CounterVortex

Africa

Ghana’s northern borderlands militarized

The government of Ghana is rushing hundreds of troops to the northern town of Bawku, where a long-simmering conflict between two ethnic groups over control of the local chieftaincy has exploded into open warfare. The fighting began in December, when members of the Mamprugu people installed a “parallel” chief, refusing to recognize the incumbent from the Kusasi ethnicity. Since then, some 30 local residents have been slain—many civilians killed in ethnically targeted attacks. The town lies just south of the border with violence-torn Burkina Faso, and authorities are concerned that jihadist insurgents will exploit the chaos in the zone to infiltrate into Ghana. Bawku is already swollen with some 6,000 refugees who have fled terror attacks by militants in Burkina Faso. (Photo via Africa Fest GH)

Palestine

Israel’s paramilitary plan advances

The Israeli cabinet authorized plans for a paramilitary “National Guard” sought by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to target violence and unrest in Palestinian communities within Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that a committee comprised of Israel’s existing security forces is to determine the Guard’s responsibilities, and whether it will be subordinate to the Israel Police or take orders directly from Ben-Gvir, as he demands. Opposition leader Yair Lapid responded by calling the plan an “extremist fantasy of delusional people,” and slammed a decision to cut budgets from other ministries “to fund Ben-Gvir’s private militia.” (Photo: RJA1988 via Jurist)

North America

Vigilantism concerns in Texas immigration bills

Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticized two bills before the Texas state legislature that would expand the state’s ability to enforce immigration laws—a matter usually left to the US federal government. HRW stated that the “dangerous and extreme” bills would authorize Texas to deputize “state-sponsored vigilantes” with little oversight. HB 20, known as the “Border Protection Unit Act,” would create a state-level immigration enforcement unit whose chief would be authorized to employ US citizens to serve in the unit. Additionally, the bill shields officers and employees of the unit from all civil and criminal liability for actions authorized by the bill. HB 7 would create a “Border Protection Court” and criminal system that would institutionalize much of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star dragnet, launched two years ago. (Photo: Christoph Buchel via Radical History Review)

Central America

‘Systematic’ human rights crisis in El Salvador

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called for authorities in El Salvador to urgently address human rights concerns as the nation marked one year under a state of emergency. Authorities enacted the state of emergency on March 27, 2022 following a wave of gang-related murders. The measure was initially for 30 days but has been regularly renewed. Since March 2022, 65,000 people have been detained, and 90 people have died in custody. OHCHR spokesperson Marta Hurtado stated that 7,900 complaints of abuses against prisoners have been lodged with El Salvador’s national human rights body. According to the report, many detentions were arbitrary and founded on “poorly substantiated” investigations or “crude profiling.” Conditions in detention have also declined significantly, and the UN has received reports of prolonged solitary confinement and inmates being denied prescribed medications. (Photo: WikiMedia via Jurist)

Africa

Military tensions threaten Sudan transition

Sudan’s military and civilian factions have agreed to form a new transitional government, ending the deadlock that followed an October 2021 coup. But consultations being held ahead of the transition are proving thorny, especially on the sensitive subject of security sector reform. Pro-democracy groups want the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) to be integrated into the Sudanese army, and for all troops to be placed under civilian authority. But the army and RSF both have economic interests and fear accountability should they be forced to reform. The two forces are also increasingly at odds with each other, with talks breaking down over a proposed timeline for integration. The army reportedly wants to fuse with the RSF in two years, while the RSF (which has up to 100,000 fighters) wants a decade. Open fighting between the two sides has been long feared, and reports suggest both are embarking on a recruitment race in the long-suffering western Darfur region. (Map: PCL)

North Africa

Libya: ‘crimes against humanity’ —and European complicity

The UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya released a report finding grounds to believe Libyan authorities and armed groups have been responsible for “a wide array” of war crimes and crimes against humanity in recent years. The report further charged that European Union states have been complicit in crimes against humanity by Libyan forces targeting migrants trying to reach Europe. Legally barred from deporting migrants to Libya, EU governments instead give funding and technical aid to the Libyan Coast Guard, which has been accused of widespread “arbitrary detention, murder, torture, rape, enslavement and enforced disappearance” against migrants since 2016. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library)

