News Highlights – September 3, 2020 -1300hrs EAT COVID-19 Pandemic

Region Infections Deaths Recoveries Globe 26.1 million 867,785 18.4 million Africa 1.273 million 30,370 1,011 million Ethiopia 54,409 846 19,903 Follow live updates on worldometers.info/coronavirus/ ______

GERD News • U.S. to cut $100 million in aid to Ethiopia over GERD dam dispute - Reuters, Yahoo News The United States had decided to cut $100 million in aid to Ethiopia amid a dispute with and over a mega dam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile, a congressional source told Reuters on Wednesday. Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt have been locked in a bitter dispute over the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which remains unresolved although the reservoir behind the dam began filling in July. “State has decided to cut assistance” due to Ethiopia’s position on GERD negotiations, the source told Reuters via email. “Up to $100M or so will be affected, of which $26M is funding that expires at the end of the (financial year),” the email said. The source said much of the expiring funding deals with regional security or border security, political competition and consensus-building, and nutrition. But funding for HIV/AIDS, the food for peace program, international disaster assistance, and migration and refugee assistance would be unaffected, the official said. The Ethiopian foreign ministry was not immediately available for comment. The United States and Ethiopia have long been close allies, with Ethiopia often working in tandem with the U.S. officials against Somali Islamist insurgents. But U.S. officials have been frustrated by their inability to strike a deal. "The United States previously and repeatedly expressed its concern that commencing the filling of the GERD before all necessary dam safety measures were implemented created serious risks," the official said. Ethiopia's ambassador to the US told the Financial Times he hoped the US would change its mind over the aid cut. "We've asked them to reconsider and we're waiting. We hope 117 years of diplomatic relations will not be damaged because of an issue not related to the two countries," Fitsum Arega said. Correspondents say the move is likely to be seen as US President Donald Trump punishing Ethiopia after the country rejected US-led mediation with Egypt and Sudan. The talks have stalled over various issues including demands by Egypt and Sudan that any deal should be legally binding and how to manage the dam during periods of drought.

CDRC Research Department, September 2020

• US suspends some aid to Ethiopia over dam dispute with Egypt – Associated Press On the guidance of President Donald Trump, the State Department said Wednesday the U.S. is suspending some aid to Ethiopia over the “lack of progress” in the country’s talks with Egypt and Sudan over a massive, disputed dam project it is completing on the Nile River. It was an unusual example of Trump's direct intervention on an issue in Africa, a continent he hasn't visited as president and rarely mentions publicly. The dam dispute centers on two of Africa's most populous and powerful nations, Ethiopia and Egypt, and some have feared it could lead to military conflict. A State Department spokesperson told The Associated Press the decision to “temporarily pause” some aid to a key regional security ally “reflects our concern about Ethiopia’s unilateral decision to begin to fill the dam before an agreement and all necessary dam safety measures were in place.” It is not clear how many millions of dollars in aid are being affected, or for how long. The decision was taken by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “based on guidance from the president,” the spokesperson said. Ethiopia this week said it was asking the U.S. for clarification after a media report said Pompeo had approved cutting up to $130 million in aid because of the dam dispute. The report by Foreign Policy last week set off an uproar among some in Ethiopia, which sees the dam as a source of national pride. There was no immediate comment from Ethiopia's government. Ethiopia’s ambassador to the U.S., Fitsum Arega, this week tweeted that his country is determined to complete the dam, saying that “we will pull Ethiopia out of darkness.” The U.S. earlier this year tried to mediate the discussions, but Ethiopia walked away amid accusations that Washington was siding with Egypt. Now the three countries are reporting any progress to the African Union, which is leading negotiations. “The United States previously and repeatedly expressed its concern that commencing the filling of the GERD before all necessary dam safety measures were implemented created serious risks for the populations of the downstream countries,” the State Department spokesperson said. “In addition, filling while negotiations were underway undermines the other parties’ confidence in the negotiations.” The spokesperson also said “the United States has been increasingly concerned by the lack of progress in the negotiations of a trilateral agreement” on the dam’s filling and operation, but said the U.S. continues to work with all three countries on the issue. The spokesperson said aid will continue for Ethiopia’s response to COVID-19 and HIV and “certain humanitarian assistance to aid those affected by conflict, drought, displacement, and other humanitarian challenges.” Ethiopia in recent weeks has seen a rapid rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases and now has more than 50,000, another challenge for a country already facing outbursts of deadly ethnic violence and growing economic pain. A former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, David Shinn, had warned against an aid cut, writing that “playing political hardball with Ethiopia will not only fail to obtain Washington’s desired result but will probably ensure that the Ethiopian diaspora in the United States rallies against Trump. There are sizeable Ethiopian-American communities in key states such as Georgia, Texas, and Virginia.” ______

