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India’s Naga separatists threaten to resume violence after decades-long truce

Police guard an area after 14 civilians were killed by Indian security forces over the weekend in Mon district, Nagaland, on December 6, 2021. (AFP)
Police guard an area after 14 civilians were killed by Indian security forces over the weekend in Mon district, Nagaland, on December 6, 2021. (AFP)
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Updated 08 November 2024
Reuters
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India’s Naga separatists threaten to resume violence after decades-long truce

India’s Naga separatists threaten to resume violence after decades-long truce
  • “The violent confrontation between India and Nagalim shall be purely on account of the deliberate betrayal and breach of commitment by India and its leadership to honor the letter and spirit of Framework Agreement of 2015,” he said
Updated 08 November 2024
Reuters
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GUWAHATI, India: An armed separatist group in a remote northeast Indian state on Friday threatened to “resume violent armed resistance” after nearly three decades of ceasefire, accusing New Delhi of failing to honor promises in earlier agreements.
The Naga insurgency, India’s oldest, is aimed at creating a separate homeland of Nagalim that unites parts of India’s mountainous northeast with areas of neighboring Myanmar for ethnic Naga people. About 20,000 people have died in the conflict since it began in 1947.
A ceasefire between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), a leading separatist group, and Indian security forces has held since it was enforced in 1997 and the group signed an agreement with New Delhi in 2015 toward striking a resolution on their demands.

BACKGROUND

A ceasefire between the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), a leading separatist group, and Indian security forces has held since it was enforced in 1997.

But talks have stagnated since and in a statement Friday, the group’s chief, Thuingaleng Muivah, accused India of “betrayal of the letter and spirit” of the 2015 agreement.
India’s Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Muivah’s remarks.
In a statement, Muivah urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s federal government to “respect and honor” the 2015 agreement, which he said “officially recognized and acknowledged” the right to a sovereign flag and constitution for the separatists.
Muivah proposed a “third party intervention” to resolve the impasse, threatening that it would resume violence if “such a political initiative was rejected.”
“The violent confrontation between India and Nagalim shall be purely on account of the deliberate betrayal and breach of commitment by India and its leadership to honor the letter and spirit of Framework Agreement of 2015,” he said.
“India and its leadership shall be held responsible for the catastrophic and adverse situation that will arise out of the violent armed conflict between India and Nagalim,” he said.

 

Topics: India Naga separatists

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UN children’s agency sets $9.9 bn fundraising goal for 2025

UN children’s agency sets $9.9 bn fundraising goal for 2025
Updated 23 sec ago
AFP
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UN children’s agency sets $9.9 bn fundraising goal for 2025

UN children’s agency sets $9.9 bn fundraising goal for 2025
Updated 23 sec ago
AFP

UNITED NATIONS: The UN children’s agency on Wednesday launched a $9.9 billion fundraising appeal to provide aid next year for millions of young people impacted by wars and other crises across the globe.
“The scale of children’s humanitarian needs is at a historically high level, with more children impacted every day,” Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director, said in a statement.
The money will target 109 million children and will support access to primary health care facilities, mental health services, drinking water and education, malnutrition screening and gender-based violence mitigation.
“Looking ahead to 2025, we estimate that 213 million children in 146 countries and territories will need humanitarian assistance over the course of the year — a staggeringly high number,” Russell added.
UNICEF’s appeal comes at a time when humanitarian operations face a chronic funding crisis.
Last year, the agency appealed for $9.3 billion in its fundraising call.
The largest appeal for funds — at over $1 billion — is for Afghanistan, followed by Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Palestinian territories, and Lebanon.

