Category World News

After 26 European nations pledged to send troops to Ukraine after the conflict is over, French President Emmanuel Macron has stated that there is “no doubt” that the US will support security efforts there.

Macron addressed the so-called coalition of the willing on Thursday at a meeting in Paris, followed by a video call to Donald Trump to demonstrate Washington’s commitment to Ukrainian security, which is viewed as crucial to any peacekeeping efforts.

The French president claimed that the US would announce its “reassurance force” “in the coming days” and that Washington would work with European nations to impose new sanctions if Russia continued to reject a three-and-a-half-year war.

Following mixed reviews from Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the summit in Paris was attended by European leaders.

Natacha Butler, a reporter from Paris, reported for Al Jazeera that Macron had stated that Trump had a “positive” conversation and that more information might be forthcoming about what the US might have to offer in terms of security guarantees.

That has been very vague indeed up until now, she said, citing Trump’s earlier statement that Ukraine would not receive US troops.

According to experts, any US operation would depend on the US’s ability to provide airstrikes and intelligence to nations outside of Ukraine.

“Crystal step”

The coalition of the willing’s 26 members, which include Canada, Australia, Japan, and Canada, are expected to provide increased training for the Ukrainian army and force deployment by some European nations.

Along with Zelenskyy, Macron and other leaders said, “We have today 26 countries who have formally committed to deploy as ‘reassurance force’ troops in Ukraine, or to be present on the ground, in the sea, or in the air.”

He stated that troops would not be “on the front line” and would “prevent any new major aggression.”

Zelensky applauded the decision, claiming that this was the first serious concrete step made today for the first time in a long time.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said that it was necessary to “go even further” to press Putin to end hostilities during the summit, according to United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reaffirmed his concern for the scope of the involvement, but he also pressed for more pressure.

After the summit, a government spokesman said, “Germany will decide on military involvement at the appropriate time.”

Giorgia Meloni’s office, the country’s prime minister, stated that while Italy would not send troops to Ukraine, it could assist in the investigation of any potential peace agreements.

Peace talks stall.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin is currently showing no interest in a peace deal, with alarm rising after his well-known visit to Beijing this week. Countries met to discuss Ukraine’s security.

While Zelenskyy expressed “very pleased that things seemed to be moving forward,” Al Jazeera’s Butler claimed that Putin had no intention of bringing up any kind of peace negotiations.

Many viewed this as a call for capitulation, which Putin had previously stated he would be willing to meet with Zelenskyy in Moscow.

Trump, who hasn’t yet managed to broker talks between Zelenskyy and Putin, warned this week that if he was unhappy with Moscow’s next steps, he would “see things happen.”

In the absence of a peace deal that the Kremlin would approve, Putin has stated that Moscow is willing to “resolve all our military issues militarily.” Additionally, he has stated that he opposes the presence of European forces in post-war Ukraine.

NATO’s Mark Rutte responded, “It’s not up to them to decide.” “I believe we must stop making Putin too powerful,” he said.

Trump is “displeased” with his position.

Zelenskyy pointed the finger at Hungary and Slovakia specifically after the video call with Trump, saying that the US president was “very upset” that European nations were still buying Russian oil.

In 2022, the majority of Russian oil imports were prohibited by the European Union, but Slovakia and Hungary were made exceptions to this to give the landlocked central European nations time to find alternative oil sources.

Throughout the conflict, Ukraine has targeted the Russian Druzhba oil pipeline, which transports Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia. The European Commission has been instructed by both countries to stop the attacks against Ukraine.

Trump “emphasised” that European nations must stop purchasing Russian oil, according to a White House official cited by Reuters, adding that the EU had already sold 1.1 billion euros ($1.28 billion) in fuel to Russia in a year.

The official added that the president also emphasized that European leaders must put economic pressure on China to fund Russia’s war efforts.

By January 1st, 2028, the European Commission has proposed legislation to stop imports of Russian oil and gas into the EU.

