts to receive heavy weapons have been fiercely opposed by Baghdad, which fears the Kurds may seek independence from Iraq.

FILE - A member of the Peshmerga forces inspects a tunnel used by Islamic State militants in the town of Sinjar, Iraq, Dec. 1, 2015.

Shipments blocked
Having control over Kurdistan’s airspace, Baghdad has blocked several direct arms shipments to the region, arguing that any military assistance should go through the central government. Kurds, in response, complain that shipping through Baghdad is very slow and inefficient.
Kurdistan’s representative to Russia told VOA that Baghdad approved the Russian arms shipments to the Peshmerga.
“The shipment was carried by a Russian plane which landed in Irbil with the awareness from Baghdad,” Aso Jangi Burhan, the Kurdistan region’s representative to Russia, told VOA.
According to Kurdish officials, this was not the first time Kurds had received arms from Russia.
“Just like anti-IS coalition members, the Russian Federation provides us with military assistance. It has provided us with military assistance about three times in the past,” Jabar Yawar, the chief of staff for the Kurdistan region’s Peshmerga ministry, told VOA.
The conflict in Syria and Iraq and the emergence of IS in the region have allowed for a greater involvement of Russia in the region, analysts say.
“Russia has developed close ties with the Kurds since its intervention in Syria in September 2015,” Brian Glyn Williams, a professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, told VOA. “The Russian-supplied anti-aircraft guns will be deployed in an anti-armor/anti-personnel role by the outgunned Kurds.”

 

Congress Remains Divided Ahead of Obama's Cuba Visit

A poster features portraits of Cuba's President Raul Castro, left, and U.S. President Barack Obama and reads in Spanish "Welcome to Cuba" outside a restaurant in Havana, Cuba, March 17, 2016. Obama is scheduled to travel to the island on March 20, the first U.S. presidential trip to Havana in nearly 90 years. 

Michael Bowman, Smita Nordwall

March 18, 2016 7:53 AM

WASHINGTON— U.S. President Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba is being anticipated by many as a historic chance to thaw relations with Havana.
Despite the reluctance of some in Congress, Obama has moved aggressively to restore economic and diplomatic relations with the communist island.
National Security Adviser Susan Rice told the Atlantic Council Thursday, "As President Obama has repeatedly said, we know that change won’t come to Cuba overnight. But the old approach — trying to isolate Cuba, for more than 50 years — clearly didn’t work. We believe that engagement — including greater trade, travel and ties between Americans and Cubans — is the best way to help create opportunity and spur progress for the Cuban people."

FILE - National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

Several members of Congress from both sides of the aisle will join Obama on the trip starting Sunday, a gesture many hope shows that improving relations is becoming a bipartisan issue.
Positive for Cuban people
Republican Jeff Flake, who plans to accompany the president, says he is "excited" about the trip. He hopes it will be good for the Cuban people.
"It's always bothered me that as Republicans we talk about engagement, travel and commerce as something that will nudge countries toward democracy," he said. "But with Cuba, we tend to say 'No, no, it won't work there.' But it will work. It is working."

Refrigerator magnets are displayed for sale in a tourist shop, several showing images of U.S. President Barack Obama, at a market in Havana, Cuba, March 14, 2016. Obama will travel to Cuba on March 20.

Human rights concerns remain
Not all lawmakers share Flake's enthusiasm. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, a Cuban American from Florida, is among them. He faults the president for embarking on a visit that does not meet the criteria set by the administration.
"The president said he would only go to Cuba if he could honestly say he saw changes, in terms of the people's basic, fundamental freedoms," Menendez said. He said those changes have not occurred.
"What we have seen in the first two-and-a-half months of this year is 1,400 new arrests and several of the people who were released under the original deal have been re-arrested and are now in jail. To me, that cannot be seen as progress as it relates to the basic, fundamental elements of democracy and human rights."

FILE - U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) speaks about President Barack Obama's planned trip to Cuba during a news conference, Feb. 18, 2016, in Union City, N.J.

Obama's three-day visit will make him the first sitting U.S. president to visit the island nation in nearly 90 years. The two nations have endured 50 years of hostilities, after revolutionary Fidel Castro overthrew the U.S.-supported dictator Fulgencio Batista.
 

Three Niger Police Die in Attack Near Border

Niger map

VOA News

March 18, 2016 3:17 AM

Three policemen have been killed in an attack on Niger security forces near the border with Nigeria, Burkina Faso and Mali.
Niger's Ministry of Defense made the statement on public television Thursday. Colonel Ledru Moustapha said in the statement the attack was launched by assailants who arrived on four motorcycles and in a Toyota pickup truck.
In an earlier attack, three members of Niger's defense forces were wounded and five suicide bombers were killed Wednesday in an ambush in the Diffa region authorities have blamed on Boko Haram.
The attacks come just before Niger voters go to the polls Sunday for a presidential runoff vote.
A spokesman for the opposition coalition, Amadou Bjibo, is asking supporters to boycott the vote. The opposition says the February 21 election was marred by vote-rigging.

 

Musharraf Leaves Pakistan After Travel Ban Lifted

FILE - In this Saturday, April 20, 2013 file photo, Pakistan's former President and military ruler Pervez Musharraf arrives at an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad.

 

VOA News

March 18, 2016 2:05 AM

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf, who is facing treason and other charges, has left the country after having his travel ban lifted.
The Supreme Court ordered the government earlier this week to lift the former president's ban. 
Musharraf flew to Dubai early Friday and is expected to go abroad for medical treatment for what he described as a "decade-old illness."
The former ruler promised to return to Pakistan to face all pending charges against him.
He told Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper, "I am a commando and I love my homeland. I will come back in a few weeks or months."
Political analyst Hasan Askari told the French News Agency, however, the chances of Musharraf coming back to Pakistan are "minimal" because his return could cause problems for the government and embarrass the military. "In order to defuse the conflict, the government agreed to let him go," Askari said.
The former ruler has faced a slew of charges since returning home in 2013 to contest elections.  In March of the same year, the travel ban was imposed.