World

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson on Wednesday announced that she would resign after an unprecedented right-wing and far-right bloc narrowly won Sunday’s election.

Out of the Swedish parliament’s 349 seats, the right-wing opposition was set to win 176, thanks in part to a surge by far-right Sweden Democrats (SD), with over 99 percent of districts counted.

Speaking at a press conference, Andersson, Social Democrats party leader, noted that it was a “narrow majority, but a majority nonetheless.

“So tomorrow I will hand in my resignation as prime minister, and the responsibility for the continued process will go to the speaker,” Andersson said.

Sunday’s elections were so close that tens of thousands of votes from abroad and those cast in advance had to be counted to validate the results.

– ‘Making Sweden great again’ –

Never before has a Swedish government relied on the support of the anti-immigration and nationalist SD, who became the big winners of the vote, by gaining more than three percentage points.

With 20.6 percent of votes counted so far the party emerged as Sweden’s second largest party behind the Social Democrats, which have dominated Swedish politics since the 1930s.

However, the post of Prime Minister will in all likelihood go to the leader of the Moderate Party, Ulf Kristersson, as SD leader Jimmie Akesson is unable to unite all four parties to head the government.

“I now begin the work of forming a new and strong government,” Kristersson said in a video posted to Facebook.

Kristersson, a former gymnast, led a major U-turn for his party when initiating exploratory talks in 2019 with the Sweden Democrats and then deepening their cooperation.

The Christian Democrats, and to a lesser extent the Liberals, later followed suit.

At the same time the thorny question remains of whether the far-right would be given cabinet posts, which Akesson said late Sunday was their “goal”.

In a post to Facebook on Wednesday, Akesson thanked “friends of Sweden”, around the country.

“Now the work begins of making Sweden great again,” the party leader said.

The Sweden Democrats rose up out of neo-Nazi groups and the “Keep Sweden Swedish” movement in the early 1990s, entering parliament in 2010 with 5.7 percent of votes.

– Difficult situation –

Long shunned as “pariahs” on the political scene, the party has registered strong growth in each subsequent election as it made efforts to clean up its image.

Its hardline stance on soaring gang shootings and integration set the tone in this year’s election.

The narrow majority also means a right-wing government’s hold on power would be very fragile, with the four parties fiercely opposed on a number of issues, especially the Liberals and Sweden Democrats.

“This is a difficult parliamentary situation”, Gothenburg University political scientist Mikael Gilljam told AFP.

“And then you have parties that don’t like each other, the Sweden Democrats and the Liberals” in the same right-wing bloc, he added.

In such a situation, a few disgruntled MPs could end up flipping the balance of power.

Behind the SD with 73 seats, 11 more than in the last elections in 2018, the Moderates have 68 seats (-2), while the Christian Democrats have 19 (-3) and the Liberals 16 (-4). 

On the left, the Social Democrats climbed to 107 seats (+7) thanks to the managing to get 30.4 percent of the vote, ahead of the Left and Centre party (24 seats each) and the Green Party (18).

Formally, the process of political changeover can only start after the announcement of Prime Minister Andersson’s resignation on Thursday. 

Then the speaker of the Riksdag, the Swedish Parliament, can give Ulf Kristersson the task of forming a majority between the four parties, opening a period of negotiations.

The election of the new head of government cannot take place before September 27 at the earliest, when parliament re-opens.

Ten people were killed in a second day of air strikes on Ethiopia’s Tigray region Wednesday, hospital officials said, in attacks that came after authorities there expressed readiness for a ceasefire.

Twin drone attacks hit a neighbourhood in Tigray’s capital Mekele at around 7:30 am (0430 GMT), killing 10 and injuring more than a dozen others, two officials from the biggest hospital in the war-torn region said.

The air raids follow an announcement by Tigrayan authorities on Sunday that they were ready for talks led by the African Union (AU) to end almost two years of brutal warfare in northern Ethiopia.

