PARIS: European special forces involved in anti-extremist operations in Africa’s Sahel region were given prime position in France’s Bastille Day celebrations on Wednesday, in a sign of President Emmanuel Macron’s military priorities.
The traditional parade on France’s national day returned to the Champs-Elysees after a one-year hiatus caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Roughly 80 French and European special forces drawn from the multinational Takuba force in the Sahel led the procession on foot, a choice intended to send a diplomatic message from Paris.
Macron, who presided over the ceremony, announced a major drawdown of French troops in the Sahel region last month and is banking on his often reluctant European partners to send more troops to replace them.
Paris wants Takuba — which numbers only 600 troops currently, half of them French — to take over more responsibilities from the 5,100 soldiers in France’s Barkhane operation, who have been battling Islamist groups in the Sahel for eight years.
The parade under grey skies and light rain was a scaled-down version of the usual event, with only 10,000 people in the stands instead of 25,000.
The holiday commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris in 1789, which kicked off years of revolution in France.
This year’s event could be the last for 43-year-old Macron, who will finish a five-year term in April next year.
He is expected to seek re-election, however.
It will be the last for outgoing defense chief-of-staff Francois Lecointre, who looked emotional as he greeted Macron before reviewing the troops.
“There’s a continual decline of order in the world,” he told Le Monde newspaper on Saturday, referring to actions by Russia, Turkey and Iran, as well as terror groups such as Islamic State in the Middle East and in Africa.
Alongside the traditional pageantry, fireworks displays and celebrations of Bastille Day, the southern Riviera town of Nice will mark the fifth anniversary of a terror attack that cost the lives of 86 people.
Prime Minister Jean Castex will visit the city for a ceremony at the site of a memorial for the dead, who were killed by a Tunisian man who drove a truck into crowds watching fireworks.
City authorities have organized a concert and 86 beams of light will illuminate the Mediterranean waterfront to honor the dead at 10:34 pm, the time of the start of the truck rampage.
France honors Europe’s anti-extremist troops on Bastille Day
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France honors Europe’s anti-extremist troops on Bastille Day
- Traditional parade on France's national day returned to Champs-Elysees after a one-year hiatus caused by Covid-19
- Macron announced a major drawdown of French troops in the Sahel region last month
Iran says arrested 28 Daesh members over Tehran plot with international links, including Pakistan
- Officials say the arrested militants wanted to carry out 30 coordinated explosions in Tehran but were apprehended
- A number of bombs, firearms, suicide vests and communications devices were also seized during the crackdown
TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have arrested 28 people linked to the Daesh group for plotting to target Tehran during the anniversary of last year’s protests, the intelligence ministry said on Sunday.
The protests erupted after the death in custody on September 16, 2022, of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd arrested for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.
“In recent days, during a series of simultaneous operations in Tehran, Alborz and West Azerbaijan provinces, several terrorist bases and team houses were attacked, and 28 members of the said terrorist network were arrested,” the ministry said on its website.
“These elements are affiliated to the professional crime group of Daesh and some of them have a history of accompanying takfiris in Syria or being active in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Kurdistan region of Iraq,” it added.
In Shiite-dominated Iran, the term “takfiri” generally refers to jihadists or proponents of radical Sunni Islam.
The intelligence ministry said two security personnel were wounded during the arrest operations, and a number of bombs, firearms, suicide vests and communications devices were seized.
It said it had neutralized a plot to “carry out 30 simultaneous terrorist explosions in densely populated centers of Tehran to undermine security and incite riots and protests on the anniversary of last year’s riots.”
The months-long demonstrations saw hundreds of people killed, including dozens of security personnel, in what Tehran called “riots” fomented by foreign governments and “hostile media.”
On Thursday, a court sentenced to death a Tajik Daesh member convicted over a deadly gun attack on a Shiite Muslim shrine in August.
The attack on the Shah Cheragh mausoleum in Shiraz, capital of Fars province in the south, came less than a year after a mass shooting at the same site that was later claimed by the Daesh group.