Topics: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)

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Afghan economy faces ‘uncertain’ future despite modest growth: World Bank

Afghan economy faces ‘uncertain’ future despite modest growth: World Bank
Updated 05 December 2024
AFP
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Afghan economy faces ‘uncertain’ future despite modest growth: World Bank

Afghan economy faces ‘uncertain’ future despite modest growth: World Bank
  • The economy’s challenges include “fiscal constraints, trade imbalances, and a limited capacity for public investment,” the bank said in its Afghanistan Development Update
Updated 05 December 2024
AFP

WASHINGTON: Afghanistan’s economy continues to face significant challenges despite showing signs of modest growth, the World Bank warned on Wednesday, with the future “uncertain.”
The economy’s challenges include “fiscal constraints, trade imbalances, and a limited capacity for public investment,” the bank said in its Afghanistan Development Update.
Critical factors for long-term recovery include enabling women’s participation in the economy, maintaining price stability and dealing with key deficits in human capital — such as education and health care, the multilateral development lender said.
While Afghanistan has seen GDP growth of 2.7 percent, driven by private consumption, this has “recouped only about 10 percent of past economic losses,” the World Bank said.
Afghanistan has been ruled by the Taliban since 2021, when their forces capitalized on the withdrawal of the US military under a peace deal to overthrow the country’s government.
The Taliban’s government has not been officially recognized by any country, and the economy remains largely isolated, with many Afghans living under the poverty line.
“Afghanistan’s long-term growth prospects depend on tapping into the substantial potential of the domestic private sector and improving the overall business environment,” said World Bank country director for Afghanistan Faris Hadad-Zervos.
The economy requires more investment, access to finance for small businesses, and support for skilled women entrepreneurs, Hadad-Zervos added.
Women and girls have been barred from secondary school and university as part of restrictions imposed by the Taliban that the UN has dubbed “gender apartheid.”
The World Bank noted that partial economic recovery, alongside falling food prices, has contributed to a gradual improvement in household welfare.
But it said many Afghan households still struggle to meet basic needs and that “poverty remains widespread.”
Trade is another challenge with a widening deficit due to surging imports on the back of greater demand for foreign goods and a revival of domestic industry.
“The trade deficit, exacerbated by Afghanistan’s reliance on imports for essential goods like fuel, food, and machinery, might pose a risk to the country’s economic stability,” the World Bank said.

Topics: Afghan economy World Bank Afghanistan Taliban

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Under pressure, UK’s Starmer sets out plans to deliver on election pledges

Under pressure, UK’s Starmer sets out plans to deliver on election pledges
Updated 05 December 2024
Reuters
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Under pressure, UK’s Starmer sets out plans to deliver on election pledges

Under pressure, UK’s Starmer sets out plans to deliver on election pledges
Updated 05 December 2024
Reuters

LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer will set out plans on Thursday to deliver on his priorities to raise living standards and rebuild Britain in a speech he hopes will draw a line under what even some of his supporters say has been a bumpy start to government.
Five months since his Labour Party swept back to power with a landslide win, Starmer wants to turn the page on criticism of his government on everything from its use of campaign donations to a tax-raising budget which prompted an outcry from businesses and farmers.
He will use Thursday’s speech to plot out when Britain can expect to start seeing progress his government has promised in a range of areas, including hospital backlogs, increasing police numbers, improving education and securing home-grown energy.
Called the government’s ‘plan for change’, he is expected to set out a reform program for Britain’s overly stretched public services to try to restore trust in politics, eroded by years of chaos and scandal under the Conservatives and further deepened by Labour’s missteps in its first few months in power.
“My government was elected to deliver change, and today marks the next step. People are tired of being promised the world, but short-term sticking plaster politics letting them down,” Starmer will say, according to excerpts of his speech provided by his office.
“My mission-led government will deliver.”
Labour campaigned before the July 4 election on five missions — boosting economic growth, accelerating steps toward reaching net zero, reducing waiting times in the state-run health service, tackling crime and improving education.
His first measures on Thursday will include a move to give communities a named, contactable police officer to deal with local issues, his office said, part of a pledge to add a further 13,000 police in neighborhood roles.
“This marks a return to the founding principles of British policing — where officers are part of the communities they serve,” interior minister Yvette Cooper said in a statement.
“Through this visible, responsive police presence in every neighborhood, we will restore the trust and partnership that lies at the heart of keeping our communities safe.”

