Latest news with #civilwar
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Prince Harry Is in Angola to Raise Awareness for Land Mine Clearing, Repeating Diana's 1997 Trip
Prince Harry visited the African nation of Angola on Tuesday with a land mine clearing charity, repeating a famous trip his mother made in 1997. Harry, the Duke of Sussex, met with Angolan President João Lourenço on Tuesday at the start of his trip, according to a statement from the Halo Trust, an organization that works to clear land mines from old warzones. Princess Diana visited Angola with the Halo Trust in January 1997, just seven months before she was killed in a Paris car crash. Diana was famously photographed on that trip wearing protective equipment and walking through an active minefield during a break in fighting in Angola's long civil war. Her advocacy helped mobilize support for a treaty banning land mines later that year. This is not the first time Harry has followed in his mother's footsteps by raising awareness for the Halo Trust's work. He also visited the southern African country in 2019 for a land mine clearing project. British media reported that Harry traveled to Angola this week without his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Halo Trust CEO James Cowan said in a statement Tuesday that he and Harry met with Lourenço to discuss continued demining efforts in Angola and thanked the president for his support for that work. Angola was torn apart by a 27-year civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 2002, with some brief and fragile periods of peace in between. The Halo Trust says there are estimates that around 80,000 Angolans have been killed or injured by land mines during and after the war, although there are no exact figures. The organization says just over 1,000 minefields covering an estimated 67 square kilometers (26 square miles) still needed to be cleared at the end of 2024. Angola had set itself a goal to be land mine-free by 2025.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
The Fox News host actually went there.
Greg Gutfeld on Tuesday proposed a shocking way for conservatives like him to deflect from allegations of fascism: make 'Nazi' their n-word. The Fox News host, who didn't do himself any favors in critics' eyes two years ago when he floated civil war because 'elections don't work,' told his colleagues on The Five that it made more sense to embrace the undesirable label rather than run from it, because 'the criticism doesn't mater to us.' 'You know what? I've said this before: we need to learn from the Blacks,' he said, citing 'the way they were able to remove the power from the n-word by using it.'
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Prince Harry beams as he touches down in Angola on solo trip without Meghan to walk across landmine field - just as his mother did 28 years ago
Prince Harry received a warm reception after landing in Angola to raise awareness of uncleared explosive landmines left behind by a devastating civil war. The royal, who made the trip to the African state without his wife, Meghan, is set to walk across a landmine field just as his late mother, Princess Diana, did 28 years ago for the Halo Trust, for which Harry serves as patron. Harry is understood to have travelled solo without the Duchess of Sussex, after deciding it was too dangerous for her to join him. A source said: 'The duke won't let his wife go to England over security concerns, so there was no chance he'd allow her to go to Angola to walk across landmines.' After landing at Luanda airport earlier this evening, the royal was seen shaking hands with President Lourenço and sitting with other dignitaries to discuss the continuation of demining efforts. Angola is in southwestern Africa, along the Atlantic coast. It was ravaged by a brutal 27-year civil war until 2002 and the country is still grappling with the legacy of landmines, with millions buried across the countryside. As part of its mission to create a 'mine-free country', Halo has cleared more than 123,000 landmines since 1994 and works to transform former war zones into farmland, national parks and 'safe' villages. In 2019, when Harry came on board as Halo's patron, the Angolan government pledged £46million to create wildlife corridors and protect endangered species in conservation areas. It set a target of clearing all landmines by 2025 and Harry is said to hope that his presence there will boost efforts to meet the target. He is hoping the publicity surrounding his visit will encourage more donations from the Angolan government. A source involved in organising the event told the MailOnline: 'Usually these trips help to drive a bit more money from the government.' The duke has returned to the country for the first time since 2019, when he was still a working member of the royal family. It is understood that he take a series of small two-person planes to the site of the mines he intends to walk across. Harry is hoping to recreate the iconic images his mother, the late Princess Diana, created in 1997 when she took a walk through a minefield wearing a Halo Trust flak jacket and helmet. The striking photographs went down in history, particularly as she died later that year in a car crash. But it is not a sight likely to be recreated by Harry's wife Meghan. Sources on the ground say that as well as being wary of the dangers for her, the Duke of Sussex is keen to keep his work with