A United Nations report accuses South Sudanese rebel and government military commanders of illegally logging and selling teak and mahogany trees in the former Central Equatoria and Eastern Equatoria States. A rebel spokesman denies the allegation, while a spokesperson for the South Sudan Peoples Defense Forces declined to comment.
A Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition spokesman denies rebels loyal to Riek Machar are doing business selling ecologically sensitive trees.
“If there are still forces of IO in Kajo-Keji area, they are still waiting for the second phase [cantonment] and it is not that they are doing business as put across [in the U.N. report]. One thing the U.N. is doing is to put confusion when peace is moving on well like that,” Colonel Lam Paul Gabriel told South Sudan in Focus.
In a 33-page, Nov. 22 report, the U.N. Panel of Experts said they received “credible information” indicating Major General Moses Lokujo of SPLA-IO Division 2B was “directly involved in the taxation of teak and mahogany” being illegally harvested in Liwolo, Kariwa, Kendire, Kala, Ajio, Lora Manglotore, Bori, Lowili and Katire payams, all of which are under the control of opposition forces.
The report also said Lokujo has been active in transporting logs across South Sudan’s borders with the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Gabriel said U.N. experts connected Lokujo to the illegal activity because of logging in Kajo-Keji.
“The truth is, the logging is done by the community approved by the landlords,” Lokujo told South Sudan in Focus.
Gabriel criticized the U.N. for calling teak logging illegal in rebel territory, saying the SPLA-IO has the right to serve civilians under their protection.
“What do they mean like illegal in a controlled area of SPLA-IO? It is supposed to be legal because that thing moved through the community and it comes up to the level of government [IO leadership]. During war, there are those who are loyal to the government, and there are those who are loyal to the rebels, they will always be loyal to us and those with the government will be loyal to the government,” Lam told South Sudan in Focus.
Gabriel was featured in a video documentary entitled, “The Profiteers,” for his role as a middle man who facilitated the transportation of timber from rebel-controlled areas in Yei, South Sudan, to Uganda.
After the video was shared widely on social media, the SPLA-IO deputy spokesman recorded a Facebook live-video in which he denied any involvement in the timber business.
The Panel of Experts report said opposition forces harassed community members who refused to follow their orders, leading many to flee to refugee camps in Uganda.
Gabriel strongly disagreed with the U.N. findings, saying people were fleeing clashes between the SPLA-IO and competing rebels of the National Salvation Front (NAS).
“After NAS attacked us in 2017 in Kajo-Keji and we lost, three quarters of these civilians — they went back to Uganda. We fought for seventeen days against the forces of Thomas Cirilo and all these IDPS there moved to Uganda. But the U.N. to restrict it to the harassment of the SPLA-IO, they have already taken sides with forces of Thomas Cirilo,” Lam told VOA.
According to the U.N. panel, timber traders pay the SPLA-IO up to $600 for the right to log and $800 to transport logs through their territories.
The logs are mainly sold in neighboring Uganda for $400 to $600 per log, according to “The Profiteers.”
The U.N. experts said South Sudan Peoples Defense Force commanders in Pageri and Ajaci counties in the former Eastern Equatoria State have traded in timber since April 2017.
The U.N. experts said the SSPDF, especially units of its Tiger Division deployed in Moli, are illegally cutting timber and taxing logging companies.
The Panel says the beneficiary of the illegal logging was Major General Johnson Juma, head of administration and finance for the SSPDF.
The Panel of Experts said illegal tree logging in South Sudan has left locals with no income in those areas.
The South Sudan Peoples Defense Forces Spokesman Major General Lul Ruai declined to comment on the U.N. allegations.
 

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There senior officials in Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s government stepped down Tuesday in connection with a probe into the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Press reports have linked Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi, Economy Minister Chris Cardona and Muscat’s chief of staff Keith Schembri to the Caruana Galizia investigation.
All three deny any wrongdoing. Their resignations follow the arrest last week of Maltese hotelier and power company director Yorgen Fenech in relation with the case.
In her blog, Caruana Galizia wrote boldly about corruption and investigated the affairs of Maltese politicians and business figures, as well as those doing business with the European Union member.
Eight months before she was killed by a car bomb in October 2017, Caruana Galizia alleged in her blog that a company called 17 Black Ltd., listed in the Panama Papers, was connected to Maltese politicians. The company belonged to Fenech, the businessman.
Economy Minister Cardona said Tuesday he was stepping down pending the investigation and the ongoing proceedings related to Caruana Galizia’s case. He was summoned by police for questioning last Saturday.
Cardona said he had “absolutely no connection with the case,” but added that after police asked for further clarifications, he felt “duty-bound to take this step in the national interest.”
Mizzi, the tourism minister, said he was resigning “in the national interest.” He reiterated that he had no business connection with Fenech, and no connection with 17 Black.
Prime Minister Muscat himself announced the resignation of his chief of staff Schembri.
Asked of the reasons behind Schembri’s decision, Muscat told reporters it was premature to speculate on “whether he is being questioned or what he is being questioned about.” He added, however, that the timing of the resignation was “unfortunate.”
Schembri served as Muscat’s chief of staff since 2013.
Muscat on Friday described the investigation as “the biggest our country has seen,” but contended that no politicians were tied to the journalist’s murder.
Three people were arrested in December 2017 on suspicion of detonating the bomb that killed 53-year-old Caruana Galizia as she drove near her home. The trial has not yet begun, and the mastermind has yet to be identified.
 

