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April
U.S. adviser Campbell visits Solomon Islands after China pact signed
Written by Nur Yasmin
Senior White House official Kurt Campbell will arrive in the Solomon Islands on Friday, as Western concerns rise over a security pact the Pacific island nation recently signed with China.
Despite a flurry of calls from Washington and its allies not to go ahead with the deal, China and the Solomon Islands said this week they had signed the agreement, with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare telling parliament on Wednesday it would not undermine peace. read more
Sogavare on Friday will join China's Ambassador Li Ming for the handover of facilities donated by China for Honiara to host the 2023 Pacific Games, the prime minister's office and the Chinese embassy said.
The U.S. delegation led by Campbell, President Joe Biden's Indo-Pacific coordinator, has discussed the China-Solomon Islands agreement with neighbouring Fiji and Papua New Guinea over the past two days, the U.S. embassy in Port Moresby said in a statement on Friday.
The security pact is a major inroad for China in the Pacific, raising the prospect of a Chinese military presence less than 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Australia. read more
U.S. allies Australia, New Zealand and the Federated States of Micronesia have expressed concern the pact would disrupt regional security, allowing Chinese naval vessels to replenish in Honiara. The Solomon Islands in 2019 switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing.
Campbell had been expected to urge Sogavare against signing the security agreement, a draft of which was leaked by police sources last month and published on social media. Australian officials said Campbell's visit likely prompted China and the Solomon Islands to announce they had signed the pact.
The U.S. statement said Campbell's delegation will also discuss "plans to open a U.S. embassy in Honiara".
New Zealand and Tonga have said they will raise the Solomon Islands security deal with China at an upcoming meeting of Pacific Islands Forum leaders.
Sogavare has ruled out hosting a Chinese military base. He said the pact, details of which have not been disclosed, will allow Chinese police to protect Chinese-funded infrastructure projects in the Solomon Islands.
Campbell said in January the Pacific was the part of the world most likely to see "strategic surprise" in terms of basing arrangements, and the U.S. and allies Australia, New Zealand, Japan and France needed to step up in the region. (Reuters)
April
Deadly blasts claimed by Islamic State hit northern Afghan cities
Written by Nur Yasmin
An explosion claimed by the Islamic State at a Shi'ite mosque in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday killed at least 11 people, a health official said, one of a series of blasts around the country.
A separate blast caused at least 11 more casualties in Kunduz, another northern Afghan city, according to a provincial health official.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for both attacks, according to statements on the group's Telegram channel.
The explosions happened during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and two days after blasts tore through a high school in a predominantly Shi'ite Hazara area in western Kabul, killing at least six.
"A blast happened in 2nd district inside a Shi'ite mosque," Mohammad Asif Wazeri, the spokesman for the Taliban commander in Mazar-e-Sharif told Reuters.
Zia Zendani, the spokesman for the provincial health authority, said 11 people had been killed and 32 wounded in the blast.
The Shi'ite community, a religious minority in Afghanistan, is frequently targeted by Sunni militant groups, including Islamic State.
Hospitals in Kunduz had received 11 killed or wounded people in a separate explosion, according to Najeebullah Sahel, from Kunduz's provincial health authority.
An Interior Ministry spokesman said a roadside blast had targeted a van of military mechanics in Kunduz and said school students were among the wounded. He added another roadside blast in the capital, Kabul, had wounded three, including a child.
Wazeri, the spokesman, also said Taliban forces had come under attack from unknown gunmen at a property in Mazar-e-Sharif, the provincial capital, on Thursday evening and that both sides were exchanging gunfire. He did not confirm whether the attackers were linked to the blasts and said their identity was unknown.
Richard Bennett, the United Nation's Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan on human rights, condemned the blasts.
"Today more explosions rocks Afghanistan... systematic targeted attacks on crowded schools and mosques calls for immediate investigation, accountability and end to human rights violations," he said in a Tweet.
A resident of Mazar-e-Sharif said she was shopping with her sister in a nearby market when she heard a large explosion and saw smoke rising from the area around the mosque.
"The glass of the shops was broken and it was very crowded and everyone started to run," the woman, who declined to be named, said.
Afghanistan's Taliban rulers say they have secured the country since taking power in August, but international officials and analysts say the risk of a resurgence in militancy remains and the Islamic State militant group has claimed several attacks. (Reuters)
April
Taiwan details new advanced missile and drone attack capabilities
Written by Nur Yasmin
Taiwan is developing missiles that can attack enemy air bases and bring down cruise missiles, and drones that can target their firing locations, according to a report by the military-owned body making the weapons.