Halo close to his chest. A source added: 'Halo is really his thing, it means so much to him to be patron and he just wants to keep his work with them to himself.' Prince Harry is hoping to draw publicity away from the drama surrounding his feud with the Royal family and towards Halo's groundbreaking use of AI and drone technology to speed up clearance. It is thought a speech is planned for later today – but Halo, with Harry's blessing, has banned any British press from attending the event. Nevertheless, the trip will not fail to garner worldwide headlines. This is the latest of several significant visits Harry has made to Angola in recent years. In September 2019, after he became patron, he retraced the exact steps his mother took near Huambo, causing a sensation across the globe. The duke also visited the remote Dirico region, where he toured a newly cleared minefield, a detonated a landmine, and spent a night camping by the Cuito River. He then visited the town's Princess Diana Orthopaedic Centre, met female deminers, and toured a demining camp in southeastern Angola. In September 2024, he joined Angola's foreign minister at a United Nations Halo event in New York. Again, Meghan steered clear of the event despite the fact it was in the US. Sources at the time said she did not attend because the trip was part of his 'independent schedule' during Climate Week. The trip comes in the wake of a secret peace summit held between Harry's two most senior aides and King Charles's head of communications in central London last week. The meeting has been described as a charm offensive by the Sussexes to turn around their negative public image. Harry and Meghan's new chief of communications, Meredith Maines, met with Tobyn Andreae, the King's communications secretary, at the Royal Over-Seas League a three-minute walk from Clarence House, the monarch's London residence, on Wednesday. Also present was Liam Maguire, who runs the Sussexes' PR team in the UK. Images of the rendezvous raised hopes of a reconciliation between Harry, 40, and his father, 76. The meeting, held at a private members club in London, was the first step in a 'rapprochement process' to restore the broken relationship between the duke, his wife Meghan and the rest of the royal family. While royal experts have claimed a wounded Prince William will feel less inclined to resolve the feud than his father King Charles, they added the monarch would have undoubtedly consulted the heir to the throne before conducting any peace talks with Harry's aides. Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline: 'The King and Harry are currently, we understood from Harry's interview on the BBC, not speaking. This meeting obviously is a sign things are moving forward. 'The King would never have made these moves without William's support and understanding. ' William and Catherine are the future of the monarchy. 'He has undoubtedly been furious at the way the Sussexes have behaved and undoubtedly regards Harry's behaviour as treason of a sort. 'They reportedly have not spoken in over two years.'
ABC News
8 hours ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Why Israel is conducting strikes in Syria as sectarian violence rages
Just over six months since the downfall of Syria's long-time leader, Bashar al-Assad, the country's fragile post-war order is on the brink. The country is deeply divided as it tries to emerge from decades of dictatorship and nearly 14 years of civil war. In recent days, Israel has carried out strikes within Syria amid clashes between various factions. The strikes came in response to clashes between a religious minority sect, the Druze, another group known as the Bedouin tribes, and Syrian government forces. Dozens of people have so far been killed. Here's what you need to know about the conflict and what it means for the survival of Syria's new government. Syria is currently led by a transitional government, established after the Assad family's decades-long rule over the country collapsed in December last year. Before then, the country had been torn apart by 14 years of civil war between forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad and those who wanted to oust him. But under the Assad family's tight rule, religious freedom was guaranteed as the country then boasted about its secular and Arab nationalist system. However, the new transitional government is more Islamist in nature, with President Ahmad al-Sharaa himself a former member of Al Qaeda. Among the groups now navigating a vastly changed landscape in Syria is the Druze religious sect. The Druze began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam, and more than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south. The transitional government has promised protections and to include the Druze in decision-making, but so far, only one of the 23 members of the government is Druze. The Druze have been divided over how to deal with their issues with the new status quo in the country. Many Druze support a dialogue with the government, while others want a more confrontational approach. The latest violence began when members of another group, the Bedouin tribe in Sweida province, set up a checkpoint and then attacked and robbed a Druze man. This led to tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings between the two sides. Government security forces deployed to the area to restore order, but were seen as taking the side