On Wednesday, the Ethiopian government said it was “committed” to the AU-led peace process following calls by the international community for the warring sides to seize the opportunity for peace.

“Death toll raised to 10,” Kibrom Gebreselassie, a senior official at Ayder Referral Hospital in Mekele, told AFP via text message. In a later statement, he said 14 people were injured.

Fasika Amdeslasie, a surgeon at the same hospital, confirmed the death toll, adding that the first bombing injured two women followed by a second strike “on the people gathered to help and see the victims”.

“Among the victims, a father was dead and his son is taken to surgery,” he said on Twitter.

AFP was not able to independently verify the claims. Access to northern Ethiopia is severely restricted and Tigray has been under a communications blackout for more than a year.

– Renewed combat –

The reported attack followed another drone strike on Tuesday on Mekele University, which Tigrayan authorities said caused injuries and property damage.

Dimtsi Weyane, a TV network run by Tigrayan authorities, said its station was also hit on Tuesday, forcing it off air and “causing heavy human and material damage”.

“The regime in #Addis continues to defy any possibility for peaceful solution through show of force & air raids,” Kindeya Gebrehiwot, a spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said on Twitter following Wednesday’s attacks.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has not commented on this week’s reported bombings, and AFP requests to officials were not answered.

Tigray has been bombed several times since fighting resumed in late August between government forces and their allies, and rebels led by the TPLF, which ruled Ethiopia for decades before Abiy took office in 2018.

The return to combat shattered a March truce and dashed hopes of peacefully resolving the war, which has killed untold numbers of civilians and triggered a humanitarian crisis in northern Ethiopia.

Both sides have accused the other of firing first, and fighting has spread from around southern Tigray to other fronts farther north and west, while also drawing in Eritrean troops who backed Ethiopian forces during the early phase of the war.

TPLF military boss Tadesse Worede on Tuesday said “Eritrean forces are in Sheraro”, a town in northwestern Tigray, where the rebels said they were resisting a major offensive by Ethiopian and Eritrean troops launched earlier this month.

– Diplomatic push –

Frantic diplomatic efforts are under way to end the war, with the new US envoy to the Horn of Africa, Mike Hammer, extending his visit to Ethiopia this month.

The offer by Tigrayan authorities to participate in AU-led talks removed an obstacle to negotiations with Abiy’s government, which had insisted the pan-Africa bloc based in Addis Ababa mediate any potential talks.

“The Ethiopian government is committed to the AU-led peace process and expressed hope that the EU would support efforts to end the conflict peacefully,” the foreign ministry quoted Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen as saying Wednesday at a meeting with a visiting EU envoy.

It was the first official comment by the government after the Tigrayan authorities said they were ready to negotiate.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, AU Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat, the East African bloc IGAD, and the European Union welcomed the offer by “the regional government of Tigray”.

Abiy’s government has declared the TPLF a terrorist group, and considers its claim to authority in Tigray illegitimate.

The UN human rights office has documented hundreds of civilian deaths from air strikes and drone attacks including on refugee camps, a hotel and a market.

It has warned that disproportionate attacks against non-military targets could amount to war crimes.

The government has accused the TPLF of staging civilian deaths from air strikes to manufacture outrage, and insists it only targets military sites.

Abiy, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, sent troops into Tigray in November 2020 to topple the TPLF in response to what he said were attacks on federal army camps.

But the TPLF recaptured most of Tigray in a surprise comeback in June 2021.

It then expanded into the neighbouring regions of Afar and Amhara before the fighting reached a stalemate.

After a long and patient wait in the sun and the rain, the first members of the public, some in tears, gained access to Queen Elizabeth II’s lying-in-state Wednesday in the thousand-year-old Westminster Hall.

The hall in parliament was opened for the public — many of whom had braved downpours to camp out overnight — to pay their respects after the queen’s flag-shrouded coffin was brought from Buckingham Palace.

