World

The US Justice Department ordered the seizure Monday of two aircraft owned by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, saying they had been used in violation of sanctions on Russia imposed over its invasion of Ukraine.

The department said in court filings that the two aircraft, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner and Gulfstream G650ER executive jet, had been flown into Russian territory earlier this year in violation of US export controls set for US-made aircraft on March 2.

The department’s move targets one of the wealthiest Russian billionaires, who has already been forced to sell Chelsea Football Club in the wake of Moscow’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

It aims to incentivize people close to the Russian government “to distance themselves from the Kremlin and from the Russian state as it continues to ramp up the war,” said Andrew Adams, director of the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force.

Both aircraft, which the Justice Department valued at $400 million, are believed to be out of reach of US officials — in Russia and, for the Boeing, possibly in Dubai, according to media reports.

“We will take active steps to pursue seizure, and we’ll keep an eye out to see if they move jurisdictions,” said Adams.

The seizure order outlined how Abramovich controls the two aircraft through a series of shell companies, centered on the Cyprus-registered Europe Settlement Trust.

Abramovich in February made his children, all Russian citizens, beneficiaries of the trust, according to the order.

– Not sanctioned by US –

Abramovich, 55, built a fortune estimated by Bloomberg at $12.5 billion on oil, steel, aluminum and other industries, maintaining close relationships with top Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin.

Holding Russian and Israeli citizenship, as well as reportedly Portuguese, he is believed to have moved much of his wealth outside of Russia, but he retains substantial interests inside the country.

Since the Ukraine war began, he has been hit with sanctions in Europe.

The island of Jersey, a British crown dependency, announced on April 13 that it had frozen more than $7 billion in assets believed to be linked to Abramovich.

But unlike many fellow Russian tycoons, Abramovich has not been placed on US sanctions lists.

According to reports, he has avoided the seizures by European authorities of his 162-meter (500-foot) yacht Eclipse and the 140-meter Solaris by moving them into Turkish waters.

In parallel with the aircraft seizure order, the US Commerce department issued a letter charging Abramovich with knowingly violating US restrictions that seek to block specific technologies and goods from being exported to Russia.

The charges can bring financial penalties of up to double the value of the “export” transaction, the Commerce letter said, suggesting they could seek more than the value of the aircraft in fines.

The Dominican Republic’s environment minister, Orlando Jorge Mera, was shot dead during a meeting on Monday by a businessman and longtime friend, who has been taken into custody, the government said.

A lawyer and politician, the 55-year-old Jorge Mera was the son of former president Salvador Jorge Blanco (1982-86), and had headed the environment ministry since mid-2020.

“The information we have at the moment indicates that this morning the environment minister lost his life after he was attacked with a firearm in his office,” said Homero Figueroa, the spokesman for the presidency.

“Miguel Cruz, who has been identified as the shooter, was a personal friend of the dead minister,” he said.

Figueroa said the suspect was in police custody and his motive was “under investigation.”

The alleged shooter used his friendship with the victim to gain access to a secure area where Jorge Mera was holding a regular meeting with his deputies, ministry sources told AFP.

According to a statement from Jorge Mera’s family, Cruz was “a childhood friend whom he received in his office.” 

According to sources close to the investigation, Cruz and Jorge Mera had found themselves at loggerheads over environmental policy.

Jorge Mera had promised upon taking office in 2020 to work for the “responsible” use of natural resources, to protect ecosystems and slash pollution.

In a March interview with El Caribe and CDN, the minister said he had reported to the judiciary 2,300 cases of environmental permit violations, illegal cutting of trees and damage to mangroves.

Among those affected were active and retired military, police and business people.

The Acento website said seven gunshots were heard and shortly afterwards a heavily armed elite police unit entered the ministry.

Police did not immediately comment on the incident.

President Luis Abinader declared himself “deeply saddened” by the minister’s death, offering his condolences to the victims’ wife and children, while the environment ministry said it was “dismayed” by the attack.

