Authorities in South Sudan’s Jonglei state are urgently appealing for humanitarian support for people displaced by intercommunal fighting in the Pibor Administrative Area. Displaced Pibor resident Mary Tilalo said she and her three children fled to Bor after deadly clashes broke out in Pibor. “When I left that area with my children, I was not coming here to look for food but first to look for where we can survive. We now feel safe here and we are praying so that peace comes in so that we live in peace with our brothers,” Tilalo told South Sudan in Focus. Jonglei state acting administrator Mabior Atem Mabior said 3,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs), mostly women, children and the elderly, arrived in Bor County Thursday and were now camping on open ground in harsh weather. “The people currently are from greater Pibor. What we can’t establish is who is actually chasing them, but they are saying that they are coming here for safety. So we have already received and they are now under our care,” Mabior told South Sudan in Focus. ‘They really need help’Mabior said that while state authorities had provided the IDPs with some sacks of food, there were not enough supplies for everyone.  “We are urging the international community and the agencies that are operating in the area here to take part in conducting an assessment and also articulate the same case to the major donors so that they can intervene and help. They really need help,” Mabior told South Sudan in Focus. On Thursday, Boma Administrative Area authorities said intercommunal fighting between the Lou-Nuer and Murle had left an unspecified number of people dead and many others injured. Peter Mawut Ajak, the acting Relief and Rehabilitation Commission coordinator for Bor County, confirmed that his office was aware of a large influx of IDPs into Bor from Pibor.  “We had a meeting today with different partners and they are all willing to support, so hopefully by Monday there will be a tangible support from different agencies,” Ajak told South Sudan in Focus. “I am appealing to the agencies to speed up with assistance because these people are in need.” They arrived in Bor, he said, with “nothing in hand.” Ajak also asked Jonglei state officials to provide security to the IDPs as their numbers continue to increase in Bor County. 
…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said he would hold a summit with the leaders of Russia, France and Germany on March 5 to discuss the situation in Syria’s last rebel enclave of Idlib.”We will come together on March 5 and discuss these issues,” Erdogan said in a televised speech, following a phone call on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his tele-conference with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.The Turkish leader did not say where the summit would be held but his announcement comes a day after Macron and Merkel called for a four-party Syria summit also involving the Russian leader.  A months-long offensive by Russia-backed Syrian troops against rebels backed by Turkey in northwest Idlib has seen close to one million civilians flee the violence.The two European Union heavyweights on Friday “expressed their willingness to meet President Putin and Turkish President Erdogan to find a political solution to the crisis,” the chancellor’s office said.Russia on Wednesday objected to the U.N. Security Council adopting a statement that would have called for a cease-fire in Idlib, diplomats said, after a tense closed-door meeting.Turkey, which has threatened an “imminent” operation in Idlib after its troops have come under intense fire from regime forces, has given Damascus until the end of this month to drive back its army positions.Syrian regime fire has killed 17 Turkish personnel this month alone, sparking a war of words between Ankara and Moscow, a key Damascus ally.
 
…

Iranian media is saying that preliminary results of Friday’s parliamentary election are showing conservatives winning 70% of the 290-seat chamber, with independents taking about 20%, and reformists just 10%. Many observers, however, are pointing to extremely low turnout in most parts of the country.
                         
Amateur video broadcast by Arab and Iranian media showed several men outside an Iranian polling station, claiming that electoral officials had “stolen” Friday’s parliamentary election.  VOA could not independently confirm the claim, but dozens of video reports by citizen journalists on social media appeared to show extremely low turnout at many polling stations.There were some reports on social media that turnout was so low, Iranian electoral officials had decided not to announce the exact turnout, region by region, but instead would give the total turnout for the entire country.Despite the apparently low turnout, Iranian media continued to show video of President Hassan Rouhani asserting that [Friday’s election] was “a glorious event in the history of the country and of the [1979 Islamic] revolution.” He added that polling stations across the country were linked online, and that he was impressed by the Interior Ministry’s electoral “nerve center.”Iran’s Fars news agency quoted Abbas Ali Khadkhodai, spokesman for the Guardian Council that supervised the election, as thanking the “thousands of members of the council’s observer network across the country” for making sure that the election was “sound and that people’s votes were in good hands.”Poll workers carry ballot boxes after voting in parliamentary elections ended, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 22, 2020. (via Wana News Agency)Photos on social media, however, showed electoral officials at a number of polling stations emptying ballot boxes on the floor and appearing to count them manually.Former Iranian president Abolhassan Bani Sadr told VOA that according to reports he’s seen, more than 80% of Iranians boycotted the election, and that the government did not expect such a strong reaction from the public.He said the government is still insisting turnout was high, though the figures they publish show the reality. In the city of Khorramshahr, he noted, authorities are claiming that 47,000 people voted, but they’re also saying that the winner received only 9,000 votes. That probably means only about 17,000 people voted and they multiplied the real figure by a factor of at least three.Iran’s parliamentary election also appears to coincide with a public scare over a coronavirus outbreak in several cities, including Qom. Social media is reporting one top Tehran municipal official had come down with the virus and was seen Friday shaking hands with other officials and voters.Arab news channels for the most part ridiculed Iran’s election, and one Lebanese TV station joked that the “only thing Iran does well, is to spread the coronavirus.” 
…

