BAMAKO, 31 May, 2021, (TON): West African leaders suspended Mali from their regional bloc ECOWAS in response to last week's coup and said authorities must stick to a timetable for a return to democracy, but stopped short of imposing new sanctions.

The leaders of 15-member Economic community of West African States (ECOWAS) held an emergency meeting in Ghana’s capital, Accra on Sunday in response to the Malian military’s toppling of a President and Prime minister in nine months for the second time.

Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Shirley Ayorkor Botchway told reporters that the suspension will remain in force until the country returns to constitutional rule.

Mali's neighbours and international powers fear the latest revolt will jeopardise a commitment to hold a presidential election next February.

In a communique after the summit, ECOWAS said Mali's membership in the bloc was suspended with immediate effect.

However it did not announce sanctions like those it imposed after the coup last August, which saw members temporarily close their borders with landlocked Mali and halt financial transactions.

It also did not call for new interim President Assimi Goita to step down. The army colonel, who led the August coup and last week's revolt, was declared president on Friday. 

ECOWAS said a new civilian prime minister should be nominated and a new inclusive government formed to proceed with the transition programme.

"The date of 27th February 2022 already announced for the presidential election should be absolutely maintained," the leaders' communique said. 

For the second time in nine months, Col Assimi Goïta has seized power in Mali, detaining transitional President Bah Ndaw and Prime Minister Moctar Ouane after accusing them of failing in their duties and trying to sabotage the West African state's transition to democracy.
He also led the coup which deposed the elected head of state, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, on 18 August last year.

DHAKA, 31 May, 2021, (TON): Hundred and thousands of Rohingya’s on Monday staged "unruly" protests against the conditions of cyclone-prone island off Bangladesh where they were moved from vast camps on the mainland, said police.

Starting from December, 18,000 Rohingya shifted out of a planned 100,000 refugees to the low-lying silt island of Bhashan Char from the Cox's Bazar region, where some 850,000 people live in squalid and cramped conditions.

Most of them had fled a brutal military offensive in neighbouring Myanmar in 2017 that UN investigators concluded was executed with "genocidal intent".

About 4,000 people were involved in Monday's protest, police said, and coincided with an inspection visit by officials from the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).

"The Rohingya who are there became unruly the moment the UNHCR representatives landed (on the island) by helicopter today," local police chief Alamgir Hossain told AFP news agency.

"They broke the glass on warehouses by throwing rocks. They came at the police... Their demand is they don't want to live here."

After the first transfer on December 4 to the flood-prone island in the Bay of Bengal, several Rohingya says that they were beaten and intimidated into agreeing to be relocated.

However, Bangladesh government has rejected the allegations, saying the island was safe and its facilities far better than those in the Cox's Bazar camps.

Bangladesh has transferred Rohingya refugees to a remote island, despite opposition from international aid agencies. The island, named "Bhasan Char" or floating island, first emerged just 20 years ago as a sandbar in the Bay of Bengal.

About 750,000 Rohingya Muslims had to flee from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh in 2017 after Myanmar's military launched a counterinsurgency operation, involving mass rape, murders and the torching of villages.

COLOMBO, 31 May, 2021, (TON): Sri Lanka launched a criminal probe on Sunday into a massive container ship fire that has swamped the island nation's coast with plastic pollution, causing worst marine disaster ever.

Tonnes of microplastic granules have inundated the South Asian country's famed beaches, forcing a fishing ban and prompting fears of ecological damage.

Sri Lanka's Marine Environment Protection Authority lodged a complaint after which the 25-member crew will be questioned on Monday, who have already been evacuated from the ship, said police.

Earlier, authorities said they believed the fire was caused by a nitric acid leak that the crew had been aware of since May 11.

“The captain and the crew were in quarantine, but health authorities have told us that we can question them from tomorrow,” Ajith Rohana, a police spokesperson, told news agency.

