Thousands left queuing to vote in Namibia after scheduled polls close

Thousands left queuing to vote in Namibia after scheduled polls close
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A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in Windhoek on November 27, 2024 during Namibia's general election. (AFP)
Thousands left queuing to vote in Namibia after scheduled polls close
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Voters queue at a polling station at the Sam Nujoma stadium in Windhoek on November 27, 2024 during Namibia's general election. (AFP)
Thousands left queuing to vote in Namibia after scheduled polls close
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Namibians queue outside a polling station to vote in the National and Presidential elections in Windhoek, Namibia, on November 27, 2024. REUTERS/Noah Tjijenda
Thousands left queuing to vote in Namibia after scheduled polls close
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Voters queue at a polling station at the Sam Nujoma stadium in Windhoek on November 27, 2024 during Namibia's general election. (AFP)
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Updated 28 November 2024
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Thousands left queuing to vote in Namibia after scheduled polls close

Thousands left queuing to vote in Namibia after scheduled polls close
  • The vote could usher in the desert nation’s first woman leader even as her party, the ruling SWAPO, faces the strongest challenge yet to its 34-year grip on power
  • SWAPO’s candidate and current vice president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, is being challenged by IPC leader Panduleni Itula, a former dentist and lawyer

WHINDHOEK: Logistical issues on Wednesday left thousands of Namibians waiting in queues to vote in pivotal presidential and legislative elections, some for up to 12 hours, with polling stations staying open hours later than planned.
The vote could usher in the desert nation’s first woman leader even as her party, the ruling South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) faces the strongest challenge yet to its 34-year grip on power.
Some voters told AFP they queued all day, blaming technical problems that included issues with voter identification tablets and insufficient ballot papers.
“It’s absolutely disappointing,” said Reagan Cooper, a 43-year-old farmer among the hundred or so voters outside the town hall polling station in the capital Windhoek.
“The voters have turned out, but the electoral commission has failed us,” Cooper told AFP.
In the face of criticism from all the political parties, including SWAPO, the Electoral Commission of Namibia extended voting hours for “no specified time,” according to Windhoek region ECN head Rakondjerua Kavari.
Voting was halted for an hour at the Windhoek town hall site due to a lack of ballots, with applause welcoming the delivery of more waking sleepy, seated voters around 11:30 pm.
The last voter there cast his ballot more than four hours after the scheduled closing time — 9:00 p.m. (1900 GMT) — and vote counting then began almost immediately.
According to Namibia’s electoral law, those in queues before polls are scheduled to close should be allowed to vote.
Petrus Shaama, chief officer of the ECN, said it was obligated to ensure voters could cast a ballot.
But the main opposition party, the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), blamed the ECN for the long lines and cried foul play.
“We have reason to believe that the ECN is deliberately suppressing voters and deliberately trying to frustrate voters from casting their vote,” said Christine Aochamus of the IPC.
Armed with folding chairs and umbrellas to cope with the slow-moving lines and blazing sun, many Namibians spent half the day waiting to vote.
At one polling station inside the University of Science and Technology in Windhoek, hundreds of people were still in line at 9:00 p.m. despite some having arrived at 6:00 am, an hour before polls opened.
Polling site managers told AFP that problems with tablets used to check voters’ identities using fingerprints included untimely updates, overheating and dead batteries.

SWAPO’s candidate and current vice president, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, was one of the first to vote and called on Namibians “to come out in their numbers.”
An estimated 1.5 million people in the sparsely populated nation were registered to vote.
SWAPO has governed since leading mineral-rich Namibia to independence from South Africa in 1990 but complaints about unemployment and enduring inequalities could force Nandi-Ndaitwah into an unprecedented second round.
IPC leader Panduleni Itula, a former dentist and lawyer, said Wednesday he was optimistic he could “unseat the revolutionary movement.”
Itula, 67, took 29 percent of votes in the 2019 elections, losing to SWAPO leader Hage Geingob with 56 percent. It was a remarkable performance considering Geingob, who died in February, had won almost 87 percent five years before that.
Namibia is a major uranium and diamond exporter but not many of its nearly three million people have benefitted from that wealth.
“There’s a lot of mining activity that goes on in the country, but it doesn’t really translate into improved infrastructure, job opportunities,” said independent political analyst Marisa Lourenco, based in Johannesburg.
“That’s where a lot of the frustration is coming from, (especially) the youth,” she said.
Unemployment among 15- to 34-year-olds is estimated at 46 percent, according to the latest figures from 2018, almost triple the national average.
First-time voter and environmental health student Sophia Varela, 24, told AFP she was “hoping for change” and “jobs for the youth.”

