Friday 25, October  2024 {HMC} Critics are accusing Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema of interference after he fired three constitutional court judges on Sunday over a 2016 ruling that favored a political opponent.

Hichilema fired the judges on the recommendation of a judicial commission that enforces a code of conduct for judges.

Hichilema alleged that the judges engaged in misconduct over a ruling they made when he was opposition leader in 2016.

Back then, Hichilema had run for president but lost to a sworn rival, Edgar Lungu. Hichilema contested the outcome.

Judges Mungeni Mulenga, Palan Musonda and Annie Sitali rejected the legal challenge.

The now-dismissed judges also issued a ruling allowing Lungu to run again in 2021, despite his having served twice as president.

Lungu was president from 2015 to 2016, then served a full term from 2016 to 2021.

Zambian presidents are limited to serving two five-year terms.

The decision to fire the judges sparked controversy as it comes ahead of the 2026 general elections. Hichilema and Lungu are expected to face each other for a fourth time.

Laura Miti, a human rights activist and political commentator, told VOA the president’s decision to fire the judges raises questions as to why he waited until now to act.

Miti said disciplinary action should have been taken much earlier to avoid accusations of interference in the judicial system.

“The position people are taking depends on their political leanings,” she said. “There are those who say it’s legal, the president has not broken any rules or any laws in firing these judges.

“On the other hand, there are those like myself who feel that because he is the person against whom this judgment went, using executive powers for what is [his] personal interest, is problematic,” Miti said.

During an interview with the state broadcaster, former Zambian Vice President Nevers Mumba defended the dismissals of the constitutional court judges.

“None of us is exempted from scrutiny, and if we see that some people have questions that they must answer, I think that the president has the responsibility to release that information,” Mumba said.

But Makebi Zulu, who is Lungu‘s lawyer, condemned the firing of the judges, describing it as illegal.

“The executive cannot be seen to be wanting to correct judgments of the courts,” Zulu said. “They have no such jurisdiction because our legal system is created in such a way that there has to be consistency in the decisions that are being made.

Decisions have to be consistent for the purposes of inspiring hope, inspiring trust in our judicial system.”

In an interview with VOA, presidential aide Clayson Hamasaka defended the dismissal of the judges, citing constitutional powers granted to the president.

The judges have not yet commented on the matter publicly.

Zambia‘s chief government spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, told VOA that while the judiciary in Zambia enjoys a measure of independence, such autonomy comes with limits.

“The president is acting within the precincts of the law because the constitution provides that upon recommendation from the Judicial Complaints Commission, the president shall remove the judges,” he said. “That is exactly what he has done. It is upholding the rule of law and nothing to do with undermining judicial independence.”

Zambia’s Judicial Complaints Commission enforces the code of conduct for judges.

Under Zambia’s constitution, all judges, including the chief justice, are appointed by the president upon the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission and with the approval of the National Assembly.

SOURCE VOA

Friday 25, October  2024 {HMC} U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday with Lebanon’s prime minister to discuss Israel’s strikes on the country as Washington presses the Beirut government to take charge against Hezbollah.

Blinken, on his way back from a Middle East tour, met in London with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who came in from a conference on Lebanon in Paris the day before.

The two smiled before the cameras but made no remarks.

The United States, Israel’s main political and military ally, has stopped short of calling for an immediate cease-fire in its month of bombing of Lebanon targeting Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.

But Blinken has also called for a quick diplomatic solution.

“We have been very clear that this cannot lead — should not lead — to a protracted campaign and that Israel must take the necessary steps to avoid civilian casualties and not endanger UN peacekeepers or the Lebanese Armed Forces,” Blinken said Thursday in Doha.

The United States has called for Lebanon’s long wobbly central government to take charge of security and for the disarmament of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite movement that effectively has its own military.

Hezbollah has fired missiles at Israel in solidarity with Hamas since the Palestinian militants’ October 7, 2023 attack, which triggered Israel’s massive military assault in Gaza.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a call to his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Wednesday voiced concern over Israeli strikes on the Lebanese army which have killed at least 11 Lebanese soldiers, according to an AFP tally of army announcements.

