Latest news with #HAC
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Trump fires historians who wrote nonpartisan accounts of US foreign policy
The Trump administration last month quietly fired members of the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, a nonpartisan body tasked with publishing a record of U.S. foreign policy. 'On behalf of President Donald Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position on the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service,' read one of the April 30 termination emails from Cate Dillon, the White House liaison to the State Department, according to The Washington Post. A senior State Department official told the Post 'there is a plan in place to maintain the committee' but did not respond to The Hill's request for comment on the firings. The nine-member panel is tasked with reviewing records to make recommendations to the State Department's Office of the Historian and Foreign Service Institute for its Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, which documents major U.S. foreign policy decisions. The first volume was published in 1861 to document former President Lincoln's foreign policy during the Civil War. To date, more than 450 volumes have been printed. The office had begun research on the Clinton administration, according to its website. However, past chairs of the Historical Advisory Committee (HAC) speculated the entity was discontinued in an effort to skew U.S. history for partisan purposes. 'You would have to try very hard to even know the HAC existed,' Melani McAlister, a George Washington University professor of American studies and international affairs who served on the committee, told the Post. 'When people start targeting the telling of history, that becomes very dangerous for democracy,' she added. The group meets quarterly to discuss the declassification of documents at least 30 years old. Some speculated the firings may have been accidental casualties in Trump's broader cuts to government. 'Right now, the office is still trying to get volumes out from the Reagan era. There's no work that's being done here regarding the current administration,' said James Goldgeier, a professor and former dean at the American University School of International Service, who served as chair of the HAC before it was terminated. 'It just seems to me like they just got a list from all the [federal] agencies. I can't imagine they looked much into what any of the particular ones did. And I don't know that they understood that this one is congressionally mandated,' he added. The Foreign Relations Authorization Act signed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991 established the HAC, composed of six members from the country's top historical associations and societies, in addition to three at-large members. Each member is paid a stipend of $250 per quarterly meeting. Meetings are routinely documented and open to the public. The website currently displays all seats as vacant with the last meeting minutes posted from March. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Hill
Trump fires historians who wrote nonpartisan accounts of US foreign policy
The Trump administration last month quietly fired members of the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation, a non-partisan body tasked with publishing a record of U.S. foreign policy. 'On behalf of President Donald Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position on the Advisory Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service,' read one of the April 30 termination emails from Cate Dillon, the White House liaison to the State Department, according to the Washington Post. A senior State Department official told the Post 'there is a plan in place to maintain the committee,' but did not respond to The Hill's request for comment on the firings. The nine-member panel is tasked with reviewing records to make recommendations to the State Department's Office of the Historian and Foreign Service Institute for its Foreign Relations of the United States (FRUS) series, which documents major U.S. foreign policy decisions. The first volume was published in 1861 to document former President Lincoln's foreign policy during the Civil War. To date, more than 450 volumes have been printed. The office had begun research on the Clinton administration, according to its website. However, past chairs of the Historical Advisory Committee (HAC) speculated the entity was discontinued in an effort to skew U.S. history for partisan purposes. 'You would have to try very hard to even know the HAC existed,' Melani McAlister, an American University professor of American studies and international affairs who served on the committee, told the Post. 'When people start targeting the telling of history, that becomes very dangerous for democracy,' she added. The group meets quarterly to discuss the declassification of documents at least 30 years old. Some speculated the firings may have been accidental casualties in Trump's broader cuts to government. 'Right now, the office is still trying to get volumes out from the Reagan era. There's no work that's being done here regarding the current administration,' said James Goldgeier, a professor and former dean at American University's School of International Service, who served as chair of the HAC before it was terminated. 'It just seems to me like they just got a list from all the [federal] agencies. I can't imagine they looked much into what any of the particular ones did. And I don't know that they understood that this one is congressionally mandated,' he added. The Foreign Relations Authorization Act signed by President Bush in 1991 established the HAC, composed of six members from the country's top historical associations and societies, in addition to three at-large members. Each member is paid a stipend of $250 per quarterly meeting. Meetings are routinely documented and open to the public. The website currently displays all seats as vacant with the last meeting minutes posted from March.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Sudan's aid workers fear crackdown under strict new army rules
