ADDIS ABABA, 04 December, 2020, (TON): The leader of Ethiopia’s Tigrayan forces said on Friday that protests were breaking out in the regional capital which fell to federal troops days ago in their month-long war.

However, state TV showed images of people shopping and sitting on stools in Mekelle, while the new government-appointed chief executive of Tigray said peace was returning to the area.

Fighting between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s federal army and forces loyal to the region’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), has raged since November 4th.

With communications largely down and access for media restricted, claims from all sides have been impossible to verify. But thousands of people are believed to have died while more than 45,000 refugees have crossed to neighbouring Sudan.

TPLF leaders, who have enjoyed strong popular support for years in Tigray, appear to have fled to surrounding mountains and begun a guerrilla-style resistance.

Violence in Ethiopia’s northern state of Tigray has escalated, with hundreds of soldiers and an untold number of civilians killed in a worsening dispute between regional forces and the national government.

WASHINGTON, 04 December, 2020, (TON): The top Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee said he expected lawmakers to vote as early as next week on resolutions seeking to block Republican President Donald Trump’s $23bn weapons sale to the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Senators worry the weapons sale to UAE could alter the balance of power in the Middle East and UAE could use the weapons in Yemen.

“We are gathering support for it, and I would think sometime next week,” Senator Bob Menendez told reporters on Thursday.

Menendez and two other senators Democrat Chris Murphy and Republican Rand Paul announced on November 18 that they would introduce measures seeking to stop drones sale, F-35 aircraft and other weapons systems to the UAE.

The sale includes products from privately held General Atomics, Lockheed Martin Corp F-35s and missiles made by Raytheon.

It would take extensive support from members of Trump’s party to pass the resolutions and override an expected veto from Trump.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a foreign relations panel member and acting Intelligence Committee chairman, said he had not yet decided whether he would support the resolutions.

A sale to UAE will take years to close and then only with sustained congressional approval as the deal has stirred controversy. US weapons sale during Trump administration have amplified conflicts and heightened tensions among many countries. Lawmakers worry that the UAE would use the weapons in attacks in Yemen that would harm civilians who are already in the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

BEIJING, 04 December, 2020, (Media Report): Some damage to Sino-U.S. ties is "beyond repair" amid a new wave of Trump administration measures to counter China, Chinese state media warned, amid growing rancour underlined by an ugly Twitter spat between a U.S. senator and Chinese journalists.

Relations between the world's two largest economies have sunk to their lowest point in decades over issues such as trade, technology, security, human rights and COVID-19.

In an editorial, the government-backed China Daily said it viewed as "worrisome signs" Washington's decision to limit visitor visas for members of the Chinese Communist Party and their families and a ban on Xinjiang cotton imports.

"Even if the incoming administration has any intention of easing the tensions that have been sown, and continue being sown, some damage is simply beyond repair, as the sitting U.S. president intends," the paper added.

Relations between the two countries are being shifted to "a dangerous path", the editorial said.

The U.S. government also added Chinese chipmaker SMIC and oil giant CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged military companies, prohibiting U.S. investors from buying securities issued by the firms starting late next year.

China's ambassador to the United States became the latest of the Asian nation's senior officials to signal a desire to reset the increasingly confrontational relationship as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office in January.

"There are always differences between the two countries. None of them justifies confrontation and war, cold or hot," Cui Tiankai said on Twitter.

"With sufficient mutual respect and mutual understanding, we are capable of managing these differences so that they would not derail the entire relationship," he said on Thursday.

A person familiar with the matter also told Reuters U.S. prosecutors are discussing a deal with lawyers for Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou to resolve criminal charges against her and end her detention in Canada, which would bring an end to a major source of tension.

It is unclear whether a Biden administration would bring a dramatic shift, however.

WASHINGTON, 04 December, 2020, (TON): The legislation could stymie Donald Trump's plans to pull almost 12,000 troops out of Germany. He has threatened to veto the bill because it also requires military bases named after Confederate leaders to be renamed.

U.S. lawmakers unveiled the final version of a massive annual defense policy bill on Thursday which would halt President Donald Trump’s plans to withdraw troops from Germany, setting the stage for a veto fight in the last weeks before he leaves office.

