U.S. issues penalties over Uganda vote
NAIROBI, Kenya -- The United States says it is imposing visa restrictions on "those believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining the democratic process in Uganda," including during the election in January and the campaign period.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement said the Ugandan government's actions "represent a continued downward trajectory for the country's democracy and respect for human rights." The election in which longtime President Yoweri Museveni won a sixth term "was neither free nor fair," Blinken said.
The statement did not say who is affected by the visa restrictions.
The election was a generational clash between Museveni, 76, and the popular singer and opposition lawmaker known as Bobi Wine, 39, who was detained and harassed ahead of the vote. Wine later alleged widespread irregularities in the election.
Blinken said "opposition candidates were routinely harassed, arrested, and held illegally without charge. Ugandan security forces were responsible for the deaths and injuries of dozens of innocent bystanders and opposition supporters." Civil society figures were intimidated and arrested, and journalists were targeted with violence, he said.
Uganda's government limited accreditation for election observers to the point where the United States decided not to participate.
Sinking off Tunisia fatal to 21 migrants
TUNIS, Tunisia -- Tunisian authorities said they recovered the bodies of 21 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa, including nine women and a baby, whose boat sank Friday off the central port city of Sfax. The cause was unclear.
Commander Housemeddine Jebabli of the National Guard said there were only three survivors, who were rescued by the coast guard with the help of civil protection divers.
Jebabli said authorities are continuing to search, as there are indications that 17 people could be missing. He said a survivor told him the boat carried 41 people, who had set off from Sfax the day before in hope of reaching the Italian coast.
The port city has become a common exit point for Europe-bound migrants escaping conflict or poor living conditions.
U.N. agencies fear for fleeing Nigerians
GENEVA -- U.N. agencies said Friday that tens of thousands of Nigerians are fleeing deadly attacks and the continuing clashes between militants and national forces in the country's troubled northeastern Borno state.
The latest militant attack Wednesday drove out as much as 80% of the population of Damasak, according to the U.N. refugee agency, who said as many as 65,000 people were on the move.
"Assailants looted and burned down private homes, warehouses of humanitarian agencies, a police station, a clinic, and also a [refugee agency] facility," the U.N. agency's spokesman, Babar Baloch, told reporters in Geneva. It marked the third such attack in a week, he said.
There are "very worrying" reports of clashes between insurgent groups and Nigeria's armed forces, said spokesman Jens Laerke of the U.N. humanitarian affairs agency.
Armed groups have been attacking humanitarian facilities and at times conducting house-to-house searches, reportedly looking for civilian aid workers, he said.
Most humanitarian operations have been suspended in the area since Sunday because of the insecurity, Laerke said.
"The situation on the ground is extremely critical," he said. "If this continues, it will be impossible -- maybe for longer periods of time -- for us to deliver aid to people who desperately need it."
Belarus advances ban on private lawyers
KYIV, Ukraine -- The parliament of Belarus gave initial approval Friday to a law that would ban private attorneys, reducing the defense options for people charged over protests and political dissent.
The measure, drafted by the administration of authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, passed first reading, and its eventual adoption appears certain because there are no opposition members of parliament.
Under the proposed law, lawyers could work only as part of the system of state-created consulting offices.
"The new law means the establishment of full control over lawyers by the state and the Ministry of Justice," Siarhej Zikratski, a lawyer who has represented many Belarusian independent journalists, told The Associated Press.
Nationwide protests broke out after Belarus' presidential election in August when Lukashenko won a sixth term in office; opponents say the results were manipulated. Authorities cracked down harshly on the protests, some of which attracted as many as 200,000 people.
More than 34,000 people were arrested during months of protests, which died down during the winter. Many prominent opposition figures have fled the country, including Lukashenko's main election challenger, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya.