Jorge Mera, who formed the Modern Revolutionary Party alongside Abinader, was president of the Dominican telecommunications institute from 2000 to 2004.

A lawyer, he had also worked as a television producer and presenter.

He came from a political family. His sister Dilia Jorge Mera is a deputy minister, his son Orlando Jorge Villegas is a legislator and his widow Patricia Villegas is the ambassador to Brazil.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave support Monday to reports that Russia has stolen grain from Ukraine for resale, even as Moscow blocks the country from exporting its own corn.

“There are credible reports… that Russia is pilfering Ukraine’s grain exports to sell for its own profit,” Blinken said at a State Department conference on food security issues arising from the invasion of Ukraine.

“Now, Russia is hoarding its food exports as well,” Blinken added, outlining the reasons for the sharp surge in global prices for wheat and other grains, and looming shortages.

The war “is having a devastating impact on global food security because Ukraine is one of the breadbaskets of the world,” Blinken said. 

The New York Times reported Monday that a number of freight vessels have departed Russia-controlled ports with what US officials have described as “stolen Ukrainian grain.”

It said that the United States has alerted 14 countries, mostly in Africa, about the shipments, as many of them are dependent on grain imports and already face severely constrained supplies. 

Blinken said the Russian navy has blocked grain carriers from leaving the Black Sea port of Odessa, in an effort to “blackmail” the world into supporting Moscow’s war.

“Right now a Russian naval blockade in the Black Sea is preventing Ukraine’s crops from being shipped to their normal destinations,” he said.

“There is somewhere around 20 million tonnes of wheat that is trapped in silos near Odessa, and in ships literally filled with grain that are stuck in the Odessa port because of this Russian blockade.”

Blinken said it was a deliberate strategy by Russian President Vladimir Putin to force the rest of the world “to give in to him,” and eliminate sanctions on russia.

“In other words, quite simply put, it’s blackmail,” Blinken said.

President Joe Biden’s plans to reboot US engagement with Latin America — especially on critical topics like migration — took a major hit after key partner Mexico snubbed a regional summit opening Monday in Los Angeles to protest Washington’s exclusion of three far-left countries.

What was meant to be a week-long showcase of cooperation looks more likely to become a display of division that reflects diminishing clout over a region where long-time US economic and diplomatic influence faces a growing Chinese challenge.

Confirming it was not inviting Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela to the Summit of the Americas, a senior White House official cited “reservations regarding the lack of democratic space and the human rights situations.”

In response, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he would stay away.

“You cannot have a Summit of the Americas if you do not have all the countries of the Americas attending,” Lopez Obrador announced, complaining of US “hegemony” and “lack of respect for nations.”

Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will represent Mexico instead, but the leftist populist leader’s absence will diminish the impact of a summit where US-Mexico relations are at the heart of major immigration and trade issues.

The senior US official did not directly respond to Lopez Obrador’s boycott, saying only that “the United States recognizes and respects the position of allies in support of inclusive dialogue.” The official also said non-governmental representatives from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela would be present.

In Havana, the communist Cuban government issued a statement calling Biden’s decision “anti-democratic and arbitrary.”

Biden is expected to make announcements at the summit on economic cooperation and fighting Covid-19 and climate change, said Juan Gonzalez, the top White House adviser on Latin America.

The US president, who flies to Los Angeles on Wednesday, also hopes to secure an agreement to help regulate surges of migration from the region’s poorer and violent countries to the United States — a major concern for US voters and an area where Republican opponents see Biden as vulnerable in upcoming midterm elections.

– Playing down Mexico spat –

State Department spokesman Ned Price played down the seriousness of the spat with Lopez Obrador, saying “we understand his position” and that the US-Mexican relationship is “broad and deep.”

“Mexico is an important hemispheric player. We are very gratified that… Foreign Secretary Ebrard will be in attendance. We will have a number of opportunities to engage with our Mexican counterparts.”

