Gulf Times
Wednesday, September 2, 2020
Macron back
in Lebanon for
reform push
AFP
Beirut
F
rench President Emmanuel
Macron on a visit yesterday
to disaster-hit Lebanon
urged its embattled leaders to
grab a “last chance” for politi-
cal reform, promising to return
in December to follow up on
progress.
Macron was in Beirut for a
second time since the August 4
blast there killed more than 180
people, laid waste to entire city
districts and fuelled popular rage
against the country’s entire po-
litical elite.
He came to attend muted
celebrations marking the cen-
tenary of Greater Lebanon, and
as political leaders settled on a
new prime minister, Mustapha
Adib, tasked with leading the
country out of political turmoil
and a painful economic crisis.
Philippines will
not follow US in
blacklisting China
firms: official
AFP
Manila
T
he Philippines will not fol-
low the US lead in black-
listing Chinese companies
involved in the construction of
artificial islands in the disputed
South China Sea, the president’s
spokesman said yesterday, argu-
ing Manila needed Beijing’s in-
vestment.
Washington last week an-
nounced sanctions against 24
Chinese state-owned companies
— including subsidiaries of China
Communications Construction
Co, which is involved in a $10bn
airport project in Manila.
The US has been pushing back
against Beijing’s military buildup
in the South China Sea, where
sovereignty is contested by sev-
eral countries — including the
Philippines.
China claims the majority of
the area, invoking its so-called
nine-dash line to justify its al-
leged historic rights to a key wa-
terway through which trillions
of dollars of international trade
pass every year. President Ro-
drigo Duterte’s spokesman told
reporters Tuesday that Chinese
involvement in major Philippine
infrastructure projects would
go ahead despite Washington’s
sanctions — including turning
Sangley Point, a US naval station
until the early 1970s, into a com-
mercial airport.
“The Sangley project will push
through,” Harry Roque told re-
porters, adding the Philippines
“will not follow the American di-
rective because we are a free and
independent state and we need
investments coming from China”.
China’s ambassador to the
Indonesia stages coffin parade
as reminder of Covid-19 threat
AFP
Jakarta
O
fficials in hazmat suits
paraded empty cof-
fins through the streets
of Jakarta yesterday to remind
residents that coronavirus cases
are still surging in one of Asia’s
worst-hit nations.
A convoy of truck hearses
and pallbearers snaked its way
7
ASIA/AUSTRALASIA/ARAB WORLD/AFRICA
Macron set an ambitious goal
for his return visit – to push for
deep change, but without being
seen as a meddler in the former
French mandate. “This is the last
chance for the Lebanese system,”
he warned.
“It’s a risky bet I’m making, I
am aware of it... I am putting the
only thing I have on the table:
my political capital,” he told Po-
litico. The French leader arrived
Monday, just hours after Adib,
a little known 48-year-old aca-
demic and former ambassador to
Germany, was designated prime
minister.
Macron, who has described
his stance towards Lebanon’s
political establishment as “de-
manding without interfering”,
said it was not his place to “ap-
prove” of Adib’s designation.
Adib, whom he met late Monday
and again Tuesday, “has to be
given all the tools to succeed...
so he can implement reforms,”
Philippines, Huang Xilian, said
the US sanctions were aimed at
driving “a wedge between China
and regional countries”. “I be-
lieve that any attempt to under-
mine the normal economic co-
operation between China and the
Philippines will never succeed,”
he said.
China has reinforced its claim
to the South China Sea by build-
ing up small shoals and reefs into
military bases with airstrips and
port facilities. It rejected a 2016
UN-backed tribunal’s ruling that
its claims were without legal ba-
sis. Philippine-China relations
have improved under Duterte,
who has tried to steer his country
away from the ambit of the United
States— its former colonial mas-
ter — to pursue greater economic
cooperation with its giant neigh-
bour and American rival.
But Duterte’s shift has failed
to stem Chinese ambitions in the
sea or unlock much of the billions
of dollars of promised trade and
loans. In recent weeks tensions
have intensified between the
Philippines and China over dis-
puted areas.
The Philippine defence min-
ister accused China of illegally
occupying Filipino maritime ter-
ritory, saying the nine-dash line
was a fabrication.
His remarks came after the
Philippine foreign ministry
lodged a diplomatic protest over
what it said was the “illegal con-
fiscation” by China’s coast guard
of fishing equipment near Scar-
borough shoal, which has long
been a flashpoint between the two
countries. China’s foreign min-
istry defended the coast guard,
saying they had carried out law
enforcement activities and “their
actions are understandable”.
through crowded neighbour-
hoods, with some participants
also donning headpieces depict-
ing ghost-like figures known as
pocong.
“We’re hoping this coffin pa-
rade will remind people to be
more aware of the risk of diso-
beying health safety rules,” said
Mundari, the head of south Ja-
karta’s Cilandak district, who
like many Indonesians goes by
one name. “They can picture
which have been long demanded
by the international community,
Macron said.
Macron had kicked off his trip
not by visiting political lead-
ers, but by spending more than
an hour Monday with singing
legend Fairuz, who at 85 is a rare
unifying figure in Lebanon.
