The UN Security Council is trying to crack down on rising levels of gang violence in Haiti by extending embargo on weapons.
The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to expand its arms embargo in Haiti because of grave concerns over extremely high levels of gang violence.
The embargo will extend to all types of arms and ammunition in the Caribbean country, which faces multiple challenges.
The resolution authorises the 193 UN member nations to take “appropriate steps to prevent the illicit trafficking and diversion of arms and related materiel in Haiti”.
The resolution also extends a travel ban and asset freeze on gang members and criminals on its blacklist.
Haiti has faced years of instability, but the situation has worsened since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise. It created a power vacuum which increased the influence of armed gangs. It is estimated they now control up to 80 percent of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
It means illicit weapons flow unchecked into the country. The resulting surge in rapes, killings and kidnappings has led to a rise of civilian vigilante groups.
US “straw men” source of weapons
Robert Muggah, the author of a UN report on Haiti’s guns and drugs trafficking and founder of the Brazil-based think tank, the Igarape Institute, spoke to Al Jazeera’s Jillian Kestler-D’Amours earlier this year.
He estimated the biggest source of illegal firearms and ammunition is the United States
“Just over 50 percent of these were handguns and roughly 37 percent consisted of rifles,” he told Al Jazeera.
Often Haiti-bound weapons from the US are purchased by “straw men” – people who buy from licensed dealers but conceal they are for someone else.
The UN resolution adopted on Friday also encouraged the Haitian government to tighten up its borders to stop illicit trafficking.
The Security Council also voted in early October to extend the mandate of the Kenya-led multinational force trying to help the Haitian National Police combat the gangs.
United States President Joe Biden has expressed optimism about preventing an all-out war between Israel and Iran, but he sounded less confident about the prospects of a ceasefire in Gaza soon.
Speaking to reporters in Berlin on Friday, where he met with the leaders of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, Biden assessed the efforts to end the multi-arena conflict in the Middle East.
“There’s an opportunity in my view – and my colleagues agree – that we can probably deal with Israel and Iran in a way that ends the conflict for a while. In other words, it stops the back and forth,” Biden said.
Biden’s latest comments signal a possible shift in the US stance. Last week, the State Department suggested that it is no longer seeking a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, saying that the Lebanese group is “on the back foot” after the assassination of several of its leaders.
Israel is widely believed to be readying a strike against Iran in response to the attack that Tehran launched at Israeli military targets on October 1.
Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and the assassinations of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and an Iranian general in Beirut.
In a previous round of attacks, Iran fired hundreds of drones and missiles at Israel earlier this year in response to the bombing of an Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed seven people.
Asked on Friday whether he understands how and when Israel will respond, Biden said: “Yes and yes.” Pressed for further details, he added: “No and no.”
Political risks for Biden
The US president had previously suggested that Washington opposes an Israeli attack against Iranian nuclear or oil facilities.
A military attack on Iran’s oil sector could send global prices soaring and prove costly for American consumers, which could harm the election chances of the Democratic presidential candidate, Biden’s current vice president, Kamala Harris.
Iran has vowed to reply forcefully to any Israeli attack.
It is unclear how the US and its European allies are planning to prevent a spiralling escalation of the direct violence between Iran and Israel.
Gaza ceasefire?
Biden has repeatedly vowed to continue to arm Israel regardless of its policies, including ongoing concerns over well-documented atrocities in Gaza.
On Friday, the US president signalled that a ceasefire in Gaza is not imminent after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in a gunfight with Israeli troops earlier this week.
“We think that there’s a possibility of working for a ceasefire in Lebanon,” he said. “And it’s going to be harder in Gaza, but we agree that there has to be an outcome – what happens the day after?”
On Thursday, Biden had called the killing of Sinwar an “opportunity” for a resolution to the war in Gaza.
The US president also held a phone call with Netanyahu to “congratulate” him for Sinwar’s death, the White House said.
The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed more than 42,500 Palestinians and turned large parts of the territory into rubble, displacing nearly its entire population.
Israel is also facing accusations of carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign in northern Gaza, where it has ordered people to leave and cut off all humanitarian aid to the area.
The US provides Israel with at least $3.8bn in military assistance every year, and Biden has approved an additional $14bn in aid since the war in Gaza began in early October 2023.