CDRC Research Department, September 2020

Ethiopia • World Bank Says It Continues to Work Closely with Ethiopia Fana The World Bank (WB) has reaffirmed its commitment to continue to work closely with the Government of Ethiopia. In a twitter post, the World Bank Ethiopia Country office said “The World Bank continues to work closely with the Government of Ethiopia and is in full support of the country’s economic reform program and its financing.” “Our overall financing program in support to Ethiopia development efforts is about US$ 2.9 billion for the first year of IDA-19 cycle. The submission of different projects including the budget support to the World Bank Group’s Board of Executive Directors for discussion and decision in following its normal course.”

• Ethiopian PM urges the move to the middle ground as tension arises Borkena Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is calling for an end for political polarization as, Ethiopian Citizens For Social Justice Party, one of the major opposition parties in the country, is demanding an investigation into the scandalous distribution of land in the capital Addis Ababa which happened during Takele Uma’s tenure as mayor of the city. “If we have a common goal as a country, we will manage to defend the existence of our country and achieve victory,” he said in a Facebook message he wrote on Tuesday. The path we take out of rigidity, he added, will only lead to wastage of time and resources. A view that is not willing to take a single stride towards the middle ground cannot even hold a family together let alone a nation. Abiy Ahmed sees what he calls polarized interests as a problem affecting the country and the way to solve them is to come to the middle. But the country is now dominated by ethnic nationalists forces both from with the government structure and outside it. Without naming names to whom the call is made, he called on the need to regulate opposing interests to build a “strong and prosperous Ethiopia.” Despite the prime minister’s call, reconciling opposing political interests in the country does not seem to be an easy task under the existing political arrangement. The existing form of the federal government structure, for example, disenfranchised millions of Ethiopians citizens who even believe in a different form of federal arrangement. The Ethiopian constitution grants citizens a right to live and work in any part of the country. The political and administrative practice is different – especially in regions. The past two years repeatedly demonstrated that hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians have been displaced from their places as the ethnic-based regional states pursue a policy that looks like nativism. It is unclear as to what political forces are expected to come to the middle ground as he did not mention them implicitly or explicitly.

• Court Files Charges Against Dejene Taffa, Mestewarid Temam, Jawar’s Employee Fana Federal Supreme Court has filed charges against Dejene Taffa, former leader of Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Mestewarid Temam and Misha Adem, a computer professional hired by Jawar Mohammed. The court rules the charges separately in to two parts; the first defendants are Dejene CDRC Research Department, September 2020

Taffa and the second one is Misha Adem, accordingly. The charge filed by the prosecutor indicates that the first defendants have breached Ethiopian Criminal Code 238/2 in allegedly involving in the major crime along with their accomplices, trying to dismantle constitutional order, and claiming transitional government unconstitutionally. Misha Adem has also been charged with telecom fraud. They are also charged with crimes related to an intention to topple various monuments in the country including Statue of Emperor Minilik the second, and instigating an organized youth group named ‘Qeerroo’ to set fire to homes of other ethnic groups in Oromia region. The second defendant, Misha Adem is charged with a crime connected to grabbing of the body of the late prominent singer Hachalu Hundenssa and a related attempt to place the body at the premises of the Oromo Cultural Center encroaching the railing of the institution. Although the defendants requested the court to respect their right to bail, the prosecutor at the Federal Supreme Court First Anti-Terrorism Affairs Trial argued that they do not deserve a bail for the case is related to punishment for more than fifteen years. The court adjourned the trial for tomorrow to judge on the case related to the bail requested by the defendants.