Vancouver, Canada: Nearly three weeks after flight attendants launched a strike against the largest airline in Canada, Air Canada employees are voting on a contract to end the conflict, which sparked a national labor movement.

On August 16, the country’s busiest month for air travel, roughly 10,500 flight attendants launched a three-day strike. After a day of labor on picket lines, Ottawa gave them a job back, but union leaders resisted, putting them in jail and paying fines.

The union members can now vote on the tentative agreement they reached on August 19. Voting ends on Saturday, with results anticipated soon.

According to estimates, the airline lost 300 million dollars and had to cancel flights for a half-million people.

The 40-year-old labor code’s long-unknown “industrial peace” clause, which has been used to end strikes a half-dozen times in the last year, was used for the first time by any union.

However, according to rank-and-file employees and labor analysts, the tentative agreement between their union and the airline is causing more discontent.

After the federal government declared their strike “unlawful,” several flight attendants informed Al Jazeera that the agreement had been reached under “duress.” The airline then ordered the workers to return to their jobs on August 16 for their first day on picket lines.

Oliver Cooper, an Air Canada service director in Vancouver who started out as a flight attendant with the company nine years ago, said, “This came about under quite a bit of duress.” We haven’t actually negotiated our agreement informally.

Our leaders were threatened with jail time, we were told. The union was threatened with fines. That shouldn’t have to occur.

According to Adam Donald King, assistant professor of labor studies at the University of Manitoba, some flight attendants are upset about the terms of the agreement as well as how Ottawa forcibly enforced it.

He said, “They actually have a deal that they can’t reject.”

We keep up the optimism, says the airline.

In reality, flight attendants might reject the offer.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) called the agreement a “transformational agreement” as voting began last week.

Its first year saw a 13% wage increase for younger hires, an 8 percent increase for older employees, and nearly 3 percent increases in subsequent years.

The airline expressed hope for its support from its employees.

An Air Canada spokesman wrote in an email that the agreement was reached without the union’s consent and included changes to pay, pension, and benefits.

There is a chance that the agreement won’t be accepted, despite our best efforts to ratify it.

Only the wage agreements would be subject to binding arbitration if they were rejected. There are no strikes or lockouts permitted on other issues because they are set in stone.

Our members forced the company back to the table with a better offer, with no regard for wages, CUPE spokesman Hugh Pouliot wrote in an email.

We’ll respect the members’ decisions.

Cooper is one of those who voted no, despite having seen some positives, particularly the new hires’ pay raise.

Starting wages in the agreement are lower than 34 Canadian dollars ($24.60) per hour, which Cooper claimed does not keep up with inflation.

According to Cooper, “These people need to be lifted out of poverty.” My younger coworkers say that, and I applaud them.

“People are in desperate need, and we are playing the dice.”

Unpaid work

The numerous unpaid hours that flight attendants work on are a major issue.

Many claim to work for free, with the exception of helping passengers board planes, handling excess luggage, awaiting delayed flights, and even handling medical emergencies.

Reagan Goulding, a flight attendant for 30 years, said, “The majority of the public didn’t understand how we weren’t paid before we board the aircraft, only from takeoff to landing.” We are not paid if the engines don’t start and we are parked.

That doesn’t seem fair, I thought.

The airline will only receive half of their hourly rate for time spent on the ground under the new tentative agreement, which will also include up to 60 minutes.

According to a spokesperson for Air Canada, “pay for ground duties was a component of overall compensation.” The new contract includes “innovative ground pay practices in the Canadian industry.”

The Federal Jobs Minister claims to be looking into airlines’ reliance on unpaid work right now.

Aissa Diop, a spokesperson for the airline industry, stated in an email that the Minister has launched a probe into unpaid work. No one should be paid to work.

Goulding anticipates that the majority of her agitated coworkers won’t vote for her.

