World

Beijing said Tuesday it was “shocked” by a deadly attack on a Kabul hotel popular with Chinese business visitors, adding that five of its nationals were wounded.

The Taliban claim to have improved security since storming back to power in August last year but there have been scores of bomb blasts and attacks, many like this one claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State group. 

“This terror attack is abominable and China is deeply shocked,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in Beijing.

“As far as we know, five Chinese citizens were injured in the terrorist attack, and several Afghan military and police were also killed.”

The Taliban’s chief spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, however, said Monday only three attackers were killed in the raid on the Kabul Longan Hotel. Two foreigners were hurt escaping from the building, he said.

Mujahid told AFP Tuesday “a few other” injuries may have since been reported. 

The Italian non-governmental organisation Emergency NGO, which operates a hospital just one kilometre from the blast site, said Monday they had received 21 casualties, including three people dead on arrival.

Taliban casualty figures following such incidents are usually lower than those reported by hospitals and other independent sources.

On Tuesday, the hotel facade was blackened by fire that erupted during the attack and windows of the 10-storey building had also been blown out.

“I heard the sound of a loud explosion and shots. Of course everyone was scared,” said a vendor in an adjacent street, asking not to be identified.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Monday’s attack, issuing photos of two men it said were the perpetrators.

It also claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing outside the Russian embassy in September that killed two staff, as well as an attack on Pakistan’s mission this month that Islamabad decried as an assassination attempt against the ambassador.

No country has recognised Afghanistan’s Taliban government but China, Russia, and Pakistan are among a handful that have maintained their embassies in Kabul.

“This looks like (at least in part) a campaign to dent the efforts of the Taliban, IS-K’s rival, to gain legitimacy both at home and abroad,” tweeted Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center think tank.

China, Pakistan, and Russia were expected to base decisions about international recognition on security rather than the Taliban’s human rights record, he said.

In Beijing, Wang reminded Chinese nationals that foreign ministry advice was to evacuate from Afghanistan as soon as possible.

Chinese business visitors have flocked to the country since the Taliban’s return in pursuit of high-risk but potentially lucrative business deals.

China shares a rugged 76-kilometre (47-mile) border with Afghanistan and it has long feared Afghanistan could become a staging point for minority Uyghur separatists in China’s sensitive border region of Xinjiang.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said Ukraine needed emergency aid for its energy sector totalling around 800 million euros to help his country survive Russia’s bombing of its civilian infrastructure.

Failing to make an impact on the battlefield in its invasion, Moscow has switched tactics since October when it began airstrikes targeting Ukraine’s energy network, plunging millions into cold and darkness at the onset of winter.

The alarm over Ukraine’s ability to cope comes nine months into the Russian assault against its neighbour, which has seen Moscow make only slight territorial gains in the face of fierce Ukrainian resistance.

Zelensky made the request for 800 million euros at international conference in Paris designed to raise material and money to repair Ukraine’s damaged infrastructure.

It is hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron with whom he has sometimes had testy ties.

“Of course it is a very high amount, but the cost is less than the cost of a potential blackout,” Zelensky told the gathering in Paris via video link.

“I hope that decisions will be made accordingly.”

Zelensky said that Ukraine needed transformers, equipment to repair damaged high-voltage power lines, as well as generators and gas turbines. 

“Because of the destruction of our power plants by terror attacks we will need to use more gas this winter than expected,” added Zelensky, whose wife Olena attended the conference in person.

Zelensky urged G7 nations on Monday to provide “about two billion cubic metres” of additional gas to get through the winter as well as more tanks and missiles to fight the invasion.

– Russia wants ‘darkness’ –

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal also appealed for help from the 70 states and international agencies gathered in Paris for the “Standing with the Ukrainian People” conference.

“They (Russians) want to put us into darkness and it will fail, thanks to our partners all over the world,” he added.

Shmygal also said Tuesday that the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA had agreed to dispatch permanent teams to the country’s nuclear plants, including the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia plant, a hotspot of fighting.

The prime minister said after a meeting with IAEA chief Rafael Grossi that teams would deploy to plants at Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, Pivdennoukrainska and Chernobyl without specifying a timeframe.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko told AFP ahead of the conference that Russia’s war against Ukraine “completely changes our understanding of nuclear security”.