______Horn of Africa and IGAD Region • US official: No results after $3.2bn spent restoring Somalia’s security Middle East Monitor The Acting Deputy Representative of the United States to the United Nations, Ambassador Cherith Norman Chalet, said her country had spent nearly $3.5 billion to restore Somalia’s security over the past two decades, without achieving any results. Norman added that the US continues to use airstrikes to target the leaders of Al-Shabaab movement, but military operations alone will not lead to victory over the terrorists. The American Forces Africa Command explained in a report that it had launched 46 airstrikes against Al-Shabaab this year alone. The United States expressed concern that taxes paid by local parties, including commercial establishments, to Al-Shabab are being used to launch attacks against the government. ______

• Sudan’s Hamdok, SPLM-N al-Hilu hold unannounced meeting in Addis Ababa Sudan Tribune Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok on Wednesday held a secret meeting with Abdel Aziz al-Hilu the Chairman of the SPLM-N in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa in an effort to break the deadlock in the peace talks mediated by the South Sudanese government. Sudan Tribune learned that Hamdok left Wednesday morning for Addis Ababa where he met al-Hilu to discuss ways to resume peace talks. According to the sources, al-Hilu informed South Sudanese

CDRC Research Department, September 2020

government of his desire to meet with Hamdok, in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. He arrived in Addis Ababa from the Kenyan capital, Nairobi as he is not in Juba for several weeks. No official statement has been published about the encounter. Als, Sudanese officials refuse to comment on the matter. Hamdok travelled on 9 January to Kauda the stronghold of the rebels in Nuba Mountain of South Kordofan, in vain, in a bid to convince al-Hilu to change his mind on his demand to include the secular state in the peace talks. In a speech delivered at the ceremony of the initial signing of the peace agreement on 31 August, Kiir described the peace deal struck in Juba as "unfinished work" and vowed to exert more efforts to bring al-Hilu to the negotiating table.

______Kenya

• Kenyan minister unmasks warlords funding terror in Kenya - CGTN Kenyan Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiangi has unmasked key influential businessmen and leaders in northern Kenya, accused of supporting or funding terrorism. Matiangi listed nine individuals he said are responsible in financing operations of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab that has links with the global terror network, Al-Qaeda. “I hereby order the freezing of funds and property of the following individuals and entities,” Matiangi said in a statement listing Halima Adan Ali, Waleed Ahmed Zein, Sheikh Guyo Gorsa Boru, Mohammed Abdi Ali (Abu Fidhaa), Nuseiba Mohammed Haji, Abdimajit Adan Hassan, Mohamed Ali Abdi, Muktar Ibrahim Ali, and Mire Abdullahi Elmi. No further details were given about the individuals named or the kind of business they do, but security sources said most of them are influential business figures from the north. Matiangi said he acted pursuant to provisions of Regulation 11 (1) of the Prevention of Terrorism-POTA, Implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Suppression of Terrorism) Regulations 2013 and other counterterrorism laws. “Terrorism knows no bounds. We shall neither surrender into the hands of terrorism nor play the narrative propounded by terrorists of discrimination along ethnic and religious lines in the war,” he said in a statement released on Wednesday. Kenya has suffered the wrath of Al Shabaab in several attacks along with the border towns of Garissa, Mandera, and Lamu where they target security forces and in the capital Nairobi and the coastal town of Mombasa. In all the attacks, hundreds of people have been killed, many injured and property damaged even as they abduct people, including foreigners from Kenya for ransom.