A first group of 76 Ethiopian refugees have voluntarily returned home from Kenya’s sprawling Kakuma camp this week. The U.N. refugee agency, which has organized this voluntary repatriation operation with the support of the U.N. Migration Agency, says it expects to help thousands more to return to the homes they fled many years ago.The majority of refugees who have returned are from Ethiopia’s Somali region.  Many have been living in exile for up to 12 years. The U.N. refugee agency reports more than half of those returning in this first transport were women and children, including some who have been born and reared in the Kakuma refugee camp.UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told VOA the refugees have fled persecution and instability in their country. But conditions have changed. She said an increasing number of Ethiopian refugees have been asking the agency for help to voluntarily return home. She noted that for the refugees being able to return home after years in exile is a momentous occasion”It means that conditions have changed and that you are ready to go back home and return back to your country, to your communities. So, it is quite a big occasion. It is very significant. We know that there are many protracted refugee crises where many refugees do not have the chance to be able to return.  So, this is something — a very big milestone for these refugees.”   Mantoo added that the UNHCR expects to repatriate more than 4,000 other Ethiopian refugees from Kenya and 500 from Djibouti this year. She attributed the surge in the numbers of those wishing to return home voluntarily to recent reforms in Ethiopia, which have improved the human rights and political situation in the country.The UNHCR is providing the returnees with travel money to get them back home after they arrive in Ethiopia.  They also will receive cash assistance to help them reintegrate into their home communities. 
…

The head of the World Health Organization says he fears the increase in the number of cases of coronavirus in Iran could be a signal of worse things to come.  Iran has reported 18 cases, including at least five deaths in the past two days.The number of cases and deaths reported in Iran still pales in comparison to that recorded in China.  But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed concern about the number of cases in countries outside of China that have no clear epidemiological link, such as travel to China.”There is a case which is linked to Iran now in Lebanon.  This is a 45-year old woman.  And, those [cases] are actually very concerning.  Take them as trends. So, what I believe is the window of opportunity [for containment] is still there. But … our window of opportunity is narrowing.”  Tedros urged countries to act now to contain the coronavirus, before the window of opportunity closes. Currently, some 30 countries report cases of the virus, and at least 18 people outside China have died.  South Korea has the largest cluster of confirmed cases outside China.Tedros said this is no time for pessimism, but for action.  He said the WHO is coordinating a global response that can defeat this disease.”The measures China and other countries have taken have given us a fighting chance of containing the spread of the virus… We must not look back and regret that we failed to take advantage of the window of opportunity that we have now,” Tedros said.The WHO chief spoke in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, attending an emergency meeting on COVID-19.  It is organized by the African Union and the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  The WHO is working to try to prevent COVID-19 from gaining a foothold in the developing world. It is focusing efforts on strengthening fragile health systems on the African continent and other vulnerable regions.Egypt is the only African country with a confirmed case of coronavirus. The WHO reports suspected cases of COVID-19 in several other African countries have been tested and proved to be negative. 
…

Mexico extradited the son of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel to face drug charges in the United States, leading to fears his powerful gang may retaliate.Ruben Oseguera was handed over to U.S. authorities Thursday after he lost a long legal fight against extradition, Mexico’s top security official, Alfonso Durazo, said Friday.The U.S. Department of Justice said Oseguera will appear in a federal court in Washington Friday to answer a drug-distribution indictment.Oseguera is known as “El Menchito,” after his father, Nemesio Oseguera, alias “El Mencho.” The younger Oseguera was born in California and holds dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship. He was arrested in 2015 on weapons possession and organized crime charges, and had been fighting extradition.The Jalisco cartel is currently Mexico’s most violent and fastest-growing gang.Embassy warningThe move appeared to spark fears of retaliation.The U.S. Embassy issued a security alert saying “following previous high-profile security operations, criminal groups operating in Jalisco have responded by taking retaliatory actions including an increase in anti-government rhetoric (banners and internet threats) and blockades inside the city and on interstate highways.”“On some occasions, these criminals have seized private vehicles and set them on fire,” according to the alert.Durazo said Mexico had tried to extradite Oseguera before but “in fact, the process was a long one because of several legal appeals” filed by his lawyers, the last of which was rejected Wednesday.Victor Francisco Beltran, Oseguera’s Mexican lawyer, denied he was the son of Nemesio Osegura, suggesting he was instead a nephew.Beltran said the extradition shouldn’t have happened, because the younger Oseguera still had pending appeals.Fugitive fatherThe elder Oseguera remains a fugitive, despite the 2018 arrest of his wife.The U.S. has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the elder Oseguera.Jalisco New Generation has a reputation for battling with government agents. It brazenly shot down a Mexican military helicopter with a rocket launcher in 2015, prompting Mexican officials to declare an all-out offensive against the criminal group.
…

The United Nations reported Saturday the conflict in Afghanistan killed more than 3,400 civilians and injured nearly 7,000 others in 2019.The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) blamed the Taliban, Islamic State and other militant groups for causing 49% of the deaths, saying pro-government forces, including the U.S.-led coalition, were responsible for 43% deaths. The rest were caught in crossfire and other conflict-related incidents.The report came as a seven-day mutually agreed reduced fighting truce went into effect Saturday to pave the way for the United States to sign a peace agreement with the Taliban on February 29, with the aim of ending the 18-year-old Afghan war, America’s longest.UNAMA noted in its report the number of civilians killed or injured in conflict-related incidents in Afghanistan in the last 10 years alone surpassed a “grim milestone” of more than 100,000 casualties.“Almost no civilian in Afghanistan has escaped being personally affected in some way by the ongoing violence,” said UNAMA chief Tadamichi Yamamoto.“It is absolutely imperative for all parties to seize the moment to stop the fighting, as peace is long overdue; civilian lives must be protected and efforts for peace are underway,” he stressed.The signing of the U.S.-Taliban agreement this coming Saturday in Qatar will be witnessed by international dignitaries. It would set the stage for a gradual withdrawal of roughly 13,000 American troops from the country and open peace talks between Afghan parties to the conflict to agree on a permanent nationwide ceasefire and power-sharing in postwar Afghanistan.
…