Macron said the focus in Paris was on providing short-term assistance given Russia’s attempts to “sow terror” in Ukraine by “cowardly” bombing the country’s infrastructure.

“Very concretely, these are commitments to deliver generators, help repair infrastructure, deliver LEDs (light-emitting diodes) for lighting,” he said.

Macron has riled his Ukrainian allies in the past, most notably in June when he said “we must not humiliate Russia”.

Macron called for Russia to be offered “security guarantees” at the end of the war during an interview on December 3, drawing criticism from some Ukrainian and eastern European politicians that he was focusing on diplomatic compromises with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

But in a call at the weekend, he “reminded President Zelensky that Ukraine can count on France’s support for as long as is required to fully re-establish its sovereignty and national integrity,” the French presidency said.

UN chief Antonio Guterres will also make an address remotely to attendees, which include ambassadors from some Gulf states, as well as India and Indonesia.

China has not sent a representative.

– No Putin presser –

French organisers have stressed that the meeting is different from other recent international gatherings in Lugano, Warsaw or Berlin dedicated to long-term reconstruction.

Instead, they hope donors will pledge help from engineering expertise to generators and spare parts to carry out repairs on the energy grid.

One key outcome will be developing a new platform, agreed by G7 leaders Monday, that will enable donors to see Ukraine’s needs and coordinate their aid.

In Russia meanwhile, the Kremlin has announced that Putin will not hold his annual end-of-year press conference this year, a break with tradition amid the military setbacks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave no reason for not holding the event which Putin has hosted almost every year he has been in power since 2000.

Elsewhere, Belarus held a surprise inspection of its armed forces Tuesday, raising fears of a possible escalation in the conflict.

Belarus is a close ally of Moscow but Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly said he does not plan to send Belarusian troops to Ukraine.

The European Parliament took a first step Tuesday in efforts to restore its credibility, amid allegations of corruption linked to World Cup host Qatar, moving to ditch one of its own vice presidents.

At the same time, in a first reaction since she was charged in a Belgian anti-graft probe, Greek socialist MEP Eva Kaili’s lawyer declared that she was innocent and “has nothing to do with Qatar’s bribes”.

But, as the 44-year-old former TV news presenter waited in a Brussels jail cell, her colleagues in the Strasbourg parliament were to vote to strip her of her vice president’s role.

The parliament’s president, Maltese conservative Roberta Metsola, convened the leaders of political groups before calling on MEPs to vote “on the early termination of office of Vice President Eva Kaili”.

Kaili’s fellow MEPs are scrambling to distance themselves from her.

On Wednesday a Belgian judge will decide whether to maintain her and three co-accused in custody pending her trial.

She was arrested last week during a series of raids on the homes and offices of several MEPs and their assistants or associates carried out by Belgian graft investigators.

– Bags of cash-

Belgian prosecutors said 600,000 euros ($630,000) were found at the home of one suspect, 150,000 euros at the flat of an MEP and several hundred thousand euros in a suitcase in a hotel room. 

Some of these “bags of cash” were found in Kaili’s home, a judicial source said, leading a judge to conclude that, as she had apparently been caught red-handed her parliamentary immunity would not apply.

A Belgian judicial source told AFP that investigators believe that figures representing Gulf monarchy Qatar had been paying off European politicians to burnish the country’s image.

Qatar is a key energy supplier to Europe. But it has also been criticised for the alleged mistreatment of migrant workers, most notoriously those who built the World Cup stadiums. 

Kaili visited Qatar just before the competition and called it a “front-runner in labour rights”. She has also defended Qatar’s quest to win EU visa waivers for its citizens.

Qatar has denied any involvement in European corruption. “Any claims of misconduct by the State of Qatar are gravely misinformed,” an official told AFP.

Kaili’s lawyer Michalis Dimitrakopoulos told private Greek television channel Open TV: “Her position is she is innocent. She has nothing to do with Qatar’s bribes.”

Asked if any cash was found at Kaili’s home, Dimitrakopoulos said: “I am not confirming or denying. There is confidentiality. I have no idea if money was found or how much was found.”

But Brussels has been rocked by the claims, and Metsola, defending the integrity of the parliament, has sought to portray the alleged bribes as an assault on democracy.