______

Africa Cameroon • Seven killed in suicide bomb attack in northern Cameroon village Reuters

CDRC Research Department, September 2020

At least seven people were killed and 14 others wounded in suicide bomb attack in a village hosting internally displaced people in Cameroon’s Far North region, the second of such attack in a month, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Wednesday. The attack on Tuesday took place in Goldavi, close to the border with Nigeria, where some 18,000 people fleeing the violent insurgency, had sought refuge. “We are horrified by these senseless attacks on people who have been torn from their villages, fleeing violence perpetrated by armed gangs which rage in the region, only to be stripped of safety again after they just found refuge elsewhere,” said Olivier Guillaume Beer, UNHCR Representative in Cameroon. The UN agency said the recent attacks follow a significant rise in violent incidents in Cameroon’s Far North Region, including looting and kidnapping by Boko Haram and other armed groups active in the region. A spokesman for Cameroon’s government was not immediately available to comment. Suspected militants from Islamist group Boko Haram killed at least 18 people and wounded seven early last month in a grenade attack on a camp for displaced people in northern Cameroon. The UNHCR said that an estimated 7,000 Cameroonian villagers near the border with Nigeria have fled their homes since 11 August, seeking safety in neighbouring areas. “The displaced population has been targeted in relentless attacks, forcing them to flee,” it said, adding that the decade-long Boko Haram insurgency has killed over 30,000 in the Lake Chad Basin, and forced over three million to flee their homes. ______Mail • Former Malian President Keita Hospitalised in Private Clinic Africa News Not long after being released from the 10-day detention imposed by the military coup leaders, the National Committee for the Salvation of the People, the ousted Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was hospitalized late Tuesday at a private clinic in Bamako, Mali. Nouhoum Sarr, one of the leaders of M5 Rally for Patriotic Forces movement expressed concern and sent well wishes, "Beyond the political differences we may have had, the humanitarian issue transcends all of this. He is a compatriot; he is a human being. We wish him good health and a quick recovery in our own establishment and we believe that if the specialists in our country do not allow his health to be taken care of, beyond any political consideration, then he can be evacuated." Mali's former minister, Bandiougou Bidia Doucoure, also had a few words to share, "the Malians should not accept the president (IBK) to die here. Six months after having accepted that he goes where he wants to be treated, no one wishes his death. So, he must re-establish himself and then, if there will be judgment tomorrow or after tomorrow, that is more normal". The M5 opposition called for the resignation of Keita by way of public demonstrations for three months before the coup saw him step down. The condition of the 75-year-old was not immediately known, and it was unclear whether he would be evacuated abroad for medical treatment. Keita, who was first elected in 2013, had three years left in his term when mutinous soldiers detained him at his residence after firing shots outside the house. Hours later, he appeared in a midnight broadcast on national television,

CDRC Research Department, September 2020

informing Malians of his decision to step down immediately so that no blood would be shed at his expense for him to remain in power. ______Gulf Region and the Middle East • Yemen’s warring parties urged to reveal whereabouts of detainees Al-monitor A group of international and local human rights organizations have called on Yemen’s warring parties to reveal the whereabouts of scores of civilians forcibly disappeared, as well as to immediately release all who are arbitrarily detained in official and unofficial prisons. Wrongfully held detainees are “an important issue that touches the lives of thousands of Yemeni families who are left to their own devices in fighting for truth and justice for their loved ones,” organizations including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Yemen-based Mothers of Abductees Association and the independent Yemeni group Mwatana for Human Rights wrote in an open letter published today. The eight organizations urged parties to the conflict to create prison registries, allow independent monitors to visit the detention centers and give prisoners access to their families and lawyers. The war between the Houthi rebels, who overran the capital in 2014, and the Saudi and Emirati-led military coalition, which intervened the following year to restore the internationally recognized government, has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The protracted conflict has killed tens of thousands and left roughly 80% of the country reliant on humanitarian aid. The Houthis and pro-government forces agreed to release thousands of prisoners as part of United Nations-brokered peace talks in Stockholm in 2018. But prisoner exchanges so far have prioritized military detainees over civilians, the rights organizations said. In a report released in June, Mwatana documented a total of 1,605 cases of arbitrary detention and 770 cases of enforced disappearance since 2016 by all of Yemen’s warring parties, including the Yemeni government, the Houthis, the and Emirati-backed forces. In one high-profile case, a court in the rebel-held capital of Sanaa in April sentenced four journalists to death for treason and espionage. A number of other journalists remain missing, including Waheed al-Sufi, who was abducted more than five years ago. Imprisoned Yemenis are also at risk from unlawful attacks on their detention centers. In August 2019, coalition airstrikes hit a Houthi-run prison site in the city of Dhamar and killed nearly 170 people, according to Mwatana. “The need to reveal the fate of the arbitrarily detained and the forcibly disappeared is ever more pressing,” the rights groups said, writing that COVID-19 is spreading unchecked throughout Yemen and detainees living in unsanitary, overcrowded prisons are especially vulnerable. Poorly maintained detention facilities are also at risk of collapsing due to the recent flash flooding that killed hundreds, displaced thousands of families and damaged infrastructure across Yemen. ______