Trump called for a partial withdrawal of troops over the summer amid a long-running dispute with Berlin over its defense spending, which is far below the NATO target of 2% of the gross domestic product. Under his plan, nearly 12,000 of the 36,000 American soldiers in Germany would leave the country, a fallout from Trump’s long-simmering feud with Berlin over military spending.

But the legislation the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) says a troop pull-out can only occur 120 days after the defense secretary submits an analysis to Congress on the impact of the withdrawal. The deadline to withdraw troops is January 15, five days before Trump is set to leave the White House.

The bill, which was crafted by a group of Republican and Democrat lawmakers, would also complicate Trump's plans to bring back troops from Afghanistan and South Korea. It still needs to be passed by Congress.

PARIS, 04 December, 2020, (TON): France’s interior minister has announced a crackdown on 76 mosques that the government suspects of “separatism”.

The French government launched a massive and unprecedented wave of measures to combat what it calls religious “extremism”, targeting mosques.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said the mosques would be inspected and any found to be “breeding grounds of terrorism” would be shut.

He also said 66 undocumented migrants suspected of “radicalisation” had been deported.

President Emmanuel Macron’s government has responded to several deadly attacks in recent weeks with a promise to crack down on what Darmanin has said is “the enemy within”.

The move is part of the French government’s ongoing campaign against Muslims after a series of attacks, which is unjustly targeting the wider Muslim community.

The president, Emmanuel Macron, has strenuously denied that new legislation to reinforce secularism that he outlined at the beginning of October was targeting Muslims. He said the law, under which France would train imams and impose a wider ban on home schooling and controls on religious, sporting and cultural associations, was aimed at tackling “Islamist separatism”.

Following the murder of teacher Samuel Paty in a Paris suburb in October, raids and pressure on Muslim associations and mosques have increased.

France is home to the largest Muslim minority population in Europe, and some fear being collectively punished after a series of attacks in recent months. The government’s crackdown has left Muslims feeling increasingly alienated in their own country.

SRINAGAR, 04 December, 2020, (TON): Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday voted in the first local elections since the tumultuous abrogation of the Muslim-majority region’s limited autonomy last August.

Voters across the disputed region’s 20 districts will elect 280 members of District Development Councils (DDC) who will have no power to legislate or amend laws in the region now directly run from New Delhi.

Voting is under way for the third phase on Friday. Indian media claims that second round held on Tuesday saw 49 percent voting amid tight security. Whereas, Pulwama district registered less than seven percent polling, clearly indicating lack of interest in the artificial resumption of democratic electoral process.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani has called for a “complete boycott” of DDC elections. In a statement he said “….. at a time when our freedom struggle against India’s illegal occupation is going through a crucial phase, conduction of DDC elections is to further the heinous designs of demographic changes, land grabs, building settler colonies, assaulting our economy and snatching our livelihood.”

Elections in Kashmir are just a symbolic exercise in a region to show normalcy in the Muslim majority region. There is no credibility of these elections as these elections bypasses institutions and creates new institutions.

People of IIOJK don’t consider these very significant elections and see them a tactic of New Delhi to claim that all was well in Kashmir after 5 August 2019.

By Usman Khan Khalil, The Orient News Research Section

The history and roots of “Nagorno-Karabakh” an ethnic and territorial land dispute” trace back more than seven decades before between Azerbaijan and Armenia, an area inhabited by both ethnic Armenians and Azerbaijanis population. The conflict mainly started when the seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbaijanis were occupied in the past by Armenia, illegally which led to the expulsion of Azerbaijanis from the area during the first Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1950 -1951. The area is internationally recognized as “de jure part” of Azerbaijan.

Inter-ethnic clashes between the two sides broke out shortly after the parliament of the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO) in Azerbaijan voted to unify the region with Armenia on 20 February 1988. The crisis erupted, when the Karabakh Armenians demanded that Karabakh be transferred from Soviet Azerbaijan to Soviet Armenia. The conflict triggered off into a full-scale war in the early 1990s. As Azerbaijan declared its independence from the Soviet Union, the Armenian majority voted to secede from Azerbaijan. In the process they proclaimed the unrecognized Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The war broke out between both sides in the late winter of 1992.By the end of the war in 1994, the Armenians were in full control of most of the enclave and also held the control approximately 9% of Azerbaijan's territory outside the enclave. During the war, "Russia was widely considered as the main supporter of the Armenia. Much of this perception stemmed from the fact that Russia transferred military support to Armenia. “It is on the record that Russian forces indirectly supported the Armenian side by "supplying arms, fuel and logistical support." Russia supplied around $1 billion worth of weapons and, thus, "made a significant contribution to the Armenian victory.” According to de Waal, "greater Russian support for the Armenians" was one of the main factors behind the Armenian victory. 