Some MEPs braced for more revelations. “I’m fearful that what we’re seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg,” warned German social democrat Rene Repasi. 

Metsola also promised to send Qatar’s EU visa waiver bid back to a parliamentary committee for further scrutiny, delaying or derailing the measure.

– Further allegations –

Kaili was one of six people arrested in the Belgian police raids. Four have been charged with “criminal organisation, corruption and money laundering” and two released.

One of those released was Luca Visentini, the general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, a global labour body that has pushed Qatar on labour rights. 

“Should any further allegations be made, I look forward to the opportunity to refute them, as I am innocent of any wrongdoing,” he said in an ITUC statement.

The European Parliament was to vote on sacking Kaili from her vice president post later Tuesday and the measure was expected to receive the required two-thirds majority.

A second text, calling for more transparency to deter corruption in European institutions, will go to a vote on Thursday. 

South African MPs on Tuesday prepared to debate whether to initiate proceedings that could force out President Cyril Ramaphosa over allegations he concealed a huge cash theft at his farm.

Ramaphosa — championed as a graft-busting saviour after corruption-stained predecessor Jacob Zuma — is counting on support from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party, which has been further divided by the scandal.

An extraordinary parliamentary session opening in Cape Town at 1200 GMT will discuss the findings of an independent panel which said Ramaphosa may be guilty of serious violations and misconduct.

Lawmakers are called to decide in an open vote, by simple majority, whether to launch an impeachment investigation against Ramaphosa — a lengthy probe that could lead to his removal from office.

The 70-year-old president seems likely to survive the day, although analysts predicted the debate could be long and bitter.

Last week, he secured the renewed backing of the ANC, which holds 230 of the National Assembly’s 400 seats, after mounting a legal bid to have the damning report annulled. 

“We are going to use our numbers as ANC… because we cannot be dictated to by a panel that has not been objective,” Communications Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni told reporters before entering parliament.

“We are not going to be bullied by anyone,” she said.  

– Toe the line? –

Political analyst Ongama Mtimka from the Nelson Mandela University predicted ANC MPs would toe the party line ahead of a crunch meeting this Friday, when they hold a five-yearly conference to elect new leaders.

The ANC conference “presents the members with a chance to make a change at a party level, where it matters the most,” said Mtimka.

Yet others believe there might be room for surprises, as the scandal has deepened rifts within the deeply factionalised ANC.

Its national executive vowed last week to vote down any attempt to force Ramaphosa from office. 

That decision upset some, who said the executive had forced their hand. 

Ramaphosa’s graft-tainted predecessor Zuma survived several no-confidence motions during his tenure, before his own party forced him to resign in 2018.

Opposition parties are presenting a largely united front on the issue. 

John Steenhuisen, leader of the largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said the ANC cannot be allowed to use “the tyranny of their majority to protect a president from scrutiny”.

It is likely to be “a very heated and long procedure,” said analyst Daniel Silke. 

– Scrutiny –

Ramaphosa, who will not be in parliament on Tuesday, kicked off his day in the capital Pretoria, presiding under pouring rain at a police graduation ceremony.

Were the opposition to have its way, Ramaphosa would face the prospect of having the affair further scrutinised by parliament in a year that leads to general elections in 2024.

An impeachment vote itself would need the support of a two-thirds majority of MPs to succeed.

The president, who was a wealthy businessman before entering politics, found himself in hot water in June when South Africa’s former spy boss filed a complaint against him to the police.

Arthur Fraser alleged Ramaphosa had concealed the theft of several million dollars from his luxury farm in 2020.

He accused the president of having the burglars kidnapped and bribed into silence instead of reporting the matter to the authorities. 

A police inquiry is ongoing. Ramaphosa has not been charged with any crime and has denied wrongdoing. 

The findings of the three-person special probe, issued last week, brought forward details that have left South Africa agog.

Ramaphosa acknowledged the theft of $580,000 in cash that was stashed under sofa cushions at his farm — a safer place, his employees said, than the office safe.

He said the money was payment for buffaloes bought by a Sudanese businessman, who recently confirmed the transaction in interviews with British media.

The huge amount of greenback cash has raised questions about declaration of foreign currency and tax concerns.