Algeria’s army chief has ordered a clampdown on those who head into the capital for weekly demonstrations.
In a speech Wednesday at an army barracks in the south of the gas-rich nation, Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah said members of the military, or gendarmes, should arrest protesters heading to Algiers for the demonstrations and seize their vehicles.
Gaid Salah’s tough new stance came days after a Dec. 12 date was set for presidential elections, as he had demanded.
In his speech that was published by the Defense Ministry, Gaid Salah said that, for some people, coming into Algiers from other regions has become a pretext to justify dangerous behavior'' and a way to swell crowds. <br />
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Protest marches held in Algiers and other cities since Feb. 22 forced then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika from office in April after two decades. Gaid Salah also called for the president, whose administration was mired in corruption, to stand down. <br />
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In the past, gendarmes, have often blocked roads into Algiers, without making arrests. <br />
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However, there recently have been arrests at the Friday protests, drawing condemnation from opposition politicians and human rights advocates. A former communications minister, Abdelaziz Rahabi, writing Tuesday on his Facebook page, called the arrests adangerous abuse” of power.
‘The gang’
The army chief reiterated his claim that protesters were being manipulated by networks of “the gang,” a reference to those who held powerful positions under Bouteflika. The ex-president’s brother and two former intelligence chiefs have been jailed and are awaiting trial, starting Monday, on charges of plotting against the state.
Gaid Salah, who has emerged as the authority figure amid a power vacuum, has consistently referred to a plot in his speeches, and suggested a foreign hand was involved. He has never elaborated on his accusation.
He said a better future built “stone by stone” lies ahead for the nation, an apparent reference to the December presidential vote.
Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg appeared before a U.S. Congressional committee Wednesday, urging law makers to “listen to the science” and take action on global climate change.
The 16-year-old Thunberg has been in Washington since last week when she joined U.S. and indigenous activists for a protest designed to build support for a global climate strike on Friday and put pressure on lawmakers to take action on climate change.
She was one of four students to appear Wednesday before a joint hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment and the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
She submitted a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in lieu of her testimony, and told the lawmakers to “follow the science:”
“Well, well I don’t see a reason to not listen to the science, is such just such a thing that we should be taking for granted that we listen to the current best available united science. It’s just something that everyone should do. This is not political opinions, political views or my opinions, this is, this is the science, so yeah,” she said.
Later on Wednesday, Thunberg joined seven young Americans who have sued the U.S. government for failing to take action on climate change on the steps of the Supreme Court. They urged political leaders and lawmakers to support their legal fight and take action to phase out the use of fossil fuels.
Thunberg first gained notoriety last year when she began skipping school each Friday to protest outside the Swedish parliament. She was joined by other students and later founded the ‘Fridays for Future’ weekly school walkouts around the world to demand government climate-change action.
Her organization of “climate strikers” reached 3.6 million people across 169 countries. She has been in the United States since last month when she sailed in to New York on a solar-powered boat to attend a U.N. climate summit.
HARARE — If there is one thing that unites doctors and patients in Zimbabwe’s ailing public health system, it’s fear.
The system is struggling to function amid a shattered economy and triple-digit inflation. Administrators, doctors and patients told VOA that hospitals often have a hard time getting supplies. And government doctors say they can’t make ends meet on an average salary worth just $100 a month.
But as they have learned, speaking out has consequences.
FILE – Peter Gabriel Magombeyi, acting president of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, pictured in Harare in Sept. 3, 2019, was reportedly abducted from his home.(C. Mavhunga/VOA)
That became evident with the sudden disappearance of Dr. Peter Magombeyi, a junior doctor who led a strike over public-sector pay. He went missing over the weekend, and colleagues say he had received threats from people he identified as being members of Zimbabwe’s Central Intelligence Organization.
A different kind of fear afflicts patients. Dorcas Nyatoti, who is 36, says she hasn’t seen a doctor in decades, and not for lack of trying. When her feet — afflicted by childhood polio — give her pain, she grits her teeth or takes over-the-counter drugs. She says that’s because every time she has approached a hospital, she’s quoted terrifying prices despite her lack of income.
“I feel pain but there’s nothing I can do,” she told VOA in her one-room apartment, which she shares with four other people, in one of Harare’s poorer areas. “Because this is the road I’m on. This is my country.”