Aid workers and activists are fearful that new regulations announced by Sudan's army-backed government will lead to a crackdown on local relief volunteers, exacerbating the catastrophic hunger crisis affecting 25 million people across the country. A directive announced by Khartoum state on its official Facebook page this month said all relief initiatives in the state must register with the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), a government body that oversees humanitarian operations in Sudan. The HAC was given expanded powers to register, monitor and – critics argue – crack down on local and Western aid groups by former leader Omar al-Bashir in 2006, according to aid groups, local relief volunteers and experts. 'HAC is trying to monitor and restrict the work of ERRs by forcing us to register, … and I fear they will arrest volunteers if we keep working but don't register,' Ahmed*, a local volunteer in Khartoum, said, referring to the Emergency Response Rooms, grassroots committees that are spearheading the humanitarian response in Sudan. Khaled Abdelraheem Ahmed, the HAC commissioner for the state of Khartoum, confirmed the new directive to Al Jazeera. He said registration requires paying a fee of roughly $800 and submitting a list of names of the employees or volunteers in each relief initiative. '[Nobody] is allowed to carry out humanitarian activities without registering,' Abdelraheem new directive is raising concern among ERRs. They have been instrumental in feeding, protecting and rescuing civilians from attacks since the civil war erupted between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023. The ERRs maintain a public stance of neutrality in an effort to preserve humanitarian access irrespective of who controls the areas they operate in at any given time. Still, they have been attacked by both sides throughout the war. Local activists, foreign aid workers and experts now suspect that the HAC is trying to register ERRs in Khartoum to try to monitor and coopt their activities and profit from their already meagre budgets. Any constraints or impediments to their work could have devastating consequences for civilians in Khartoum, said Kholood Khair, a Sudan expert and the founder of the Confluence Advisory think tank. 'In Khartoum, it's one meal a day for a lot of people in a lot of areas,' she told Al Jazeera. 'If people start missing that one meal because [ERR] volunteers are not turning up because they don't feel safe enough to [show up and feed them], then obviously that means that famine levels will go through the roof,' Khair added. Experts and aid workers previously told Al Jazeera that they consider the HAC an outfit for military intelligence. Al Jazeera contacted army spokesperson Nabil Abdullah to comment on the accusations against the HAC. He did not respond before publication. The head of the HAC, Najm al-din Musa, previously denied allegations that the commission was involved in aid diversion, telling Al Jazeera that they were 'lies'.The HAC has long been accused of imposing bureaucratic impediments to prevent international aid groups from reaching regions outside the army's control. It often forces aid agencies to apply for multiple – seemingly endless – permissions from various ministries and security branches as a way to significantly delay or outright block access to regions outside the army's control and in urgent need, aid workers previously told Al Jazeera. This practice has led experts, global relief workers and human rights groups to accuse the army of using food and aid as a weapon of war. Yet Hamid Khalafallah, an expert on Sudan's grassroots movements and a PhD candidate at Manchester University in the United Kingdom, believes the HAC is further politicising aid by forcing ERRs to register. '[The HAC] wants to control the programming of [the ERRs] and make sure that it matches their priorities, … which are obviously politicised and follow the guidelines of the de facto [army] government,' he told Al Jazeera. In addition, local relief workers and experts fear that if ERR members in Khartoum register with the HAC, then their names could be handed over to intelligence branches, exposing them to unwanted harassment or arrest. Shortly after the army recaptured most of Khartoum in March, a number of 'hit lists' circulated over social media, Khalafallah said. The lists accused hundreds of civilians who did not have the resources to flee from the RSF while it controlled Khartoum of cooperating with the group. The names of some ERR members were on the army has created some of its own humanitarian committees called 'Karama' (Dignity), which have been providing some services to civilians in Khartoum, four local relief workers told Al Jazeera without providing details. The relief workers did say that the Karama committees have not tried to obstruct the work of the ERRs. Local volunteers still worry that the Karama committees were designed to help the army build a loyal constituency through aid provision. 'The [army] wants the services to go through the people they appoint. They will handle distribution of food, medicare and whatever else,' said Noon*, a local volunteer from one of the ERRs. 'It's a type of propaganda,' she told Al Jazeera. ERR volunteers worry that if they register with the HAC, then they will be prohibited from aiding their communities if they ever come back under RSF control. This could significantly harm the trust that ERR volunteers have built with their communities since the start of the war, they said. Others worry that the HAC will try to restrict and impede the work of ERRs once they register as part of a broader ploy to empower Karama committees at their expense. However, experts and international aid workers both said the army is not doing enough to repair basic services in a city that has been destroyed by the RSF. In contrast, the ERRs have been effective in acting quickly to mitigate the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan because volunteers do not need approval from a state authority before making life-saving decisions, Khalafallah said. 'This requirement [to register] with HAC is absolutely damaging for ERRs because the work they do is based on being totally independent and … [on having a model] where accountability looks downwards to the beneficiaries,' he ERRs are struggling to raise enough money to support their communities. They now worry they will be forced to cough up money to the HAC if they have to register with it. 'We know that HAC will take a cut from our budgets. … This is the main problem [with registering] really,' Noon said. The HAC has a long history of shaking down aid agencies for money. Even before the war, they forced aid groups to hire HAC staff to deliver aid and sit in on job interviews. One foreign relief worker who did not wish to be named said international aid agencies who have supported ERRs since the start of the war will likely continue to do so quietly whether they register or not. However, the source warned that United Nations agencies may make concessions to the HAC. 'What the UN agrees to [with the HAC] will have an impact on everybody else, and it will undermine the position of everybody else,' the source said. Daniel Tengo, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson for Sudan, told Al Jazeera that the UN has not decided whether it will maintain or cease support to ERRs that do not register with the HAC. He added that OCHA is in touch with ERRs and waiting for them to make a decision. 'OCHA is aware of the recent communication from Khartoum HAC and has reached out to the coordination body of the Emergency Response Rooms to better understand the implications,' he said. 'ERRs confirmed awareness of [HAC's directive] and indicated that internal discussions are ongoing on how best to respond,' Tengo told Al Jazeera. Local relief workers in Khartoum explained that each ERR in Khartoum will deliberate among its own members and then share their opinion with other ERRs. In the end, they will reach a unanimous decision. 'Maybe we will find another creative solution,' said Salma*, a local volunteer. 'We are just trying to find a way to keep working without creating more fights and problems,' she told Al Jazeera. *The names of local aid workers have been changed due to safety concerns.
