A12 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, AUGUST 10 , 2020
BY SUSANNAH GEORGEkabul — After months of delays,
the Afghan government will re-
lease the last group of high-value
Taliban prisoners, President
Ashraf Ghani announced Sunday,
removing the final hurdle to the
start of direct talks with the mili-
tants.
The move comes after intense
U. S. pressure on the Afghan gov-
ernment to abide by precondi-
tions to the talks outlined in the
U. S.-Taliban peace deal. That
agreement c alled for those talks to
begin in March, but preliminary
negotiations repeatedly hit snags.
The Afghan government was not
party to the peace deal between
the United S tates and the Taliban,
and objected to some o f its terms.
Without the start of direct ne-
gotiations between the Taliban
and the Afghan government, the
peace deal the United States
signed with the Taliban could col-
lapse. Violence has e scalated s ince
the signing of the deal, and U.S.
forces have repeatedly been
pulled back into the conflict to
defend government forces with
air support.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
issued a blunt statement Thurs-day calling for the release of the
prisoners and warning that U. S.
assistance could hinge on how
peace talks progress.
“We acknowledge that the re-
lease of these prisoners is u npopu-
lar. But this difficult action will
lead to an important result,”
Pompeo said in a statement.
Pompeo previously threatened to
cut U. S. assistance over delays to
the start of the talks.
The U. S.-Taliban deal called for
the Afghan government to release
5,000 Taliban prisoners in ex-
change for the Taliban’s release of
1,000 members of Afghanistan’s
security forces. The Taliban re-
leased 1 ,000 prisoners, but the
Afghan government initially re-
fused to release a group of 400
Taliban prisoners linked to high-
profile attacks that killed scores o f
civilians.
Instead, Ghani called for a tra-
ditional council of elders, known
as a loya jirga, to advise the gov-
ernment’s decision. The council
began meeting on Friday and their
decision was announced Sunday.
“To remove obstacles for the
start of peace negotiations, end
bloodshed, and observe the inter-
ests and good of the people, the
jirga approves the release of 400Taliban prisoners,” the council de-
clared Sunday. It also called for a
long-term cease-fire with the Tali-
ban.
Abdullah Abdullah, a former
presidential candidate and now
head o f reconciliation efforts, said
once the prisoners are released,
talks with the Taliban will likely
begin within d ays.
Ghani announced he would
sign a n order t o release t he prison-
ers Sunday. Now “the choice is in
the Taliban’s hands,” he said. “The
Taliban should show today they
don’t fear a nationwide cease-
fire.”
U. S. and Afghan officials have
been pushing for a reduction in
violence for months since the
signing of the U. S.-Taliban deal.
The Taliban announced and up-
held two brief c ease-fires in recent
months to mark Muslim holidays,
but violence across the country
remains high.
Peace talks w ith t he Taliban are
expected to begin as early as this
week in Qatar. The country hosted
months of negotiations between
the Taliban a nd the United States.
Despite the repeated delays to
the start of the Afghan-Taliban
talks, President Tr ump and the
Pentagon have announced plansto further draw down U.S. forces
in the country ahead of the U. S.
presidential election in Novem-
ber. Defense Secretary Mark T.
Esper told Fox News on Saturday
that U. S. troop levels in Afghani-
stan would drop below 5,000 by
the end of November.
Under the U. S.-Taliban deal,
U. S. troop levels were to initially
be cut to 8,60 0 and any further
reductions would be based on the
Taliban’s adherence to conditions.
Those conditions include the start
of peace talks with the Afghan
government and a pledge to pre-
vent terrorist groups aiming to
attack the West from operating
inside Afghanistan.
The talks have not begun, and
the United Nations has said the
Taliban maintains links with al-
Qaeda, the group responsible for
the Sept. 11, 200 1, attacks on the
United States. Zalmay Khalilzad,
the Tr ump administration’s spe-
cial envoy for Afghanistan, has
said the Taliban has made some
progress breaking with terrorist
groups, but “they have to take a lot
more steps.”
[email protected]Sharif Hassan in Kabul contributed to
this report.Release of Taliban prisoners clears path for talks
BY LOVEDAY MORRIS,
SUZAN HAIDAMOUS,
LOUISA LOVELUCK
AND LIZ SLYbeirut — Lebanon’s g overnment
was in crisis Sunday as key minis-
ters resigned after the massive
blast that gutted parts of the capi-
tal last week and demonstrators
furious with the country’s ruling
elite took to the streets for a
second day.
World leaders including Presi-
dent Tr ump took part in a donors
conference via video link orga-
nized by French President Em-
manuel Macron. A total of
$298 million was raised, accord-
ing to his office. Lebanese officials
have estimated the damage could
amount to as much as $15 billion.