CDRC Research Department, September 2020

Tunisia • : Mechichi's government sworn in before president Anadolu The new government of Tunisian Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi was sworn in Wednesday before President . Mechichi's Cabinet won a vote of confidence earlier in the day. A total of 134 parliamentary deputies voted in favor and 67 against forming the government in a vote that lasted more than 14 hours. On July 26, Saied assigned Mechichi – then the interior minister – to form a new government for the North African country of 12 million. Mechichi formed a technocratic government on Aug. 25 with 25 ministers and three state clerks. Mechichi, who is not affiliated with any political party, was not nominated by any party for the post of premier. But Saied appointed him premier last month after resigned from the post over allegations of a conflict of interest. ______Egypt • Egypt group warns Sudan against referring Halayeb case to UNSC Middle East Monitor The official spokesman of Egypt’s Organisation for Justice and Development, Zidan Al-Qinai, denounced the speech of the chairman of the Sudanese Transitional Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, about the lifting of the Sudanese flag in Halayeb and Shalateen. The organisation confirmed that Halayeb and Shalateen are Egyptian lands in accordance with the Sudan agreement between Egypt and Britain, and that Egypt has allowed some Sudanese tribes to be there in light of the ties linking the neighbours. Al-Qanai stressed that Halayeb and Shalateen are Egyptian lands and that any deployment of Sudanese forces in these lands will lead to serious tensions in Egyptian-Sudanese relations as this issue is related to Egyptian sovereignty. He called on the Egyptian army to deploy combat forces and heavy weapons in Halayeb and Shalateen. Sudan warned against transferring the Halayeb and Shalateen file to the UN Security Council, especially since Sudan requested Washington’s support with the file after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit. Al-Burhan asked Washington and Pompeo to put pressure on Egypt regarding the Halayeb file, in exchange for a normalisation agreement between Sudan and Israel.

• Sisi, Netanyahu discuss Israel-UAE deal over phone – Middle East Monitor Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said Wednesday that the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was a step toward peace in the region, Anadolu reports. The Egyptian Presidency said in a statement that Sisi received a phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which they discussed regional developments. Sisi