The Biden administration also notes it has secured the presence of other key regional players, including Argentina’s left-leaning Alberto Fernandez and Brazil’s far-right Jair Bolsonaro.

Benjamin Gedan, who heads the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said Lopez Obrador’s absence would mark a “significant void” and said Mexico’s leader seemed more focused on domestic political gain.

The boycott has been “a really unfortunate subplot in the run-up to the summit because it has drained an enormous amount of US diplomatic energy for a bizarre cause celebre,” Gedan said.

Biden has crafted a positive agenda, avoiding simply summoning Latin American leaders to lecture them on democracy, corruption and China, he said.

But, he added, it was unclear whether Biden will bring substantial resources to the table, in contrast to China’s lavish infrastructure spending and trade privileges.

“I think, inevitably, the United States will disappoint,” Gedan said.

– ‘Progressively less ambitious’ –

The Summit of the Americas is the first held by the United States since the inaugural 1994 meeting in Miami, where then-US president Bill Clinton sought the creation of a trade area to cover the whole continent except communist Cuba.

The United States has since soured on free trade, with Biden following the lead of his predecessor Donald Trump, who said such pacts hurt US workers.

Trump championed a hard line on Venezuela and Cuba, and did not attend the last Summit of the Americas, in Peru in 2018. 

Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, recently told a congressional hearing that each summit has become “progressively less ambitious.”

Los Angeles, he said, “offers the perfect opportunity for Washington to announce a commitment to regional growth and recovery.”

Michael Shifter, a senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, said the drama over summit attendance showed Washington’s waning hold over the region as China muscles in.

The United States “still has a lot of soft power,” Shifter said. “As for political and diplomatic influence, it is diminishing by the day.”

At least 20 people have been killed in a new massacre in DR Congo’s eastern province of Ituri, a respected monitor said on Monday, adding that the notorious ADF militia were suspected.

The attack took place overnight in the village of Bwanasura in Irumu territory, the Kivu Security Tracker (KST) said on Twitter.

David Beiza, head of the Red Cross in Irumu, said volunteers from his organisation “have counted 36 bodies” at the site of the massacre.

Ituri and neighbouring North Kivu province are struggling with attacks by armed groups, many of them a legacy of wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s east.

KST said the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) — a group that the so-called Islamic State describes as its affiliate — was suspected to have been behind the killing.

Beiza said: “ADF rebels arrived around 8 pm. They moved calmly. Fortunately, many residents were able to flee.”

Dieudonne Malangay, a civil society leader in the district of Walese Vonkutu said the army was “late” in responding. “Bullets are still flying” in the area, he said.

On Monday, M23 rebels bombarded an army position at Bugusa in North Kivu’s Rutshuru territory killing two soldiers and wounding five, the military said in a statement.

The statement signed by the military governor’s spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge suggested Rwanda was supplying weapons to the rebels.

“The use of long-range artillery shows the support M23 receives from its natural ally,” the general said.

Fighting erupted in May between the army and the M23, a primarily Congolese Tutsi group. Kinshasa has repeatedly accused Kigali of backing the M23, although Rwanda has denied the charge.

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Sunday said he had “no doubt” about Rwanda’s support for the rebels, but that he hoped for better relations with Kigali.

The ADF has been blamed for massacres, kidnappings and looting dating back to 2013, with a death toll estimated in the thousands.

Ituri and North Kivu have been under a “state of siege” since May last year — a measure placing army chiefs in positions of authority to speed up efforts to improve security.

The ADF was also targeted in a joint operation launched last November by government and Ugandan forces following bomb attacks in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

The operation, which was due to end on May 31, has been extended by two months.

– ADF bloodshed –

Despite the crackdown, the ADF’s attacks have continued — experts in March said the group had moved further inland after coming under pressure at the border.

At least 1,300 civilians have died in Irumu and Beni in North Kivu since the “state of siege” was introduced, according to local elected officials.