Information Minister Manal
Abdel-Samad, Environment Min-
ister Damianos Kattar and several
members of parliament stepped
down. But the actions fell far
short of the demands of protest-
ers enraged at t he country’s politi-
cal elite.
In an indictment of Lebanon’s
government, Macron has indicat-
ed assistance should go d irectly to
the Lebanese people. Tr ump reaf-
firmed that the United States is
“ready and willing” to continue
providing aid to the people of
Lebanon, but no new U. S. assis-
tance was announced Sunday.
The International Monetary
Fund said it was ready to “redou-
ble efforts” to help Lebanon, but
institutions need to come togeth-
er to carry out reforms — a de-
mand the Lebanese government
has resisted.
The blast at Beirut’s port,
which killed at least 160 people,
wounded thousands and left h un-
dreds of thousands homeless, has
fueled calls for a complete shake-
up of Lebanon’s atrophied politi-
cal system, dominated by family
dynasties that have changed little
in the decades since the country’s
15-year civil war. The explosion
has triggered outrage at the offi-
cial corruption, incompetence
and negligence that allowed 2,
metric tons of ammonium nitrate,
a chemical used in bombmaking,
to sit unattended and unsecured
at t he port for six years.
During a cabinet meeting Sun-
day afternoon, Prime Minister
Hassan Diab urged ministers who
were considering resigning to
wait, according to a person pres-
ent who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to discuss the closed-
door talks.
As violent protests engulfed
the city Saturday night, Diab of-
fered early elections. He said he
needed two months to reach an
agreement with the country’s fac-
tions.
For citizens struggling from a
catastrophic economic collapse
and shattered homes, discussion
of new political agreements falls
woefully short.
“We are not going to quit,” Pas-
cale Asmar, 33, said in the central
Martyr’s Square, a focus of the
protests. “We call [Diab] the vase,
because he’s j ust for show, he does
nothing.”
Diab’s government, formed in
January, was supposed to be a
rescue team of technocrats. But it
was formed from familiar fac-
tions, including the Shiite parties,
Hezbollah and Amal.
“He told us, ‘Give us 100 days
and I promise you I’m going to do
something,’ ” Asmar said. “It’s
been seven months, we’ve had a
blast, we still have people buried
under the rubble, and he wants to
stay?”
Three members of parliament
resigned Sunday, but there was
little sign of the kind of change
that would satisfy the street.
Diab told his cabinet they
should “bear responsibility,” ac-
cording to the person at t he meet-
ing. “Right now we cannot leave
the country void and vacant,” he
quoted the prime minister as say-
ing.
The early elections offered by
Diab are unlikely to materialize,
said Randa Slim, a senior fellow at
the Washington-based Middle
East Institute. And even if they
did, she said, any polls held soon
would almost certainly benefit
the ruling establishment.
She said the offer seemed de-
signed more to appease the inter-
national community ahead of the
aid conference Sunday.
But Diab’s g overnment is clear-
ly teetering, said Maha Yahya,
director of the Carnegie Middle
East Center.
“It’s a lame duck government
not capable of doing anything,
not trusted by the international
community, not trusted by the
people and not trusted even by
the people who brought him to
power,” Yahya said.
The blast left a city that was
plunged into poverty b y last year’s
economic collapse struggling to
repair shattered homes and busi-
nesses. International donors say
they are ready to help, but there
has been a reluctance to give
money to a government notorious
for siphoning foreign aid from the
projects for which it is intended.
John Barsa, the acting director
of the U. S. Agency for Internation-
al Development, planned to go to
Beirut this week to assess needs in
the wake of the explosions.
USAID last week said it would
give Lebanon more than $15 mil-
lion in humanitarian aid to assist
in the response to the damage.
The U. S. military said it has begun
to deliver food, water and medical
supplies to Beirut.
Barsa told reporters Sunday
the assistance will not go t hrough
the Lebanese government, which
has been the subject of protests
condemning corruption. Nor will
it go through the World Health
Organization, from which the
Tr ump administration has said it
will withdraw.
He s aid health kits will be deliv-
ered to the medical center at the
American University of Beirut,
and the hospital connected with
the Lebanese American Universi-
ty. About $2.5 million is to be
directed to the World Food Pro-
gram.
The conference’s decision to
channel aid through the United
Nations came as a disappoint-
ment to many Lebanese, Slim
said, because the United Nations
typically works closely with gov-
ernment institutions.
“I’m afraid the aid, under the
guise of humanitarian assistance,
will be used one more time to give
a lifeline to the kleptocratic class,”
she said.