India protests after China bars three female athletes from Asian Games
- India, China share undemarcated border, where tensions have been high in recent years
- China does not recognize Arunachal Pradesh province, calls it South Tibet in newly issued map
NEW DELHI: India’s Sports Minister Anurag Thakur called out China’s discriminatory approach on Sunday after three Indian athletes were denied entry to the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou.
The Asian Games are the continent’s biggest sporting event and are held every four years. The current iteration opened on Saturday after it was due to be held last year but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three female martial artists from the northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh — a disputed region China mostly considered as South Tibet — were unable to travel to the Asian Games, while the rest of their 10-member squad was reportedly able to go ahead as planned.
“As you could see I am not in China. I am in Coimbatore, standing with my players,” Thakur told reporters on Sunday in the south Indian city.
“This discriminatory approach of a country, which is against the Olympic Charter, is not acceptable at all,” he said. “I have canceled my trip to China on these grounds as they have denied the opportunity to the players from Arunachal Pradesh to be a part of the Asian Games.”
India and China share an undemarcated 3,800-km border, which has long been a source of dispute between the two Asian giants. Tensions rose in 2020 when at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed in hand-to-hand fighting in the Galwan area of the Ladakh region. The incident was their worst border clash since 1967.
India lodged a strong protest with China only last month over a new map Beijing had released that showed Arunachal Pradesh as part of its official territory, which it calls South Tibet.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Friday that “China welcomes athletes from all countries” to attend the Asian Games, but said Beijing has never recognized Arunachal Pradesh, because the southern Tibetan region is “Chinese territory.”
The three Indian athletes were reportedly given visas stapled to their passports, while the rest of India’s athletes competing at this year’s games were given Asian Games badges that also serve as visas to enter China. The same athletes did not compete at the World University Games in Chengdu, China in July because they were given similar visas.
“The Chinese authorities have, in a targeted and pre-meditated manner, discriminated against some of the Indian sportspersons from the state of Arunachal Pradesh by denying them accreditation and entry to the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China,” the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
India has also lodged a strong protest “against China’s deliberate and selective obstruction of some of our sportspersons,” the ministry said.
“Arunachal Pradesh was, is and will always remain an integral and inalienable part of India.”
Indonesia collaborates with UAE to launch mangrove research center at COP28
- Indonesia has largest expanse of mangroves, accounts for one-fifth of global total
- Mangrove Alliance for Climate was launched by UAE, Indonesia at COP27
JAKARTA: Indonesia is aiming to launch an international mangrove research center with the UAE at the 2023 UN climate summit in Dubai later this year, Jakarta’s envoy in Abu Dhabi said on Sunday.
The Mangrove Alliance for Climate was launched by the UAE and Indonesia at COP27, the 2022 UN climate summit in Egypt last November. The initiative seeks to promote nature-based solutions for issues related to climate change and was later joined by other countries, including Australia and India.
“Indonesia is very much in support of these types of initiatives. Firstly, because it can help reduce emissions and it’s easy for us to plant mangroves,” Indonesian Ambassador to UAE Husin Bagis told Arab News.
“Abu Dhabi has a huge interest in helping Indonesia in developing its mangrove ecosystem … The plan is to launch the mangrove research center at COP28.”
This year, the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference, also known as COP28, will convene from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12 in Dubai.
Southeast Asia is home to the most extensive mangrove ecosystems, with Indonesia alone accounting for about a fifth of the global total. Mangroves provide various benefits in the face of climate change, including their ability to capture massive amounts of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, which are then trapped and stored in their carbon-rich flooded soils for millennia.
According to a 2022 report by the Global Mangrove Alliance, however, rates of mangrove protection hover around 20 percent in the region and losses are more common due to rice and palm oil production.
During the first technical meeting of the Mangrove Alliance for Climate on Thursday in New York, Indonesia reaffirmed its support for the initiative and its aim to “promote mangrove as a nature-based solution to fight climate change.”
Nani Hendiarti, environmental and forestry management deputy at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment, said during the meeting: “Indonesia is in full support of this MAC initiative and will collaborate with other global initiatives in managing mangrove ecosystems. This isn’t only beneficial ecologically, but also provides social and economic benefits for coastal communities.”