Al Jazeera
3 days ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Sudan's aid workers fear crackdown under strict new army rules
Aid workers and activists are fearful that new regulations announced by Sudan's army-backed government will lead to a crackdown on local relief volunteers, exacerbating the catastrophic hunger crisis affecting 25 million people across the country. A directive announced by Khartoum state on its official Facebook page this month said all relief initiatives in the state must register with the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), a government body that oversees humanitarian operations in Sudan. The HAC was given expanded powers to register, monitor and – critics argue – crack down on local and Western aid groups by former leader Omar al-Bashir in 2006, according to aid groups, local relief volunteers and experts. 'HAC is trying to monitor and restrict the work of ERRs by forcing us to register, … and I fear they will arrest volunteers if we keep working but don't register,' Ahmed*, a local volunteer in Khartoum, said, referring to the Emergency Response Rooms, grassroots committees that are spearheading the humanitarian response in Sudan. Khaled Abdelraheem Ahmed, the HAC commissioner for the state of Khartoum, confirmed the new directive to Al Jazeera. He said registration requires paying a fee of roughly $800 and submitting a list of names of the employees or volunteers in each relief initiative. '[Nobody] is allowed to carry out humanitarian activities without registering,' Abdelraheem said. The new directive is raising concern among ERRs. They have been instrumental in feeding, protecting and rescuing civilians from attacks since the civil war erupted between Sudan's regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in April 2023. The ERRs maintain a public stance of neutrality in an effort to preserve humanitarian access irrespective of who controls the areas they operate in at any given time. Still, they have been attacked by both sides throughout the war. Local activists, foreign aid workers and experts now suspect that the HAC is trying to register ERRs in Khartoum to try to monitor and coopt their activities and profit from their already meagre budgets. Any constraints or impediments to their work could have devastating consequences for civilians in Khartoum, said Kholood Khair, a Sudan expert and the founder of the Confluence Advisory think tank. 'In Khartoum, it's one meal a day for a lot of people in a lot of areas,' she told Al Jazeera. 'If people start missing that one meal because [ERR] volunteers are not turning up because they don't feel safe enough to [show up and feed them], then obviously that means that famine levels will go through the roof,' Khair added. Experts and aid workers previously told Al Jazeera that they consider the HAC an outfit for military intelligence. Al Jazeera contacted army spokesperson Nabil Abdullah to comment on the accusations against the HAC. He did not respond before publication. The head of the HAC, Najm al-din Musa, previously denied allegations that the commission was involved in aid diversion, telling Al Jazeera that they were 'lies'. The HAC has long been accused of imposing bureaucratic impediments to prevent international aid groups from reaching regions outside the army's control. It often forces aid agencies to apply for multiple – seemingly endless – permissions from various ministries and security branches as a way to significantly delay or outright block access to regions outside the army's control and in urgent need, aid workers previously told Al Jazeera. This practice has led experts, global relief workers and human rights groups to accuse the army of using food and aid as a weapon of war. Yet Hamid Khalafallah, an expert on Sudan's grassroots movements and a PhD candidate at Manchester University in the United Kingdom, believes the HAC is further politicising aid by forcing ERRs to register. '[The HAC] wants to control the programming of [the ERRs] and make sure that it matches their priorities, … which are obviously politicised and follow the guidelines of the de facto [army] government,' he told Al Jazeera. In addition, local relief workers and experts fear that if ERR members in Khartoum register with the HAC, then their names could be handed over to intelligence branches, exposing them to unwanted harassment or arrest. Shortly after the army recaptured most of Khartoum in March, a number of 'hit lists' circulated over social media, Khalafallah said. The lists accused hundreds of civilians who did not have the resources to flee from the RSF while it controlled Khartoum of cooperating with the group. The names of some ERR members were on the lists. The army has created some of its own humanitarian committees called 'Karama' (Dignity), which have been providing some services to civilians in Khartoum, four local relief workers told Al Jazeera without providing details. The relief workers did say that the Karama committees have not tried to obstruct the work of the ERRs. Local volunteers still worry that the Karama committees were designed to help the army build a loyal constituency through aid provision. 