New demonstrations on Sun-
day were smaller than those of a
day earlier. Some said the violence
of Saturday night was keeping
people away. But as night fell,
rock-throwing protesters clashed
with security forces near the par-
liament.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]Nader Durgham and Sarah Dadouch
in Beirut and Suzan Haidamous and
Felicia Sonmez in Washington
contributed to this report.Lebanese government
in crisis as ministers
resign after explosion
BY MAX BEARAKMore than 1,000 tons of oil
have leaked from a cargo ship
and into the shallow, reef-fringed
coastal waters of Mauritius, offi-
cials said Sunday, imperiling pro-
tected habitats and the economy
of the Indian Ocean island na-
tion, which relies on fishing and
tourism.
Aerial images and drone foot-
age showed miles of shoreline
covered with thick, black sludge.
Conservationists in the coun-
try say a slow response and rough
seas have turned what could have
been a minor accident into an
ecological and economic disaster.
The MV Wakashio, a bulk-car-
rying ship that had no cargo, ran
into a reef off the southeastern
tip of the main island two weeks
ago. Battering waves cracked its
hull open; it began leaking its
engine fuel on Thursday. About
2,500 tons of fuel remained in the
ship.
On Friday, Mauritius Prime
Minister Pravind Jugnauth de-
clared a state of emergency and
appealed for help. By Sunday,France, which held the island as a
colony until handing it over to
the British in 1810, and which
retains possession of nearby is-
lands, pledged military aircraft to
help extract fuel from the ship.
Japan, where the ship’s owner is
based, also promised help.
In a news conference Sundayin Tokyo, Akihiko Ono, executive
vice president of Mitsui O.S.K.
Lines, apologized for the spill and
“the great trouble we have
caused.” Japan’s Foreign Ministry
said it will dispatch a six-person
emergency response team at the
request of the Mauritian govern-
ment.In the meantime, Mauritian
environmentalists and coastal
residents have worked together
to deploy homemade floating de-
vices in the hope of preventing
the oil from spreading farther.
Sunil Dowarkasing, a former
government minister, called the
effort valiant but said oil had
spread as far up the island’s
eastern coast as Ile aux Cerfs, a
popular resort island. He shared
pictures he had taken of oil-cov-
ered mangrove swamps along the
coast that are renowned as a
habitat for plants, insects and
birds endemic to Mauritius.
Rough seas have impeded the
Mauritian government’s at-
tempts at stabilizing the ship.
Five hundred tons of fuel have
been lifted by helicopter out of
the ship’s hull.
Mauritius is the only African
country to report no active coro-
navirus cases. It shut its borders
in March and saw less than a
dozen deaths. Locals have been
calling for reopening given the
economy’s heavy reliance on for-
eign tourists.
[email protected]Mauritius oil spill t hreatens habitats, economy
LAURA MOROSOLI/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
Volunteers clean up oil washing up on the beach from a ship that
ran aground off Mauritius. More than 1,000 tons of oil have leaked,
and rough seas are hampering the response to the disaster.BY ROBYN DIXONProtests erupted in Minsk and
other Belarusan cities Sunday
night after election officials said
exit polls showed longtime Presi-
dent Alexander Lukashenko had
captured more than 80 percent of
the vote.
The claim was met with broad
skepticism amid widespread re-
ports of irregularities following a
campaign marked by government
abuse.
Lidia Yermoshina, chief of the
Central Election Commission of
Belarus, said the count was based
on returns from five of seven re-
gions. Preliminary election re-
sults were to be announced on
Monday.
In the lead-up to the polls Sun-
day, reports of intimidation by
Lukashenko’s government came
thick and fast: Candidates were
jailed; opposition activists, sup-
porters and journalists arrested;
news websites blocked; indepen-
dent e lection monitors harassed.
As Lukashenko faced the
toughest election of his 26 years in
power, authorities tried to clear
the field o f competition, d etaining
his two main opponents and bar-
ring another from running. But
Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the wife
of jailed candidate Sergei Tikha-
novsky, u nited the three strongest
opposition camps to fight Lukash-
enko in a campaign fronted by
three women.
Long queues formed outside
polling stations Sunday as voters
heeded the o pposition call to turn
up in force. Yermoshina called the
queues “an organized provoca-
tion” and “sabotage” by the oppo-
sition.
A heavy police and military
presence in Minsk, the capital,
blocked major roads and p revent-
ed people f rom approaching Inde-
pendence Square.
