8 Established 1961 Tuesday, January 23, 2018 International UKIP, its chief and texts from a lover: UK anti-EU party in chaos UKIP leader refuses to resign LONDON: The United Kingdom Independence Party, commoner” and said “her seed with (sic) taint our royal which transformed British politics by securing a referen- family”, according to the texts printed in a Sunday newspa- dum on EU membership, was close to meltdown yesterday per. Marney also described black people as ugly. She later over the fate of its leader whose lover made racist com- apologized for the text messages and Bolton said they were ments about Prince Harry’s fiancee Meghan Markle. Under ending the “romantic element” of their relationship. Nigel Farage, UKIP became a significant force in British politics by convincing former Prime Minister David Charisma bypass Cameron to call a national vote and then campaigning suc- Without the charisma of Farage, a former metals trader cessfully for Britain to leave the bloc. who charmed the media, UKIP has suffered. His first suc- But since Farage quit after Brexiteers won the referen- cessor, Diane James, resigned after just 18 days and her dum, UKIP has descended successor, Paul Nuttall, into chaos, partly as its quit after UKIP won 1.8 main objective - severing percent of votes cast in direct ties with the EU - is last June’s national elec- now the official policy of Leader’s lover tion. Bolton lost a vote of both the Conservative and confidence from the par- Labor parties. Farage, a fan made offensive ty’s national executive of US President Donald committee on Sunday Trump who has lambasted comments but he insisted that he traditional politicians for would not step down. He failing voters, dismissed about Meghan has said the texts from speculation that he may be his lover about Markle plotting to create a new Markle were “abhorrent, unwise political party to ensure a and offensive.” full break with the EU. “No UKIP’s deputy leader, thoughts of a new party whatever some may speculate,” Margot Parker, resigned in protest at Bolton’s refusal to Farage told Reuters. Asked if he would return to frontline go, the BBC reported. Led by Farage, UKIP won nearly politics, he said: “Doubt it.” four million votes - 12.6 percent of those cast - in the pre- Farage declined to comment on the confusion inside vious national election in 2015 on its anti-EU platform, UKIP, where leader Henry Bolton has refused to resign projecting it to the forefront of British politics even though since his 25-year-old lover, Jo Marney, made offensive com- it only managed to win one seat in parliament. Its popular- ments about Markle and black people in text messages to a ity prompted Cameron, who once dismissed the party as friend. Marney who began dating Bolton just after being full of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”, to hold STRASBOURG: European commission member in charge of Brexit negotiations with Britain, Michel Barnier (left) Christmas, described US actress Markle, whose father is the referendum and played a major role in securing the shakes hands with European MP and former leader of the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage prior white and mother is African-American, as a “dumb little vote to leave the EU.—Reuters to a debate as part of a plenary session at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. —AFP Congolese forces kill Catalan ousted six while dispersing leader a candidate anti-Kabila protest KINSHASA: Congolese security forces shot dead at least for president six people and wounded dozens more as they fired tear gas to disperse a protest against President Joseph Kabila organized by the Catholic Church on Sunday, a UN peace- as Spain seeks keeping mission in the country said. Kabila’s refusal to step down at the end of his mandate in December 2016 his arrest has triggered a series of street protests in which scores have been killed in Kinshasa. It has also emboldened armed rebel groups in different parts of the country. BARCELONA: The speaker of the Catalan parliament A Reuters witness saw police and paramilitary troops yesterday proposed the region’s ousted leader Carles fire volleys of tear gas and shoot into the air on Sunday Puigdemont as president of Catalonia, as Spanish pros- outside the Notre Dame cathedral in the capital Kinshasa. ecutors sought a European warrant for his arrest. Roger Florence Marchal, spokeswoman for the UN mission Torrent said Puigdemont’s candidacy to once again (MONUSCO), also said 57 people were wounded and head Catalonia’s regional government is “absolutely dozens of arrests had been made across the country. As legitimate”, even though the secessionist leader faces well as Kinshasa, protests erupted in the central Congolese criminal proceedings over his role in Catalonia’s inde- diamond-mining town of Mbuji-Mayi, in the eastern cities pendence drive. of Goma, Lubumbashi and