of the Bedouin tribes against Druze factions. The clashes raise fears of another spiral of sectarian violence that has flared already since the ejection of Assad. In March, sectarian and revenge attacks between Assad loyalists and government security forces killed hundreds of civilians. There have also been rising tensions between authorities in Damascus and Kurdish-led authorities controlling the country's north-east. The most recent clashes between the Druze and Bedouin have captured the attention of neighbouring Israel. Israel does not want Islamic militants near the country's northern border. Since Assad's fall, Israeli forces have seized control of a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone in Syria near the border with the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights and have carried out hundreds of air strikes on military sites. Israel has periodically intervened in support of the Druze, who are seen within Israel as a loyal minority. The Israel Defense Forces on Monday announced it had struck military tanks in southern Syria on Monday to help the Druze. That was followed by further Israeli strikes on Syrian government forces on Tuesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said the strikes hit "regime forces" and weaponry brought to Sweida to be used against the Druze. "Israel is committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria due to the deep brotherhood alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel," the pair said in a statement. "We are acting to prevent the Syrian regime from harming them and to ensure the demilitarisation of the area adjacent to our border with Syria." Syrian Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra says a ceasefire between the government, the Bedouin and the Druze remains in place. The Druze spiritual leadership said in a written statement on Tuesday morning that it would allow Syrian forces to enter Sweida city to stop the bloodshed, calling on armed groups to surrender their weapons and cooperate with incoming troops. But hours later, influential Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, a vocal opponent of the new Syrian leadership, said the statement had been "imposed" on them by Damascus and that Syrian troops had breached the arrangement by continuing to fire on residents. Dozens of people have been killed in fighting in the region since Sunday. ABC/AP
Al Jazeera
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
MSF says 3 of its workers were ‘intentionally' killed in Ethiopia's Tigray
Doctors Without Borders says three of its staff were 'intentionally' killed in 2021 during the fierce fighting in Ethiopia's Tigray region. The organisation, known by its French initials MSF, on Tuesday published the findings of its internal review into the killings of Maria Hernandez, a Spanish national, and Ethiopians Yohannes Halefom Reda and Tedros Gebremariam Gebremichael. The northern region of Tigray erupted in a brutal civil war against the federal government from 2020 and 2022 that killed some 600,000 people. The conflict prompted a humanitarian disaster, leaving a million displaced, and a fragile peace deal has caused simmering resentment. MSF accused the Ethiopian government of failing to 'fulfil its moral obligations' to conclude investigations. 'The review confirmed that the attack was an intentional and targeted killing of three clearly identified aid workers,' says its statement. Hernandez was one of MSF's emergency coordinators in Tigray, while Reda and Gebremichael were a coordination assistant and driver for the NGO. All three employees of MSF-Spain were shot dead on June 24, 2021, in southern Tigray. The NGO said they and their vehicle were all clearly identified. According to the medical charity, a convoy of Ethiopian soldiers was present at the time of the attack. MSF said despite numerous follow-ups with the federal authorities in Addis Ababa, they had not received 'any credible answers' and the government had 'failed to fulfil its moral obligations to conclude an investigation into the attack'. 'This was not the result of crossfire, nor was it a tragic mistake. Our colleagues were killed in what can only be described as a deliberate attack,' said Paula Gil, president of MSF-Spain. The report follows from an international investigation in 2022 when the NGO said the three aid workers had been killed 'intentionally,' without providing further details. The New York Times newspaper claimed in a 2022 investigation that an Ethiopian army officer had given the order to kill the three aid workers. But Raquel Ayora, director-general of MSF-Spain, said on Tuesday, 'We cannot confirm that or go that far.' The report's findings were presented to authorities, who did not respond, the NGO said. Ethiopian authorities refused to meet the president of MSF-Spain to discuss the MSF investigation into the killings. The 2020-2022 war pitted federal forces, supported by local militias and the Eritrean army, against Tigrayan rebels. All of the warring parties have been accused of war crimes. However, an NGO called The Sentry said in June that, while all sides perpetrated war crimes, the nature of the atrocities committed by the Eritrean army was 'unmatched in scale and premeditation'. Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous country with nearly 130 million inhabitants, has been led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed since 2018.