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Colombian unions and student groups will hold another protest on Wednesday in honor of a teenage demonstrator who died after being injured by a tear gas canister, as President Ivan Duque announced changes to his unpopular tax reform proposal.
Other demonstrations are expected to continue on Tuesday, the sixth straight day of protests following a 250,000-person march last week organized by the National Strike Committee.
The largely peaceful protests have attracted thousands of marchers to reject economic reforms, police violence and corruption.
The committee said in a statement early on Tuesday it would demand “a permanent negotiation” with Duque, but talks lasted only about two hours, with committee leaders demanding Duque meet only with them, sans business leaders or other sectors.
The committee has demanded the tax reform, which includes a cut in duties on businesses, be rejected.
Shortly after the meeting, Duque told journalists the proposal will be modified to return value added tax to the poorest 20% of Colombians and lower contributions to healthcare by minimum wage pensioners – half of the retired population – from 12% to 4% over three years. There will also be three days each year without VAT.
The proposals will cost some 3.2 trillion pesos ($931 million), the government said.
Duque denies supporting rumored economic plans that have galvanized many protesters – including a cut to the minimum wage for young people. Demonstrators have also highlighted what they say is a lack of government action to stop the murder of hundreds of human rights activists and asked Duque to fully implement a 2016 peace deal with leftist rebels.
Asked as he left the meeting what the government could do to end protests, Confederation of Colombian Workers president Luis Miguel Morantes told Reuters “it is a negotiation, there will be things that go to a certain point, there will be a fair balance, there will be other things we have to wait for, like changes in laws, it’s very relative.”
The committee wanted an “exclusive” dialogue, but the government would like them to form part of national discussions, said official Diego Molano.
“They must understand that there are other sectors which also want to debate the issues of employment, who have proposals for young people,” Molano told journalists.
The death on Monday of protester Dilan Cruz, 18, is likely to fuel further criticism of the crowd dispersion tactics of the ESMAD riot police, which include tear gas and stun grenades.
Cruz, who was injured on Saturday, has become a symbol for many young protesters. On Tuesday mourners were gathering at makeshift shrines outside the hospital where he was treated and the place where he was hit.
The strike committee said it would ask Duque to shut down the ESMAD and “purify” the police.
The committee will increase the intensity of the strike on Wednesday “in homage to the symbol of the national strike Dylan Cruz,” the statement said, using a different spelling of Cruz’s first name than that used by his sister and the government.
($1 = 3,433.94 Colombian pesos)
 