Escalation in Lebanon?
While Washington has been warning against expanding the conflict, it has voiced support for Israel’s relentless bombing campaign and ground offensive in Lebanon.
Despite losing many members of its upper military and political echelon, including its chief Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah has managed to inflict heavy casualties – which it claims to be in the hundreds – on the invading Israeli forces in south Lebanon this month.
The group has also maintained a steady rocket fire against Israel, reaching as deep as the Tel Aviv suburbs.
On Thursday, Hezbollah announced moving to a new “escalatory phase” in the confrontation with Israel, which the group said would reveal itself in the coming days.
Myanmar – Scattered across the lush, rolling hills of southern Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region, rebel fighters stationed at checkpoints inspect cars and trucks traveling towards a nearby town still under the control of the Myanmar military – their adversary.
While this is a familiar sight in the region, where the struggle against the military waged by disparate armed groups has intensified since the 2021 coup, what sets these rebels apart is their faith.
These are members of the little-known “Muslim Company”, who have joined the struggle for democracy in Myanmar as part of a Christian- and Buddhist-dominated armed group – the Karen National Union (KNU).
Officially named 3rd Company of Brigade 4 in the KNU, the 130 soldiers of the Muslim Company are just a fraction of the tens of thousands fighting to overthrow the country’s military rulers.
With their story largely untold, Al Jazeera visited the company’s headquarters, nestled between the ridges of jungle-clad mountains at an undisclosed location in Myanmar’s south, to piece together an almost forgotten thread in the intricate tapestry of Myanmar’s conflict.
“Some areas are focused on ethnicities having their own states,” Muslim Company leader Mohammed Eisher, 47, explained, referring to the armed resistance movements who have long fought against Myanmar’s military.
In Tanintharyi, Eisher said, no one group dominates the land and, besides, the military’s repression affects all groups.
“As long as the military remains in place, Muslims, and everybody else, will be oppressed,” he said.
Fighters in 3rd Company pray at the mosque in their main camp in southern Myanmar [Lorcan Lovett/Al Jazeera]
While Eisher said he hopes the acceptance of diversity within the anti-military forces would help ease cultural and regional tensions that have previously led to conflict in Myanmar, scholars say the embrace of the Muslim Company underlines the inclusive nature of the historic uprising taking place, and the incorporation of previously marginalised groups into the struggle.
Diverse lines of descent
Myanmar’s Muslims trace diverse lines of descent.
They include the Rohingya in the west of the country, Muslims with Indian and Chinese heritage, and the Kamein, whose ancestors are believed to have been archers of a Mughal prince seeking refuge in the Arakan kingdom in the 17th century, and which is now part of Myanmar.
In Tanintharyi, where the Muslim Company is based, some Muslims are descended from Arab, Persian and Indian traders, while others are Burmese Malays, known as Pashu. The region’s ethnic diversity also includes Karen and Mon, as well as Bamar sub-ethnicities from the cities of Dawei and Myeik, among others.
While their uniforms bear the KNU insignia, the Muslim soldiers of 3rd Company carry a star and crescent moon badge in their bags, symbolizing their lineage from the All Burma Muslim Liberation Army (ABMLA) – the country was called “Burma” before it was re-named “Myanmar”.
Soldiers in 3rd Company, known as ‘Muslim Company’, rest while recovering from illness at their barracks in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi region [Lorcan Lovett/Al Jazeera]
In their main camp, hijab head coverings and thobes – long-sleeved ankle-length traditional robes often worn by men and women in Muslim countries – are common attire. Recitals of Quranic verses ring out from a mosque, while prayer mats are laid out at remote rebel outposts. Throughout the holy month of Ramadan, the company’s fighters observe fasting and attend daily prayers.
Successive military-led governments in Myanmar, together with hardline nationalist monks, have portrayed Muslims as a grave threat to Burmese Buddhist culture. That has resulted in Muslim communities, with roots spanning more than a millennium in Myanmar, facing scapegoating, religious suppression and denial of citizenship.
“It’s dangerous to generalize, but Muslims in Myanmar are highly vulnerable and have been exposed to significant violence,” Myanmar scholar Ashley South said.
