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Daybreak Africa

Each morning, Daybreak Africa looks at the latest developments on the continent, starting with headline news and providing in-depth interviews, reports from VOA correspondents, sports news as well as listener comments.

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137 Years After Construction Began, Spanish Church Gets Building Permit

After 137 years of construction, overseen by 10 architects, one of Spain’s tourist attractions finally has been granted a building permit. 

La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona’s modernist masterpiece, was granted the permit in what may be a new high mark for bureaucratic sluggishness. 

Janet Sanz head of the Barcelona’s urban planning said the city council had finally managed to “resolve a historical anomaly in the city — that an emblematic monument like the Sagrada Familia… didn’t have a building permit, that it was being constructed illegally.”

The Sagrada Familia foundation said it hopes to finish construction by 2026, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of chief architect Antoni Gaudí’s death. 

Even though construction of the neo-Gothic church began in 1882, authorities only discovered in 2016 that it never had a building permit, although Gaudi had applied for one. 

Gaudi died after being hit by a tram when only one of the church’s facades was finished.

Since then, 10 architects have continued his work, based on Gaudi’s plaster models, and photos and publications of his original drawings, which were destroyed in a fire during the Spanish Revolution. 

Every year more than 4.5 million people visit the basilica, which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.

When completed, its central tower will make La Sagrada Familia the tallest religious structure in Europe, at 172.5 meters, according to the builders.
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Moldovan Court Ousts President, New Elections Called

Moldova has plunged deeper into political crisis after the Constitutional Court stripped pro-Russian President Igor Dodon of his power over his failure to form a new government after months of political deadlock.

The court on Sunday also appointed former Prime Minister Pavel Filip as interim president.

Filip immediately dissolved the parliament and called for snap elections on September 6 as thousands of his supporters gathered in the capital, Chisinau, for a rally.

Dodon’s Socialist Party had said on Saturday it was forming a coalition government, but the court ruled that the move had come a day after the 90-day deadline for forming a new government had passed.

The coalition has rejected the ruling, saying the deadline is three months rather than 90 days.

Dodon accused the court of being biased in favor of Filip’s Democratic Party and asked the international community to intervene.

“We have no choice but to appeal to the international community to mediate in the process of a peaceful transfer of power and/or to call on the people of Moldova for an unprecedented mobilization and peaceful protests,” Dodon said in a statement.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Washington “calls on all Moldovan parties to show restraint and to agree on a path forward through political dialogue.”

“The February 24 parliamentary elections were competitive and respected fundamental rights,” she said in a statement on Sunday. “The will of the Moldovan people as expressed in those elections must be respected without interference.”

 
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Boris Johnson to EU: I Won’t Pay Unless Deal Improved

Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson is stepping up his campaign to be Britain’s next prime minister by challenging the European Union over Brexit terms.

Johnson told the Sunday Times he would refuse to pay the agreed-upon 39 billion-pound ($50 billion) divorce settlement unless the EU offers Britain a better withdrawal agreement than the one currently on the table.

The contest for leadership of the Conservative Party officially begins Monday. The post was vacated Friday by Prime Minister Theresa May, who will serve as a caretaker until a new leader is chosen and moves into 10 Downing Street.

The party expects to name its new leader in late July.

Johnson, the early frontrunner in a crowded field, told the newspaper he is the only contender who can triumph over the Labour Party led by Jeremy Corbyn and Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party.

Johnson is a hard-line Brexit advocate who vows to take Britain out of the EU on the Oct. 31 deadline even if there is no deal in place.

He and other contenders say they can get better terms from EU leaders in Brussels than the deal that May agreed to but was unable to push through Parliament. Those failures led to her decision to resign before achieving her goal of delivering Brexit.

But EU officials have said they are not willing to change the terms of the deal May agreed to.

One of Johnson’s main rivals for the post, Environment Secretary Michael Gove, continued to be sidetracked Sunday by questions about his acknowledged cocaine use when he was a youthful journalist.

He told BBC Sunday that he was “fortunate” not to have gone to prison following his admission of cocaine use. He said he was “very, very aware” of the damage drugs can cause.

Nominations for the leadership post close Monday afternoon.

 
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Search and Recovery Operations Continue After Dutch Boat Crash

Search and recovery operations continued in in the Danube River in Hungary’s capital Budapest on Sunday to help raise a sunken sightseeing boat with the help of a floating crane.

Hungarian rescue officials said Saturday that the tour boat is unlikely to be raised out of the water before Tuesday.

The Hableany (Mermaid) was carrying 33 South Koreans and a two-man Hungarian crew when it collided with a much larger cruise ship on the river in Budapest on May 29.