“We have already sent samples of polluted seawater and burnt debris from the vessel for a forensic report.”

According to the authorities and the operators of the container ship the fire has continued to burn, though it has been brought under control.

The ship’s owners, X-Press Feeders, said the vessel’s hull remained intact and there was no damage to its fuel tanks.

Much of the ship’s cargo, including 25 tonnes of nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, lubricants and other chemicals, appears to have been destroyed in the fire, according to officials.

According to the Sri Lanka’s Marine Protection Authority (MEPA) the plastic waste from the burning ship had probably caused “the worst beach pollution in our history”, and warned it could cause years of ecological damage.

Fishermen have also been banned from the 80-kilometre (50-mile) stretch of coast where the pellets have washed up.

MV X-Press Pearl is a Singaporean-registered container ship which has been smoldering on the horizon for 11 days after a blaze broke out as it was heading to Colombo from Gujarat, India.

This container ship is operated by X-Press Feeders which is regarded as the largest feeder operator in the world.

ADDIS ABABA, 31 May 2021, (TON): Thousands of Ethiopians gathered in the nation's capital Sunday to protest outside pressure on the government over its brutal war in Tigray. Protesters at the rally in Addis Ababa carried banners that criticised the United States and others in the international community who are voicing concern over atrocities in Tigray, where Ethiopian forces are hunting down the region's ousted and now-fugitive leaders.

Troops from neighbouring Eritrea are fighting in Tigray on the side of Ethiopian government forces, in defiance of international calls for their withdrawal. But the protesters in Addis Ababa carried placards that said “Ethiopian young people denounce the western intervention.” Others said Ethiopia's sovereignty was at stake.

The US said last week it has started restricting visas for government and military officials of Ethiopia and Eritrea, who are seen as undermining efforts to resolve the fighting in Tigray, home to an estimated 6 million of Ethiopia's 110 million people.                Besides the visa restrictions, Washington is imposing wide-ranging restrictions on economic and security assistance to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government called the US action “misguided” and “regrettable.”

“The Ethiopian government will not be deterred by this unfortunate decision of the US administration,”  It said, “If such a resolve to meddle in our internal affairs and undermining the century-old bilateral ties continues unabated, the government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia will be forced to reassess its relations with the United States, which might have implications beyond our bilateral relationship,” said the statement.

The crisis began in November after Ethiopia and Tigray People's Liberation Front, or TPLF,clashed. Troops sent by Ethiopia's leader, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, quickly carried out operations against TPLF in major cities and towns killing thousands of people, but still peace could not be restored across Tigray.       

DAMASCUS, 30 May 2021, (TON): Syrian President Bashar Assad was re-elected in a landslide, ushering in a fourth seven-year term in the war-torn country following an election described as illegitimate and a sham by the West and his opposition.

US and European officials have also questioned the legitimacy of the election, saying it violates UN resolutions in place to resolve the conflict, lacks any international monitoring, and is unrepresentative of all Syrians.

Syria's parliament speaker, Hammoud Sabbagh, announced the final results from Wednesday's vote. He said President Assad garnered 95.1 per cent of the votes. He said turnout stood at 78.6 per cent of the voters, in an election that lasted for 17 hours on Wednesday with no independent monitors.

President Assad's victory comes as the country is still devastated by the conflict. Fighting has subsided but the war is not over. An economic crisis is getting worse in a country where over 80% of the population lives below the poverty line and the local currency is in a free fall.

President Assad, close associates and government officials are facing widening Western sanctions, added to already existing ones that have escalated as the war unfolded. European and US governments blame Assad and his aides most of the war's atrocities.

Thousands gathered in major squares in Damascus, and the coastal city of Tartus, dancing while waving flags and pictures of President Assad. They chanted: “With our soul, blood, we defend you Bashar,” and “We only choose three: God, Syria and Bashar.”

