Day: February 27, 2022

ROME— Pro-Ukraine protests erupted across the world, as thousands took to the streets from London to Rome to Barcelona to denounce Russia’s assault on its neighbour.

Moscow’s invasion has sparked global outcry and prompted punishing sanctions from the West, including some against Russian President Vladimir Putin himself.

On Saturday, rallies were held in cities across the world to join the chorus of condemnation and urge an end to the bloodshed.

Switzerland saw thousands of people gather across the country, including about 1,000 outside the United Nations’ European headquarters in Geneva.

Demonstrators draped in Ukraine’s national colours of blue and yellow flocked to the “Broken Chair” — a large sculpture symbolising the civilian victims of war.

The protesters demanded tougher actions from the government, which has so far shied away from imposing strict measures, choosing instead to stick closer to its traditional “neutral” stance.

Swiss-based Russians joined in to show their opposition to the war, holding signs saying “I am Russian”.

In Russia’s neighbour Finland, thousands of people gathered in the capital Helsinki shouting “Russia out, down with Putin!”

More than 1,000 demonstrators answered the call of trade unions and NGOs in central Rome, huddling around a podium bearing the words “Against War”.

Thousands of people had taken part in a torch-lit procession to the Colosseum, one of the Italian capital’s major landmarks, on Friday evening.

Putin was the march’s main target as banners caricatured him as an assassin with bloodstained hands and compared him to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler with the words: “Can you recognise when history repeats itself?”

“We’ve always been close to the Ukrainian people. Our feeling of powerlessness is huge,” Maria Sergi, a 40-year-old Russian-born Italian, said.

In the southern French cities of Montpellier and Marseille, hundreds marched on Saturday chanting “Stop war, stop Putin”, while further protests were also expected in Paris.

Anti-war demonstrators were also out in force in Barcelona, numbering around 1,000 on Saturday according to local police.

Dimitri, a Russian designer living in Barcelona, said he feared sanctions would set Russia’s development back.

“We’re all going to suffer,” the 37-year-old said.

In Britain, hundreds of protesters headed to Russia’s embassy in London, with some defacing the street sign of St Petersburgh Place opposite the embassy with fake blood.

In Georgia, almost 30,000 people hit the streets of Tbilisi Friday night, waving Ukrainian and Georgian flags and singing both countries’ national anthems.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine resonates strongly in Georgia, a fellow ex-Soviet republic that suffered a devastating Russian invasion in 2008.

“We have sympathy for the Ukrainians, perhaps more than other countries, because we’ve experienced Russia’s barbaric aggression on our soil,” Niko Tvauri, a 32-year-old taxi driver, said.

Teacher Meri Tordia added: “Ukraine is bleeding, the world watches and talks about sanctions that won’t stop Putin.”

More than 2,000 protesters gathered outside the Russian embassy in Greece’s capital Athens on Friday evening following an appeal by the traditionally pro-Russian Communist and left-wing Syriza parties.

More protests were reported in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki on Saturday.

The shockwaves from Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour have reverberated beyond Europe.

In Argentina, Ukrainians and Argentines with Ukrainian ancestry were among the almost 2,000 people who descended on Russia’s embassy in Buenos Aires on Friday.

Wreathed in Ukrainian flags and wearing traditional Ukrainian clothing, protesters bore signs in Spanish, English and Ukrainian demanding a Russian withdrawal.

They chanted “Glory to Ukraine, glory to its heroes” and the national anthems of Argentina and Ukraine.

Among the crowd was Tetiana Abramchenko, who moved to Argentina with her daughter in 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula.

“My overriding feeling is anger. The last thing I imagined was Russians coming to kill my people,” the 40-year-old said as she fought back tears.

In Canada, dozens of demonstrators braved a snowstorm in Montreal to protest outside Russia’s consulate on Friday afternoon.

“I am against this war. I hope this is the beginning of the end of this regime,” said Russian Elena Lelievre, a 37-year-old engineer.

Ivan Puhachov, a Ukrainian student at the University of Montreal, said the situation “terrified” him as his family lives in Ukraine.

Protests also took place in New York, Washington, Taiwan and Brazil.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Sudanese Deputy Head of the Sovereign Council, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, aka Hemetti, agreed with the Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin to develop bilateral cooperation.

The Sudanese senior official continued on Saturday his meeting with the Russian officials in Moscow., unconcerned by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the international condemnation for the aggression.

