The State Department says Wagner Group is threatening religious freedom in Africa
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday designated the Russian private military company Wagner Group in the same category as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), Al-Qaeda branches, and the Taliban.
Blinken declared Wagner an “entity of particular concern,” putting it on the same list as IS affiliates in western and northern Africa, the Nusrat al-Islam militants in Mali, Nigeria’s Boko Haram, Somalia’s al-Shabab, the Houthis of Yemen, as well as the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – the rebranded Al-Qaeda anti-government militants in Syria – and the Taliban of Afghanistan. He claimed the company threatens religious freedom in the Central African Republic.
“Our announcement of these designations is in keeping with our values and interests to protect national security and to advance human rights around the globe,” said Blinken. “Countries that effectively safeguard this and other human rights are more peaceful, stable, prosperous and more reliable partners of the US than those that do not.”
Zelensky cracks down on Ukraine's biggest church
Read more Zelensky cracks down on Ukraine's biggest church
The designation is based on the International Religious Freedom Act, a US law passed in 1998 that created a special office at the State Department. It follows media rumors that the US might designate Wagner a terrorist organization, a measure suggested as a form of ‘lawfare’ against Moscow in the conflict over Ukraine.
In addition to these groups, Blinken listed Myanmar, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as “countries of particular concern” for religious freedom, while Algeria, CAR, Comoros, and Vietnam were placed on a “special watch list.”
Notably absent from the State Department list was Ukraine, even after the government in Kiev raided the most prominent Orthodox monastery, charged several clergymen with sympathies for Russia, and moved to ban the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church – linked to the Moscow Patriarchate – in favor of the schismatic Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
https://www.rt.com/news/567578-state-department-wagner-isis/
Volker Turk has warned that efforts to advance reparatory justice are facing resistance in “certain quarters,” and urged countries to back Africa’s push.
Reparatory justice for historical crimes, including colonialism, enslavement, and the trade in enslaved Africans, is crucial to dismantling systemic racism, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk has said.
Speaking at the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent on Tuesday, Turk linked present-day discrimination against people from the continent to the enduring legacy of colonialism and enslavement.
”Racism and dehumanizing rhetoric continue to permeate public institutions, communities, and online platforms,” he said, according to the UN Press Service. Turk noted that “digital technologies, including AI, are reproducing and amplifying existing biases against people of African descent.”
The remarks come weeks after the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest...
The US VP had to defend President Trump’s Gaza policy at a rally on a Georgia college campus.
US Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to defend Washington’s policy in Gaza after he was booed and heckled at a key MAGA event on Wednesday.
Co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a conservative student group that has long been seen as a strong support base of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement but is now showing apparent cracks.
Less than 15 minutes into a TPUSA event at the University of Georgia on Wednesday, Vance was interrupted by hecklers over US policy in Gaza, with one audience member shouting, “Jesus Christ does not support genocide!” As he attempted to respond, others shouted, “You’re killing children!” and “You’re bombing children!”
Vance replied by referring to Trump’s achievements as president, including securing a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, something he said the previous administration of Joe Biden failed to do.
“I ...
Sergey Shoigu has cautioned Finland and the Baltic states against allowing Kiev to use their airspace for attacks on Russia.
Russia would have the right to retaliate if Finland and the Baltic states are deliberately allowing Ukrainian drones to pass through their airspace, Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu said on Thursday.
“Recently, there has been an increase in Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia via Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,” Shoigu told journalists. “As a result, civilians are suffering and significant damage is being caused to civilian infrastructure.”
Either Western air defenses are proving ineffective, or these four countries “deliberately provide their airspace, thereby becoming open accomplices in aggression against Russia,” he added. In the latter case, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the security chief stressed.
In recent weeks, Kiev has intensified drone strikes on ...