A large stage was set in the capital's Omayyad Square, with speakers blaring national songs. One singer appeared on a stage set up in a Tartus square, dressed in the flag of Syria. Almost no one was wearing a face mask, though Syria is facing a surge of coronavirus cases.

CAIRO, 30 May 2021, (TON): Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi arrived in Cairo on Sunday for talks with senior Egyptian officials over the ongoing ceasefire in place between Israel and the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The trip is the first formal visit by an Israeli Foreign Minister to Egypt in nearly 13 years. Ashkenazi is due to meet with his Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri.

As ceasefire, mediated by Egypt, has is valid between Israel and the Hamas since 21 May 2021, both are likely to discuss a permanent ceasefire with Hamas and the rebuilding of Gaza that was largely devastated during 11 days of bloody fighting with Israel earlier this month.

The 11-day conflict in an around the Gaza Strip left at least 260 Palestinians and 21 Israelis dead.

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi  said, "We will discuss establishing a permanent ceasefire with Hamas, a mechanism for providing humanitarian aid & the reconstruction of Gaza with a pivotal role played by the international community," he added "Israel is fully committed to the return of its soldiers being held by Hamas".

WASHINGTON, 30 May 2021, (TON): Over a 1,000 people assembled at Lincoln Memorial in Washington and took out rally on Saturday in support of Palestinians and demanded end to US aid to Israel.

The protesters vowed to continue their peaceful struggle and said,"People have now woken up, and we're resisting”. It was observed that young Jews, young Muslims, young Blacks, young whites have altered their approach towards Palestinian cause. And people are working across ethnic groups, racial groups, to work for change and freedom and liberation for Palestinian people."

Protesters dispaying Palestinian flags said, "We are hoping to send a clear message to the United States government that the days of supporting the Israeli state without repercussions are over."

Meanwhile, UN rights council votes for probe into 'crimes' committed in Gaza conflict.

BRAZIL, 30 May 2021, (TON): Tens of thousands of protesters have poured on to the streets of Brazil’s largest cities to demand the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro over his catastrophic response to a coronavirus pandemic that has claimed nearly half a million Brazilian lives.

The demonstrators turned out in more than 200 cities and towns for what is the biggest anti-Bolsonaro mobilisation since Brazil’s Covid outbreak began

“Today is a decisive milestone in the battle to defeat Bolsonaro’s genocidal administration,” said Silvia de Mendonça, 55, a civil rights activist from Brazil’s Unified Black Movement as she led a column of protesters through Rio’s dilapidated city centre.

Saturday’s demonstrations – which also took place in major cities including São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Recife and the capital Brasília, as well as scores of smaller towns – come with Bolsonaro at arguably his lowest ebb since he took office in January 2019.

Polls suggest growing anger at the rightwing populist’s handling of Covid, with 57% of the population now backing his impeachment. A congressional inquiry is currently dissecting Bolsonaro’s calamitous response to the public health crisis with damaging revelations about his government’s conduct being broadcast each night on the news.

Bolsonaro appears particularly rattled by the reemergence of his political rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the former leftist president who looks poised to challenge him for the presidency in next year’s election. In a recent interview with the Guardian Lula, whose political rights were recently restored, said he had no doubt the Brazilian people would “free themselves” from Bolsonaro in 2022.

KABUL, 30 May 2021, (TON): Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand and Afghanistan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Meerwais Nab in a phone call reviewed cooperation in various fields. Baharvand and Nab discussed regional issues and cooperation between the two countries.
Iran and Afghanistan’s diplomates examined the Comprehensive Iran-Afghanistan Cooperation Agreement, holding the sixth meeting of the Joint Commission on Economic-Trade Cooperation and major bilateral cooperation projects.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh in early May “his country is doing its best to maintain peace and stability in the neighborly and brotherly country of Afghanistan.”
Saeed Khatibzadeh said “We are concerned about what is happening in Afghanistan, and we have done our best for the peace and stability of Afghanistan.”