On Tuesday he attended a se-
ries of events to mark 100 years
since French mandate authori-
ties proclaimed the creation of
Greater Lebanon. In the Jaj forest
northeast of Beirut, he planted a
cedar tree – Lebanon’s national
symbol – to express “confidence
in the future of the country,” his
office said.
Macron also returned for
a second visit to Beirut port,
ground zero of the colossal blast.
He oversaw aid distribution from
a French helicopter carrier and
met French soldiers working with
the Lebanese army to clear thou-
sands of tonnes of debris.
Facebook
threatens ban
on Australians
sharing news
in battle over
media law
Facebook threatened yesterday
to block users and media
organisations in Australia
from sharing news stories
in an escalating challenge
to government plans to
force digital giants to pay for
content. Australians would be
stopped from posting local
and international articles on
Facebook and Instagram, the
company said, claiming the move
was “not our first choice” but the
“only way to protect against an
outcome that defies logic”.
Government officials quickly
shot back, with Treasurer Josh
Frydenberg rejecting what
he called “coercion or heavy-
handed threats” from the social
media giant. Rod Sims, head of
the Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission (ACCC),
which drew up the draft law,
called the threat “ill-timed and
misconceived”.
In one of the most aggressive
moves by any government to
curb the power of US digital
giants, Canberra has drawn up
legislation to force Facebook and
Google to pay struggling local
news organisations for content
or face millions of dollars in fines.
The measures would also force
transparency around the closely
guarded algorithms that tech
firms use to rank content.
Facebook Australia and New
Zealand managing director
Will Easton said the proposed
overhaul “misunderstands the
dynamics of the internet and
will do damage to the very news
organisations the government is
trying to protect”.
“Most perplexing, it would
force Facebook to pay news
organisations for content that
the publishers voluntarily place
on our platforms and at a price
that ignores the financial value
we bring publishers,” he said in a
statement.
Easton also accused the ACCC of
having “ignored important facts”
during a lengthy consultation
process that ended Monday.
how things would be if they died
of Covid-19,” he added. The
mock coffins got the attention of
Cilandak resident Ahmad Soleh
Suzany. “It’s very scary because
this shows the huge dangers
we’re facing,” he told AFP.
The move comes as Indone-
sia’s coronavirus toll mounts,
with the deadly respiratory dis-
ease killing more than 100 front-
line doctors and possibly hun-
dreds of children.
French President Emmanuel Macron reviews guards as he arrives on the French helicopter carrier Ton-
nerre for a second visit to Beirut port yesterday.
The French air force jets flew
overhead, leaving trails of red,
white and green smoke, the col-
ours of the Lebanese flag. Some
on social media criticised the
aerial manoeuvre, saying it could
trigger traumatic memories
among people who experienced
the port blast and the 1975-1990
civil war.
The Beirut explosion com-
pounded Lebanon’s worst eco-
nomic crisis since the war, with
a UN agency warning that more
than half of the population risk
food shortages by the end of the
year.
On August 9, the international
community pledged over 250mn
euros (around $300mn) in emer-
Hotel Rwanda hero’s family
accuses govt of kidnapping
Reuters
Nairobi
T
he family of Paul Rusesa-
bagina — hailed a hero in
a Hollywood movie about
Rwanda’s 1994 genocide — have
accused authorities in Kigali of
kidnapping him, a day after he
was paraded before media in
handcuffs.
Rusesabagina was played by
Don Cheadle in the Oscar-nom-
inated film Hotel Rwanda, which
told how hotel manager Rusesa-
bagina used his job and his con-
nections with the Hutu elite to
protect Tutsis fleeing the slaugh-
ter.
Rwandan police said Rusesa-
bagina — who called for armed
resistance to the government in
a YouTube video — was arrested
on terrorism charges on an inter-
national warrant. His family dis-
pute that.
“He was kidnapped and taken
by extraordinary rendition to
Rwanda,” his daughter Carine
Kanimba posted on Facebook.
Thierry Murangira, the
spokesman for the Rwanda In-
vestigation Bureau, said that was
false. “He has been arrested in
accordance with the law,” Mu-
rangira told Reuters. “He was
subject of an international arrest
warrant.”
Another daughter, Anaise, told
the BBC World Service radio that
her father had last called them on
Thursday from Dubai and said he
Rainy day in Beijing
People wear raincoats as it rains in Beijing yesterday.
gency aid during a video confer-
ence jointly organised by France
and the United Nations.
Macron said he was ready to
host a second Lebanon aid con-
ference next month.
The French president also met
other political leaders, who are
collectively blamed for the ex-
plosion of a stockpile of ammo-
nium nitrate fertiliser that had
languished in the port for years.
The protest camp has already
rejected the choice of Adib as
premier, charging that he is too
close to established political cir-
cles.
Dozens of protesters gathered
in central Beirut to demonstrate
against their reviled leadership
Paul Rusesabagina, the man who was hailed a hero in a Hollywood
movie about the country’s 1994 genocide is detained and paraded
in front of media in handcuffs at the headquarters of Rwanda
Investigation Bureau in Kigali, Rwanda.
would “never go to Rwanda on
his own will”.