She said, “We’re doing a lot of service on the ground.” There aren’t many things in the tentative agreement, according to the statement. We were prepared to withdraw [on strike], the union had our backs, and we were all in favor.

There are many unhappy people, it appeared to be just giving up.

allegations of “federal bias”

The way the strike was halted was a sticking point, according to the flight attendants interviewed by Al Jazeera.

The jobs minister asked the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to sign its back-to-work decree, citing Section 107 of the Canadian Labour Code, which allows the minister to “secure industrial peace.”

Chairperson Maryse Tremblay, who CUPE alleged should step aside from ruling on their strike, signed the order, alleging a “reasonable apprehension of bias.”

Tremblay&nbsp served as Air Canada’s senior internal legal counsel from 2004 to 2004, and he then acted for the airline at two law firms, most recently in 2022.

However, she “refused the allegations of bias,” saying on August 22 that “prevalence alone is not sufficient”to prove a conflict.

The organization said, “CIRB’s decisions speak for themselves, not in any way.”

Goulding claimed that “she worked for the company.” The government didn’t do anything about it, and it speaks for itself.

A “warning bell” sounds

King claimed that Section 107 of the labor code, which had been in place for decades, was rarely used in favor of parliamentary back-to-work legislation.

It was used a half-dozen times for federally regulated workplaces, including those in ports, postal, railroads, and aviation, during the past year.

According to King, “Audition unions complied and filed court challenges, but their strikes were ended.” For the first time, a union has said no.

CUPE has since filed a lawsuit against Ottawa over Section 107, alleging that it violated unionists’ “Charter-protected rights” to protect these crucial bargaining rights from unauthorized access in the future.

According to King, this “remarkable moment” in Canadian history suggests a pattern following the pandemic, where workers have increased expectations and “more willingness to fight.”

Cooper says that while the flight attendants’ defiant stance was brief, it could serve as a “wake-up call” about more labor assertiveness.

He said, “What’s happened with Air Canada might just be a blip.” The labor leaders of tomorrow will be in need.

“Suddenly, a wildcat strike or a general strike might not seem so harmful; in addition, the advantages may far outweigh the overall effects.”

Regardless of whether a vote is cast, Henly Larden, the vice president of CUPE’s Vancouver local, has a chance to give her colleagues their say, despite the fact that both the employer and the government have “stifled” their voices.

Free from unnecessary pressure or influence, she wrote in a blog post, “each and every one of us will have an opportunity to evaluate the agreement’s merits and cast our vote to ratify or not.”

Cooper said standing up for what they did made him feel proud of his fellowworkers.

Ahmed Abubakr Imam armed himself with a rifle to defend his community in January 2024.

As Sudan’s sprawling western region of Darfur advanced in its war against the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and its allies, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) advanced by capturing four of its five provinces in a lightning strike.

Taus of people were terrified as a result of the threat to capture North Darfur, including Imam.

He was aware of the notoriously nomadic RSF, which abducted and raped women and girls and extrajudicially murdered men and boys from largely sedentary “non-Arab” communities.

Imam joined the Popular Resistance, a group of neighborhood defense fighters supported by the SAF, like thousands of other non-Arabs in North Darfur.

According to the 27-year-old, “the RSF militia clearly doesn’t distinguish between fighters and civilians.”

Nowhere to go

Since the SAF and the RSF started a full-fledged civil war in April 2023, the latter has almost consolidated control of Darfur, a country that the latter has controlled for years.

According to UN experts and local and international monitors, both sides have committed grave abuses, but the RSF is linked to genocide and systematic sexual violence.

Around 260, 000 people are languishing and dying in el-Fasher, north of North Darfur, under a crippling siege that the RSF laid in April 2024.

Many women, children, and some men have managed to flee to Tawila, a town that is 45 miles (70 kilometers) east of where the devastating cholera epidemic is located.

Those fleeing El-Fasher must pay the equivalent of $300 each to RSF fighters in exchange for their jewelry and other items.