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A storm that dumped heavy snow in Colorado and Wyoming forced airlines to cancel hundreds of flights in Denver on Tuesday and has made driving impossible in some parts of the two states just as the busy Thanksgiving week travel period went into high gear.
About 7 inches (18 centimeters) was on the ground at Denver International Airport by morning but more was expected through the afternoon.
About a third of the airport’s average 1,500 daily flights were cancelled, but the airport said in a tweet that many airlines would resume operations later in the morning or early in the afternoon as snow clearing crews worked to keep most runways open.
More than 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow had fallen in northern Colorado and about a foot (30 centimeters) fell in southern parts of Wyoming by midmorning.
Heavy snow and gusty winds forced the closures of long stretches of Interstates 70 and 76 in Colorado and Interstate 80 in Wyoming, and parts of I-80 were buried under snow drifts of up to 4 feet (1.2) meters.
“We are mindful that this is a holiday travel week and we are working as fast and as quickly as possible to reopen the roads, and we will do that once the roads are safe for travelers,” said Wyoming Department of Transportation spokeswoman Aimee Inama.
Many government offices in the Denver area and in Cheyenne, Wyoming were closed along with colleges and schools not already on holiday break.
The storm system led the National Weather Service to issue blizzard and wintry weather warnings extending into the Great Lakes.
The storm was expected to move into the Plains later Tuesday, bringing high wind and more snow to Minnesota, Wisconsin and upper Michigan.
It could bring another round of snow to the Upper Midwest from Thursday through Saturday, and a chance of snow this weekend in interior New England, said Alex Lamers, a National Weather Service meteorologist.
“That could be a coast-to-coast storm,” he said.
It also could mean disappointment for fans of the larger-than-life balloons flown at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York.
Organizers were preparing for the possibility that they’ll have to ground the iconic balloon characters, given 40-50 mph (64-81 kph) gusts in the forecast. Rules put in place after several people were injured by a balloon years ago require lower altitudes or full removal if sustained winds exceed 23 mph (37 kph) and gusts exceed 34 mph (54 kph). The decision will be made on parade day.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area could see its biggest November snowfall in nearly a decade, and travel is northwestern Wisconsin “is going to be chaotic,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Brent Hewett.
The Minneapolis airport could be hit, but Chicago, with its two big airports, should only see rain from the storm, weather service officials said.
A second storm developing in the Pacific Ocean was expected to hit the West Coast of the U.S. on Tuesday afternoon or evening, bringing snow to the mountains and wind and rain along the coasts of California and Oregon.
Forecasters warned of “difficult to impossible travel conditions” across much of northern Arizona later this week as that storm dumps about 2 feet (0.6 meters) on areas that include Interstate 40.    
The National Weather Service’ office in Flagstaff said travel conditions will start to deteriorate Wednesday night, followed by the heaviest snowfall Thursday through Friday morning.  
This month, AAA predicted that the number of travelers over a five-day stretch starting Wednesday will be the second-highest, behind only 2005, despite rising costs for a road trip.
At the start of the week, a gallon of regular gas cost $2.59 on average, up 3 cents from a year ago, and rental cars averaged around $75 a day — their highest Thanksgiving price since AAA started keeping track in 1999. Hotel rooms are a mixed bag, with prices falling from last year at highly rated hotels but rising slightly at midrange ones.
People might feel they can afford a trip because of low unemployment, rising household net worth, and the stock market’s continuing strength.
For those who are flying, the airlines expect traffic to be up about 4% from this time last year. Airlines added about 850 flights and 108,000 seats per day on average to handle the increase over last year’s crowds, according to the trade group Airlines for America.
Airline travel before Thanksgiving tends to be spread out over several days, but most people want to go home on the Sunday or Monday after the holiday.
American Airlines plans to operate 7,046 flights Sunday, just one less than on Aug. 8, its heaviest schedule this year. In all, 22 of American’s 23 busiest days occurred during the summer vacation season, with this Sunday being the only exception.
“Everybody talks about Thanksgiving being a busy travel time, but summer is Thanksgiving week for the entire summer,” said Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for the airline.

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The U.S. Capitol and its office buildings were briefly evacuated Tuesday over a report of a possible aircraft in restricted airspace.
The evacuations were ordered as a precaution and lasted about 45 minutes.
The U.S. Secret Service said personnel at the White House were told to remain in place during that time. That precaution was later lifted.
Capitol Police said the evacuations were ordered after a report at 8:27 a.m. of a “possible aircraft in restricted airspace.” The evacuations were ordered “in an abundance of caution,” police said in a statement.
 

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Two helicopters collided in midair and killed 13 French soldiers fighting Islamic extremists in Mali, France said Tuesday, in its biggest loss since its mission in West Africa’s Sahel region began in 2013.
The deaths draw new attention to a worrying front in the global fight against extremism. Attackers linked to the Islamic State or al-Qaida this month alone have killed scores of local troops in the region and ambushed a convoy carrying employees of a Canadian mining company, leaving at least 37 dead.
      
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed “deep sadness” after the Monday evening crash. “These 13 heroes had only one goal: protecting us,” he tweeted.
The French military said both helicopters were flying very low when they collided and crashed in Mali’s Liptako region. No one on board survived.
The helicopters were supporting French commandos on the ground who were pursuing a group of extremists. French defense minister Florence Parly said an investigation has been opened into the accident.
France’s operation in West and Central Africa is its largest overseas military mission and involves 4,500 personnel. France intervened in 2013 after extremists seized control of major towns in northern Mali and implemented a harsh version of Islamic law. They were forced back into the desert, where they have regrouped and moved south into more populated areas.
Since 2013, at least 44 French soldiers have died.
A new surge in extremist attacks in Mali has killed well over 100 local troops in the past two months, with IS often claiming responsibility. The extremists loot military posts and profit from mining operations while finding refuge in forested border areas.
Before his death this year, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi congratulated “brothers” in Mali and neighboring Burkina Faso for pledging allegiance.
Public outrage in Mali over the latest attacks also has been directed in recent weeks against France, the country’s former colonizer.
Mali’s Liptako region near the border with Niger and its Gourma region near the Burkina Faso border have become strategic crossings for extremist groups as they are largely unguarded, the International Institute for Strategic Studies wrote last month.
France’s operation became involved in the Liptako area in 2017 and this year it built a new base in Gossi in the Gourma region, IISS said.
 