Topics: keir starmer Britain UK Labour Party

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North Korea, Russia defense treaty comes into force

North Korea, Russia defense treaty comes into force
Updated 05 December 2024
AFP
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North Korea, Russia defense treaty comes into force

North Korea, Russia defense treaty comes into force
Updated 05 December 2024
AFP

SEOUL: A landmark defense pact between North Korea and Russia, signed by its leaders in June, has gone into effect after the two sides exchanged ratification documents, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said Thursday.
The formalization of the treaty comes as the United States and South Korea have accused the nuclear-armed North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine.
Experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is keen to acquire advanced technology from Moscow and battle experience for his troops in return.
Kim and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the strategic partnership deal during the Kremlin chief’s visit to Pyongyang.
It obligates both states to provide military assistance “without delay” in the case of an attack on the other, and to jointly oppose Western sanctions.
It came into effect from Wednesday, when the ratification documents were exchanged in Moscow by the countries’ vice foreign ministers Kim Jong Gyu and Andrei Rudenko, KCNA reported.
Lawmakers in Moscow last month voted unanimously for the deal and it was later signed by Putin. Pyongyang said it was ratified by a decree from Kim.
The treaty will serve “as a strong driving force accelerating the establishment of an independent and just multi-polarized world order without domination, subjugation and hegemony,” KCNA said.
Analysts have suggested Pyongyang could be using Ukraine as a means of realigning its foreign policy.
By sending soldiers, North Korea is positioning itself within the Russian war economy as a supplier of weapons, military support and labor — potentially even bypassing traditional ally, neighbor and main trading partner China, they say.
North Korea and Russia have strengthened their military ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Both countries are under rafts of UN sanctions — the former for its nuclear weapons program and the latter for the Ukraine conflict.
Kim said last week during a visit to Pyongyang by Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov that his government, army and people would “invariably support the policy of the Russian Federation to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Putin hailed the deal in June as a “breakthrough document.”

Topics: Russia North Korea

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Eyeing Trump, Los Angeles adopts ‘sanctuary city’ rules

Eyeing Trump, Los Angeles adopts ‘sanctuary city’ rules
Updated 05 December 2024
AFP
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Eyeing Trump, Los Angeles adopts ‘sanctuary city’ rules

Eyeing Trump, Los Angeles adopts ‘sanctuary city’ rules
Updated 05 December 2024
AFP

LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday voted to adopt “sanctuary city” status for America’s second biggest metropolis, as liberal jurisdictions gird for Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The ordinance, passed by a unanimous vote, will prohibit city resources or personnel from being used to implement federal immigration laws.
The move comes as Trump appears ready to push ahead with campaign promises to carry out mass deportations of undocumented migrants, with the appointment of hard-liners to his administration.
It also comes as liberal administrations across the United States, led by California, are trying to establish bulwarks against what they see as the expected excesses of a new Trump presidency.
Wednesday’s vote was passed with an urgency clause that would allow it to come into effect in as little as 10 days after Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signs off on it.
There was no debate at the council meeting as the vote was a procedural repetition of an earlier agreement.
“We have been a pro-immigrant city for a number of years, we know that there is a target on our back from this president-elect, and what we are doing here is we are hardening our defenses,” Councilmember Bob Blumenfield said last month.
“We are codifying our good policies on protecting immigrants.”
Trump made a promise to crack down on migration the centerpiece of his election campaign, and rallygoers were frequently photographed carrying placards that said “Mass Deportation Now.”
The president-elect insisted that illegal migrants were disproportionately responsible for crime, even as figures show US citizens commit more offenses per capita.
The Los Angeles County Republican Party lashed out at Wednesday’s move.
“So-called ‘sanctuary’ cities and states sound warm and fuzzy, but the protections they offer aren’t for (grandmothers) getting ice cream, they’re for people who’ve entered the country illegally and committed additional crimes,” a statement said.
“Whether drunk driving, robbery, sexual violence, assault or murder, none of those should go unpunished. Perpetrators should definitely not be protected by the largesse taken from hard-working taxpayers.”
Los Angeles is home to a variety of cultures, with a large number of its residents first or second generation immigrants.

Topics: US Los Angeles

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