Moldovan Parliament backs bid to join EU, but divisions remain
Chisinau, Moldova Reuters Moldova’s Parliament this week endorsed an appeal to press on with a drive to join the European Union, but the opposition walked out of the vote and separatists in the Transdniestria region urged authorities to drop their claim to the enclave. President Maia Sandu, who says Russia is the biggest threat to […]
Moldovan negotiator rules out Moscow role in solving separatist issue
Chisinau Reuters Moldova’s top negotiator in resolving the three-decade-old dispute with its pro-Russian Transdniestria separatist enclave on Sunday ruled out any role for Russia in finding a solution as long as it was engaged in its war in Ukraine. Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Serebrian made his comments on national radio as Moldova’s pro-European government pressed […]
Mali junta eyes new peace talks after ending accord with separatists
Bamako, Mali Reuters Mali’s junta on Friday issued a decree to establish a committee to organise national peace and reconciliation talks, a day after it ended a 2015 peace deal with Tuareg separatist rebels and accused mediator Algeria of interfering in its affairs. The decision to end the so-called Algiers accord threatens to further destabilise […]
Moldova says latest talks with separatists “difficult”
Chisinau, Moldova Reuters A senior official of Moldova’s pro-European government said on Wednesday that his latest talks with the pro-Russian separatist Transdniestria region had been “quite difficult” as tension rises in the three-decade-old standoff. The region split from Moldova before the collapse of Soviet rule and fought a brief war against the newly independent state […]
Tens of thousands protest against possible Catalan amnesty deal
Barcelona, SpainReuters Waving Spanish and Catalan flags, tens of thousands of people marched through Barcelona on Sunday to protest against a potential amnesty deal which Spain’s Socialists must strike over Catalonia’s 2017 separatist bid if they want to form a government. The protest, organised by the anti-separatist organisation Societat Civil Catalana, took place five days […]
Ukraine separatists ask for Russia’s help as Kyiv drafts men
Kyiv/Donetsk, UkraineReuters Separatists in Ukraine asked for Russian help to repel “aggression” on Wednesday and Kyiv announced compulsory military service and a state of emergency as the West slapped more sanctions on Moscow in a bid to stop an all-out invasion. In one of the worst post-Cold War security crises in Europe for decades, convoys […]
Updated: Putin oversees nuclear drills, US says Russian forces “poised to strike” Ukraine
Updated: 10.45 (AEDT)Moscow, RussiaReuters Russia’s strategic nuclear forces held exercises overseen by President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, and Washington accused Russian troops massed near Ukraine’s border of advancing and being “poised to strike”. With Western fears of war rising, the White House said US President Joe Biden’s national security team told him they still believed […]
Rebels evacuate residents from east Ukraine; West says Russia creates pretext for war
Moscow, Russia/Kyiv, Ukraine/Donetsk, UkraineReuters Russian-backed separatists packed civilians onto buses out of breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine on Friday, a shock turn in a conflict the West believes Moscow plans to use as justification for all-out invasion of its neighbour. Warning sirens blared in Donetsk after it and the other self-proclaimed region, Luhansk, announced an […]
“Never turning back”, Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville separatists expect vote for independence
Buka, Papua New GuineaReuters Twenty years after combatants snapped arrows to signal the end of hostilities in the Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville, voters will on Saturday cast ballots in a long-awaited independence referendum. Prominent separatists say the independence movement cannot be stopped. “Bougainville is never turning back because we paid a very high […]
CAMEROON: SEPARATIST CONFLICT TRAPS GIRLS IN SEX AND SERVITUDE
A report from the Thomson Reuters Foundation looks at the plight of girls in the midst of Cameroon’s conflict…