Taiwan last year approved T$240 billion ($8.20 billion) in extra military spending over the next five years as tensions with China, which claims the island as its own territory, have hit a new high and Chinese military planes have repeatedly flown through Taiwan's air defence identification zone.
Taiwan plans to more than double its yearly missile production capacity to close to 500 this year, the island's defence ministry said last month, as it boosts its combat power. read more
In a report to parliament this week, a copy of which was reviewed by Reuters, the military-owned National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology offered more details of what the missiles and drones it is developing could do in a war.
The Hsiung Sheng land-attack missile, which experts say could have a range of up to 1,000km - comes in two versions: one with a high-explosive warhead to hit bunkers and hardened command centres, and other with "dispersal" munitions to take out airfield facilities, it said.
Chieh Chung, a researcher at Taipei-based National Policy Foundation, said the Hsiung Sheng could reach most bases under the People's Liberation Army's Eastern Theatre Command, including those near Shanghai and the province of Zhejiang.
"It could greatly boost the national army's capacity to delay or paralyse the Communist forces' pace of an invasion of Taiwan, making it hard for them to achieve a rapid war," he said.
The advanced Sky Bow III surface-to-air missile is designed to take down ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as fighter jets.
Taiwan's plans predate Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but the war has prompted conversations about the lessons Taiwan could apply to fighting off a Chinese attack, including how Ukraine has resisted a numerically-superior force. read more
One Taiwan-based Western security source told Reuters that although Taiwan was getting gear such as Harpoon anti-ship missiles from the United States, its own missile programme would help ensure the island would not have to rely on foreign supplies, as Ukraine has.
"It's a hedging strategy," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The institute said drones, which Ukraine has used to great effect against Russia's military, could attack enemy missile launch sites or act as decoys to help pinpoint enemy radars.
Four new facilities, including bases and repair plants, would be built by 2025 for the new drones, it said.
The defence ministry has previously announced plans to start manufacturing unspecified "attack drones" with an annual production target of 48 such aircraft.
Little has been disclosed about the domestically produced drones. The first batch of U.S.-made MQ-9 Reaper drones, which can be armed with missiles and operate at long range, will enter service with Taiwan by 2025, the defence ministry said last month.
About 64% of Taiwan's extra military spending, which came on top of planned military spending of T$471.7 billion for 2022, will be spent on anti-ship weapons such as land-based missile systems, including a T$148.9 billion plan to mass-produce homegrown missiles and "high-performance" ships. read more
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has made modernising the military a top priority, pushing for defence projects including a new class of stealthy warship and home-grown submarines.
Tsai has championed what she calls "asymmetric warfare": developing high-tech, highly mobile weapons that are hard to destroy and can deliver precision attacks.
Taiwan believes China has thousands of missiles aimed at its territory, and Chinese forces dwarf those of Taiwan's. China also has nuclear weapons, which Taiwan does not.
China has never ruled out the use of force to bring the democratic island under its control. (Reuters)
April
Russia says it plans full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine - Ifax
Written by Nur Yasmin
Russia plans to take full control of Donbas and southern Ukraine as part of the second phase of its military operation, the deputy commander of Russia's central military district said on Friday, the Interfax news agency reported.
The commander, Rustam Minnekayev, was also cited as saying that Russia planned to forge a land corridor between Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula which Russia annexed in 2014, and Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
The last Ukrainian fighters left in the port city of Mariupol in Donbas are holed up at a vast industrial facility which President Vladimir Putin has ordered to be blockaded rather than stormed. Mariupol sits between areas held by Russian separatists and Crimea and its capture would allow Russia to link the two areas. read more
Minnekayev said taking control of southern Ukraine would improve Russian access to Moldova's pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniestria, which borders Ukraine and which Kyiv fears could be used as a launching pad for new attacks against it.
Kyiv earlier this month said that an airfield in the region was being prepared to receive aircraft and be used by Moscow to fly in Ukraine-bound troops, allegations Moldova's defence ministry and authorities in Transdniestria denied. read more
"Control over the south of Ukraine is another way to Transdniestria, where there is also evidence that the Russian-speaking population is being oppressed," TASS quoted Minnekayev as saying at a meeting in Russia's central Sverdlovsk region.
Minnekayev was not cited as providing any evidence for or details of that alleged oppression.
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour’s military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces. (Reuters)
April
Scholz says top priority is avoiding NATO confrontation with Russia
Written by Nur Yasmin
NATO must avoid a direct military confrontation with Russia that could lead to a third world war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview with Der Spiegel when asked about Germany's failure to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine.