In a statement issued by the ministry, Hendiarti said that the planned international mangrove research center will be used for capacity-building, collaborative research on innovations surrounding mangrove and biotechnology, as well as conservation of mangrove biodiversity.
“This collaboration between Indonesia and UAE under MAC and the International Mangrove Research Center will be launched at COP28 in Dubai at the beginning of December. This is the right moment to show a real commitment to tackle climate change to the world,” Hendiarti said.
The Indonesia-UAE mangrove alliance is a “good idea” as long as it works on conserving existing mangrove forests and rehabilitating degraded mangrove forests, said Dr. Agus Sari, CEO of environmental advisory agency Landscape Indonesia and a former senior adviser to the UN Development Program.
“Indonesia needs to play this well as it hosts the largest area of mangroves worldwide,” Sari told Arab News. “As it has a dominant role, it needs to be able to capitalize on that position in the market.”
UN, regional bodies key to reducing tensions: UAE minister
- The UN is the ‘first line of defense’ in preventing the international order from descending into polarized political rifts, minister says
- Regional outfits such as the League of Arab States and the African Union also play a critical role due to their familiarity with local contexts
NEW YORK CITY: International organizations require major reform if the world is to address the growing list of crises facing it, a UAE minister has said.
Addressing the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, the Emirates’ minister of state for international cooperation said that institutions such as the UN were crucial for repairing relations, reducing global tensions and establishing peaceful solutions for many issues.
“But time and again, geopolitical tensions have held the Security Council back from reaching consensus on urgent matters, even on strictly humanitarian issues,” Reem Al-Hashimy said.
“This is why we must engage in serious discussions on its comprehensive and meaningful reforms, specifically pertaining to use of the veto; expansion of permanent and elected members; its working methods and its ability to anticipate and effectively resolve crises,” she said.
Noting that the UAE had witnessed the Security Council’s operations during its time as a member over the past year, Al-Hashimy said that “strong political will” was needed to right the ship.
“What’s not needed is wading into futile divisions and emphasising differences,” she said.
Alongside reforms to the Security Council, Al-Hashimy called on member states to work toward enhancing the effectiveness of not only the wider UN but of international organizations in general.
Describing the UN as the “first line of defense” in preventing the international order from descending into polarized political rifts, she said that regional outfits also had a role to play.
“Organizations such as the League of Arab States and the African Union play a critical role due to their understanding and familiarity with local contexts and are better positioned to play a pivotal role in supporting these endeavours and political processes,” she said.
“Global challenges are becoming increasingly interlinked, and no country nor organization is capable of addressing them alone.”
Philippines condemns Chinese ‘floating barrier’ in South China Sea
- ‘Floating barrier’ preventing Filipinos from entering and fishing in the area
- Philippine coast guard and fisheries bureau personnel discovered the floating barrier, estimated at 300 meters long
MANILA: The Philippines on Sunday accused China’s coast guard of installing a “floating barrier” in a disputed area of the South China Sea, saying it prevented Filipinos from entering and fishing in the area.
Manila’s coast guard and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources “strongly condemn” China’s installation of the barrier in part of the Scarborough Shoal, Commodore Jay Tarriela, a coast guard spokesperson, posted on the X social media platform, formerly Twitter.
The barrier “prevents Filipino fishing boats from entering the shoal and depriving them of their fishing and livelihood activities,” he said.
The Chinese embassy in Manila did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
China claims 90 percent of the South China Sea, overlapping with the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. Beijing seized the Scarborough Shoal in 2012 and forced fishermen from the Philippines to travel further for smaller catches.
Beijing allowed Filipino fishermen to return to the uninhabited shoal when bilateral relations were improving markedly under then-President Rodrigo Duterte. But tension has mounted again since his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, took office last year.
Philippine coast guard and fisheries bureau personnel discovered the floating barrier, estimated at 300 m (1,000 feet) long, on a routine patrol on Friday near the shoal, locally known as Bajo de Masinloc, Tarriela said.
Three Chinese coast guard rigid-hull inflatable boats and a Chinese maritime militia service boat installed the barrier when the Philippine vessel arrived, he said.
Filipino fishermen say China typically installs such barriers when they monitor a large number of fishermen in the area, Tarriela said.