CDRC Research Department, September 2020

affirmed Egypt’s support for any steps that would bring peace to the region in a way that preserves the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, allows the establishment of their independent state and provides security for Israel. It stressed the importance of sustaining negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides in order to reach a “just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause on the basis of a two-state solution” and to bring security, peace and prosperity to the people in the region. On Aug. 13, the UAE and Israel announced a US-brokered agreement to normalize their relations, including opening embassies in each other’s territory. The Palestinian Authority and resistance factions have denounced the UAE-Israel deal, saying it does not serve the Palestinian cause and ignores the rights of Palestinians. ______Libya • Russia steps up support for private military contractor in : U.N. report Reuters Russia has stepped up its logistic support for private military contractor Wagner Group in Libya with some 338 military cargo flights from in the nine months to July 31 to aid Wagner fighters backing eastern-based Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar, according to a U.N. report seen by Reuters on Wednesday. The report by independent sanctions monitors - submitted to the U.N. Security Council Libya sanctions committee, but not yet public - also found that Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, , Russia, and breached an arms embargo on Libya. The U.N. missions of Jordan, Russia, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the accusations in the report. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in January that if there are Russians in Libya, they are not representing or paid by his government. The U.N. report assessed “that direct Russian Federation military logistic support to ChVK Wagner, and possibly the other Russian Federation based private military companies ... significantly increased from January 2020 to June 2020.” It listed some 338 “suspicious flights from Syria by Russian Federation military aircraft” to Libya between Nov. 1, 2019 and July 31, 2020. In a confidential May report, the sanctions monitors said that Russia-based Wagner Group had up to 1,200 people deployed in Libya. Libya descended into chaos after the NATO-backed overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Since 2014, it has been split, with an internationally recognized government controlling the capital Tripoli and the northwest, while Haftar rules the east. Haftar is supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia, while the government is backed by Turkey. “The arms embargo remains totally ineffective,” the U.N. report said. “Since the more direct engagement by Turkey in December 2019 and the United Arab Emirates in January 2020, arms transfer to Libya by those two member states have been extensive, blatant and with complete disregard to the sanctions measures,” it said. The report also found that Egypt, Jordan, Russia, Syria, Qatar, Turkey and the UAE breached U.N. sanctions by not inspecting “cargo of suspicious commercial vessels or aircraft destined for Libya for which there were reasonable grounds.” The U.N. missions of Egypt and Syria did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CDRC Research Department, September 2020

• UN envoy criticizes violations of Libya arms embargo - CGTN A United Nations official on Wednesday condemned violations of an existing ban on arms trade in Libya by both parties. Acting U.N. envoy to Libya Stephanie Williams said that about 70 resupply flights had landed in eastern airports since July 8 to strengthen forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar while 30 flights had been dispatched to western Libya to help forces loyal to the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). In addition to the resupply flights, about 12 cargo ships have reportedly docked in Libya, nine in the west and three in the east. Williams described the events as an “alarming breach of Libya’s sovereignty” and a “blatant violation of the UN arms embargo.” Williams further accused foreign powers of “fortifying their assets” in the conflict which broke out in April 2019 when Haftar’s forces launched an offensive to try and take Tripoli. However, the GNA, with support from Turkey, managed to fight them off and force them to retreat in June. The LNA, on its part, has been backed by Egypt, , the United Arab Emirates and Russia. An escalation of hostilities had been expected as forces from both sides mobilized around the strategic city of Sirte, where the fighting has stopped. Williams said the presence of foreign mercenaries and operatives in the country will only further complicate any chances of future settlements. Last month, Libya’s rival governments issued separate statements announcing an immediate ceasefire in what was the first deal between both sides since one in 2015.

• Libya finds new mass grave by Haftar militia in Tarhuna Anadolu A new mass grave was found in the southwestern city of Tarhuna that was recently liberated from warlord Khalifa Haftar’s militia, the Libyan government said on Wednesday. “The grave contains the remains of an unidentified number of bodies,” Abdul Aziz Al-Jaafari, a spokesman for General Authority for Research and Identification of Missing Persons, told Anadolu Agency. He said two bodies had been dug up from the grave so far. The Libyan government has discovered several mass graves in Tripoli and Tarhuna in the wake of Haftar’s defeat in his recent offensive on Tripoli. The Libyan authorities say that Haftar's militia and allied mercenaries have committed several war crimes and crimes against humanity in the period between April 2019 and June 2020. On June 16, the Libyan government found 226 dead bodies in mass graves in Tarhuna and south of Tripoli. Libya has been torn by civil war since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The Government of National Accord (GNA) was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political settlement failed because of Haftar’s military offensive. The UN recognizes the government headed by Fayez al-Sarraj as the country's legitimate authority as Tripoli has battled Haftar's militias since April 2019 in a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives.