Seven South Koreans were rescued after the nighttime crash in heavy rain but eight of the passengers and the boat’s captain are still missing.

At least 19 people are confirmed dead.

Hungarian and South Korean divers have been working for days to prepare the Hableany to be raised off the river floor.
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Dozens Detained In Kazakhstan as Nazarbaev’s Chosen Successor Set to Win Election

Polls have closed in Kazakhstan where police detained hundreds of protesters and several journalists as the country held a snap presidential election, with the chosen successor of authoritarian ex-President Nursultan Nazarbaev expected to win easily.

More than 100 protesters were detained in the in Astana Square in Kazakhstan’s largest city of Almaty as they were calling for a boycott of the election in which Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev is running against six government-approved candidates in a carefully controlled election.

RFE/RL correspondents also reported that some 500 people held an anti-government rally near the Palace of Youth in the capital, Nur-Sultan — newly renamed after the former president.

They said that police detained some 100 protesters in the capital, including several foreign and local journalists covering the event. RFE/RL Kazakh Service reporter Pyotr Trotsenko was among them. He and several of the other journalists were later released.

A second wave of detentions took place hours later at the same site, with dozens of people being detained where some demonstrators had refused to leave. Dozens of people also drove their vehicles to the square and honked their horns in support of the protesters.

Deputy Interior Minister Marat Qozhaev told journalists in Nur-Sultan that about 500 “radically-minded elements” were detained in Almaty and the capital for holding “unauthorized protests.” He said earlier that the detentions were made in order “to preserve law and order.”

A small group of pro-government supporters also appeared during the second wave of detentions in Nur-Sultan, but were allowed to stay.

Internet access in Nur-Sultan and Almaty was reportedly severely slowed down, preventing live streaming and making it very difficult to read social-media sites.

Security measures were heavily stepped up in the capital and in Almaty, with dozens of police officers deployed in Astana Square and elsewhere in the city.

The protesters in Nur-Sultan were calling for free and fair elections and were holding blue balloons, a sign of support for a banned opposition group, Kazakhstan’s Democratic Choice (DVK).

The movement’s leader is Mukhtar Ablyazov, a vocal critic of Nazarbaev and his government, who lives in self-imposed exile in France. Ablyazov has urged people in the past to hold blue balloons at anti-government rallies.

Police put some 10 buses near the Palace of Youth to be used to remove protesters and also blocked the Respublika and Abai streets near the city center.

Twenty protesters were detained in the southern city of Shymkent.

When he was asked by RFE/RL about journalists being detained, Qozhaev said he was unaware of any such detentions.

The U.K.-based NetBlocks group that monitors cyberspace says the Internet was blocked in Kazakhstan early on election day.

“Multiple Internet providers in Kazakhstan blocked access to online streaming services as well as totally cutting the Internet access for most users in the late morning on Sunday, 9 May 2019, the day of presidential elections, according to NetBlocks Internet observatory network measurements,” the group said in a statement.

The group’s director, Alp Toker, told RFE/RL that the Internet was blocked in Kazakhstan in a very professional and sophisticated way.

Toqaev, 66, was tapped by longtime authoritarian President Nazarbaev as his successor when he stepped down on March 19 after nearly 30 years leading the energy-rich country, the largest in Central Asia.

Toqaev voted at a station in the Astana Opera House in Nur-Sultan.

“Our people are concerned about many social and economic issues,” he told reporters. “This is why elections are a good opportunity to decide who is going to lead the country, what our country will be like in the future.”

Toqaev, who is running against six government-approved candidates, said that the election “will be open and transparent.”

“At least, from the side of the government, we have done everything possible to achieve this,” Toqaev added.

Answering a question from RFE/RL regarding people protesting the snap election and their slogan “Toqaev is not my president!” the interim president said he was aware of it.

“If some citizens raise that slogan then that is their choice,” Toqaev said.

The other six candidates are virtually unknown to voters and have little campaign or public support.

The early election, which was called by Toqaev on April 9 to avoid “political uncertainty,” is being criticized by Kazakh opposition activists an unfair and noncompetitive.

None of the elections held in Kazakhstan since it became independent in 1991 has been deemed free or fair by international organizations.

There have been an unusually large number of public demonstrations in Kazakhstan since Nazarbaev’s resignation, with protesters calling for political reforms and many urging voters to boycott the vote.

Many activists have been detained and given fines or jail sentences, while some young male activists have been suddenly drafted into the army.

Large groups of Kazakh mothers have held numerous rallies in recent months to demand increased social benefits and housing, underscoring a general dissatisfaction with the government seen in other demonstrations and civil meetings.

Despite officially stepping down as president, Nazarbaev holds many important political positions and still wields considerable power within the country and inside his political party, Nur-Otan, whose presidential candidate is Toqaev.