And fear is what kept teacher Milka Gwatiringa from seeking help for more than a decade, as an abdominal tumor grew to a staggering 12 kilograms before it was successfully removed by doctors at the nation’s largest hospital.
“I had so many fears,” she said. “So I was not willing to come, I was very much afraid.”
The fear isn’t just over medical costs. Dr. Shingirai Meki, the urologist who led Gwatiringa’s surgery, says patients are scared of the uncertainty in the public hospitals.
“A lot of patients, a lot of people are suffering in their homes, they are scared, they are not sure what is going to happen to them,” he said. “So she [Gwatiringa] is a wonderful success story which we wish everyone to be aware.”
VOA met with Magombeyi, the strike leader, last week before he went missing. At the time, he was blunt about Zimbabwe’s challenges — and his own.
“I love Zimbabwe, and my colleagues would agree with me, that they also love Zimbabwe,” he said. “We love our country, it’s beautiful. However, it doesn’t negate the fact that when the economy is deteriorating like this, we are forced to think outside the box.”
Two days later, he was gone. Fellow doctors have marched in Harare this week, demanding his return.
The recent retirement of Jack Ma, former chairman of the Alibaba Group, has set a positive example in China for entrepreneurs to plan succession, ensuring the long-term sustainability of their businesses, according to some analysts.
But others insist it is still too early to tell if the world’s largest e-commerce giant and its charismatic founder have since steered away from the clutches of the Communist Party, which seemingly views large private companies as a threat.
“They key thing here is not to be too confident about any outcome yet, because we’re simply too early in the cycle here. Jack can still retire and then find himself in a lot of problems later,” said Fraser Howie, co-author of three books on the Chinese financial system, including “Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundations of China’s Extraordinary Rise.”
On the heels of his official retirement last Tuesday, rife speculation remains that Ma was forced out because he had become “too powerful and influential” and posed a challenge to the authority of China’s top leadership. His tech empire remains under the government’s close scrutiny.
State pressure
It is believed that through his retirement, Ma has avoided being caught up in the Chinese government’s crackdown of big dealmakers in recent years, such as HNA Group’s Wang Jian, Anbang Insurance Group’s Wu Xiaohui, and movie star Fan Bingbing. The latter two “disappeared” for months at one point, according to observers.
FILE – The company sign of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd is seen outside its headquarters in Beijing, China, June 29, 2019.
“He’s getting an airlift before the hammer falls because he clearly would have been the most high-profile scalp within the private sector,” said Howie, adding that Ma’s case also fires a warning shot across the bow of the country’s rich and famous.
Additionally, the fact that some of the country’s tycoons, including Ma, have pledged to hand over control of their businesses to the Communist Party, if needed, epitomizes the lopsided relationship between the state and the private sector under the leadership of President Xi Jinping.
For example, shortly after Ma expressed his intention to step down, Alibaba’s online payment platform Alipay inked an agreement with state-owned UnionPay to cooperate on cardless and barcode payments — a development that led to much speculation that Alipay eventually would be nationalized.
Xi has good reason to view Ma as a threat because the tycoon’s popularity among the public has outshone that of any government officials in China, said Emmy Hu, former executive editor-in-chief of Global E-Businessmen, an online media platform under Alibaba.
“He is one of the most popular and iconic figures in China. Shall democratic and free elections be held, he would have won most votes across China if he’s up to,” Hu said.
Corporate rivalry
Ma is so popular in China that many fraudsters use the catchphrase “you’ll be the next Jack Ma” in an effort to entice victims, she noted.
It’s hard to imagine, therefore, that someone as hardworking, ambitious and successful as Ma would choose to step down at a young age of 55 if it weren’t for political pressure, according to Hu.
FILE – Jack Ma attends Alibaba’s 20th anniversary party at a stadium in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, Sept. 10, 2019.
The journalist added that Ma’s success as a business leader, who has made a great contribution to the economy and provided a livelihood for more than 10 million vendors on Alibaba-owned online shopping site Taobao, made him an obvious target for the Communist Party as it tightened its grip on the private sector.
“The pressure that the state has exerted on private enterprises is getting more and more evident. That includes policies requiring companies to set up (Communist) party committees or business executives to join the party” to name a few, Hu said.
