The world at aglance NEWS 914 March 2020 THE WEEKKabul
Twopresidents:Afghanistan’sfeuding
leaders–AshrafGhaniandAbdullah
Abdullah–werebothsworninas
presidentonMonday,inseparate
ceremoniesinKabul.Lastmonth,Ghani
wasdeemedbytheelectoralcommission
tohavewonasecondterminSeptember’s
election,butAbdullahhasrefusedto
accepttheresult,sayingitwasmarredby
electoralfraudandincompletetallies.A
previouselection,in 2014 ,hadasimilar
outcome.Then,Abdullahwaspersuaded
toserveaschiefexecutiveinaunity
govern ment,butnowheisthreatening
toformhisownone.Thedisputerisks
weakeningGhani’sgovernmentinKabul
atacriticaltimeforthewar-torncountry:
lastmonth,theUSsignedapeacedeal
withtheTalibanthatpavesthewayfor
thewithdrawalofUStroops(seepage 19 ).
Khartoum
PM survives:
Sudan’s prime
minister survived
anapparent
assassination
attempton Monday whenabomb
exploded close to his motorcade in the
capital,Khartoum. Nogroup hasyet
claimedresponsibilit yfor what the
governmentcalleda“terroristattack”.A
respectedformer UNeconomist,Abdalla
Hamdok wasappointedlastAugust after
monthsofnegotiationsbetweenpro-
democracyoppositiongroups andthe
TransitionalMilitaryCouncilthat took
powerfollowing theoustingoflong-time
dictator Omar al-Bashir. Hamdok is seen
as aunifyingfigureatthe headofthe
transitional government, but has faced
bitter resistance fr om the military,
IslamistsandBashir loyalists.Pyongyang
Morerocketlaunches:
NorthKorea fired
multipleballisticmissiles
fromits east coaston
Monday,inwhatSeoul
describedasa“large-
scale” militarydrill.It
wasthesecond suchdrill
to breakthe UNbanon
ballisticmissiletesting
byNorth Korea within a
week.Analysts suggested
theirpurposewasto put
pressureonPresident
Trumptorestart
negotiations onthe
liftingof sanctions –or
to distractattentionfrom
what someobservers
suspectisamajor
but hidden
outbreak of
corona-
virusin
theNorth.Riyadh
Familypurge:
KingSalman’s
brother andat
least three
other senior
Saudi princes
were arrested
lastweekon
suspicionof
plottingacoup.
Thepurge
appears to
have beenorchestratedby Crown Prince
Mohammedbin Salman (MbS,pictured)
to ensure that hesucceedshis f athe rKing
Salman,84. Thosenowunder house
arrest includePrinceAhmed, 78,the
king’sonlysurvivingfullbrother,andthe
king’snephew, Mohammedbin Nayef,
whowas himselfcrown princ euntilhe
wasrepla ced by MbSin2017.Naypyidaw
Army sues:Myanmar’s army haslaunched
legal actionfor cr iminaldefamation
againstthe boththe news agen cy Reuters
and aBurmes eMP, claimingthat they
made false statementsabout the deaths of
two Rohingya Muslimwomen inRakhine
state.InJanuary, Reuters quotedthe MP
saying that thewomenhad beenkilled
by artil lery fire. T he armyinsistslocal
insurgents weretoblame fortheirdeaths,
and isnowtakinglega lactionunder the
Telecommunications Act–which outlaws
onlinedefamation, and whichhas been
used i nthe pas ttoimprisondiss idents.Wuhan,China
Coronavirus“curbed”:PresidentXiJinping
visitedWuhanthisweekforthefirst timesince
thestartofthecoronaviruscrisis,anddeclared
thatthedeadlyepidemichadbeen“basically
curbed”in the city whereitbegan,and inthe
surroundingprovince ofHubei.Onthe dayof
hisvisit,Tuesday,Chinarecordedjust 19new
infections,thelowestnumber sincethestartof
theoutbreak.Theytookthetotalconfirmed cases
inChinato80,754, ofwhich3,136havebeenfatal.Statemediareported thatXi’s
visittoWuhan,whichhasbeenunderstrictlockdownforweeks,senta“strongsignal
to the entire countryandtheworld that Chinaisascendingoutof the darkestmoment
amidtheoutbreak”.Thegovernmentalsoconfirmedthat all14 temporaryhospitals
set upacrossChina tocontainthe crisishad nowbeenclosed.
Separately,relativesof ahigh-profiledissident,XuZhiyong,who’dcriticised Xi
over hishandlingofthecoronovirusepidemic,confirmedthat hehadbeenarrested
and wasbeingheldoncharges ofsubversion. Xuwasseizedbypoliceon15 February.
His girlfriend,LiQiaochu,isalsobeingheldat anunknownlocation.