Tag: Right of asylum

Multiple Americans Arrested in African Nation After Alleged Involvement in Deadly Coup Attempt that Left 3 Killed

Ms. Cat

Multiple Americans Arrested in African Nation After Alleged Involvement in Deadly Coup Attempt that Left 3 Killed

Violence flared Sunday in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo as what officials are calling a coup attempt crumbled, leaving the purported leader of the attempt dead, according to reports.

Army spokesman Sylvain Ekenge said Christian Malanga, a Congolese politician based in the U.S., was killed after he led the attempted coup in the capital of Kinshasa.

Related:

Congolese Army Says It Foiled a Coup Involving Americans

Congo is a focus of American policy in Africa for its deep reserves of cobalt, a key mineral in the production of electric vehicles. China owns or controls most of Congo’s cobalt-producing sites, a source of concern to the Biden administration.

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The assailants then moved toward the presidential palace, the Congolese news media reported. At the same time Christian Malanga, an exiled opponent of the Congolese government who runs a minor opposition party, posted a livestream video in which he appeared to be leading the attack.

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A website in Mr. Malanga’s name said that his family settled in Salt Lake City in the 1990s as part of a refugee resettlement program. He participated in the U.S. Army Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, it said.

Christian Malanga – Wikipedia

Ambassador to the International Religious Freedom Roundtable

On 12 December 2013, Malanga was appointed the first ever ambassador of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable, a collection of 52 NGOs and leaders in Washington DC, at a ceremony in the US Capitol Building. Malanga had been tasked by the organization to raise awareness of religious intolerance throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.

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African Leaders Programme

In 2016, with the help from the British government, he provided his members with the opportunity for a case study in the Republic of Georgia. Malanga created a delegation of leaders who traveled to Georgia for the African Leaders Programme, to learn how to fight against corruption, reform fiscal policy and tax systems, privatize state-owned enterprises, build a welfare system for those most in need, create a competitive education and healthcare system, and streamline procurement. The conference took place at the National Parliamentary Library of Georgia. The delegation worked with Georgian policymakers to strengthen the United Congolese Party’s economic plan.

David Villamar interviewed about Ecuador’s violent crime disaster

Ms. Cat

Despite the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Ecuador’s violent crime problem is such an incredible disaster that it manages to attract international attention. Criminals have recently taken over live newscasts. Supporters of the rightwing governments that created the disaster (for example, The Economist) have declared Ecuador to be the deadliest country in the Americas. It’s difficult for Ecuador to get international news coverage. In recent years, it generally has to be something very bad (or sports-related).

David Villamar interviewed about Ecuador’s violent crime disaster

Related:

How Did Ecuador Spiral into This Nightmare? It Was the Neoliberal Dismantling of the State

Florida’s DeSantis puts billboards in Illinois to recruit officers

Ms. Cat

Florida is putting billboards in Illinois’ “Greater Chicago area” to recruit law enforcement officers from the state, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday.

Florida’s DeSantis puts billboards in Illinois to recruit officers

Related:

No, new Illinois law will not let people in US illegally become cops, deputies

The law says noncitizens applying for those jobs must be legally allowed to possess guns. People living in the U.S. illegally don’t qualify because federal law bars them from owning guns, according to experts and lawmakers.

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People living in the country illegally may not legally obtain firearms, a federal appeals court ruled in 2012, and both experts and lawmakers say that makes them ineligible for law enforcement positions.

“Anyone who is saying that an illegal alien can become a police officer or sheriff’s deputy is either, one, misinformed, or two, giving you a baldfaced lie,” said state Rep. John Cabello, a Republican co-sponsor of the law and a Rockford police officer.

Illinois will allow some non-citizens to be police. But only those authorized to work and own a gun

Western Media’s Double Standards Exposed Amidst Violence Against Eritrean Communities in The West

Ms. Cat

Late last week, Eritrea Profile published “Words Matter: Double Standards in Mainstream Media,” a well-written article by Afabet Gebretinsae that decries media coverage of the recent spate of crime and terror perpetrated against peaceful Eritrean festivals in cities across the West. Not long after, The Grayzone, an independent news website producing original investigative journalism, released the article, “Western media glorifies TPLF mob violence against Eritrean festivals,” an enlightening commentary that similarly raised critical questions about how mainstream media in the West have reported recent events.