For the first time in Namibia’s recent history, analysts say a second voting round is a somewhat realistic option.
That would take place within 60 days of the announcement of the first round of results due by Saturday.
“The outcome will be tight,” said self-employed Hendry Amupanda, 32, who queued since 9:00 p.m. the night before to cast his ballot.
“I want the country to get better and people to get jobs,” said Amupanda, wearing slippers and equipped with a chair, blanket and snacks.
Marvyn Pescha, a self-employed consultant, said his father was part of SWAPO’s liberation struggle and he was not going to abandon the party.
“But I want SWAPO to be challenged for better policies. Some opportunistic leaders have tarnished the reputation of the party, they misuse it for self-enrichment,” the 50-year-old said.
While lauded for leading Namibia to independence, SWAPO is nervous about its standing after other liberation-era movements in the region have lost favor with young voters.
In the past six months, South Africa’s African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority and the Botswana Democratic Party was ousted after almost six decades in power.
 


Cautious optimism in Bangladesh as post-Hasina relations with Pakistan grow

Cautious optimism in Bangladesh as post-Hasina relations with Pakistan grow
Updated 19 sec ago
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Cautious optimism in Bangladesh as post-Hasina relations with Pakistan grow

Cautious optimism in Bangladesh as post-Hasina relations with Pakistan grow

—Head of Bangladesh interim government has met Pakistani PM twice since taking office on Aug. 8

—In 2024, Pakistani cargo ships began to arrive at Bangladesh’s main port for the first time in over 50 years

Dhaka: The ouster of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last August has opened a “new horizon of opportunities” for diplomacy with Pakistan, analysts, political parties and members of the public said, as Dhaka and Islamabad move to befriend each other after decades of acrimonious ties.

The head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has met with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif twice since taking office on Aug. 8 after Hasina fled the country following a student-led popular uprising against her government.

Hasina’s government was hostile toward Pakistan but closely allied with India, where she remains exiled. While her removal from office was followed by the cooling of relations between Dhaka and New Delhi, exchanges with Islamabad started to grow.

“The recent developments, in terms of bilateral exchanges with Pakistan, are a process to normalize the relationship. For various reasons, it was below the normal level in the last 15 years. Now, an opportunity has been created to normalize the relationship, which is natural between two states,” Humayun Kabir, former Bangladeshi ambassador to the US, told Arab News.

“I believe India can approach this bilateral relationship normally if they choose to. From India’s perspective, there is no reason to view it negatively. We want the relationship between India and Bangladesh to be considered bilaterally, without being influenced by issues with Pakistan. Similarly, our bilateral relationship with Pakistan will continue independently of any issues with India. I think this approach will create a dynamic in the relationship within the broader context of South Asia.”

Political parties that were in opposition to Hasina’s Awami League party’s government — its archrival the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and the largest Islamist party Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, which was banned during her rule — were both optimistic about growing Pakistan ties.

“During the previous regime, Sheikh Hasina maintained close ties with only one country. In her own words, she said: ‘What Bangladesh has given to India, India will remember forever.’ This foreign policy was not the right approach,” said Matiur Rahman Akand, spokesperson of Jamaat-e-Islami.

Nawshad Zamir, the international affairs secretary of the Bangladesh Nationalist party, also welcomed the fact that the two nations had “resumed normal relationship, like before.”

But the memory of the 1971 war for independence remains alive.