In the post-war period, Russia is the Armenia’s main arms supplier and the two countries are military allies. At the same time, Armenia buys Russian weaponry at a discount, while Azerbaijan pays the full price which also shows the mindset of Russian government. In contrast of it Turkey is widely considered Azerbaijan's main supporter in the conflict. Turkey is the "only country that constantly expressed its wide support for Azerbaijan.” It provided Azerbaijan "active military help" during the war. Turkey also supports Azerbaijan diplomatically. Turkish and Azerbaijani armed forces cooperate extensively and regularly hold military exercises. Azerbaijan has also bought weapons from Turkey.

Turkey closed its border with Armenia in April 1993 after Armenian forces captured Kalbajar. Turkey has repeatedly refused to normalize and establish diplomatic relations with Armenia in solidarity with Azerbaijan over Karabakh.

Several foreign groups fought on both sides in the intense period of fighting in 1992–94. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), both sides used mercenaries during the war, namely "Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian mercenaries or rogue units of the Soviet/Russian Army.

Azerbaijan has received a tremendous and massive diplomatic support, for its territorial integrity, from three post-Soviet states that have territorial disputes: Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. These three countries and Azerbaijan form the GUAM organization and support the Azerbaijani position fully. Serbia, with its own territorial dispute over Kosovo, also explicitly supports Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.

The two other post-Soviet states, Kazakhstan and Belarus tacitly support Azerbaijan's position, particularly within the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), despite nominal alliance with Armenia. On 14 March 2008 the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution which "reaffirmed Azerbaijan's territorial integrity, expressing support for that country's internationally recognized borders and demanding the immediate withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all occupied territories there." It was adopted by a vote of 39 in favor to 7 against, while most countries either abstained or were absent. It was backed significantly, mostly by Muslim states (31 were members of the OIC including Pakistan). Non-Muslim states that supported the resolution included three post-Soviet states: Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and five other nations: Cambodia, Colombia, Myanmar, Serbia, and Tuvalu. Thus, it was supported by seven OSCE members; one NATO member (Turkey) and no EU member state. It was opposed by Angola, Armenia, France, India, Russia, United States, Vanuatu.

The latest Clashes began on the morning of 27 September 2020 along the “Nagorno-Karabakh” line of contact which had been established in the aftermath of the war between “Nagorno-Karabakh “1988–1994). The latest round of last month war was marked by the deployment of drones, sensors, long-range heavy artillery and missile strikes, as well as by state propaganda and the use of official social media accounts in online information warfare. Total casualties on both sides are more than4,000 people were killed, 2,000 from each side. The total number of reported civilian casualties on the two sides is at least 140 who died in and around “Nagorno-Karabakh”,  an enclave internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians backed by Armenia. Numerous countries and the United Nations strongly condemned the fighting and called on both sides to de-escalate tensions.

 As the dust settles, the end result is that “the Azerbaijan brave people” appears to be the clear winners, while Armenia has suffered a severe and bitter defeat. The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war was an armed climax between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The Armenians steadily lost territory and Azerbaijani forces took over Shusha. Soldiers have hoisted the Azerbaijani flag in the final district given up by Armenia under a peace deal that ended weeks of fighting over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

A convoy of Azerbaijani military trucks entered the Lachin district overnight, taking over the last of three regions around Karabakh handed over by Armenia under the Russian-brokered agreement.

Following the capture of Shusha, the second-largest settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh, a ceasefire agreement was signed between the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, ending all hostilities in the area from 00:00, 10 November 2020, Moscow time. 