Nazarbaev’s reign was marked by economic progress fueled by plentiful reserves of oil and natural gas, but it was largely overshadowed by despotic rule that shut down independent media, suppressed protests, and trampled democratic norms.

Human Rights Watch wrote recently that Kazakhstan “heavily restricts” basic freedoms such as speech, religion, and assembly, while Freedom House calls the Kazakh government a “consolidated authoritarian regime.”

A career diplomat educated in Moscow and considered an expert on China, Toqaev has served as Kazakh prime minister, foreign minister, and chairman of the Senate. He also worked for the United Nations in Geneva in 2011-13.

Toqaev has said publicly that he will continue the same policies as Nazarbaev if elected as president.

In preelection moves likely aimed at consolidating support for Toqaev, the state recently increased salaries for government employees and hiked welfare payments.

Nazarbaev’s daughter, Darigha, replaced Toqaev as Senate leader in March and would be first in line to the presidency should anything happen to the president.

The six candidates permitted to run against Toqaev in the election are parliament deputies Zhambyl Akhmetbekov and Dania Espaeva, labor union leader Amangeldy Taspikhov, state sports executive Sadybek Tugel, scientist Toleutai Rakhimbekov, and journalist Amirzhan Qosanov.

Kazakhstan’s voters among the population of 18.7 million voted at 238 polling stations nationwide as well as at the Kazakh Embassy in Moscow and consulates in St. Petersburg, Kazan, Astrakhan, and Omsk.
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Albania’s President Cancels Elections, Citing Tense Climate 

Albania’s president on Saturday canceled upcoming municipal elections, citing the need to reduce political tensions in the country. 

President Ilir Meta said he acted because “the actual circumstances do not provide necessary conditions for true, democratic, representative and all-inclusive elections” at the end of the month. The president said he would clarify his decision Monday. 

Thousands of Albanians who support the political opposition assembled for an anti-government protest on Saturday. Opposition parties planned to boycott the municipal elections and threatened to prevent them taking place. 

After sundown, smoke from tear gas and flares clouded the streets of Tirana. Some protesters hurled flares, firecrackers and Molotov cocktails at police officers outside the parliament building. Police responded with tear gas and water cannons.  

“This union [of people] imposed the annulment of the June 30 election,” Lulzim Basha, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, said, pledging to continue the battle. 

Speaking at an election rally, Prime Minister Edi Rama said Meta’s decision was wrong and insisted the local votes would be held as scheduled to prevent political “blackmail” from being used to force the calling of early parliamentary elections.  

The Albanian opposition, led by the center-right Democratic Party, accuses the left-wing government of links to organized crime and vote rigging. Opposition leaders are demanding Rama’s resignation, the naming of a transitional Cabinet, and an earlier date for the next general election.    

Opposition lawmakers also have relinquished their seats in parliament, where the government holds a comfortable majority. 

The government denies the allegations and said opposition-organized protests that started in February have hurt the country’s image as the European Union is set to decide this month whether to launch negotiations to include Albania as a member.  

The United States and the European Union urged protesters to disavow violence and sit in a dialogue with government representatives to resolve the political crisis. 

In an interview with private TV station Top Channel, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mathew Palmer warned opposition political leaders, “if there are acts of violence in future protests, we will consider them responsible.” 
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Libyan Coast Guard Intercepts 22 Migrants 

Libya’s coast guard said Saturday that it had intercepted nearly two dozen Europe-bound migrants off the country’s Mediterranean coast. 

Spokesman Ayoub Gassim said a wooden boat carrying at least 22 African migrants, all men, was intercepted Friday north of the Bouri offshore oil field, around 105 kilometers (65 miles) from Tripoli. 

He said the migrants were given humanitarian and medical aid and then were taken to a refugee camp in the Tajoura district of eastern Tripoli. 

Libya became a major conduit for African migrants and refugees fleeing to Europe after the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi. 

Libyan authorities have stepped up efforts to stem the flow of migrants, with European assistance. 
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NSC Deputy: Kosovo’s 100% Tariff on Serbian Goods Risks Setback

A White House deputy national security advisor says Kosovo’s excessively high tax on goods from Serbia precludes direct U.S. involvement in normalization talks, which President Donald Trump has been pushing for since December.

The EU-mediated dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade, which started in 2011, broke down last fall over a proposed land swap and Kosovo’s levy of a 100-percent tax on imports from Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Last month, Kosovar President Hashim Thaci said Washington must have a “leading role” in the process of normalizing relations with Serbia because the European Union is too “weak” and “not united.”

But John Erath, deputy senior director for European Affairs on the U.S. National Security Council, says that’s a non-starter unless Pristina suspends or kills the tariff to lure Belgrade back to the negotiating table.