Jamaat-e-Islami was at the time an active political party and during the war was aligned with Pakistan, opposing the independence movement.

On the other hand, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party was founded by Ziaur Rahman, a prominent Bangladesh Forces commander and one of the leading figures of the independence war.

While for both parties the normalization of ties with Islamabad is a welcome development, ordinary Bangladeshis see it with a dose of caution.

“We can establish regional cooperation. And I think this is a chance to become a regional leader … (but) personally, I believe that Pakistan first needs to deal with the 1971 issue,” said Mustafa Musfiq Talukdar, student at Dhaka University.

“In 1974, (Pakistan’s then Prime Minister) Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto came to Bangladesh and he kind of apologized personally, but it wasn’t something formal. So, we demand a formal apology from Pakistan for everything they did in 1971.”

For Tamim Muntaseer, a Dhaka-based researcher, an official apology was also essential for the relationship to move forward.

“We have seen that a new horizon of opportunities with Pakistan has been created. And I think this should be supported in terms of justice,” he said.

“Bangladesh and Pakistan are aligned in terms of their regional economy, trade … We should also consider people-to-people relationships.”

Such exchanges have already been underway over the past few months. Since December, Pakistani artists have been performing in Dhaka, while Bangladeshi films have been screened at cinemas in Pakistan.

Pakistani cargo ships also began to arrive at Bangladesh’s main Chittagong port for the first time since the 1971 war.

“I am quite positive about the current developments between Bangladesh and Pakistan,” Tahmid Al-Mudassir Choudhury, another Dhaka University student, told Arab News.

“I am not saying that we must forgive everything. Still, we can keep a good relationship with Pakistan … We have seen that in cricket: Bangladeshi people supporting the Pakistani cricket team, and the people of Pakistan also supporting the Bangladeshi cricket team. We can celebrate those similarities, and this can bring the people of Bangladesh and Pakistan together.”


UN says shooting incident at Kabul compound killed one

UN says shooting incident at Kabul compound killed one
Updated 03 February 2025
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UN says shooting incident at Kabul compound killed one

UN says shooting incident at Kabul compound killed one
  • UN says gunshots were fired by member of Taliban’s security forces at multilateral agency’s largest compound 
  • Person killed was member of Taliban-run security forces who was outside the compound, unclear what provoked firing

ISLAMABAD: Gunshots fired by a member of the Taliban’s security forces at the United Nations’ largest compound killed one person and injured another in Kabul, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement on Monday.

The incident took place on Sunday, it said.

The person killed was a member of the Taliban-run security forces who was outside the compound, the statement said without adding any details. The person injured was an international security guard contracted by the UN, it said.

“UN-contracted security guards did not return fire during the incident,” it said.

It was unclear what provoked the firing. Both the Taliban and the UN were investigating the incident.

Kabul’s interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qaniee confirmed that a Taliban guard was killed and one UN contractor suffered injuries.

Taliban authorities halted all movement in and out of the compound following the incident, UNAMA said, but those restrictions have now been lifted.

The compound houses the offices of multiple UN agencies, funds and programs, and accommodation for UN international staff members.


Ukrainian troops lose ground with fewer fighters and exposed supply lines

Ukrainian troops lose ground with fewer fighters and exposed supply lines
Updated 03 February 2025
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Ukrainian troops lose ground with fewer fighters and exposed supply lines

Ukrainian troops lose ground with fewer fighters and exposed supply lines
  • Moscow is set on capturing as much territory as possible as the Trump administration is pushing for negotiations to end the war
  • Ukrainian soldiers in Pokrovsk said that Russian forces switched tactics in recent weeks, attacking their flanks instead of going head-on