“Despite increased French presence in this zone, military gains remain limited. Both sides barely ever engage in direct confrontation. Militants use guerrilla tactics, rely heavily on improvised explosive devices and hide within the civilian population before and after launching attacks,” it added.
France’s Barkhane military operation is one of multiple efforts against the growing extremist threat in the Sahel including a five-nation regional counterterror force that struggles to secure international funding and a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali. 

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A year after he won Europe’s top human rights award, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov has finally picked up the prize, following his release from a prison in Russia’s far-north where he was held on terror charges.
Sentsov was freed in a prisoner swap in September after spending five years in a Russian prison colony above the Arctic circle.
He has been one of the most vocal opponents of Russia’s 2014 annexation from Ukraine of his native Crimea region, and staged a 144-day hunger strike to protest the jailing of dozens of Ukrainians in Russia. He ended it faced with the prospect of being force-fed.
The EU award, named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sentsov accepted it in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
 

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Russia faces a four-year ban from global sporting events, including next year’s Tokyo Olympics, because of a continued failure to cooperate with anti-doping investigators.
The ban recommendation made Tuesday by the compliance panel of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), came after investigators found evidence of a further drug cover-up by Russian officials, who are alleged to have deleted and tampered with positive drugs tests from a database at a Moscow laboratory earlier this year.
The executive committee of the anti-doping agency will decide at a meeting in Paris scheduled for December 9 whether to approve the sanction, including stripping Russia of sporting events already awarded to the country “unless it is legally or practically impossible to do so.” Russian government officials would also be barred from attending events for the next four years and the country’s flag wouldn’t be flown at World sporting tournaments for the ban’s period.
Russia was banned from sending a team to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea but individual athletes from the country were allowed by the International Olympic Committee to compete, if they passed strenuous doping tests. The new ban recommendation is the latest twist in a saga of state-sponsored doping stretching back to before the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics and which is said to rival in its magnitude the extensive and notorious East German drug program of the Cold War years.

Flag bearers from various nations attend the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, Feb. 25, 2018.The expert panel’s advice would include banning Russia’s team from competing in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but Russia would still be able to host four games from the 2020 European Championship in St Petersburg because it is a regional football tournament and not a World competition.
US Anti-Doping Agency head Travis Tygart welcomed the sanctions recommendation saying it “recognized the egregious conduct of Russia toward clean athletes and now let’s all hope the Wada executive committee uses the same resolve to ensure clean athletes are not again sold down the river and actually supports this unfortunate but necessary outcome.”
Rusada was initially declared non-compliant in November 2015 after a report by sports lawyer and academic Richard McLaren found widespread evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russian track and field athletics. A subsequent report in 2016 commissioned by WADA accused Russia of operating a state-sponsored doping program for four years across the “vast majority” of summer and winter Olympic sports. Last year the country sport bodies were declared compliant after the release of data from its main Moscow anti-doping laboratory but data handed over in January proved to be “inauthentic” according to investigators.
The compliance panel says a forensic review found serious inconsistencies, saying investigators had uncovered “an extremely serious case of non-compliance with the requirement to provide an authentic copy of the Moscow data, with several aggravating features.”
More than 2000 samples supplied by the Moscow laboratory had been tampered with, the compliance panel says. The huge scale of Russian doping first came to light in 2015 when Grigory Rodchenkov, who for a decade was Russia’s anti-doping lab chief, fled to the U.S..
McLaren’s report confirmed the allegations made by Rodchenkov, concluding that more than a thousand Russian athletes had been doping up  between 2012 and 2015 and that Russian officials, the country’s sports ministry and Russia’s FSB security agency had conspired in a “cover-up that operated on an unprecedented scale.”
Russian officials say a four-year ban would be devastating and unfair, pointing to an acknowledgement by the compliance panel that aside from the alleged Moscow laboratory tampering Russian officials are being cooperative. Russian sport official Yuri Ganus told local media it would be a “tragedy,” if Russian athletes faced a suspension.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday ahead of the ban recommendation: “Our sports authorities have been in close contact with WADA and will continue cooperating with the body and international sports community.” He added: “No decisions have been made so far. You know that the Russian Federation provided all necessary information. Let’s wait for results and analyses of reports provided by the Russian side.”
In October Russian President Vladimir Putin said at an international forum that Russia was keen to overcome the doping controversies. “We want our athletes to be fully represented in international events where they can demonstrate their talent without any restrictions. We want them to become role models for amateur sports lovers and professionals, first of all for our young generation,” he said.

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