“Inside it was really quite calm and incredibly emotional. A lot of people were in tears, but there was total silence,” 50-year-old accountant Sue Harvey said after emerging from the cavernous hall.

“She is everything I have known. I wanted to make sure I did see her, no matter how long the queue was going to be,” she told AFP.

Prior to the start of the public part, the lying-in-state began with a short Anglican service before black-clad members of parliament including Prime Minister Liz Truss filed past the coffin, bowing their heads.

To the strains of a military band playing funeral marches, King Charles III had earlier led his family in procession behind a horse-drawn gun carriage bearing the coffin, before it was placed on a platform guarded by soldiers inside the most historic part of parliament.

The king, his siblings, and sons, princes William and Harry, walked at 75 steps a minute behind the gun carriage. Big Ben tolled out each minute as the casket — topped with the Imperial State Crown — passed in front of hushed crowds lining the route. 

“I remember when (the queen’s father) King George VI died, it was in winter, I was nine,” Ian Gammie, 79, said after watching the procession. 

“It’s like completing a journey: from watching the coronation of the queen in 1953 to paying tribute to her today,” he said. 

– Miles-long queue –

The grand procession through the flag-lined heart of London represented the latest step in 11 days of intricately choreographed national mourning that will culminate with the funeral on Monday of the UK’s longest-reigning monarch. 

The sight of the new king’s two grief-stricken sons inevitably evoked memories of 1997, when William and Harry, then aged just 15 and 12, walked, heads bowed, behind the coffin of their mother, princess Diana.

But it comes with the once-close brothers now estranged, after Harry’s move to the United States.

The public have been warned they will face an endurance test to see the queen’s coffin with lines that could tail back five miles (eight kilometres).

Hundreds of people were already queueing at around 8:20 am with those at the front having spent the night equipped with blankets, camping seats, tents and rain ponchos. 

Waiting in line earlier in the day, Brian Flatman, 85, said there was “no way” he would pass up the chance to pay his respects having missed the queen’s 1953 coronation. 

“I was 16, we got there before midnight, Hyde Park Corner, superb position, but very quickly I became suddenly ill and had to crawl all the way to South London,” he recalled. 

“This time there is no way I can miss that. I will dedicate a few seconds there (by the coffin) to her life of dedication. What an example.”

Strict rules and airport-style security measures have been put in place, with “far more” people expected than the 200,000 who filed past the coffin of the queen’s mother when she died in 2002, according to the government.

“It’s a massive challenge for the Metropolitan Police and for me personally, but we have been preparing for many, many years,” the newly appointed head of the London police force, Mark Rowley, told Sky News.

– UK tour – 

The body of the late 96-year-old queen, who died “peacefully” at her Balmoral estate in Scotland on Thursday, was flown to London aboard an RAF plane on Tuesday evening from the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

It was then driven to Buckingham Palace, past crowds of motorists who stopped their vehicles at the side of the road to catch a glimpse of the coffin, lit up in a specially built hearse.

The London procession mirrored a similar ceremony in Edinburgh on Monday when her coffin was driven through the hushed streets of the city to lie at rest at St Giles’ Cathedral.

There, some 33,000 people filed past the coffin overnight to Tuesday afternoon, the Scottish government said.

“Scotland has now bid our Queen of Scots a sad, but fond farewell. We will not see her like again,” said First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who wants Scotland to separate from the United Kingdom.

After Scotland and England, Charles continued his tour of the four nations of the UK on Tuesday by visiting Northern Ireland for the first time as king. He visits Wales on Friday.

The 73-year-old new head of state has won wide praise in the British media for his dignified and often heartfelt reaction to his mother’s death, which has led to a rare moment of public unity in Britain.

He has seen his popularity recover since the death of his former wife Diana in a 1997 car crash — and his ratings have surged in recent days, according to a new survey on Tuesday. 

The mourning has also obscured — albeit briefly — the broader country’s sharp political divisions and a severe cost-of-living crisis that is expected to cause a major increase in poverty over the winter. 

