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hhanistan
Government affairs
Passports have been issued in Kabul again since 19.12.21. The issuance of e-Tazkiras resumed in Mazar-e Sharif in
Balkh province on 16.12.21. On the same day, the Taliban appointed 69 new judges for 33 provinces (with the
exception of Panjshir province).

It has been reported in the press that the Taliban have recruited thousands of
fighters from Pakistan in the past four months.

The Pakistani government has invited the Taliban to a meeting of
the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at which the economic future and political redevelopment of
Afghanistan are to be discussed.

The USA, Russia, the United Kingdom and the EU have also been invited to send
delegates to the meeting.

After arriving with a delegation on 18.12.21, foreign minister Mutaqi requested numerous
countries to re-open their embassies in the country.

The OIC resolved to set up a humanitarian relief fund for
Afghanistan at the beginning of 2022. On 12.12.21 the Taliban required businessmen in Logar province to attend
prayers at mosques and banned hairdressers from shaving beards.

Violence against civilians
On 18.12.21 a cleric was shot dead by unknown assailants in Kabul and on 17.12.21 a bomb attack was carried out
on another cleric in Kabul.

The latter cleric and two other civilians suffered minor injuries One civilian reportedly
died.

Also in Kabul, a civilian was killed and two members of the Taliban were injured in an explosion on 14.12.21.
No-one has claimed responsibility for the attacks to date. It has been reported from Pul-e Khumri, capital of
Baghlan province, that local residents are asking the Taliban to wear uniforms, as they are unable to distinguish
members of the Taliban's security forces from armed criminals.

According to the report, the Taliban have replied
that they do not have any uniforms available as yet. On 15.12.21 Amnesty International (ai) published a report on
war crimes during the Taliban's conquest of the country and is calling on the International Criminal Court to
prosecute crimes by all the involved warring parties.

Economic and humanitarian situation
The World Bank handed over US$ 19.2 million in cash to the Afghanistan International Bank (AIB) on 12.12.21. It
is being reported that the UN will provide the AIB with up to US$ 20 million in cash on a weekly basis up to March
2022, in order to avert a humanitarian disaster and to stabilise the value of the afghani (AFN).

On 13.12.21 a Taliban
spokesman welcomed America's decision to allow private transfers of money to Afghanistan and assured the
population of access to services such as Western Union or MoneyGram.

On 15.12.21 the USA stated that it would
be supplying US$ 474 million of additional humanitarian aid and one million vaccination doses for COVID-19 to
Afghanistan in 2022. Following an almost 12 % drop in the value of the AFN on 12.12.21, Afghanistan's central bank
was able to arrest its steep decline on 13.12.21. In response to the AFN's falling value, food prices have soared once
again and there are reports of people criticising the Taliban government for failing to bring the economic situation
under control.

On 13.12.21 the Taliban announced that the Mes Aynak copper mine in Logar province had been put
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back into operation.

The mine was previously operated in cooperation with China and a Taliban spokesman has
stated that negotiations on the continuation of the project are in progress with China.

Many factories are closed at
present due to a lack of raw materials.

On 15.12.21 the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) reported
that more than half the population - 22.8 million people - are suffering from acute hunger, while temperatures
have dropped below freezing.

According to a Taliban spokesman, US$ 1.2 million of humanitarian aid from
Turkmenistan arrived in Herat province on 15.12.21. It is reported that the entire town of Firuzkuh in Ghor province
has been without power for three months.

According to the power supplier, the blackout results from unpaid bills.

On 18.12.21 civil servants demonstrated in Kabul to demand payment of their outstanding salaries.

Education and women's rights
A number of women demonstrated for their rights outside the United Nations building in Kabul on 16.12.21. At a
meeting which formed part of a 16-day campaign against violence against women in Kabul on 13.12.21, women's
rights activists stated that the number of cases of violence against women had risen in recent months.

There are
reports that female teachers in Kabul have set up secret schools in private homes for girls in the seventh year and
higher, as the Taliban have only reopened primary schools (up to year six) for girls.

On 14.12.21 the deputy prime
minister appointed by the Taliban met with university professors to discuss measures to deter them from leaving
the country.

No date was announced for the reopening of state universities, however.

Health system
Doctors from the only hospital in Kabul which is treating patients with COVID-19 report that they do not have
sufficient tests, medicines and oxygen to treat patients.

It is further reported that more than 30 hospitals with
COVID-19 wards have closed since the Taliban came to power.

In addition to COVID-19, there are also outbreaks
of cholera, measles and polio at present, and many hospitals lack even the most basic resources.

Angola
Strikes in the health system
Following the suspension of a one-week strike by doctors on 18.12.21, a strike by nursing staff is to begin in the
capital and province of Luanda on 20.12.21. The strike is to be continued at intervals until the demands, including
higher pay and better working conditions, are met. Emergency care will be maintained, in contrast to the chaos in
the health system which was caused by the doctors' strike.

