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Musings From Abroad

Turkey reveals plot, gory details of how Saudi journalist Khashoggi was murdered, cut in pieces

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A little over a week ago, a prominent Saudi journalist walked into the consulate general in Istanbul, intending to get paperwork that would allow him to marry his Turkish fiancée. She hasn’t seen him since, CNN reports.

Since then, officials and journalists have scrambled to piece together the story of what happened to Jamal Khashoggi, a former Saudi royal insider who became a critic of the regime of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Turkish authorities have privately said they believe Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate, a startling allegation that is firmly denied by the Saudis. Closed-circuit television footage, flight trackers, intercepted communications and even rumors of a bone saw have served as pieces of a puzzle that has spurred a diplomatic outcry.

In the latest developments on Wednesday, Turkish security officials concluded that the “highest levels of the royal court” in Saudi Arabia ordered the assassination of Khashoggi, according to a senior official cited by The New York Times.

Turkish officials have said that a 15-person team flew from Saudi Arabia into Istanbul on the day Khashoggi entered the consulate, and they have provided information about two private planes that, they say, were involved in the transit of these Saudis. Aviation data analyzed by CNN backs up evidence of the planes’ arrival in Istanbul.

The official quoted by the New York Times described the operation as “quick and complex,” and that Khashoggi was killed within two hours of his arrival at the consulate. The agents “dismembered his body with a bone saw they brought for the purpose,” the official told The New York Times. “It’s like ‘Pulp Fiction,'” he added.

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About the only thing that is known for sure about Khashoggi’s fate is that he was last seen at 1:14 p.m. local time last Tuesday as he entered the consulate.

His disappearance has prompted calls for investigations from around the world.
The kingdom’s staunchest Western allies, including the United States, where Khashoggi had applied for permanent residency, have urged Saudi Arabia to come clean.

Trump said Wednesday that he’s been in touch with the “highest levels” of the Saudi government about Khashoggi’s case and expressed concerns about his possible murder. He said his administration was pressing the Saudi government to reveal more about the incident.

“We’re demanding everything. We want to see what’s going on here. It’s a bad situation,” Trump said in the Oval Office.

But he stopped short of saying whether he believed the Saudis have knowledge about his whereabouts, or may have played a role in his disappearance, stating that not enough was known to make a determination.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly denied Turkey’s account of the story, saying that Khashoggi left the embassy on the same day he arrived.

In a statement to CNN on Wednesday, a Saudi official said the kingdom “categorically” denies “any involvement in Jamal’s disappearance.”

“At this stage, our priority is to support the investigation, as opposed to responding to evolving comments not directly related to those efforts. Jamal’s well-being, as a Saudi citizen, is our utmost concern and we are focusing on the investigation as a means to reveal the truth behind his disappearance. Our sympathies go out to the family during this difficult time,” the official said.

Musings From Abroad

UN indicts warring parties in Sudan, calls for peacekeepers

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A United Nations-mandated panel stated on Friday that both sides in Sudan’s civil war had engaged in acts that may qualify as war crimes, and proposed that to protect civilians, international powers must expand the arms embargo and send in peacekeepers.

The report claimed to be based on 182 interviews with survivors, families, and witnesses. It detailed the rape, attacks, use of torture, and arbitrary arrests committed by Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) against civilians.

“The gravity of our findings and failure of the warring parties to protect civilians underscores the need for urgent and immediate intervention,” the U.N. fact-finding mission’s chair, Mohamed Chande Othman, told reporters.

Both parties have denied previous allegations by rights organisations and the United States and accused one another of abusing power. Neither stated in reaction to the allegations or answered enquiries for comment on Friday right away.

Othman and the other two mission members demanded the immediate deployment of an independent force.

“We cannot continue to have people dying before our eyes and do nothing about it,” mission member Mona Rishmawi said. A U.N.-mandated peacekeeping force was a possibility, she added.

The mission advocated for the extension of an arms embargo now in place by the United Nations, which only covers the western part of Darfur and the thousands of documented ethnic killings there. Fourteen of the eighteen states in the country have been affected by the conflict that began in Khartoum in April of last year.

 

According to the mission, there were also good reasons to suspect that the RSF and its affiliated militias had perpetrated other war crimes, including kidnapping women forcing them into prostitution and recruiting minors as fighters.

Unnamed support groups had received allegations of over 400 rapes in the first year of the war, but mission member Joy Ngozi Ezeilo said the actual number was likely considerably higher.

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Musings From Abroad

Chinese investments in Africa mutually beneficial, South Africa’s Ramaphosa insists

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South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, said Thursday that Chinese investments in Africa were mutually beneficial and not a “debt trap” for the continent.

Ramaphosa stated this on the sidelines of a China-Africa meeting in Beijing, with delegations from over 50 African states.

“I don’t necessarily buy the notion that when China (invests), it is with the intention of, in the end, ensuring that those countries end up in a debt trap or a debt crisis,” Ramaphosa said when asked by reporters about China’s pledge at the summit of $51 billion in new funding for Africa.

China pledged to launch three times more infrastructure projects in resource-rich Africa, a region of significant geopolitical conflict between China, Europe, and the US, and to provide financial support over three years.

Ramaphosa also said, without providing details, that South Africa and China have secured an energy security pact. He claimed South Africa could learn energy sector reform from China.

“They already have done exactly what we are seeking to do. So there are lessons for us to learn from China and how to do it,” he said.

Power outages have slowed economic progress in South Africa in recent years. The country plans to pursue China’s largest electric vehicle producers, Ramaphosa added.

“We had good exchanges with BYD, which has shown a great interest to come and invest in South Africa,” he said.

Africa and China have strengthened commercial and political ties in recent decades. China is a major trading partner and lender. Additionally, Chinese companies invested heavily in Africa, making it a major investor in the continent.

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