“During my meeting with Russian Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Moffin, I stressed the importance of redoubling joint efforts and coordination between the two countries in all areas for the benefit of the two peoples,” said Hemetti in a post on his Facebook page.

“We have a historic opportunity to seize and move forward for mutual benefit and our common aspirations,” he stressed.

The meeting was attended by the Sudanese ambassador and the military attaché in Moscow, as the visiting delegation did not include a senior military official.

Hemetti who arrived in Russia on Wednesday is supposed to meet with President Vladimir Putin before his return to Khartoum.

During his meeting with the Russian deputy prime minister and foreign minister, the two sides said they agreed to activate all the signed agreements between the two countries.

The two sides however did not refer to the suspended agreement on the naval base on the Red Sea.

Source: Sudan Tribune

Decreasing the usage of plastic and increasing its recycling is the aim of a resolution being presented at a United Nations Environment Program conference that opens Monday in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. According to the UNEP, 300,000 tons of plastic are produced yearly, and only 10 percent recycled, contributing to environmental pollution that, according to the UNEP, is reaching critical levels.

On the Dandora dumping site in Nairobi, visitors can see a hilly landscape full of decades of garbage and plastics generated from the city. People are sifting through the smelly waste with their bare hands, looking for something to sell or eat.

On this particular day, the site gets a visit from Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Program, along with the UNEP assembly president, Espen Barth Eide. They are inspecting piles of blue and transparent plastics that are baking in the sun. According to the UNEP, only 10 percent of global plastic production is recycled, while the rest risks polluting the environment. The UNEP says plastics even enter the human body. Espen Barth Eide took a blood test.

“We found nano plastic traces and also phthalates, a chemical product that we use to soften plastic, in my blood, and I don’t think my blood is unique and I think this is true for all of us on the planet,” said Eide.

The UNEP is looking for a solution to the issue of increased plastic waste collection, preventing it from ending up in nature or on dumping sites.

Twenty-year-old Isaac is a garbage picker on the Dandora dumping site. He collects a lot of plastic here for selling, like bottles, known here as chupas.

“Even bottles, chupas of soda. These plastic papers and plastic chupas like water, Omo, yogurt, all of it,” he said.

The UNEP’s Andersen says a lot more plastic will have to be collected for recycling purposes to keep the environment clean.

“We understand we need plastic. We take it from the belly of the Earth with hydrocarbon, said Andersen. “We make it into plastic. But once it is in the economy, let us not put it back into the environment; let us keep it in the economy.”

At a recycling plant in Nairobi, plastic waste is turned into polythene bags and bricks which are offered on the market. It can be seen as a sign that the process has started, but for the UNEP, it must be accelerated for a cleaner world.

Source: Voice OF America

Sudan said it would not take part in a meeting of the IGAD leaders next March to discuss political instability in Sudan because the invitation was issued by the IGAD Executive Secretary.

Ali al-Sadiq, Sudanese Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs met with Osman Belail IGAD Representative to Sudan, on Sunday.

In a statement about the meeting, the foreign ministry underscored Sudan’s chairmanship of the IGAD bloc before saying that al-Saiq and Belail discussed the developments of the situation in the country.

The acting foreign minister informed the IGAD envoy of his government’s rejection of the invitation made by the IGAD Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu for a summit at the level of heads of state and government of the organization.

“This invitation does not concern Sudan which will not participate in this meeting,” said the minister. He further stressed that the IGAD summit should not be held without an invitation from Sudan.

Before visiting Sudan by the end of January, Gebeyehu was in Kampala to request President Yoweri Museveni to host a meeting in March to discuss “instability in Sudan, Ethiopia and Somalia”.

The sub-regional east African bloc is working closely on issues of peace and conflict resolution with the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC). The latter suspended Sudan’s membership in the regional organisation after the coup d’état of October 2022.

The PSC is the only African Union body with the authority to issue binding resolutions on the member states.

The Sudanese military leaders seem angered by the IGAD de facto suspension of Sudan’s chairmanship of the bloc after the coup.

The Sudanese official informed the IGAD envoy that his government has been undertaking contacts to convene an emergency meeting for the IGAD leaders in the near future.

In a meeting held on the margins of the African Union summit on February 6, the IGAD leaders agreed to hold a meeting of Heads of State and Government on Sudan after discussing a report made by the IGAD Executive Secretary about his visit to Sudan.

Source: Sudan Tribune