Western Media’s Double Standards Exposed Amidst Violence Against Eritrean Communities in The West

Related:

Western media glorifies TPLF mob violence against Eritrean festivals

Eritrean Flag during the years of the Federation of Ethiopia and Eritrea

U.S. Allowing Weapons Customers to Commit Crimes Against Humanity on the Saudi‐Yemen Border

Ms. Cat

President Joe Biden wants to sign a security agreement with Saudi Arabia despite its history of human rights abuses and, in recent actions, its reported shooting and killing of Ethiopian migrants.

U.S. Allowing Weapons Customers to Commit Crimes Against Humanity on the Saudi‐Yemen Border

Previously:

US Knew Saudis Were Slaughtering African Migrants at Border But Kept Quiet

Biden Isn’t Fooled by Netanyahu. So Why Meet Him? + Biden should rethink the Saudi Arabia-Israel normalization deal

Biden’s ally in Guatemala?

Ms. Cat

CHIUL, Guatemala − Life in Bartolo Báten’s village has been defined by corruption: A teacher who can’t get a job at the school until she pays a bribe. A water project that runs out of money before the pipes reached town. Sick residents who can’t afford the medicine that’s available elsewhere.

Insurgent candidate tells Guatemalans: Stay, don’t go to the U.S. This time, they’re listening. (archived)

Related:

Seven Decades After Guatemala Coup, Bernardo Arévalo Sees a Dramatic Rise (Will Freeman, CFR)

Arévalo and Semilla are centrists—but in a country where politics habitually skews right, they are often described as center-left. “Semilla has a social democratic element, but its program is centrist, and it also has some center-right followers,” said Lucas Perelló, a political scientist who has spent time studying the party’s formation. Arévalo says he wants to gradually universalize existing social assistance programs to include a greater share of poor Guatemalans, reduce the cost of medicines and healthcare, and link isolated parts of the country through new infrastructure—doable tasks, given Guatemala’s exceptionally low share of debt as GDP, and necessary ones, given the country’s soaring poverty and malnutrition rates.

On security issues, another major concern for Guatemalans, Arévalo promises to increase state presence in crime hotspots, reclaim jails from gangs, and use intelligence-gathering to dismantle mafias. He says Bukele’s anti-gang strategy is not applicable to Guatemala. He is also critical of human rights abuses in Venezuela and Nicaragua and Putin’s war on Ukraine and has no stated plans to recognize China over Taiwan. Asked for a leader he admires, he named the ex-president, José Pepe Mujica, of Uruguay, where he was born during his father’s exile.

US Soldier Travis King seeks Asylum in DPR Korea for Racial Discrimination

Ms. Cat

On July the 18th Juche 112 (2023) Travis King, 2nd class private of the US Army in south Korea illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK in the joint security area of Panmunjom.

Looking around the joint security area of Panmunjom together with tourists at around 3:30 pm on July the 18th, King intentionally intruded into our area between the DPRK and US military contact room and resting room of military police officers to be caught by the soldiers of the Korean People’s Army on duty.

According to an investigation of an organ concerned, Travis King admitted that he illegally intruded into the territory of the DPRK.

During the investigation he confessed that he decided to come over to the DPRK opposed to inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination in the US army.

Saying he was disillusioned at the unequal American society he expressed his will to seek political asylum either in the DPRK or in third country.

The investigation continues.

Pyongyang, August 16th Juche 112 (2023)

US Soldier Travis King seeks Asylum in DPR Korea for Racial Discrimination (Odysee) via 푸옹 Phuong DPRK Daily

Related:

KCNA Report on Interim Findings of Investigation into American Solider

U.S. Soldier, Travis King, Who Crossed Into Our Territory Wants Refuge From Mistreatment, Racial Discrimination —North Korea