“We’ve heard that it’s important for the U.S. to be involved in the dialogue, to play some kind of facilitating role, but we can’t do this until there’s an actual dialogue—that is, until the tariff goes away,” he told VOA’s Albanian Service.

“I sit in my office and I have plans for how I can help and what the U.S. contribution can be, and I can’t start to implement them until we get past the question of the tariff,” said Erath.

‘Territorial adjustments’

White House National Security Adviser John Bolton raised eyebrows last fall when he broke from a long-held U.S. position on the issue by stating that the United States would not be bothered if Serbia and Kosovo agreed to “territorial adjustments.”

Also known as land swaps or border corrections, territorial adjustments are politically sacrilege to EU leaders and most regional experts involved in normalization talks. They’ve described them as a form of “peaceful ethnic cleansing” that risks reigniting border quarrels in other politically fragile parts of the region and reopening wounds from the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Erath, however, said Bolton’s statement doesn’t contradict Western messaging on the issue.

“Our position, very simply put, is that anything agreed between the two parties would be fine with us,” he said. “Our goal is to see an agreement and see normalized relations. The Germans emphasize that a little bit differently. But in effect, it is the same thing, because … I don’t see any practical way that you could work out a large territorial change that would be acceptable to both parties.

“The U.S. upholds the OSCE principles, including territorial integrity, and it is for the people in Kosovo to decide what is the question of their territorial integrity,” he added, largely echoing statements recently made by Matthew Palmer, deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs at the U.S. State Department.

“This is all just a rehash,” he added. “We went through this back in 2007 in the Ahtisaari process, where some of the so-called experts were proposing partitions and things like that. It was nonsense then and it’s nonsense now. There can be no partition.”

Retired U.S. Ambassador Frank Wisner, who served as the U.S. special envoy to U.N.-backed talks that led to Kosovo’s declaration of independence, agreed.

“I don’t think any of us on the outside should second guess the Serbians or the Kosovars in their trying to resolve the issues that divide them, and if they want to do it with some territorial adjustment that’s fine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen,” he told VOA, calling it logistically unrealistic.

“There’s insufficient public support inside Kosovo, insufficient political support,” he said. “And inside Serbia, without some measure of progress, [citizens] are not going to buy a territorial solution, so I don’t see a way forward.”

Twenty years on

June 10 marks 20 years since the cessation of violence in the region, when then-President Bill Clinton announced the 78-day U.S.-led NATO bombing campaign against Serbia concluded.

Reflecting on the intervening two decades, Wisner said current EU-led negotiations should proceed “in the lowest-key possible fashion,” with much greater public emphasis on financial support and foreign investment.

“While of course there will be continuing negotiations, there won’t be an easy or early answer to those negotiations,” he said. “Rather, the obligation falls principally on the European Union to invest in the region and to increase its efforts to bring the region into Europe—to increase road connections, electricity, internet connectivity, and economic activity of a wide variety.”

Political solutions alone, he explained, are too easily derailed by regional actors.

“That was the case inside Kosovo, and it’s been the case in Bosnia where local political realities overcame the best intention of external negotiators,” he said.

Majority-Albanian Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after NATO airstrikes ended Belgrade’s control of the territory following a brutal counter-insurgency there by Serbian security forces.

But Serbia, whose constitution still sees Kosovo as Serb territory and the cradle of their Orthodox Christian faith, has been blocking Kosovo from joining international institutions such as Interpol and UNESCO, and still provides financial aid to ethnic Serbs in Kosovo.

Both Kosovo and Serbia aspire to join the EU, which has made the normalization of relations a precondition for membership.

Both sides hopeful

Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic has repeatedly said revoking the 100-percent tariff is Belgrade’s only requirement for resuming talks, while Kosovar officials have demanded that Serbia first recognize Kosovo’s independence.

Although more than 110 countries recognize Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia, Russia, China and five European Union countries, remain opposed to its independence.

Tensions in the region spiked last week when Kosovar police raided Serb-populated areas in what officials called a crackdown on organized crime. Serbia’s president responded by putting its border troops on full alert. Only a day before, he’d told Serbian lawmakers the country had to accept that it had forever lost control of Kosovo.

Speaking at an event in Slovakia on Friday, Vucic told reporters that despite his pessimism about prospects for a breakthrough in negotiations, “both sides must keep seeking a compromise.”

Kosovo’s president expressed hope while speaking at the same event about reaching a normalization deal with Serbia this year, and that a planned meeting on July 1 in Paris might prove a turning point.

“I hope so,” he told reporters. “If not, we will lose a decade.”

This story originated in VOA’s Albanian Service. Some information is from Reuters

 
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