South Asia
At an event organised by the International Federation of Indo-Israel Chambers of Commerce (IFIICC) on Sunday, diplomats and top business leaders from the two countries said that India, Israel, and the UAE could boost their trilateral trade to a whopping $110 billion by 2030. [Live Mint]
Former Pakistani diplomat Husain Haqqani, who served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2011, has said that Pakistan should offer a “formal apology” to Bangladesh for the “genocide” committed by its military in 1971. “The military’s reaction in the form of imprisoning Sheikh Mujib and initiating genocide against the Bengalis. To this day, no apology has been forthcoming…an apology is the most courteous thing,” the diplomat said. [The Print]
Central Asia and the Caucasus
Turkish contractors will help Azerbaijan rebuild the Nagorno-Karabakh region, according to Cenk Eynehan, the CEO of Istanbul-based PASHA bank. Azerbaijan, which has been controlling a majority of the disputed region following its victory in last year’s war with Armenia, has sought to develop Nagorno-Karabakh by pursuing projects in infrastructure, road, agriculture, energy, education, and health. [Anadolu Agency]
The Armenian parliament has adopted changes to the country’s Electoral Code, which opposition parties say are aimed at helping Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan win the upcoming elections in June. The amendments, which were announced earlier this month by Pashinyan, will alter the country’s electoral system from a mixed to a fully proportional one. The vote was boycotted by opposition party Prosperous Armenia, while Bright Armenia, the other main opposition party, did not participate in the vote. [RFE/RL]
East and Southeast Asia
Phuket, Thailand’s most popular tourist island, has begun its mass inoculation programme two months ahead of the rest of the country. The island aims to deliver at least 460,000 shots by July 1, which will cover most of its population. Following this, vaccinated overseas visitors will not be required to quarantine. [Channel News Asia]
Taiwanese authorities have discovered the dashboard camera on a truck on Sunday that caused the deadly train accident in Hualien County, said Deputy Transportation Minister Chi Wen-jong. The train collided with a construction truck that had rolled onto the tracks from a site located above the tunnel, destroying the first three carriages. Following the incident, the Taiwanese government has faced rising criticism over its failure to implement railway safety measures that could have prevented the mishap. The death toll currently stands at 50 but is expected to rise in the coming days. [The Straits Times]
Europe
Defying coronavirus restrictions, hundreds took to the streets of England and Wales on Saturday to participate in demonstrations against the government’s ‘Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill’, which will expand police power and make it easier for authorities to ban or shut down peaceful protests that are deemed too noisy or disruptive. Officials said that nearly 107 people were arrested in London on Saturday. [Al Jazeera]
Vjosa Osmani has been elected as the new president of Kosovo, after securing 71 from the 82 lawmakers present in the 120-seat parliament. She was backed by Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the leftist Vetevendosje movement and will serve a five-year term. [RFE/RL]
Latin America and the Caribbean
Argentinian President Alberto Fernández announced on Friday that he had contracted the coronavirus and has entered a period of isolation. His diagnosis is somewhat troubling, as he was inoculated with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine, making him the first Latin American leader to be inoculated. [Merco Press]
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has sought the support of the United Nations to deactivate mines in the southwestern state of Apure, which he alleges has become overrun by insurgents from Colombia. He further said, “They intend to take over our Venezuelan territory and we are not going to allow them to do so, that is why we give our full support to the FANB (Bolivarian Armed Forces). Colombia surrendered the border to irregular armed groups, criminals.” [Telesur]
Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
On Friday, the G7 foreign ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US, along with the High Representative of the EU, condemned the ongoing atrocities against civilians in Tigray, and called on all parties to exercise restraint, respect human rights and international law, and provide unhindered humanitarian access to reach those in need. However, the Ethiopian foreign ministry rejected the statement issued by the G7, arguing that it “failed to capture” some of the important steps taken by the Abiy administration to fully address the needs of the state, which include increased access to humanitarian aid, and investigations into human rights violations by international experts. [gov.uk, APA]
Officials in Addis Ababa have said that Eritrean troops have started withdrawing from Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where they have been fighting alongside Ethiopian forces in a war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Rights groups have accused both Eritrean and Ethiopian forces of committing serious human rights abuses. [Al Jazeera]
The Palestinian electoral commission has approved 36 candidates for next month’s election, which is the first in 15 years and is seen as a reconciliation effort between Palestine’s two major political factions, Hamas and Fatah. Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, which controls the West Bank, is facing challenges from within, as internal factions have questioned Abbas’ grip on the party. The Freedom List, led by Yasser Arafat’s nephew, Nasser al-Kidwa—and supported by Marwan Barghouti, who is serving multiple life sentences in Israel for acts of violence during the Second Intifada—has emerged as the main challenger to the Fatah party. [Al Jazeera]
The spokesperson for the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), Nuri Mahmoud, said that children in Syria’s al-Hol refugee camp are being indoctrinated in the “ISIS mentality” and warned that the camp would become a major terrorist hotbed if it is ignored by the international community. Mahmoud’s comments were made after the YPG conducted a five-day operation to flush out any elements of the Islamic State operation from the camp. In fact, it arrested more than 100 suspected members of the terrorist group. [Rudaw]
North America
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Japanese National Security Secretariat Secretary-General Shigeru Kitamura and South Korean National Security Office Director Suh Hoon on Friday. The officials reviewed the US’ North Korea policy and discussed other issues of mutual concern, such as addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, Indo-Pacific security, and the situation in Myanmar. [The White House]
The Biden administration on Friday lifted Trump-era sanctions on top International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, arguing that it had assessed that the measures were “inappropriate and ineffective.” The State Department said that though the US continues to “disagree strongly” with the court’s actions relating to Afghanistan and the Israel-Palestine issue, it believed that the cases “would be better addressed through engagement with all stakeholders in the ICC process rather than through the imposition of sanctions.” The move delisted ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, as well as Phakiso Mochochoko, the head of the ICC’s Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division. [US Department of State]
Oceania
Australian business consultants Christa Avery and Matthew O’Kane have now been released from house arrest and allowed to leave Myanmar without facing any charges after earlier coming under the military junta’s scrutiny for their involvement in foreign aid. Their release was welcomed by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. However, Sean Turnell, an Australian advisor to the deposed Burmese State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, remains in prison. [ABC News]
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is set to announce the re-establishment of “two-way quarantine-free travel” with Australia this week. It is thought that in the coming weeks and months, the government could also sign similar agreements with the Cook Islands, Niue, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, and Singapore. [Stuff]
Sub-Saharan Africa
Energy giant Total withdrew all its staff from Mozambique’s Afungi region amid a rapidly deteriorating situation in the country, which has become overrun with Islamic State and al Qaeda-affiliated militants. As a result, it has handed over the construction of its plant to the Mozambican military. [The Open University]
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has extended a $2.34 billion extended credit facility (ECF) and extended fund facility (EFF) to Kenya in order to strengthen the country’s response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and reduce its debt burden. [International Monetary Fund]
After warning last month that it could place Kenya on its ‘red list’ if ir continued to leave its border with Tanzania open, the United Kingdom has now suspended all travel from Kenya to the UK starting on April 9, in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Travellers who transited through or departed from Kenya, the Philippines, Pakistan, or Bangladesh in the previous 10 days will now be denied entry into the UK unless they are British or Irish citizens. [The East African]
World News Monitor: 5 April, 2021
A quick look at events from around the globe.
April 5, 2021
Newly-elected Kosovan President Vjosa Osmani SOURCE: ANEWS24