The President of Artsakh, Arayik Harutyunyan, also agreed to end the hostilities. Under the agreement, the warring sides will keep control of their currently held areas within Nagorno-Karabakh, while Armenia will return the surrounding territories it occupied in 1994 to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan will also get its land    access bordering Turkey and Iran namely, Nakhichevan exclave. Approximately 2,000 Russian soldiers will be deployed as peacekeeping forces along the Lachin corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh for a mandate of at least five years. keeping in view all these aspects, it is the prime responsibility of international players to play its due role in the ambit of untied resolutions to solve this grave issue permanently in order to bring peace and harmony the world at large.

NEW DELHI, 3 December 2020, (TON): India has raised a new issue against Pakistan accusing Pakistan of violating the spirit of violating the spirit of a UN resolution it had itself sponsored by transferring the control of the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara to a non-Sikh body.

In a statement, Ashish Sharma, a First Secretary in India's UN Mission, said on Wednesday, "This act goes against Sikh religion and its preservation and protection." He said that last month, Islamabad took away the control of the sacred shrine from the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandhak Committee and handed it to the Evacuee Trust Property Board, a statutory government body set up to manage the land and temples of the Sikhs and Hindus who had fled to India during the partition.

Last year, Pakistan had sponsored the resolution, "Promotion of Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding and Cooperation for Peace", which called the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor connecting the sacred shrine in Pakistan with the Dera Baba Nanak Sahib in India to facilitate pilgrimages "a landmark initiative for interreligious and intercultural cooperation for peace".

Pakistan, along with the Philippines, introduced a similar resolution this year which said that the General Assembly "welcomes the initiative to open up the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor in the spirit of interfaith harmony and peaceful neighbourhood, and appreciates the agreement between the governments of India and Pakistan to allow visa-free access to pilgrims of all faiths, especially Nanak Naam Levas and the Sikh community from across the world, as a landmark initiative for interreligious and intercultural cooperation for peace". The Resolution  was passed by with 90 votes and 52 abstentions with no votes against it.

The Holy See is also very pleased to see the resolution mention the “initiative to open up the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor in the spirit of interfaith harmony and peaceful neighbourhood” and the agreement between the Governments of India and Pakistan to allow visa free access to pilgrims of all faiths.  He commended the delegations of India and Pakistan for reaching consensus on this paragraph.

KATHMANDU, 3 December 2020, (TON):  After a lot of efforts by New Delhi and visit by Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Army Chief General MM Naravane and RAW’s Chief Samant Goel to Kathmandu, ice has started to melt but only to resumption of talks between Nepal and India.  

In the latest announcement, Kathmandu has confirmed visit of Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali to India for bilateral talks. Although, India has opened its border with Nepal after seven months but Nepalese authorities at Kathmandu have refused to reciprocate.

At the invitation of External Affairs Minister of India, S Jaishankar, foreign minister Gyawali will be visiting New Delhi from 22 to 23 December 2020,  to take part in the Sixth meeting of Joint Commission between Nepal and India at Foreign Minister level. The joint commission is the highest level mechanism between the two countries.  Gyawali confirmed that he is visiting New Delhi in a bilateral visit and would raise the issue of boundary dispute strongly.

Ties between Nepal and India had got extremely tense after Nepal issued a new map in May this year in response to India opening of road to the Lipulekh border region, which is claimed by Nepal.  

RAMALLAH, 03 December, 2020, (TON): Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye on Wednesday called on the donor countries to take more serious measures to boycott the Israeli settlements.

"The real situation is deteriorating due to Israel's policies of expanding settlements in the Palestinian territories," Ishtaye told an online meeting for the international donors.

A press statement, issued by Ishtaye's office in Ramallah, said that he told the meeting "due to these policies, the Palestinian land is shrinking, settler violence is escalating, and the access to our resources decreases daily."

According to the statement, Norway chaired the meeting for around 40 donor countries and international institutions, including the United Nations and the World Bank.

"The meeting discussed the political and financial developments in the Palestinian territories and the preparations for the donors' conference, which is scheduled to be held in Oslo in February next year," the statement said.

Israel occupied Jerusalem and the whole of the West Bank following the 1967 Six-Day War and began establishing settlements in the area. Since then, more than 700,000 Israelis have moved into settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

In 2019, four new settlements were established in the Jordan Valley including the construction of 110 housing unit construction. Israel has increased its activity to build settlements in the occupied Palestinian land in the West Bank area by 25%.