Residents claim that women and children have been kidnapped while men have frequently been detained and killed after the RSF has suspected them to be fighters.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to stay in El-Fasher as a result of these dangers until the RSF is overthrown or the city falls.

“All the civilians would have left El-Fasher by now,” Imam said to Al Jazeera, “if the militia RSF didn’t target civilians.”

Some, like Imam, are on the front lines, while others are attempting to document atrocities for the outside world by gathering food and supplies to feed their geriatric populations.

Imam is the oldest of a number of brothers and sisters, the youngest of whom is only three years old. He fears that if the RSF travels to them, they could all be raped or killed.

He said, “I have a responsibility to protect my family because I’m the oldest sibling.”

Al Jazeera addressed written inquiries to the RSF’s press office informing them of its opposition to claims that it targets civilians fleeing El-Fasher. Before publication, the RSF did not respond.

“Kill box”

The RSF is now making it nearly impossible for people to leave the city, even if they want to, according to the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, which uses satellite imagery to monitor developments in North Darfur.

The research team discovered that the RSF has constructed about 31 kilometers (19 miles) of desert berms (barriers) around El-Fasher on August 28.

A semicircle formed by about 22 kilometers (13. 6 miles) from the city’s west to its north, and an additional nine kilometers (9 miles) prevent any attempt to escape east.

According to the Yale report, “RSF is actually building a kill box around El-Fasher with these berms.”

The desert berms, according to journalist Mohamed Zakaria in El-Fasher, are about 3 meters high.

He claimed that all other roads out of El-Fasher have been blocked and that no one can climb the walls without getting them pulled up.

Additionally, he emphasized that residents of the displacement camp in Abu Shouk, northwest of El-Fasher, are deciding whether to stay and face an éventuel RSF attack or to leave knowing the risks.

Around 190,000 camp members have already fled, according to local monitors, according to Al Jazeera, and roughly 80% of them have gone to Tawila or El-Fasher.

People attempting to flee the state-backed “Arab” Janjaweed militias that terrorized non-Arab communities during the first Darfur war in 2003 were able to find housing at Abu Shouk. Many of these militias were later reorganized into the RSF.

In a larger attack that resulted in the deaths of dozens of people, the UN accused the RSF of immediately executing 16 men from Abu Shouk on August 22.

Following the RSF’s April attack on Zamzam camp, south of el-Fasher, which uprooted half a million people and killed more than a thousand, Abu Shouk’s assault is now in progress.

According to Zakaria, “artillery are] shelling Abu Shouk from every direction; they are also carrying out incursions and kidnapping campaigns.”

He told Al Jazeera, “Abu Shouk is the same scenario that happened in Zamzam.”

Starvation

According to UN agencies and local relief volunteers, the RSF’s chokehold siege on El-Fasher is also adding to the city’s natural starvation.

Food stocks are almost entirely exhausted, and drones have recently attacked food convoys, according to the UN.

Families typically rely on tree leaves or a local “ambaz,” an animal feed that is made by pressing the leftovers from peanut and sunflower seeds into a slurry to be consumed.

Even ambaz is starting to run out, warns Magdy Yousef, a resident of El-Fasher and a member of the Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs), a grassroots initiative that offers assistance to beleaguered civilians.

Yousef claimed that ERRs volunteers are attempting to buy food, operate neighborhood kitchens, and distribute medicine to the city’s most vulnerable residents. Most people can only eat one meal per day at best.

El-Fasher has only five community kitchens, each serving a meal to just 3, 000 people, according to Yousef.

He continued, “We are on the verge of famine.”

Yousef claimed that some families, including those who are elderly, children, and women, are risking their lives every day in El-Fasher because of the extreme hunger there.

He made it clear that men of fighting age, like himself, are too vulnerable to try to flee.

Most young men who leave the city are staying put despite the hunger and starvation [in El-Fasher], according to Yousef, because the RSF is targeting them all.