SOURCE VOA

Friday 25 October, 2024 {HMC} Three Lebanese journalists have been killed in an Israeli air strike on a building known to be housing reporters in south-eastern Lebanon, witnesses have told the BBC.

The attack was carried out on a guesthouse in a compound in Hasbaya being used by more than a dozen journalists from at least seven media organisations – with a courtyard containing cars clearly marked with “press”.

The three men worked for broadcasters Al-Manar TV and Al Mayadeen TV, which issued statements paying tribute to their killed employees.

Lebanon’s information minister said the attack was deliberate and described it as a “war crime”.

The Israeli military has not yet commented, but has previously denied targeting journalists.

Those killed were camera operator Ghassan Najjar and engineer Mohamed Reda from pro-Iranian news channel Al Mayadeen, as well as camera operator Wissam Qassem from the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar.

The Lebanese ministry of health said three others were injured in the blast.

Five reporters had been killed in prior Israeli strikes in Lebanon, including Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah.

Footage broadcast by Al-Jadeed TV – whose journalists were also sharing the house – showed a bombed-out building with a collapsed roof and floors covered in rubble.

A vehicle used for TV broadcasts was overturned on its side, its satellite dish mangled with cabling nearby.

“All official parties were told that this house was being used as a stay-house for journalists. We coordinated with them all,” an Al-Jadeed journalist, caked in concrete dust, said in a live broadcast while panting and coughing.

Lebanese journalists covering the conflict in the south of the country had to relocate from nearby Marj’youn to Hasbaya, as the former became too dangerous.

Youmna Fawwaz, a reporter for broadcaster MTV Lebanon, told the BBC that journalists in the compound were awoken at around 03:00 local time (01:00 BST) by the strike.

She said ceilings had fallen in on them, and they were surrounded by rubble and dust, with the sound of fighter jets overhead.

Each news organisation had their own building in the compound, she said, and the building housing the Al Mayadeen reporters was “obliterated” while Al-Manar employees were inside.

Ms Fawwaz said it was a media compound known as such to both Israel and Hezbollah.

“The airstrike was carried out on purpose. Everyone knew we were there. All the cars were labelled as press and TV. There wasn’t even a warning given to us.”

She added: “They are trying to terrorise us just like they do in Gaza. Israelis are trying to prevent us from covering the story.”

Lebanon’s information minister accused Israel of intentionally targeting journalists, in contravention of international law.

“The Israeli enemy waited for the journalists’ nighttime break to betray them in their sleep,” Ziad Makary wrote in a post on X.

“This is an assassination, after monitoring and tracking, with prior planning and design, as there were 18 journalists there representing seven media institutions.”

Hasbaya, about five miles (eight kilometres) from the Israeli border, is inhabited by Muslims, Christians, as well as people from the Druze ethnic and religious minority.

It has seen attacks on its peripheries in recent weeks, but this was the first strike on the settlement itself.

The attack comes as part of an expanding conflict in Lebanon, where Israel has been intensifying air strikes for weeks – as well as launching a ground invasion on border towns and villages in the south.

On Friday UN peacekeepers said they were forced to withdraw from an observation post in Zahajra, in the south-west, after it was fired on by Israeli forces earlier this week.

Unifil has accused Israel of targeting its bases several times in recent weeks, causing injuries to peacekeepers. Israel denies this and has blamed previous incidents on clashes with nearby Hezbollah fighters.

In the northern Bekaa area, the Israeli military has confirmed it attacked the Jousieh border crossing between Syria and Lebanon overnight – which it said was being used by Hezbollah and Syrian security forces to smuggle weapons.

Lebanese authorities have recorded over 1,700 air strikes across the country in the past three weeks.