POKROVSK REGION, Ukraine: A dire shortage of infantry troops and supply routes coming under Russian drone attacks are conspiring against Ukrainian forces in Pokrovsk, where decisive battles in the nearly three-year war are playing out — and time is running short.
Ukrainian troops are losing ground around the crucial supply hub, which lies at the confluence of multiple highways leading to key cities in the eastern Donetsk region as well as an important railway station.
Moscow is set on capturing as much territory as possible as the Trump administration is pushing for negotiations to end the war and recently froze foreign aid to Ukraine, a move that has shocked Ukrainian officials already apprehensive about the intentions of the new US president, their most important ally. Military aid has not stopped, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Ukrainian soldiers in Pokrovsk said that Russian forces switched tactics in recent weeks, attacking their flanks instead of going head-on to form a pincer movement around the city. With Russians in control of dominant heights, Ukrainian supply routes are now within their range. Heavy fog in recent days prevented Ukrainian soldiers from effectively using surveillance drones, allowing Russians to consolidate and take more territory.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian commanders say they do not have enough reserves to sustain defense lines and that new infantry units are failing to execute operations. Many pin hopes on Mykhailo Drapatyi, a respected commander recently appointed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as ground forces chief, to shift the dynamic and counterattack.
“The war is won by logistics. If there is no logistics, there is no infantry, because there is no way to supply it,” said the deputy commander of the Da Vinci Wolves battalion, known by the call sign Afer.
“(Russians) have learned this and are doing it quite well.”
Poor weather at the worst time
A combination of factors led Kyiv to effectively lose the settlement of Velyka Novosilka this past week, their most significant gain since seizing the city of Kurakhove in the Donetsk region in January.
Scattered groups of Ukrainian soldiers are still present in Velyka Novosilka’s southern sector, Ukrainian commanders said, prompting criticism from some military experts who questioned why the higher command did not order a full withdrawal.
The road-junction village is 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, where authorities have begun digging fortifications for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, anticipating further Russian advances.
Russia amassed a large number of infantry around Velyka Novosilka, soldiers there said. As heavy fog set in in recent days, Ukrainian drones “barely worked” to conduct surveillance, one commander near Pokrovsk told The Associated Press. Long-range and medium-range surveillance was impossible, he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about sensitive military matters.
“Because of this, the enemy was amassing forces … taking up positions, digging in. They were very good at it,” he said.
It was at that fateful moment that Russian forces launched a massive attack: Up to 10 columns of armored vehicles, each with up to 10 units, moved out from various directions.
Ukrainian logistics in peril
Key logistics routes along asphalted roads and highways are under direct threat from Russian drones as a result of Moscow’s recent gains, further straining Ukrainian troops.
Russian forces now occupy key dominant heights around the Pokrovsk region, which allows them to use drones up to 30 kilometers (18 miles) deep into Ukrainian front lines.
The Pokrovsk-Pavlohrad-Dnipro highway is “already under the control of Russian drones,” said the commander at Pokrovsk’s flanks. Russian forces are less than 4 kilometers ( 2 1/2 miles) away and are affecting Ukrainian traffic, he said. “Now the road is only 10 percent of its former capacity,” he said.
Another paved highway, the Myrnohrad-Kostyantynivka road, is also under Russian fire, he said.
This also means that in poor weather, military vehicles, including armored personnel carriers, tanks and pickup trucks, have to trudge through the open fields to deliver fuel, food and ammunition, as well as evacuate the wounded.
In a first-aid station near Pokrovsk, a paramedic with the call sign Marik said evacuating wounded soldiers once took hours, now it takes days.
“Everything is visible (by enemy drones) and it is very difficult,” he said.
New recruits are unprepared
Ukrainian soldiers in Pokrovsk said shortages of fighting troops are “catastrophic” and challenges are compounded by newly created infantry units that are poorly trained and inexperienced, putting more pressure on battle-hardened brigades having to step in to stabilize the front line.
Afer, the deputy commander, complained that new recruits are “constantly extending the front line because they leave their positions, they do not hold them, they do not control them, they do not monitor them. We do almost all the work for them.”
“Because of this, having initially a 2-kilometer area of responsibility, you end up with 8-9 kilometers per battalion, which is a lot and we don’t have enough resources,” Afer said. Drones are especially hard to come by for his battalion, he said, adding they only have half of what they need.
“It’s not because they have lower quality infantry, but because they are completely unprepared for modern warfare,” he said of the new recruits.
His battalion has almost no reserves, forcing infantry units to hold front-line positions for weeks at a time. For every one of his soldiers, Russians have 20, he said, emphasizing how outnumbered they are.
Back at the first-aid station, a wounded soldier with the call sign Fish was recovering from a leg wound sustained after he tried to evacuate a fallen comrade. He had moved him from a dugout to load him into a vehicle when the Russian mortar shell exploded nearby.
“We are fighting back as much as we can, as best as we can,” he said.