Apart from the impact of the U.S.-China trade war, the business environment in China has become increasingly hostile toward private companies that state-owned companies see as rivals and hope to edge out to expand market shares, she said.
Succession model
Hu says from a purely business point of view, Ma set a marvelous example in Asia for businessmen to plan succession — an observation with which venture capitalist C.Y. Huang agrees.
“I think he is a role model who has completed a successful succession for peer mainland Chinese companies (to look up to). … In five years, he has groomed his successors … and proved that his company doesn’t necessarily rely on one person,” said Huang, a partner at FCC Partners, a Taipei-based investment bank.
Daniel Zhang replaced Ma as Alibaba’s chief executive in 2015. Last week, he also took over Ma’s chairmanship.
Huang underscored that all too often, founding patriarchs of Asian companies have refused to hand over the reins, which then creates barriers for businesses to modernize. He pointed out that on a personal level, Ma sets an example for business people to enjoy their lives, and pursue dreams and goals outside of their businesses.
Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. human rights chief, has denied claims by a Brazilian businessman under investigation in Brazil’s massive Car Wash scandal that he paid $141,000 to cover debts incurred by her 2013 Chilean presidential campaign.
Leo Pinheiro is reported to have told prosecutors as part of a plea bargain that his engineering firm, OAS, paid the money at the suggestion of the former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
FILE – Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Lula is serving a 12-year prison sentence for taking bribes in connection with the scandal, which involved payoffs and political kickbacks on contracts with oil company Petrobras and other state-run companies.
Two other Brazilian presidents have been implicated in the scandal, along with two Peruvian presidents.
On Monday, Brazil’s Folha de Sao Paolo newspaper cited messages between prosecutors working on Pinheiro’s case in a report that claimed he told them OAS paid the money to Bachelet’s campaign to ensure a consortium it was involved in retained a contract to build a bridge to the Chilean island of Chiloe.
On Tuesday, Bachelet, a socialist who served from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2014 to 2018 and is the current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, denied the claims.
“My truth is the same as always, I have never had links with OAS,” she told Chilean TV station 24 Horas in Geneva.
She highlighted the fact that Pinheiro had failed to mention his claims to tell a Chilean prosecutor investigating the potential involvement of Chilean businesses or politicians in the cross-continental scandal.
She also pointed to the fact that the Chiloe bridge contract was awarded by the government of Chile’s current president, Sebastian Pinera.
Pinheiro was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his role in the scandal but released after three years in custody last weekend after his plea bargain was ratified by Brazil’s Supreme Court.
Chile’s chief prosecutor, Jorge Abbott, said in a statement on Monday that he would await formal confirmation of Pinheiro’s claims from Brazilian prosecutors before taking any action.
“We will continue with our investigation to determine the veracity of this financing and to be able to advance any corresponding criminal complaints,” he said.
“Whoever is ultimately implicated in this testimony, no one is above the law.”
Representatives for OAS, Lula and Pinheiro did not reply to requests for comment. Bachelet’s spokesman at the U.N., Rupert Colville, said she would not comment further on the issue.
“Obviously, as this concerns her political career in Chile, it is not an issue for OHCHR itself to comment on,” he said.
Developing economies could face disruption from the shock waves of Britain crashing out of the European Union with no deal, according to analysts.
Brexit will affect not only Britain’s relations with the European Union, but also with hundreds of other countries with which Britain currently trades on EU terms, as Brussels sets trade policy for the entire EU bloc.
London has negotiated new post-Brexit trade arrangements with several countries, including Central American nations, Switzerland and South Korea, among others. That leaves hundreds of states — from smaller economies to relative giants like Japan and Canada — with whom trade would revert to World Trade Organization terms after a no-deal Brexit.
Striking new trade deals won’t be easy, said professor Anand Menon at a “Changing Europe” program at Kings College London.
FILE – A fruit stall displays fruit at a market in London, Aug. 7, 2019. Among Kenya’s exports to Britain are fruits and vegetables.
“Many countries with whom we try and do trade deals will say to us, ‘Yes, that would be great. We’d quite like to know what your relationship with the European Union is going to be before we sign anything with you, though.’ So, all roads lead to Brussels,” Menon said.
Such uncertainty doesn’t help countries that sell goods to Britain. For example, Kenya exports cut flowers, fruits and vegetables, with total exports to Britain estimated at $400 million per year.
Bangladesh exports nearly $4 billion worth of goods to Britain, which are currently traded under the EU’s preferential rules of origin that allocate zero or low tariffs on goods from developing countries. A no-deal Brexit will likely mean disruption, said Max Mendez-Parra, a trade expert at the Overseas Development Institute.
“The problem is that that will erode the preference that some of these countries receive. So for example, the advantage that a country such as Bangladesh and Cambodia have on certain products because they have access with a lower tariff, that would be removed.”
Speaking last month, Akinwumi Adesina, head of the Africa Development Bank, warned that the combination of a no-deal Brexit and the U.S.-China trade war were hitting African economies.
FILE – African Development president Akinwumi Adesina gives a press conference in Ouagadougou, Sept. 13, 2019.
“The industrial capacity has fallen significantly, and so the demand, even for products and raw materials from Africa, will only fall even further. So, the effect of that could have a ripple effect on African economies as the demand for their products weaken from China,” Adesina said.
Britain, meanwhile, is stepping up its search for new trade deals. International Trade Secretary Liz Truss is visiting New Zealand, Australia and Japan this week. Many of these nations’ companies have large investments in Britain and fear the chaotic fallout of a no-deal Brexit.
For smaller economies, the impact is likely to be less severe, Mendez-Parra said.
“African countries seem to be more relaxed, developing countries are more and more relaxed — except some specific countries that trade a lot with the U.K. — about the prospect of a no-deal [Brexit]. And this is because the U.K. has lost over many years the sort of importance as a destination of exports for many of these countries.”
A no-deal Brexit would hit the economies of many EU states like Ireland, Germany and the Netherlands. But it is in Britain where the impact will inevitably be hardest-felt.
Police have opened a criminal investigation in the apparent arson of a home belonging to the family of former National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) chief Valeria Gontareva, which was razed early Tuesday in Kyiv.
Gontarevа, who recently spoke with VOA’s Ukrainian Service from her home in London, has warned that a series of unfortunate events are evidence that her life and the lives of family members are being threatened as a result of financial reforms she oversaw during her tenure as NBU chief from 2014-2017.
FILE – Valeria Gontareva, former chair of the National Bank of Ukraine, speaks during an interview in London, Britain, Sept. 14, 2019.
Currently a senior policy fellow at the London School of Economics, Gontareva told VOA that she was hospitalized with broken bones after being struck by a car while walking through the streets of London on Aug. 26.
Ten days later, her daughter-in-law’s vehicle was set on fire in front of the family home in Kyiv, which was burned to the ground Tuesday. On Sept. 12, one week after the car was torched, Ukrainian police raided another of Gontareva’s Kyiv residential properties.
Gontarevа has told various news outlets that all of these events are tied to grievances held by banking tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, the former owner Privatbank, the country’s largest lender, which was nationalized in 2016 as a part of Gontarevа-led reforms under former president Petro Poroshenko.
Gontarevа and her Ukrainian colleagues elected to nationalize Privatbank under Ukraine’s Finance Ministry after an audit revealed $5.5 billion in unaccounted funds. The move to nationalize was strongly supported by the International Monetary Fund, which saw nationalization of banks engaged in fraud as a key step to eradicating corruption.
An oligarch’s return
Kolomoisky, who returned to Kyiv after the April 2019 election of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had been living in Switzerland and Israel since Privatbank was nationalized.
He and Privatbank’s original investors have been closely watching a series of new reforms being undertaken by Zelenskiy to see whether the nationalization may be reversed.
FILE – Ukrainian business tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky speaks with journalists on the sidelines of the Yalta European Strategy annual meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 13, 2019.
“Kolomoisky wants the withdrawal of all Privatbank lawsuits against him all over the world, and the National Bank is hindering him,” Gontarevа told VOA, explaining that she has also been named as a key witness in various international fraud cases against Zelenskiy over his former ownership of Privatbank.
It was also reported that the search of Gontarevа’s home came 48 hours after Kolomoisky met privately with Zelenskiy.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Oleksiy Honcharuk told the Financial Times that the president is seeking a settlement with Kolomoisky over Privatbank’s nationalization, which would contradict Zelenskiy’s vigorous reform agenda and possibly upset Western backers.
FILE – People walk past a branch of PrivatBank, the country’s biggest lender, in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 18, 2019.
According to the Financial Times, IMF officials have warned that a reversal of Privatbank’s nationalization would endanger nearly $4 billion in standby funding reserved to help Ukraine recover the $5.5 billion it lost recapitalizing Privatbank.
“Whatever solution we find, we have to find it together with the IMF,” Honcharuk was quoted as saying.
On Tuesday morning, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov took to Twitter to note that the fire coincides with a Kyiv visit by IMF officials.
Although Gontarevа said she has been criticized by some Ukrainians who say the alleged threats are part of an effort to bolster her asylum claims in the West, she told VOA the issues are much bigger than her life alone.
Old-school intimidation tactics
“Independence of the National Bank guarantees the independence of monetary policy, exchange rate policy, and the macro stability of the Ukrainian economy,” she said, apparently warning that Kolomoisky’s efforts to seek compensation for the loss of Privatbank represents a return to the old-school intimidation tactics of the oligarchic era.
Kolomoisky, who denied any involvement in the injuries or property damages sustained by Gontareva or her family, spoke with reporters on the sidelines of the Yalta European Strategy conference in Kyiv on Sept. 13.
Asked about the London hit-and-run that left Gontareva temporarily wheelchair-bound, Kolomoisky reportedly said with a smug grin: “I promised to send her a plane, not a car.”
London police said they were not treating the incident as suspicious.
Official statements
FILE – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy speaks during a meeting with law enforcement officers in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 23, 2019.
On Tuesday, Zelenskiy’s office issued a statement calling the fire at Gontarevа’s home “a brutal crime, the rapid investigation of which should be a priority in the work of the law enforcement agencies.”
“Everyone should feel protected in Ukraine, regardless of their past or current positions and political views,” he said.
On Sept. 5, NBU board members issued a statement supporting Gontarevа’s claims that the car and house fires and London car accident are part of an organized intimidation campaign.
“Kolomoisky wants the withdrawal of all Privatbank lawsuits against him all over the world,” the former chairman of the NBU says. “And the National Bank is hindering him.”
“We regard this as a real threat to the personal integrity of the regulators who have implemented and continue to reform the financial sector, and in this way endeavor to undermine the central bank’s ability to fulfil its purpose,” the statement said.
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine has expressed support for Gontarevа, calling for “a prompt and impartial investigation into incidents involving former NBU chairman Gontareva and her family.”
Tunisia’s independent electoral commission Tuesday confirmed the stunning victories of two political outsiders in the first round of presidential voting — results seen as a major rebuff of the post-revolution political establishment.
Final results place law professor Kais Saied and business tycoon Nabil Karoui in first and second place respectively, capturing more than 18% and 16% of the vote. They now face a runoff in what is Tunisia’s second-only free and democratic presidential election.
Tunisian presidential candidate and law professor Kais Saied speaks during a press conference in Tunis, Sept. 17, 2019.
But the bigger story may be the losers, starting with Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, who received just over 7% of the vote. Defense Minister Abdelkarim Zbidi also scored in the single digits. Turnout was less than 50% — another marker of voter disaffection.
Tunisian journalist Tarek Mami of France Magreb 2 radio says Tunisians got rid of one system during the revolution — that of autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Now, they’re getting rid of the system that replaced him. Widespread corruption and soaring food prices helped to fuel voter anger.
Saied and Karoui have one thing in common — both are newcomers when it comes to running for office. Both also kept low profiles during campaigning these past weeks, but for different reasons.
FILE – Nabil Karoui, Tunisian media magnate and would-be presidential candidate, submits his candidacy to Tunisia’s electoral commission in the capital, Tunis, Aug. 2, 2019.
Karoui was jailed in August on corruption allegations — a move his supporters claim was politically motivated. Saied rejected state election funds and large rallies, favoring door-to-door campaigning. Saied is a social conservative and a frequent legal commentator on television. Karoui scored points with the poor for his foundation’s charitable works.
Social entrepreneur Wala Kasmi didn’t vote for Saied and was surprised by the results.
“But at the end, I think I’m happy about not the full results, but the results, because I think we are back to eight years ago, challenging the status quo, claiming a new model, a new system. … I think he’s the new voice of the revolution,” Kasmi said.
This is the first round in the election season. October’s legislative vote comes next, offering another test of whether Tunisians will continue to sanction the political establishment.