Hostilities broke out between Israel and Hezbollah on 8 October last year, the day after Hamas’s attack on Israel that killed around 1,200 people. The Iran-backed armed group has since been firing rockets and drones into Israel in what it described as “solidarity” with Palestinians in Gaza.

Nearly 2,600 people in Lebanon have been killed in the current conflict, according to the country’s health ministry – many of the deaths occurring since Israel began escalating its attacks on 23 September.

Around 60,000 people in northern Israel have been displaced by Hezbollah rocket fire, and the Israeli government has declared returning them to their homes to be a key objective.

In southern Lebanon, satellite imagery examined by the BBC shows Israel’s intensified bombing campaign has caused more damage to buildings in two weeks than occurred during a year of cross-border fighting.

Data shows that more than 3,600 buildings in Lebanon appear to have been damaged or destroyed between 2 and 14 October – about 54% of the total damage.

The attack on journalists in Lebanon comes days after the Israeli military accused six Al Jazeera journalists working in northern Gaza of being affiliated with Hamas or other armed Palestinian groups.

The Qatari broadcaster said it denies and “vehemently condemns” the allegations.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 123 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched a war in the territory last year.

Gaza’s Hamas-run health authority has reported more than 42,000 people killed since.

Two Israeli journalists have also been killed in the conflict.

SOURCE BBC

Friday 25, October  2024 {HMC} Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with key negotiators Thursday during a frenetic four-day exercise in Middle East shuttle diplomacy that aims to relaunch talks to pull the grinding war in Gaza to a close.

On Thursday, he announced $135 million in additional U.S. aid for Palestinian civilians. He also reiterated President Joe Biden’s stance that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week by Israeli forces was a reasonable stopping point to this brutal conflict sparked on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants stormed the Israeli border, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

“Israel has accomplished the strategic goals that it set out for itself: making sure that October 7th and the horrors can never happen again by effectively dismantling the military organization of Hamas,” Blinken said, speaking from Doha, Qatar.

“It has succeeded in doing that and bringing to justice its leaders, those who perpetrated the horrors of October 7th, notably Sinwar,” he added. “Now that that’s been accomplished, this is a moment to work to end this war, to make sure all the hostages are home and to build a better future for people in Gaza.”

Qatar’s leader and top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who serves as both prime minister and foreign minister, appeared with Blinken. He said negotiators had reengaged with Hamas. But he went on to paint a murky picture of the future.

“Regarding our communication with Hamas and the leadership after Sinwar — yes, we reengaged with them,” he said. “We’ve been in an engagement with representatives from the political office in Doha. We had some meetings with them the last couple of days. I believe that until now, there is no clarity what will be the way forward or the clear position.”

Not much optimism

Analysts aren’t hopeful that this fire can be doused, especially after Israel began targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon, killing its leader. The U.S. considers Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist organizations.

“To be entirely honest, it’s not entirely clear why Tony Blinken is making another trip to the region,” said Gerald Feierstein, director of the Arabian Peninsula Affairs Program at the Middle East Institute. “There doesn’t seem to be any particular prospect that he’s going to achieve anything new or different than the last 10 times that he’s been out there,” he told VOA.

A top U.S. Muslim rights advocacy group pointed to what he said were two stumbling blocks to a deal: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s top supporter, Biden.

“Mr. Netanyahu, for political and ideological reasons, has no interest in agreeing to a permanent cease-fire that frees all the hostages, pulls all Israeli troops out of Gaza and ends the war once and for all,” Edward Ahmed Mitchell, deputy director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told VOA. “The only way to force him to do it is to withhold the weapons. So, I do not expect Mr. Blinken’s trip to succeed without that missing element.”

These delicate diplomatic moves are happening well over the heads of the people who have to live through this on both sides of this bristling border.

On Thursday in central Gaza, at least 17 Palestinians — among them, children — were killed in an Israeli strike on a school where displaced people were taking shelter.

And on Thursday in Jerusalem, hundreds of protesters marched to demand the release of Israeli hostages who were abducted on October 7, 2023.

SOURCE VOA