“In Karen areas, however, one often finds communities living peacefully – and it is significant that Muslim refugees moved tentatively to KNU-controlled areas, sometimes in preference to other groups,” South said.
He added that the inclusion of groups previously alienated by Myanmar’s fractious politics is a defining trait of the current revolution, which has made strong gains against the military since it grabbed power in 2021.
History of Muslim resistance
The Muslims who resisted the military following its overthrow of Myanmar’s elected government three years ago and then found their way to 3rd Company, are not the first to rise against repression.
Among those fleeing the anti-Muslim riots of August 1983 in what was then Moulmein – now called Mawlamyine – in lower Burma, a small group of refugees formed the Kawthoolei Muslim Liberation Front (KMLF) in KNU-held territory.
The KNU trained about 200 KMLF fighters, but disputes between Sunni and Shia leaders eventually fragmented the group.
In 1985, some KMLF fighters moved south to Tanintharyi, founding the ABMLA. After decades of sporadic clashes with the military, they officially became 3rd Company, known colloquially as the “Muslim Company”. That was about 2015, after the KNU’s ceasefire with the military ended, according to an administrator who has been with the group since 1987.
With military atrocities having devastated families across Myanmar since the recent takeover, Myanmar’s army is now anathema not only to Muslims and ethnic minorities but to most of the population, the administrator said.
“The [2021] coup opened a path to freedom for everybody,” he added, speaking to Al Jazeera as he sat on a hammock above a pair of military boots taken from a captured government base.
About 20 women serve in 3rd Company, including 28-year-old Thandar*, a medic who joined in October 2021. After completing combat training under the KNU, Thandar told how she heard about the Muslim force and decided to sign up.
Thandar has served in 3rd Company since October 2021 [Lorcan Lovett/Al Jazeera]
“I’ll work here until the revolution is over,” she said, smiling at their commander, Eisher. “He’s like my new father now,” she said.
Among other things, belonging to a like-minded company of fighters “made it easier to have a halal diet”, she said.
“Plus, I’m with fellow Muslims,” she added. “It’s good here. That’s why I’ve stayed here for so long.”
‘Freedom for all peoples of Burma’
About 20 Muslim recruits fleeing the military regime’s conscription law, enacted in 2010 but activated only this year in Myanmar, enlisted recently, said Eisher.
During Al Jazeera’s visit to the company, soldiers at its main camp were mostly married men, using their leave to visit their families nearby. A separate barracks housed the sick, typically young men struck down with malaria before.
The nearby camp mosque is a modest building made of breezeblocks with a tin roof, and plastic piping on the outer wall for ritual ablutions before prayers.
Eisher told how his faith was tested in 2012 during a skirmish with the military, when he was shot in the neck and upper right arm. Separated from his unit, he trekked alone for two days before finding his comrades, who carried him for five days through a dense jungle.
“The stench of the pus from my neck wound made me retch,” he recalled, touching the crater-like scar left where a bullet had exited and remembering how hard he had prayed.
“I was praying for the absolution of my sins, if I had committed any, and if not, for the strength to keep fighting,” he said.
At an outpost deep in the jungle of 3rd Company’s territory, Mohammed Yusuf, 47, leads a unit of fighters. Like Eisher, Yusuf has suffered for the cause. Twenty years ago, while clearing landmines, one exploded, blinding him.
“I want freedom for all peoples of Burma,” he said. “The revolution will be successful, but it needs more unity. Everyone should stay true to the cause.”
Mohammed Yusuf lost his eyesight in a landmine explosion two decades ago but still leads a jungle outpost with young fighters of 3rd Company [Lorcan Lovett/Al Jazeera]
Third Company also has its internal diversity, including a few Buddhist and Christian members at the main camp.
One of the Buddhists, a 46-year-old Bamar farmer-turned-revolutionary with a serene smile, has taken to growing eggplants and string beans for the fighters to eat.
After volunteering with two other resistance groups, she told how she came to the realisation that her place was in the “Muslim Company”.
“There’s no discrimination here,” she said.
“We’re all the same – human beings.”
*Thandar is a pseudonym as the interviewee asked that her name not be used in this article.
Gunmen shoot at office building of respected Mexican newspaper in Sinaloa capital Culiacan.
Gunmen have fired on a building housing the respected Mexican media outlet El Debate as part of an ongoing drug cartel battle.