Afghanistan

Pakistan steps up crackdown on Afghan refugees

Despite worsening economic and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, the Pakistani government is intensifying its crackdown on Afghan refugees, adding new movement restrictions on top of a wave of detentions and deportations. In recent months, thousands of Afghan refugees, including women and children, have been rounded up and imprisoned for overstaying their visas or lacking adequate documentation. More than 1,000 are currently imprisoned and at least three have died in custody in as many months. (Photo: ECHO/Pierre Prakash via Religion Unplugged)

Europe

Podcast: Belarus and nuclear escalation

In Episode 167 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines Putin’s plans to place tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. The Russian strongman’s dubious justification for the move is the UK’s decision to supply depleted uranium shells to Ukraine. Depleted uranium is indeed sinister stuff—but Russia itself has been already using DU weapons in Ukraine for over a year now! Russia’s reckless occupation of the Zaporizhzhia power plant also represents a far more serious escalation on the ladder of nuclear terror than the use of DU. Putin further claims he is merely countering the NATO tactical nuclear weapons stationed in Europe. But NATO’s warheads are stored in underground vaults, to be loaded onto plane-dropped gravity bombs if the Alliance makes a decision for their use. In contrast, Moscow has already placed nuclear-capable tactical missiles in Belarus—as well as in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, bordering NATO members Poland and Lithuania. If these were armed with warheads, it would represent a dramatic escalation in hair-trigger readiness. Additionally, Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukasheno has now broached actually having Russian strategic ICBMs placed in his country. The civil opposition in Belarus has been effectively crushed in a wave of mass repression over the past three years—but an underground resistance movement is now emerging. This struggle finds itself on the frontline of the very question of human survival. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Map via PCL Map Collection)

Planet Watch

Vatican rejects ‘Doctrine of Discovery’

Following a long campaign by indigenous peoples around the world, the Vatican announced a formal rejection of the 15th century “Doctrine of Discovery.” In a statement, the Church said it “repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent rights of indigenous peoples.” The Doctrine of Discovery arose from several papal bulls, key amongst them the Inter Caetera, issued by Pope Alexander VI in 1493. The document effectively granted Spain the right to claim newly “discovered” areas unoccupied by Christians. The Doctrine, which the Vatican now states was “manipulated for political purposes by colonial powers,” found its way into the common law of several nations. In the United States, the Doctrine was enshrined in the famous 1823 property rights case Johnson v. M’Intosh. That opinion, written by Chief Justice John Marshall, subjugated indigenous land claims to those of the US government, allowing federal authorities to seize large portions of indigenous land and sell it to white settlers. (Photo: statue of Christopher Columbus in Colón, Panama. Via Wikimedia Commons)

East Asia

Hong Kong sees first protests since 2020

The first protest since the introduction of the 2020 National Security Law in Hong Kong was held in Tseung Kwan O, an eastern area of the city. A small number of protestors marched against a land reclamation plan and construction of a waste disposal facility. The marchers complied with restrictions imposed by authorities. The protest was limited to a maximum of 100 participants, whose banners and placards were pre-screened. Protestors were required to wear numbered tags. However, two days later, a smaller but seemingly unauthorized protest was held outside Hong Kong’s Central Government Offices. Some 40 residents from Yau Tong squatter community in Kowloon, which is set to be razed to make way for a public housing project, gathered to voice opposition to their impending eviction. (Photo: HKFP)

Palestine

Israel protests score a win —for now

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he will delay his proposed reforms of the judicial system in the face of ongoing mass protests. Calling it a move to “avoid civil war,” Netanyahu declared in a televised address “a timeout for dialogue.” However, he added: “We insist on the need to bring about the necessary corrections in the legal system.” Opponents of the reform remain wary that the current respite is only temporary, a tactic to buy time while tensions cool. The protest campaign has also seen a wave of civil disobedience, with military reservists refusing to report for duty. Despite the general single-issue focus on the judicial reform, the demonstrations have included an “anti-apartheid bloc” calling for a secular state and decolonization of Palestinian lands. (Photo: Or Adar/The Umbrella Movement via Twitter)

Africa

DRC: accused war criminal becomes defense chief

Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi appointed former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba as defense minister and deputy prime minister in a cabinet reshuffle. Bemba, who served as vice president from 2003 to 2006, was convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2016 of crimes against humanity over atrocities allegedly committed by rebels under his command when they intervened in the conflict in the neighboring Central African Republic in 2002. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison, but the court overturned his sentence on appeal in 2018. However, five defendants were convicted on charges related to obstruction of justice in the Bemba case. (Photo: MONUSCO via Defense Post)