Scholz is facing growing criticism at home and abroad for his government's apparent reluctance to deliver heavy battlefield weapons, such as tanks and howitzers, to Ukraine to help it fend off Russian attacks, even as other Western allies step up shipments.
Asked in an extensive interview published on Friday why he thought delivering tanks could lead to nuclear war, he said there was no rule book that stated when Germany could be considered a party to the war in Ukraine.
"That's why it is all the more important that we consider each step very carefully and coordinate closely with one another," he was quoted as saying. "To avoid an escalation towards NATO is a top priority for me."
"That's why I don't focus on polls or let myself be irritated by shrill calls. The consequences of an error would be dramatic."
This was a departure from his previous statements on the topic, focusing on the fact that Germany's own military's stocks were too depleted to send any heavy battlefield weapons while those the German industry has said it could supply could not easily be put into use.
Asked why he would not explain his government's reluctance with the threat of nuclear war, he said such "simplifications" were not helpful.
Separately, Scholz defended his decision not to immediately end German imports of Russian gas in response to what Russia calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.
"I absolutely do not see how a gas embargo would end the war. If (Russian President Vladimir) Putin were open to economic arguments, he would never have begun this crazy war," he said.
"Secondly, you act as if this was about money. But it's about avoiding a dramatic economic crisis and the loss of millions of jobs and factories that would never again open their doors."
Scholz said this would have considerable consequences not just for Germany but also for Europe and the future financing of the reconstruction of Ukraine. (Reuters)
April
Mwai Kibaki, who served as Kenya's third president from 2003 to 2013, has died aged 90, President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Friday.
Kibaki is credited with reviving Kenya's then ailing economy, but his tenure was marred by deadly violence that erupted following his disputed re-election in December 2007.
Kenyatta ordered a mourning period to honour Kibaki, during which flags will be flown at half-mast. (Reuters)
April
Kenyan leader Kibaki's legacy stained by re-election violence, graft
Written by Nur Yasmin
Kenya's former president Mwai Kibaki, who has died aged 90, ushered in economic reforms and a new constitution but failed to deliver on promises to combat graft and his tenure was marred by a disputed re-election which led to deadly violence. read more
A British-educated economist, Kibaki's unflappable demeanour concealed political guile that finally propelled him to the presidency after four decades as lawmaker, government minister and then vice president to his predecessor, Daniel arap Moi.
His landslide win in 2002 upset Moi's handpicked successor. Kibaki, in a wheelchair and a leg cast after a car crash, promised his ecstatic inauguration crowd a clean break from Moi's autocratic quarter-century rule.
The honeymoon did not last long, and cracks soon appeared in NARC, an alliance of parties opposed to Moi.
Raila Odinga, one of NARC's leaders, accused Kibaki of violating a secret, pre-election pact that guaranteed Odinga would become prime minister.
Instead, Kibaki appointed Odinga minister for roads, angering his base and sowing the seeds for a bitter showdown between the two that was to spill into violence at the next election in 2007, causing the deaths of 1,250 people.
Kibaki also angered voters by failing to tackle widespread corruption, and his ministers embraced the same corrupt businessmen who had flourished under Moi.
British High Commissioner Edward Clay memorably summed up donors' view of government graft in a 2004 speech: "Their gluttony causes them to vomit all over our shoes."
In the heady first days of his administration, Kibaki had appointed John Githongo, a prominent activist, as his anti-graft czar. But Githongo fled to Britain in 2005 after uncovering a multi-million dollar passport printing scam involving senior cabinet ministers. He later became a vociferous critic.
Kibaki's fiscal prudence and infrastructure projects breathed life back into Kenya's sluggish economy. He also ended many restrictions on freedom of expression.
But his disputed 2007 re-election tarnished his legacy.
Opposition leader Odinga was ahead by several hundred thousand votes when the electoral commission abruptly stopped announcing the results and ejected journalists. Hours later, the commission announced Kibaki had won by a narrow margin and he was hurriedly sworn in.
Most election observers said the elections were flawed. Odinga called for protests, sparking a deadly police crackdown. Ethnic violence flared in Nairobi's slums, the Rift Valley highlands and the lakeside city of Kisumu. Families were burned alive in a church.
Former U.N. chief Kofi Annan finally brokered a peace deal between Kibaki and Odinga. The two formed a grand coalition government, with Odinga as prime minister.