In March, at least 30 people were killed by suspected rebels in North Kivu and more than 50 people died in a two-day assault on villages in Irumu.

In May, at least 42 people were killed in ADF-attributed attacks at Bulongo and Beu-Manyama in North Kivu.

The ADF is historically a Ugandan rebel coalition whose biggest group comprised Muslims opposed to President Yoweri Museveni.

Established in eastern DRC in 1995, the group became the deadliest of scores of outlawed forces in the deeply troubled region.

Since April 2019, some ADF attacks in eastern DRC have been claimed by the Islamic State, which describes the group as its local offshoot, the Islamic State Central Africa Province.

The United States last year placed the ADF on its list of “terrorist” organisations linked to IS.

More than 120 armed groups roam eastern DRC.

Ituri is also suffering from ethnic attacks led by CODECO militia, which claims to represent the Lendu community against the rival Hema group and the security forces.

Gunmen using explosives killed at least 21 people, including children, in an attack on a Catholic church in southwest Nigeria on Sunday in violence that drew widespread international condemnation.

The bloodshed at St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Owo town during a service was a rare assault in Nigeria’s usually safer southwest and shocked a country grown used to jihadist attacks and mass kidnappings in the north.

Blood still stained the church floor and debris lay scattered around a day after the attack that Ondo State governor’s office said killed at least 21 people.

Gunmen hid among the worshippers inside the church and also opened fire on the congregation through the windows from outside.

“Investigations revealed that some of the gunmen disguised as congregants, while other armed men who had positioned themselves around the church premises from different directions, fired into the church,” the police statement said.

Fragments of explosives and three unexploded improvised devices were found at the scene.

Richard Olatunde, spokesman for the Ondo State governor’s office, told AFP 21 people died after gunmen detonated dynamite inside the church before opening fire.

National Emergency Management Agency local representative Olanrewaju Kadiri said 22 people were killed, including several children, with another 40 people wounded.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack and the motives were not immediately clear.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo arrived on Monday to visit some of the wounded in Owo where he said perpetrators “will pay for this heinous” attack.

Survivors described panic as worshippers fled a sudden outburst of gunshots.

“I ran back to the church and I saw my two children and we brought them here to the federal medical centre,” Nzeadu Paulinus, a local resident who was away from the church when the shooting started and whose two children were wounded.

“I saw so many people who were wounded, and the dead.”

One witness told AFP he saw at least five gunmen on the church premises.

“I was passing through the area when I heard a loud explosion and gunshots inside the church,” the witness, who gave his name as Abayomi, told AFP.

The state government declared a seven-day mourning period for the victims, and ordered the national flag to be flown at half-mast in Ondo.

– Jihadists, gangs –

Pope Francis was “deeply saddened” by the “horrible attack”, his number two, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin wrote in a telegram to the bishop of Ondo.

The pope assures “all those who are affected by this unspeakable act of violence of his spiritual closeness”, he said.

President Muhammadu Buhari condemned Sunday’s “heinous killing of worshippers”, while the UN Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, spoke of a “barbaric terrorist attack”.

Nigeria’s military is fighting a 12-year-long jihadist insurgency in the northeast and heavily armed criminal gangs often carry out looting raids and mass kidnappings in the northwest and north-central parts.

But large-scale attacks in Nigeria’s southwest are relatively rare, although kidnappings for ransom have become increasingly common.

Boko Haram jihadists in the northeast have targeted churches in the past. Nigeria’s jihadist conflict has killed 40,000 and displaced two million more in the northeast.

The attack came a day before the ruling APC party started primaries for its candidate in the 2023 election to replace Buhari, a former army commander who steps down after two terms in office.

Security will be a major challenge for whoever wins the race to govern Africa’s most populous country and the continent’s largest economy.

As well as jihadists and criminal gangs known locally as bandits, Nigeria’s security forces are also dealing with separatist agitation in the southeast.