South Asia
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced his decision to postpone the conference on the peace process in Afghanistan after the Taliban refused to participate. He said that the discussion would be “meaningless” without the participation of the representatives from the group adding that there was “no need to hurry.” This comes as the United States announced its decision to withdraw its troops from the war-torn country by September 11. More recently, Germany, too, announced its decision to gradually withdraw its troops from the country starting on July 4. [NDTV, Al Jazeera]
Amidst an ongoing shortage of oxygen in India, along with a concerning surge in COVID-19 cases, a leak in an oxygen tank in Nashik, Maharashtra resulted in shortages causing the death of 22 patients. Rajesh Tope, the state’s health minister, said that the patients on ventilators had died because of the incident. [Reuters]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Caucasus Heritage Watch, a research programme monitoring the destruction of heritage sites in post-conflict Nagorno-Karabakh, showed satellite images of several heavy-duty vehicles near the Vankasar church, raising concerns about its possible demolition by Azerbaijani forces. The 7th-century Armenian church is located in the Agdam district which was recaptured by the Azerbaijan military during last year’s conflict. There have been increasing concerns about Azeri soldiers destroying Armenian heritage sites in Nagorno-Karabakh ever since the BBC released footage of the demolition of an Armenian church in the region last month. [RFE/RL]
Dursoltan Taganova, a Turkmen activist and fierce critic of Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s government, residing in Istanbul, has said that she is under has been warned by Turkey that her residency could be terminated if she continues her political activity. Taganova also said that the government was monitoring her online presence, especially her correspondence with other activists. The warning to Taganova comes ahead of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Ashgabat. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced yesterday morning that President Xi Jinping will attend and deliver “an important speech” at the leaders’ climate summit on Thursday via video link. Biden has extended the invitation for the climate summit to 40 world leaders. The summit is scheduled to open today, which is also Earth Day. [Global Times]
The search for an Indonesian submarine that went missing with 53 people on board has continued today after rescuers found an oil spill near where the vessel dived. According to a navy spokesperson, the 44-year-old submarine, KRI Nanggala-402, was conducting a torpedo drill north of the island of Bali on Wednesday. However, it failed to “relay the results as expected”. Neighbouring countries have offered to help with the search and rescue efforts. [The Straits Times]
Europe
Russia on Wednesday declared ten US embassy employees in Moscow persona non grata, ordering them to leave the country by May 21. The foreign ministry said that the move was a “tit-for-tat response to the hostile actions carried out by the US” against numerous Russian personnel at the embassy in Washington and the consulate in New York, adding that it would announce further “response measures to the last wave of the illegal US sanctions against Russia.” [MFA Russia]
More than a thousand people were arrested in Russia on Wednesday amid nationwide demonstrations over jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s deteriorating health. According to a local watchdog, 1496 individuals were detained, including 662 in St. Petersburg and 95 in the city of Ufa. Navalny’s spokeswoman was also reportedly jailed for ten days. [Reuters]
The German Parliament approved a law that allows the Angela Merkel-led government to impose stricter restrictions to curtail the third wave of the pandemic. Following the announcement, several protestors took to the streets of Berlin and clashed with police forces who were attempting to disperse the crowds. [Reuters]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who on Monday was appointed to replace Raúl Castro as the head of the country’s Communist Party, once again denounced US sanctions. He said, “Venezuela is a sovereign nation. The government of President Nicolás Maduro must be respected... It is unfair to blame his administration for the situation in Venezuela as the U.S. and its allies projected and applied sanctions on the country to provoke suffering in the population.” He added, “It would be useful and sincere to recognize that the U.S. design of intervention in Venezuela has failed resoundingly.” [Telesur]
Domestic consumption in Argentina in the month of March was 26% lower than at the same time last year, illustrating the impact of job losses, rising inflation, and the overall economic impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. [Buenos Aires Times]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
Morocco’s armed forces have signed a $70 million contract with Turkey to purchase 13 Turkish-made Bayraktar combat drones. Morocco has increasingly sought to purchase sophisticated weaponry as the conflict in Western Sahara with the Polisario Front intensifies. Earlier this month, it was reported that Morocco had used drones to kill a senior member of the Front. [Middle East Monitor]
The first batch of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in northwest Syria, including the rebel-held town of Idlib, for the first time. The delivery forms part of the World Health Organisation’s COVAX initiative. Syria healthcare system is in tatters after ten years of brutal war, which has severely reduced the country’s access to vital medicines. [Al Jazeera]
North America
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday announced nearly $300 million in additional civilian assistance for Afghanistan in 2021. The funds will come from both the US Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and is reportedly being released now in an effort to demonstrate America’s “enduring support for the Afghan people” amid troop withdrawal. [US Department of State]
British Columbia Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes on Wednesday agreed to a three-month delay in final arguments in the case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. The decision came after Meng’s lawyers asked for an extension to review recently released banking documents from HSBC that they think will help them turn the case in their favour. [CBC News]
Oceania
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison cancelled a deal between the state of Victoria and China that formed part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. This marked the first known use of a new law that allows the federal government to overrule any agreements reached between state agreements and foreign governments and entities. In response, the Chinese state-owned news outlet Global Times denounced the “unreasonable and provocative move against China that will hurt Australia itself.” [news.com.au]
In another threat to Australia, the deputy chief of the Chinees embassy in Canberra, Wang Xining, criticised Australia’s decision to ban Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network back in 2018. To this end, Wang said that China had taken note of “too many incidents over the past few years”, and warned that Australia and China would not be able to resume “normal” relations so long as Canberra insisted on a “discriminatory business environment”. [The Guardian]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday, where he met with President Félix Tshisekedi. During his trip, he is also expected to meet with business leaders. Prior to his trip, the Kenyan government hinted that it could provide incentives to Congolese traders to use the Mombasa port to import goods, seeing as many of them currently use the Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania. To this end, it has suggested that the DRC could open a consulate in Mombasa. Furthermore, Kenya has also pushed to include the DRC in the East African Community (EAC). [The East African]
A report by the international rights group Human Rights Watch revealed that Malian soldiers “killed at least 34 villagers, forcibly disappeared at least 16 people, and severely mistreated detainees during counterterrorism operations” in the central Mopti region since taking power via a coup last August. [Human Rights Watch]
World News Monitor: 22 April, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
April 22, 2021
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken SOURCE: STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES