WASHINGTON: A Native American tribe has told South Dakota’s Republican Gov. Kristi Noem she’s not welcome on one of largest reservations in the country after she led efforts to pass a state law targeting demonstrations such as those in neighboring North Dakota that plagued the Dakota Access oil pipeline.
“I am hereby notifying you that you are not welcome to visit our homelands,” Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner said in a letter to Noem following a 17-0 Tribal Council vote on Wednesday approving the action. He told Noem that if she ignores the directive “we will have no choice but to banish you” from the the Pine Ridge reservation.
Banishment is a formal tribal process in which a person can be barred permanently from the reservation. Violations can result in fines or even jail time, but Bear Runner spokesman Chase Iron Eyes said the tribe’s goal is to show its unhappiness with Noem and that “no one wants to go through the steps to actually banish a sitting governor.”
“The notion of banishment has not been considered by the Tribal Council,” he said. ““The president just wanted to make the letter as clear as possible as to what the options might be.”
Noem traveled to the reservation in late March after she activated National Guard soldiers to help with the tribe’s flood response — a trip Iron Eyes said was welcomed by the tribe. However, he said she has made at least one and possibly two trips since without notifying the tribal government, presumably to speak with reservation residents about the laws.
A statement issued by Noem’s spokeswoman Thursday said “It’s unfortunate that the governor was welcomed by Oglala Sioux’s leadership when resources were needed during the storms, but communication has been cut off when she has tried to directly interact with members of the Pine Ridge community.
“The governor will continue working to engage with tribal members, stay in contact with tribal leadership, and maintain her efforts to build relationships with the tribes,” spokeswoman Kristin Wileman said.
Legislation that Noem and GOP leaders pushed through in a matter of days in March allows officials to pursue money from demonstrators who engage in “riot boosting,” or encouraging violence during a riot.
Activists and American Indian tribes plan on-the-ground protests against the Keystone XL pipeline if it’s built, similar to protests against the Dakota Access pipeline in North Dakota in 2016 and 2017. Those demonstrations , in which American Indians played a key role, resulted in 761 arrests over six months and cost the state $38 million.
Noem has said the South Dakota law is meant to address problems caused by “out-of-state rioters funded by out-of-state interests.” The American Civil Liberties Union and tribes contend the law stifles free speech, and the ACLU is suing Noem, Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg and a county sheriff in federal court on behalf of activists.
The Oglala Sioux is not a party to the suit but says in a statement, “the Governor has been asked not to set foot upon a swath of land the size of Delaware and Rhode Island combined.”
TransCanada Corp.’s planned Keystone XL pipeline would move Canadian crude through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with lines to Gulf Coast refineries. The $8 billion project has the backing of President Donald Trump but is being fought in the courts by opponents.
US tribe says South Dakota governor not welcome on reservation for stand on oil pipeline
US tribe says South Dakota governor not welcome on reservation for stand on oil pipeline
- South Dakota’s Gov. Kristi Noem led efforts to pass a state law targeting demonstrations against the Dakota Access oil pipeline
- Those demonstrations resulted in 761 arrests over six months and cost the state $38 million
Uganda partially restores internet after president wins 7th term
- “The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report
KAMPALA: Ugandan authorities have partially restored internet services late after 81-year-old President Yoweri Museveni won a seventh term to extend his rule into a fifth decade with a landslide victory rejected by the opposition.
Users reported being able to reconnect to the internet and some internet service providers sent out a message to customers saying the regulator had ordered them to restore services excluding social media.
“We have restored internet so that businesses that rely on internet can resume work,” David Birungi, spokesperson for Airtel Uganda, one of the country’s biggest telecom companies said. He added that the state communications regulator had ordered that social media remain shut down.
The state-run Uganda Communications Commission said it had cut off internet to curb “misinformation, disinformation, electoral fraud and related risks.” The opposition, however, criticized the move saying it was to cement control over the electoral process and guarantee a win for the incumbent.
The electoral body in the East African country on Saturday declared Museveni the winner of Thursday’s poll with 71.6 percent of the vote, while his rival pop star-turned-politician Bobi Wine was credited with 24 percent of the vote.
A joint report from an election observer team from the African Union and other regional blocs criticized the involvement of the military in the election and the authorities’ decision to cut off internet.
“The internet shutdown implemented two days before the elections limited access to information, freedom of association, curtailed economic activities ... it also created suspicion and mistrust on the electoral process,” the team said in their report.
In power since 1986 and currently Africa’s third longest-ruling head of state, Museveni’s latest win means he will have been in power for nearly half a century when his new term ends in 2031.
He is widely thought to be preparing his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, to take over from him. Kainerugaba is currently head of the military and has expressed presidential ambitions.
Wine, who was taking on Museveni for a second time, has rejected the results of the latest vote and alleged mass fraud during the election.
Scattered opposition protests broke out late on Saturday after results were announced, according to a witness and police.
In Magere, a suburb in Kampala’s north where Wine lives, a group of youths burned tires and erected barricades in the road prompting police to respond with tear gas.
Police spokesperson Racheal Kawala said the protests had been quashed and that arrests were made but said the number of those detained would be released later.
Wine’s whereabouts were unknown early on Sunday after he said in a post on X he had escaped a raid by the military on his home. People close to him said he remained at an undisclosed location in Uganda. Wine was briefly held under house arrest following the previous election in 2021.
Wine has said hundreds of his supporters were detained during the months leading up to the vote and that others have been tortured.
Government officials have denied those allegations and say those who have been detained have violated the law and will be put through due process.