Officials in Dubai did not re-
turn calls seeking comment on
the arrest or any extradition
agreement. Rwanda’s ministers
for justice and foreign affairs did
not respond to messages seeking
comment.
Rusesabagina moved abroad
after the genocide and won
worldwide acclaim, receiving the
United States’ highest civilian
award, the Presidential Medal of
Freedom, in 2005.
Some genocide survivors and
President Paul Kagame have dis-
puted Rusesabagina’s account
of rescuing Tutsis or accused
and to call for the proclamation
of a secular state, to replace the
multi-confessional country’s
sectarian power sharing system.
“We proclaim the birth of a
new Lebanon,” read one poster
at the rally. Macron, after meet-
ing President Michel Aoun, was
to gather with representatives
of the country’s top nine po-
litical blocs in the second such
talks since the blast disaster.
Representatives of the powerful
Hezbollah movement were to be
among those meeting Macron.
The French president said
this was necessary as Hezbollah
is part of the Lebanese political
system and excluding it “would
be a mistake”.
him of exploiting the genocide
for commercial gain. Rusesaba-
gina, whose father was Hutu but
mother and wife were Tutsi, has
denied exaggerating his role.
A Belgian citizen who resided
in the United States, Rusesabagi-
na has called for armed rebellion
against Kagame, who came to
power in 1994 when he led troops
into Rwanda to end the genocide.
In December 2018, Rusesabagina
posted a video on YouTube de-
nouncing Kagame.
The video identified him as
the president of the Mouve-
ment Rwandais pour le Change-
ment Démocratique (MRCD) and
the National Liberation Forces,
Iran nuclear deal
parties meet amid
US pressure
The signatories to the faltering
Iran nuclear deal kicked off a
meeting in Vienna yesterday as
the United States is bidding to
restore international sanctions on
the Islamic republic and extend
an arms embargo. Britain, France,
Germany, China and Russia are
struggling to save the landmark
2015 accord with Iran, which has
been progressively stepping up
its nuclear activities since last
year. Tehran insists it is entitled
to do so under the deal — which
swapped sanctions relief for
Iran’s agreement to scale back its
nuclear programme — following
the US withdrawal from the accord
in 2018 and the reimposition of
sanctions.
In a boost to Tuesday’s talks, the
Iranian atomic energy last week
agreed to allow inspectors of the
UN nuclear watchdog to visit two
sites suspected of having hosted
undeclared activity in the early
2000s. International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael
Grossi had travelled to Iran on his
first trip since taking up the top
post last year and after months
of calling for access. Results
from any site visits are, however,
expected to take three months,
according to a diplomat familiar
with the matter, so “it risks being
a problem then with the Iranians”
if anything undeclared and
nuclear-related is found. Mikhail
Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador
to International Organisations in
Vienna, noted Monday on Twitter
that “nuclear deal participants
have a lot of topics to discuss”.
which have been linked to attacks
in Rwanda. “The time has come
for us to use any means possible
to bring about change in Rwanda
as all political means have been
tried and failed,” he said. “Rwan-
dan people can no longer stand
the cruelty.”
Kagame’s stabilisation of
Rwanda, economic reforms and
anti-corruption drive won in-
ternational plaudits. But Rus-
esabagina has said Kagame keeps
power through muzzling the me-
dia and suppressing opposition,
charges the government denies.
Human Rights Watch said in
2017 the government routinely
tortured detainees — accusations
the government denies. A United
Nations delegation investigat-
ing the accusations was forced to
leave Rwanda, citing government
interference.
Kagame won nearly 99% of
the vote in the last election.
One of his main opponents, Di-
ane Rwigara, was jailed with her
mother for more than a year on
charges that judges later dis-
missed.
Speaking to Reuters, Faustin
Twagiramungu, a former Rwan-
dan prime minister living in ex-
ile who shares the leadership of
MRDC with Rusesabagina, de-
nied Rusesabagina was engaged
in terrorism but repeated the
movement’s call to arms.
“It is not because we don’t like
democracy or western countries,
but we feel we have been aban-
doned,” he said.
Bangladesh
garment exports
rebound from
Covid-19 crunch
Bangladesh’s crucial textile
industry saw a sharp rebound
from the coronavirus crisis in
August, with exports surging
nearly 50% as factories swung
into full gear to meet orders
from global retailers, officials
said yesterday. Shipments of
ready-made clothes hit $3.3bn,
up from $2.3bn a year earlier,
the Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters
Association (BGMEA) said.
The garment industry is the
cornerstone of the economy in
Bangladesh, the world’s second
largest exporter of the goods
after China.
The reinstatement of cancelled
orders from retail titans including
H&M, Primark and Walmart has
revived the industry even though
Bangladesh is still suffering
from the pandemic, BGMEA
spokesman Khan Monirul Alam
Shuvo told AFP.
Some companies say they are
now looking for thousands of
workers to cope with new orders.