The media building was sprayed with gunfire on Friday and several cars outside were also damaged.
The paper said no one was injured in the attack. The El Debate newspaper is based in the state capital Culiacan, where there has been a surge in violent gun battles between rival gangs of the Sinaloa Cartel since September. The newspaper has been publishing stories about the gang attacks in the northwestern state.
El Debate said the assailants arrived in two vehicles and stopped briefly in front of the building. One gunman got out and opened fire with a rifle before they sped off.
Journalists threatened
Threats against journalists and their sources have increased since the latest round of fighting broke out.
Journalists have reported being stopped by gunmen on roadways outside Culiacan and told they could not cover the continuing gun battles happening on the outskirts.
The Mexican Media Alliance, a press freedom group, calls this shooting “a direct attack against press freedom and right of the public to be informed”.
Being a journalist in Mexico is dangerous business, according to Reporters Without Borders. The organisation has documented the death and disappearance of reporters in the country. In the last six years alone, 37 have been killed and five have disappeared.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has said she “condemns” the attack against El Debate.
Her government has sent military personnel with armoured vehicles and high-powered weapons to Sinaloa to protect the population, but the troops have struggled to quell the violence.
Gerrymandering, the partisan redrawing of voting districts, is as old as the US and yet is still a controversial part of its elections.
It’s been called vote-rigging, a power grab and just plain sneaky.
But it’s legal, and both Republicans and Democrats do it.
Gerrymandering, the process of redrawing voting districts to favour political parties, is almost as old as the United States and yet still very much part of the modern political process.
In this year’s general election, it could affect the outcome of crucial races for the US House of Representatives as well as state legislatures.
How does gerrymandering work?
Generally, once a decade, states update their voting districts to reflect population changes.
That’s where gerrymandering creeps into the process. Political parties try to redraw the electoral maps to give their side the greatest number of seats in state legislatures and Congress.
The district boundaries are manipulated to put like-minded voters together or to split them apart, either amplifying or diluting their voting power.
The results are often contorted districts with meandering boundaries drawn to include some voters and leave others out.
Essentially, gerrymandering allows politicians to choose their voters instead of the other way around.
The word was invented in 1812 when the governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry, redrew the electoral map for the state Senate to benefit his party.
The result was an oddly shaped district that looked like a salamander.
It inspired cartoonist Elkanah Tisdale to draw a mythical creature for the Boston Gazette, calling it the “Gerry-mander”. The name stuck.
Forging complacent politicians?
Gerrymandering is controversial — and not just because it’s a blatant grab for votes. Critics claim it can dilute the voting power of racial minorities and undermine democracy.
A 2023 study by Harvard University researchers found that gerrymandering often creates “safe” seats for politicians, meaning their races are less competitive. In turn, those politicians become less responsive to the needs of their constituents, who become discouraged about voting as a result.
At least eight states have clear language in their constitutions against the partisan redrawing of voting districts. Others use independent commissions to make the changes. But the majority of states lack safeguards.
National efforts in the last Congress also failed to ban partisan gerrymandering.
In 2019, the US Supreme Court ruled it’s up to state courts to deal with legal battles over voting maps.
So now, it’s a state-by-state fight over the role of partisan politics in voting districts — with some recent rulings potentially affecting the outcome of the 2024 election.
For example, in South Carolina, a new voting map has turned a swing district into a safer Republican one, causing outrage among voting rights advocates.
In Louisiana and Alabama, meanwhile, newly drawn maps could mean at least one more House seat in each state for Democrats.
And in North Carolina, the state supreme court ruled in favour of a gerrymandered congressional map, possibly giving Republicans three more House seats.
Each of those races is significant: Control over the US House of Representatives is decided by district-level votes, with the fate of national legislation hanging in the balance.
![Thandar, a 28-year-old combat medic, has served in 3rd Company since October 2021 [Lorcan Lovett/Al Jazeera]](https://www.occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/1-1-1729237525.jpg)
![Mohammed Yusuf lost his eyesight in a landmine explosion two decades ago but still leads a jungle outpost with young Muslim fighters [Lorcan Lovett/Al Jazeera]](https://www.occasionaldigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/8-1729238288.jpg)