several other places. In a major blow to the central government in Madrid, A police spokesman did not respond to a request for KINSHASA: People look on as protesters burn tyres during a demonstration calling for the President of the separatist parties once again won an absolute majority comment. The instability has stoked fears that the vast, min- Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to step down on January 21, 2018 in Kinshasa. —AFP in the Catalan regional parliament in a snap election in eral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo could slide back December. Puigdemont wants to be invested from into the wars that killed millions in the 1990s, mostly from Belgium, where he fled in late October after the Catalan hunger and disease. “I marched today for a simple reason: I ing. “Mass is over, the priests should now go home, and the deal. “We applaud Congolese citizens exercising their parliament voted to declare independence. He now want to bring up my children in a country that respects everybody else should go home. If you refuse, we will use constitutional right to assemble peacefully in support of faces arrest if he returns to Catalonia over his role in the human rights,” protester Pascal Kabeya, a 40-year-old mar- force and shoot tear gas, let that be very clear,” he told the full implementation of the (agreement),” the US and independence drive. The Madrid government has ruled ket trader, told Reuters where a few hundred had gathered them. The violence echoed that of New Year’s Eve, when British embassies said in a joint statement. out his being allowed to rule from outside the country in a suburb of Kinshasa. “Kabila has done his two terms. He Congolese forces killed at least seven people in the capital “Those who do not protect these rights must be held and even his separatist allies-the leftwing ERC party of should leave now and give a chance to someone else”. during a protest by Catholic activists.. accountable.” Congo’s influential Roman Catholic Church Puigdemont’s former deputy Oriol Junqueras-are cool Under a deal mediated by the church between Kabila has emerged as a harness for opposition to Kabila, while in private to his bid to rule from abroad. ‘We will use force’ and his opponents, the president was to step down at the his political opposition remains feeble and fragmented. “I Spanish prosecutors yesterday sought a European The chief of police for Kinshasa city, General Sylvano end of last year, paving the way for an election early this ask the authorities ... and all in this beloved country to put arrest warrant for Puigdemont as he arrived in Kasongo Kitenge, had warned in a statement overnight year. But he reneged on the deal and the poll has been their best effort towards avoiding ... violence,” Pope Copenhagen in his first trip outside of Belgium since he that the protest was banned and that “no attempt to dis- repeatedly delayed- it is currently loosely scheduled for Francis said of Congo’s crisis while in Peru on Sunday. fled to the country. The prosecution service asked turb public order will be tolerated anywhere in Kinshasa.” the end of 2018. Diplomats from the United States, British Kabila, who has been president since his father was killed Supreme Court Judge Pablo Llarena to re-issue an Kasongo, surrounded by several armed police, visited the and Swiss embassies had all put out statements encourag- in office in 2001, blames the electoral delays on the logis- arrest warrant for the secessionist leader, sacked by road leading to Notre Dame where a protest was happen- ing the Congolese to march to pressure Kabila to respect tics of voter registration.—Reuters Madrid after the Catalan parliament declared independ- ence, and urge Denmark to hand him over, a judicial source said. Llarena had dropped a European arrest warrant for Puigdemont and four of his deputies who fled to Belgium in early December, saying it would com- Government workers Exiled Maldives plicate the overall probe into the region’s leaders-but warned they would be arrested if they return. wake to shutdown as He is not obliged to agree to the request to re-issue leader warns over the warrant. Puigdemont and the rest of his ousted gov- ernment have been charged with rebellion, sedition and US Senate vote looms China, radicalism misuse of public funds over their separatist push. Danish broadcaster TV2 released an image on its website of Puigdemont being surrounded by reporters after his WASHINGTON: Hundreds of thousands of federal work- COLOMBO: Exiled Maldives opposition leader Mohamed plane landed in Copenhagen Airport. On his Twitter ers woke up yesterday with the US government still shut Nasheed accused China yesterday of seizing land in the feed, Puigdemont confirmed his arrival in the Danish down and the Senate expected to try again to restore fed- politically-troubled Indian Ocean archipelago and under- mining its sovereignty.