South Africa’s Ramaphosa to engage Trump over aid suspension

South Africa’s Ramaphosa to engage Trump over aid suspension
Updated 03 February 2025
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South Africa’s Ramaphosa to engage Trump over aid suspension

South Africa’s Ramaphosa to engage Trump over aid suspension

JOHANNESBURG: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday that he looked forward to engaging with US President Donald Trump, after Trump said he would cut off funding for South Africa, citing land confiscations.
“We look forward to engaging with the Trump administration over our land reform policy and issues of bilateral interest. We are certain that out of those engagements, we will share a better and common understanding over these matters,” Ramaphosa said in a statement issued by the presidency.
“South Africa is a constitutional democracy that is deeply rooted in the rule of law, justice and equality. The South African government has not confiscated any land.”
Ramaphosa said except for PEPFAR aid, which constitutes 17 percent of South Africa’s HIV/Aids program, there was no other significant funding provided by the United States.


Pakistan police officer killed as polio vaccination drive starts

Pakistan police officer killed as polio vaccination drive starts
Updated 03 February 2025
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Pakistan police officer killed as polio vaccination drive starts

Pakistan police officer killed as polio vaccination drive starts
  • Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio is endemic
  • Militants have for decades targeted vaccination teams and their security escorts

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A Pakistan police officer traveling to guard polio vaccinators was shot dead Monday, police said, on the first day of a nationwide immunization effort after a year of rising cases.
The officer was traveling to guard polio vaccinators in the area of Jamrud town in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when he was killed, local police official Zarmat Khan said.
“Two motorcycle riders opened fire on him,” he said. “The constable died instantly at the scene.”
Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio is endemic and militants have for decades targeted vaccination teams and their security escorts.
Pakistan reported at least 73 polio infections in 2024, a significant increase compared to just six cases in 2023.
The vaccination campaign which started on Monday is the first of the year and is due to last a week.
“Despite the incident, the polio vaccination drive in the area remains ongoing,” Khan said.
Abdul Hameed Afridi, another senior police official in the area, also confirmed details of the attack and said officers have “launched an investigation.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility, however Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – which neighbors Afghanistan – is a hive of militant activity.
The Pakistani Taliban are the most active group in the area.
Polio can easily be prevented by the oral administration of a few drops of vaccine, but scores of vaccination workers and their escorts have been killed over the years.
In the past, clerics falsely claimed that the vaccine contained pork or alcohol, declaring it forbidden for Muslims.
In more recent years the attacks have focused on vulnerable police escorts accompanying the vaccinators as they go door-to-door.
Last year, dozens of Pakistani policemen who accompany medical teams on campaigns went on strike after a string of militant attacks targeting them.
Pakistan has witnessed rising militant attacks since the Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan.
More than 1,600 people were killed in attacks in 2024 – the deadliest year in almost a decade – according to the Center for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based analysis group.
Islamabad accuses Kabul’s new rulers of failing to rout militants organizing on Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban government routinely denies.
In November, at least seven people – including five children – were killed in a bombing targeting police gathered to guard vaccinators near a school in southwestern Balochistan province.
Balochistan – which also neighbors Afghanistan – was the area with the largest number of polio cases in 2024, despite being the most sparsely populated.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Sunday last year’s polio eradication efforts faced “a major setback.”
“We must eradicate polio from Pakistan at any cost,” he said as he launched the new vaccination drive.