• Haftar's militia launched 6 Grad rockets at our forces - Middle East Monitor The Libyan Army announced that militias linked to renegade General Khalifa Haftar launched six Grad rockets at its headquarters west of the northern city of Sirte, in the second breach of the

CDRC Research Department, September 2020

armistice within three days. In a statement Libyan Army spokesman, Colonel Mohammed Qununu, said: “At 00:06 (22:06 GMT on Tuesday evening), our forces detected an expected breach of the ceasefire declaration, the second of its kind in less than 72 hours. Haftar’s terrorist militia fired 6 Grad rockets towards the sites of our forces’ headquarters, west of Sirte.” He explained that the Libyan army is fully ready and waiting for the instructions of the supreme leader Fayez Al-Sarraj to deal with and respond to the sources of the fire at the appropriate time and place. On 27 August, the Libyan army announced the first violation of the ceasefire, as the militia of Haftar fired more than 12 missiles at the Libyan Army’s camp, west of Sirte. Haftar’s militia spokesman, Ahmed Al-Mismari, claimed that the ceasefire had not been violated, claiming that the goal of the Libyan government’s claim was to cover up the Tripoli demonstrations. A ceasefire was reached on 21 August, according to two statements by the opposing Libyan government’s Presidency Council and the Tobruk House of Representatives in support of Haftar, which is fighting the Government of National Accord (GNA) headed by Al-Sarraj for legitimacy and authority in the oil-rich country.

______World News • Germany finds nerve agent was used in Navalny poisoning Anadolu Germany has found “unequivocal” evidence that a nerve agent was used to poison Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny last month, local media reported Wednesday. In tests run by a special German military laboratory, signs of "a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok party" were found, Steffen Seiber, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, said in a statement. The nerve agent Novichok was also used in the 2018 poisoning of ex-Soviet spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the British town of Salisbury in an attack by Russian intelligence, according to the UK government. German doctors at a clinic where the opposition leader is being treated announced last week that Navalny had been poisoned. Navalny is currently in intensive care in a medically induced coma. His condition is serious, but there is no acute danger to his life, say his doctors. Navalny, 44, a vociferous critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fell ill on Aug. 20 on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow. The plane made an emergency landing in Omsk and Navalny was rushed to a hospital, where he spent two days before being sent to Berlin for treatment. Commenting on the incident, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said they were waiting for test results before launching an investigation.

______

• International Criminal Court condemns US sanctions on officials Aljazeera The International Criminal Court (ICC) has condemned "unprecedented" sanctions imposed by the United States on prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her top aides in retaliation for a probe into

CDRC Research Department, September 2020

alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. The Hague-based tribunal said the sanctions announced by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo against Bensouda and another senior official, Phakiso Mochochoko, were "serious attacks" against the rule of law. Pompeo announced the moves on Wednesday, saying that "the ICC continues to target Americans". The ICC said in a statement the new measures "are another attempt to interfere with the Court's judicial and prosecutorial independence and crucial work to address grave crimes of concern to the international community". The sanctions include a freeze on assets held in the US or subject to US law and target Bensouda and the court's head of jurisdiction, Mochochoko. Pompeo also said individuals and entities that continue to materially support Bensouda and Mochochoko would risk exposure to sanctions as well. The ICC will continue its investigation into possible war crimes by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan. The State Department also restricted the issuance of visas for individuals Pompeo said were involved in the court's efforts to investigate US personnel, though he did not name those affected. Member countries of the International Criminal Court hit out against the "unacceptable" sanctions. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was concerned by Pompeo's announcement, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters. Bensouda was given the go-ahead by the court in March to investigate whether war crimes were committed in Afghanistan by the Taliban, Afghan military and US forces. The US revoked Bensouda's entry visa last year in response to the possible Afghanistan inquiry. But under an agreement between the UN and Washington, she was still able to regularly travel to New York to brief the UN Security Council on cases it had referred to the court in The Hague. Rights groups immediately condemned the US designations. Richard Dicker, Human Rights Watch international justice director, said it was a "stunning perversion of US sanctions."

CDRC Research Department, September 2020