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US places stiffer sanctions on South African firms linked to Islamic State

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The United States Treasury Department says it has imposed a second round of stiff sanctions on some South African firms it says have “provided financial or material support to the Islamic State group.”

The sanctions which were imposed on Monday, becomes the second of such sanctions in less than a week on people and firms in Africa who have links to the terrorist group.

The latest financial sanctions, according to the US Treasury, are targeting South African entities including a notorious cell leader, Farhad Hoomer, who was accused of expressing “the will and intent to attack the interests of the United States,” the Department said in a statement.

The Treasury Department has, last week, issued financial and diplomatic sanctions against a weapons trafficking network operating in Somalia with links to the Al-Shabaab extremist group.

The US had placed the sanction over what it said was a Somali Islamic State weapons trafficking cell accused with the proliferation of dangerous weapons into the Horn of Africa nation.

In the latest action by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, four people and eight companies controlled by individuals said to have links with the South African Islamic State cell including Nufael Akbar, Yunus Mohamad Akbar, Mohamad Akbar, and Umar Akbar.

Their gold trading, construction and other firms are also targeted for the sanctions with the move freezing and blocking potential transactions with US entities and preventing Americans from doing business with them.

“As part of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, the United States will continue to partner with South Africa to deny ISIS the ability to exploit the country’s economy to raise and transfer funds in support of ISIS terrorist activities,’Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement.

Nelson added that the sanctions were targeting “key individuals in ISIS’s network in South Africa, as well as their business assets, who have played pivotal roles in enabling terrorism and other criminal activities in the region.”

Musings From Abroad

India arrests 35 Somali pirates as part of operations around Red Sea

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Following 100 days of anti-piracy operations east of the Red Sea, where piracy has reappeared for the first time in almost a decade, the Indian navy turned up 35 Somali pirates to the police in Mumbai on Saturday.

After a hundred days of anti-piracy operations east of the Red Sea, where piracy has reappeared for the first time in almost ten years, the Indian navy turned up 35 Somali pirates to the Mumbai police on Saturday.

Three months after it was taken over off the coast of Somalia, India, the biggest country in the Gulf of Aden and northern Arabian Sea, apprehended the pirates from the cargo ship Ruen last week.

Pirates have attempted more than 20 hijackings since November, taking advantage of Western forces’ attention being diverted to defending shipping against attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants. The development has increased insurance and security costs and created a crisis for international shipping companies.

The Houthis, who declare their support for Palestinians in Gaza in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, have been attacking the area since November, and as a result, shipping via the region has decreased by half as ships are choosing to circumnavigate southern Africa instead, according to the Indian navy.

According to the navy, India has responded to 18 instances by rotating the deployment of 21 ships and 5,000 people, boarding and inspecting more than 1,000 vessels. Several days have seen the deployment of almost a dozen warships due to its unparalleled presence.

“The task is to ensure that there is safety, security and stability” in the region, Kumar said.

“We can live up to the requirement of being a first responder and a preferred security partner… to ensure that the Indian Ocean region is safe, secure and stable.”

Before the Ruen was captured, Somali pirates had not been able to seize control of a cargo ship since 2017. In January, India sent at least a dozen warships east of the Red Sea to fend off pirate attacks and has examined more than 250 vessels.

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Musings From Abroad

EU hints Cyprus could consider migrant deal with Lebanon

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European Union (EU) commissioner, Margaritis Schinas, has revealed that the bloc could strike a deal with Lebanon as part of moves to manage the influx of migrants.

The revelation comes after Cyprus complained it was being inundated by a surge in arrivals from the Middle East.

To assist them in coping with the burden of rising migration and, ultimately, stop it from spreading to the other 27 members of the bloc, the EU has agreements in place with several nations. The pacts have drawn harsh criticism from rights groups.

Vice president of the European Commission for promoting the European way of life Schinas suggested that a deal with Lebanon could be mediated similar to the one the EU made on March 17 with Egypt. He remarked that a great deal of planning was necessary.

“We had worked with Egypt for quite some time, but I consider that it’s realistic to move correspondingly with Lebanon,” he said during a visit to Cyprus.

Situated within 100 miles (160 km) from Syria and Lebanon, Cyprus is the easternmost state of the European Union. Asylum seekers have started arriving there more frequently in recent months. In addition to facing a severe economic crisis, Lebanon is also home to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees.

On March 11, 458 Syrians came to Cyprus in six tiny boats within a single day. Compared to 36 in March of last year, authorities have recorded 533 arrivals by sea this month alone.

“Our country … is facing asphyxiating pressure because of the large number of Syrians arriving in Cyprus,” Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said after meeting Schinas.

Nicosia wants the EU to take into consideration designating areas of war-torn Syria as safe, allowing authorities to repatriate refugees who arrive from that country.

According to the United Nations. data, over 34,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean to join the EU illegally so far this year. There are many cultural, economic, and environmental commonalities throughout the Middle East between the countries of Northern Africa, including Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and others. Through the Mediterranean and desert, African migrants have attempted to enter portions of Europe.

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