– No invite for Putin –

Not everyone shares the public mood of sadness and remembrance sparked by the queen’s death, with royal fatigue increasingly evident on social media in the face of blanket media coverage.

British police have also faced criticism from civil liberties groups over their treatment of anti-monarchy protesters who have publicly challenged Charles’s accession to the throne.

Video footage and witnesses have drawn attention to police arresting or intimidating people who shouted slogans against the monarchy or held up placards reading “Not My King”.

The queen’s funeral will take place in Westminster Abbey, next to parliament, in front of 2,000 VIP guests, with the day declared a public holiday in Britain.

Hundreds of heads of state and government, as well as global royalty, are expected, but Russia, Belarus and Myanmar have not been invited to send representatives.

US President Joe Biden has confirmed he will attend, as will French President Emmanuel Macron and Japan’s Emperor Naruhito.

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The number of newly reported Covid-19 cases has dropped dramatically, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, urging the world to seize the opportunity to end the pandemic.

Newly reported cases of the disease, which has killed millions since being identified in late 2019, last week fell to the lowest level since March 2020, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 

“We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic,” he told reporters. “We are not there yet, but the end is in sight.”

But the world needed to step up to “seize this opportunity”, he added.

“If we don’t take this opportunity now, we run the risk of more variants, more deaths, more disruption, and more uncertainty.”

According to WHO’s latest epidemiological report on Covid-19, the number of reported cases fell 28 percent to 3.1 million during the week ending September 11, following a 12-percent-drop a week earlier.

– ‘Underestimate’ –

But the agency has warned that the falling number of reported cases is deceptive, since many countries have cut back on testing and may not be detecting the less serious cases.

“The number of cases that are being reported to WHO we know are an underestimate,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO technical lead on Covid, told reporters.

“We feel that far more cases are actually circulating than are being reported to us,” she said, cautioning that the virus “is circulating at a very intense level around the world at the present time”.

Since the start of the pandemic, WHO has tallied more than 605 million cases, and some 6.4 million deaths, although both those numbers are also believed to be serious undercounts.

A WHO study published in May based on excess mortality seen in various countries during the pandemic estimated that up to 17 million people may have died from Covid in 2020 and 2021.

Van Kerkhove noted that going forward there will likely be “future waves of infection, potentially at different time points throughout the world, caused by different sub-variants of Omicron or even different variants of concern”.

But, she added, “those future waves of infection do not need to translate into future waves of death”.

– ‘Seize this opportunity’ –

In a bid to help countries to do what is needed to rein in the virus, the WHO on Wednesday published six policy briefs.

Among the recommendations, the WHO is urging countries to invest in vaccinating 100 percent of the most at-risk groups, including health workers and the elderly, and to keep up testing and sequencing for the virus.

“These policy briefs are an urgent call for governments to take a hard look at their policies, and strengthen them for Covid-19 and future pathogens with pandemic potential,” Tedros said.

“We can end this pandemic together, but only if all countries, manufacturers, communities and individuals step up and seize this opportunity.”

WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan agreed.

“Even as the pandemic wanes, and as the number of cases may drop, we are going to have to maintain high levels of vigilance,” he told reporters.

“We still have a highly mutable, evolving virus that has shown us time and time again over two and a half years how it can adapt, how it can change.” 

Argentine former police officer Mario Sandoval went on trial Wednesday for the alleged torture and disappearance of a young activist 46 years ago, during the South American country’s last dictatorship.

Sandoval, who was extradited in 2019 after a long exile in France, is suspected of taking part in the kidnapping, torture and disappearance of hundreds of people during the 1976-83 military dictatorship.

This particular case centers on such crimes apparently committed against then-24-year-old architecture student and leftwing activist Hernan Abriata in 1976.

Sandoval, 69, is a former Buenos Aires police inspector who was accused by survivors from the notorious Navy Mechanics School (ESMA), which served as the country’s largest detention and torture facility where 5,000 people were sent before they disappeared.