The coalition survived five years of squabbling, enacting a new constitution in 2010 that devolved some powers from the presidency to the counties, part of an effort to end the nation's winner-take-all elections.
The son of a tobacco trader, Kibaki grew up amid lush tea and coffee fields near Mount Kenya in the central highlands. He attended Kampala's Makerere University before becoming the first African to earn a first-class degree from the London School of Economics.
He returned to Makerere as an economics lecturer in 1958 during a wave of African independence movements. When Kenya became independent, he was elected to parliament and became an aide to founding President Jomo Kenyatta. Two years later, he was appointed commerce and industry minister.
He served as finance minister for 13 years under both Kenyatta and Moi, and as Moi's vice president for some of that time, until Moi moved him to lesser ministries during a spat that eventually pushed Kibaki into the opposition in 1992.
Kibaki was among Kenya's richest men, overseeing vast land holdings and business interests.
When he handed over power to his successor, Uhuru Kenyatta, in 2013, Kibaki retreated to his home in one of Nairobi's plushest neighbourhoods, close to his beloved Muthaiga golf club. He is survived by several children and grandchildren. (Reuters)
April
U.N. rights office cites growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine
Written by Nur Yasmin
The United Nations human rights office sounded the alarm on Friday about growing evidence of war crimes in Ukraine, urging both Moscow and Kyiv to order combatants to respect international law.
"Russian armed forces have indiscriminately shelled and bombed populated areas, killing civilians and wrecking hospitals, schools and other civilian infrastructure, actions that may amount to war crimes," the office of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Michelle Bachelet said.
U.N. human rights monitors in Ukraine have also documented what appeared to be the use of weapons with indiscriminate effects, causing civilian casualties, by Ukrainian armed forces in the east of the country, OHCHR said in a statement.
Russia, which describes its incursion as a "special military operation" to disarm and "denazify" Ukraine, denies targeting civilians or committing any such war crimes.
The OHCHR said that from the start of the war on Feb. 24 until April 20, monitors in Ukraine had verified 5,264 civilian casualties - 2,345 killed and 2,919 injured.
Of these, 92.3% were recorded in government-controlled territory. Some 7.7% of casualties were recorded in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions controlled by Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups, it added.
"We know the actual numbers are going to be much higher as the horrors inflicted in areas of intense fighting, such as Mariupol, come to light, Bachelet said.
"The scale of summary executions of civilians in areas previously occupied by Russian forces are also emerging. The preservation of evidence and decent treatment of mortal remains must be ensured, as well as psychological and other relief for victims and their relatives," she added.
During a mission to Bucha on April 9, U.N. human rights officers documented the unlawful killing, including by summary execution, of around 50 civilians, it said.
They have received more than 300 allegations of killings of civilians in the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy, all under the control of Russian armed forces in late February and early March, it added. (Reuters)
April
Japan cabinet secretary says Solomon Islands-China pact may have impact on region
Written by Nur Yasmin
China's security agreement with the Solomon Islands may affect security for the region and is a probable topic for discussions between the leaders of Japan and New Zealand on Thursday, Japan's chief cabinet secretary said.
The security pact is a major inroad for China in the resource-rich Pacific, which Australia and New Zealand have for decades seen as their "backyard," and the White House said in a statement this week that the United States, Japan, Australia and New Zealand were concerned. read more
"This agreement is likely to have an impact on the overall region's security, so we are watching it with concern," Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference.
Though he said many details of the deal remained unknown, it was likely to be a topic of discussion when Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meet on Thursday.
"It's expected that there will be vigorous discussion of a free and open Indo-Pacific in the talks between the two leaders," he added.
Ardern, who is leading a trade delegation, arrived in Japan on Wednesday night and is set to leave on Saturday. (Reuters)
April
Biden expected to visit South Korea in May for summit with incoming president Yoon
Written by Nur Yasmin
U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to visit South Korea next month for a summit with the country's incoming President Yoon Suk-yeol, a person familiar with the matter said.
Yoon is set to take office on May 10, after winning a closely contested election on March 9.
The source, who declined to be identified citing the sensitive nature of the matter, said the exact schedule of the visit has not been finalised.
South Korea's DongA Ilbo newspaper said Biden will likely arrive on May 20 for a three-day stay before departing to Japan to take part in a summit of the Quad group of countries that includes the United States, India, Australia and Japan.
Yoon's transition team declined to comment on the report.
The planned visit comes after North Korea restarted tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) last month, and amid signs that it may be preparing to resume nuclear testing. (Reuters)