The doctors have granted their employers 90 days' time
to meet their demands.

Burkina Faso
Prime minister appoints new government
Lassina Zerbo, who became prime minister on 10.12.21 (cf. BN of 13.12.21), appointed a new government on
13.12.21. With 26 members, it is smaller than the previous government (34 members).

19 members of the cabinet
have left their posts, ten new members have joined the cabinet and a number of departments have been merged.

Central African Republic
EU training mission suspended, sanctions imposed on Wagner Group
It emerges from reports in the media that the EU suspended training measures for the Central African army as part
of the EUTM RCA mission on 15.12.21. The decision to suspend the measures relates to the influence of the Wagner
Group - a mercenary force from the Russian Federation - on the army (cf. BN of 06.12.21).

EUTM staff in the area
of strategic guidance are to remain in the country.

The EU has reportedly made a resumption of the measures
conditional on a guarantee that the units receiving training will not come under Wagner's control.

A government spokesperson has denied that Wagner is active in the country, stating that the government does not
have a contract with any such group, adding that the term 'Wagner' originates from Europe.

Officially, the personnel
concerned are generally referred to as Russian instructors and advisors.

On 13.12.21 the EU Council imposed
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restrictive measures on the Wagner Group itself and on three organisations and eight individuals linked to the
group, as part of sanctions relating to the global human rights situation and the situation in Libya, Syria and Ukraine
(Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/2192-2195).

The sanctioned individuals include Valery Zakharov, security
advisor to president Touadéra of the Central African Republic.

Chile
Result of run-off for the presidency
With 99.8 % of votes counted, left-wing candidate Gabriel Boric won the run-off for the presidency on 19.12.21,
according to the official election authority.

He took just over 55.5 % of the vote, beating his rival, right-wing populist
José António Kast, who had achieved a narrow victory in the first ballot (cf. BN of 29.11.21).

China
Hong Kong: Parliamentary election
A new city parliament was elected in Hong Kong on 19.12.21. Only "real patriots" were qualified to run for election
and the people were only able to choose 20 of the 90 MPs, while the remaining 70 were selected by professional
bodies and a pro-Peking electoral commission.

Prior to the electoral reform of March 2021, 35 out of a total of 70
seats were allocated by direct ballot.

Turnout stood at 30.2 %, marking an all-time low since the first parliamentary election in 1991. The largest pro-
democracy opposition parties, including the Democratic Party, did not field any candidates.

In the end, the pro-
China camp took 89 out of 90 seats.

Arrest warrants were issued for a number of people ahead of the elections
because they had called for people to cast spoiled ballots.

Colombia
Protection mechanisms for endangered persons
On 09.12.21 a member of the America research team at Human Rights Watch (HRW) voiced criticism of a decree
issued by the Colombian government in September 2021 on a reform of the protection mechanisms for endangered
persons.

The researcher asserted that the reform not only increased the level of evidence required to obtain
protection for family members but also reduced the degree of transparency on who qualifies for appropriate
protection and abolishes a corresponding preliminary assessment group.

He also criticised the inadequate
implementation of protection mechanisms and the overburdening of the only fully implemented mechanism,
Unidad Nacional de Protección (UNP).

He additionally warned against a further reduction of collective protection
measures in a country in which more than 130 social leaders have already been killed in 2021 to date.
UN reports: Police violence during protests in September 2020 and since the spring of 2021
The independent report by a seven-strong UN-backed expert commission investigating police violence during the
protests in Bogotá in September 2020 was presented on 13.12.21. The demonstrations concerned were a response
to police violence in connection with the death of a man in an incident similar to the George Floyd case. The man,
who had broken curfew rules, was restrained by police officers over a prolonged period and tasered.

He later died
of his injuries.

In the ensuring protests in Bogotá and the suburb of Soacha, the police killed a total of eleven people
and 75 people sustained bullet wounds.

Against the backdrop of a "police massacre", the report details the
disproportionate use of force and arbitrary arrests by state security forces, violence against police officers, gender-
specific violence and the criminalisation of poverty.

It further criticises the sluggish legal processes relating to the
incidents, warning against creating a climate of impunity in this connection.

A second report presented by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on 15.12.21
states that the police are additionally responsible for 28 killings during the protests in the spring and summer of
2021, ten of which are blamed on the special unit Escuadrón Móvil Antidisturbios (ESMAD).

In all, at least 46 people
were killed between April and July 2021, including two police officers.

In this context, the OHCHR also notes that
over 1,660 people were victims of physical police violence and 60 women were subjected to sexual violence

Source: FGG

Posted November 26 2023 at 8:05 PM

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