“It is a very long search for justice, 46 years,” lawyer Sol Hourcade told AFP. “The family identified those responsible for the kidnapping. We hope for a conviction.”

The family hopes Sandoval is sentenced to the maximum 25 years in jail.

Sandoval fled to France in 1985, two years after the military junta fell, and built a new life there as a defense and security consultant.

He even taught at the Institute of Higher Latin American Studies in Paris.

He gained French nationality in 1997 but that did not save him from extradition as he was not French at the time of the alleged crimes.

Sandoval arrived at the court handcuffed and with his face partially hidden by a medical mask.

The first part of the process was dedicated to the reading out of the charges against Sandoval, who denies the accusations and had petitioned France’s Council of State in a bid to prevent his extradition.

Here is a timeline of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, including her final days and the aftermath of her passing aged 96, after more than 70 years on the throne.

– September 6 –

The queen receives Boris Johnson at her Balmoral private retreat in the Scottish Highlands, to accept his resignation as prime minister.

Shortly afterwards, she receives Liz Truss, the new leader of Britain’s governing Conservative Party, and invites her to form a government as prime minister.

– September 7 –

Her final public statement, as queen of Canada, is a message of condolence for victims of the Saskatchewan stabbings.

“I mourn with all Canadians at this tragic time,” it ends.

The queen pulls out of an online meeting of the Privy Council formal body of advisers, during which Truss would have taken an oath and her new cabinet ministers formally sworn in.

“After a full day yesterday, Her Majesty has this afternoon accepted doctors’ advice to rest,” Buckingham Palace says.

– September 8 –

Prince Charles flies to Balmoral, arriving at 10:30 am (0930 GMT).

Buckingham Palace issues a statement at 12:30 pm saying that doctors were concerned for her health and recommended she remain under medical supervision.

“The queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral,” it says.

Truss is informed of her death at 4:30 pm.

Her death is announced publicly at 6:30 pm.

“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the statement says.

Her daughter Princess Anne was with her during her last 24 hours.

Upon her death, her eldest son immediately becomes King Charles III.

– September 9 –

King Charles III and his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, travel from Balmoral to Buckingham Palace in London where they greet mourners outside the gates.

The king meets Truss then pays tribute to his mother in a televised broadcast.

He renews her promise of lifelong service and pledges to uphold Britain’s constitutional principles.

He makes his eldest son Prince William the Prince of Wales.

A prayer service at London’s St. Paul’s Cathedral is attended by senior politicians. The ceremony sees the first official singing of “God Save The King” since 1952.

– September 10 –

King Charles III is formally proclaimed as the new monarch in a ceremony in London.

Twenty-one gun salutes are fired around the country.

In a rare show of unity, the king’s sons, princes William and Harry, and their respective wives Catherine and Meghan, view the floral tributes outside Windsor Castle.

– September 11 –

Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin is driven from Balmoral to the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, the monarch’s official residence in Scotland. Anne accompanies the cortege.

– September 12 –

King Charles III addresses both houses of parliament in Westminster Hall in London.

The king and queen consort fly to Edinburgh.

A procession takes Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin to St Giles’ Cathedral. Her four children march behind the hearse.

Members of the royal family attend a service celebrating her life.

King Charles III addresses the Scottish Parliament.

The first of 33,000 mourners file past the coffin in the cathedral.

For around 10 minutes, Queen Elizabeth II’s children mount the guard around her casket.

– September 13 –

The king and queen consort fly to Belfast.

The king meets Northern Irish lawmakers and delivers a speech. He shakes hands with Irish President Michael D. Higgins at a service at St. Anne’s Cathedral — the first foreign head of state to meet the new king.

Charles III returns to London.

Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin, accompanied by Anne, is flown from Edinburgh to London on a military transport plane. It is then driven to Buckingham Palace.

– September 14 –

The coffin is taken on a gun carriage from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall to lie in state. Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people, are expected to pay their last respects by filing past her coffin.