'The [army] wants the services to go through the people they appoint. They will handle distribution of food, medicare and whatever else,' said Noon*, a local volunteer from one of the ERRs. 'It's a type of propaganda,' she told Al Jazeera. ERR volunteers worry that if they register with the HAC, then they will be prohibited from aiding their communities if they ever come back under RSF control. This could significantly harm the trust that ERR volunteers have built with their communities since the start of the war, they said. Others worry that the HAC will try to restrict and impede the work of ERRs once they register as part of a broader ploy to empower Karama committees at their expense. However, experts and international aid workers both said the army is not doing enough to repair basic services in a city that has been destroyed by the RSF. In contrast, the ERRs have been effective in acting quickly to mitigate the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan because volunteers do not need approval from a state authority before making life-saving decisions, Khalafallah said. 'This requirement [to register] with HAC is absolutely damaging for ERRs because the work they do is based on being totally independent and … [on having a model] where accountability looks downwards to the beneficiaries,' he said. The ERRs are struggling to raise enough money to support their communities. They now worry they will be forced to cough up money to the HAC if they have to register with it. 'We know that HAC will take a cut from our budgets. … This is the main problem [with registering] really,' Noon said. The HAC has a long history of shaking down aid agencies for money. Even before the war, they forced aid groups to hire HAC staff to deliver aid and sit in on job interviews. One foreign relief worker who did not wish to be named said international aid agencies who have supported ERRs since the start of the war will likely continue to do so quietly whether they register or not. However, the source warned that United Nations agencies may make concessions to the HAC. 'What the UN agrees to [with the HAC] will have an impact on everybody else, and it will undermine the position of everybody else,' the source said. Daniel Tengo, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) spokesperson for Sudan, told Al Jazeera that the UN has not decided whether it will maintain or cease support to ERRs that do not register with the HAC. He added that OCHA is in touch with ERRs and waiting for them to make a decision. 'OCHA is aware of the recent communication from Khartoum HAC and has reached out to the coordination body of the Emergency Response Rooms to better understand the implications,' he said. 'ERRs confirmed awareness of [HAC's directive] and indicated that internal discussions are ongoing on how best to respond,' Tengo told Al Jazeera. Local relief workers in Khartoum explained that each ERR in Khartoum will deliberate among its own members and then share their opinion with other ERRs. In the end, they will reach a unanimous decision. 'Maybe we will find another creative solution,' said Salma*, a local volunteer. 'We are just trying to find a way to keep working without creating more fights and problems,' she told Al Jazeera. *The names of local aid workers have been changed due to safety concerns.
The Citizen
12-05-2025
- Sport
- The Citizen
Athletic excellence for Heidelberg Athletic club
The Heidelberg Athletics Club (HAC) kicked off May with an impressive display of athletic power, as its athletes competed in multiple events across Gauteng and North West. Over the first week of the month, club members showcased their versatility and endurance, participating in various races. On May 1, 16 HAC athletes took to the roads at the MNS Attorneys Carnival City Marathon in Brakpan, tackling distances ranging from 5km to 42.2km. Simultaneously, two athletes represented the club at the MiWay Wally Hayward, competing in the 42km race. The club's momentum continued on May 3, as seven athletes from the Red Army participated in the N12 Ultra Marathon in Klerksdorp, North West. The athletes completed 50km and 10km races, with the five men who attempted the 50km distance achieving impressive sub-five-hour times, ranging from 3:42:46 to 4:49:44. On May 5, nine HAC athletes participated in the Colgate Marathon, competing in 32km, 15km and 5km events. As the club looks to the future, the coaches expect maximum participation from members for the Western Race 4 Hope on May31 in Heidelberg. Two HAC athletes will contend for their medal positions from last year's race, aiming to build on their previous successes. With their recent performances, the Heidelberg Athletics Club aims for continued success in May. At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