One of the three w omen, Veron-
ika Ts epkalo, had f led the country,
the independent media site Tut.by
reported Sunday. Another, Maria
Kolesnikova, was seized by police
as she left c ampaign headquarters
Saturday but was released after apublic outcry. Authorities arrest-
ed Tikhanovskaya’s campaign
manager on Saturday for the sec-
ond time in three days. S even cam-
paign volunteers were detained
and another was missing, accord-
ing to the opposition c ampaign.
Lukashenko, president since
1994 , told journalists Sunday that
he did not count Tikhanovskaya
as a serious rival. He denied the
opposition had been targeted.
“Nobody has undertaken any
repressions in violation of the
law,” he said in Minsk. He v owed to
maintain public order after the
election.
Andrei, a 30-year-old business-
man voting outside Minsk, said
the opposition h ad little chance of
victory because the authorities
would not allow it.
“This election would be close if
all the real opponents were regis-
tered and out of prison. My candi-
date is in prison,” he said.
“The Central Election Commis-
sion will add in any necessary
additional votes to make sure Lu-
kashenko wins,” Andrei said. Like
others, he declined to give his last
name for f ear o f repercussions.
Internet service in Belarus was
interrupted Sunday, restricting
access to social media. Telegram
channels used by election observ-
ers were shut down.
Late Saturday, security officials
in black clothing and balaclavas
seized young men who had been
staging a small, peaceful protest
in Minsk and forced them into
vans. Earlier, police broke up a
bicycle race held as a call for more
freedom.
Lukashenko, 65, has changed
the constitution, jailed oppo-
nents, barred rivals from running
and cracked down against pro-
tests. More than 1,300 opposition
supporters have been arrested
since May, according to the rights
group Viasna, as have dozens of
journalists, b loggers, activists and
independent e lection observers.
Tikhanovskaya, 37, sent her two
children abroad after receiving a
phone threat. On the eve of the
election, she moved out of her
apartment to a secret location,
fearing arrest.
Lukashenko has lost popularity
amid the c ountry’s economic stag-nation and his handling of the
coronavirus pandemic, which he
has dismissed as “mass psychosis.”
But analysts — and the opposition
— predicted that authorities
would declare the result in Lu-
kashenko’s favor a nd move swiftly
to crush opposition protests, as in
the past.
Dozens of independent e lection
observers were reportedly de-
tained, harassed or blocked. Two
independent observers, Veronika
Romanovskaya, 55, and Natalia
Belyaeva, 46, said the local elec-
tion commission used the pan-
demic as a pretext to prevent them
from e ntering polling s tations.
Independent observers said the
number of votes at some stations
exceeded registered v oters.
Anastasia Matchenko of Zubr, a
group monitoring the count, re-
ported at l east 828 cases of o bserv-
ers’ counts on turnout contradict-
ing official f igures.
The Central Election Commis-
sion reported high turnout in ear-
ly voting from Tuesday to Satur-
day. But Romanovskaya and Bely-aeva said the official figure was at
least double the number of voters
they had tracked, a finding also
reported by other independent
observers.
In the final days of the cam-
paign, pro-Lukashenko a dvertise-
ments surfaced on YouTube de-
picting e xplosions, riots a nd other
unrest amid h is warnings that the
opposition wanted chaos and de-
struction.
Lukashenko has portrayed his
opponents as agents of foreign
forces and has repeatedly warned
of a tough crackdown should peo-
ple take to the streets to protest
the election results.
Tikhanovskaya says she has no
political ambitions and decided to
run only because her husband was
jailed. Her campaign electrified
Belarusians hungry for c hange.
The decision by major opposi-
tion campaigns to unite against
Lukashenko took authorities by
surprise. Tikhanovskaya mount-
ed a surprisingly strong c hallenge,
attracting tens of thousands to
rallies in Minsk and other cities.The opposition’s central pledge is
to hold n ew f ree and fair e lections
in which all candidates could
compete.
Tikhanovskaya joined with the
campaigns of former banker Vic-
tor Babariko, who is in jail on
fraud charges that he says are
politically motivated, and Valery
Ts epkalo, a former ambassador to
the United States and founder of a
high-tech business park who was
denied registration as a candidate
and fled the c ountry.
The other faces fronting the
opposition campaign are
Babariko’s campaign manager,
Kolesnikova, detained Saturday,
and Ts epkalo’s w ife, Veronika.
Pavel, 31, an IT manager voting
Sunday, said he was sure Lukash-
enko would lose but still be de-
clared the victor.
“But the elections will demon-
strate to the elite that Lukashenko
is weak,” he said.
[email protected]Anastasia Shpakovskaya in Minsk
contributed to this report.Protests in Belarus as exit polls favor longtime president
DIMITAR DILKOFF/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
People hold up t heir Belarusian passports outside the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow. Sunday’s vote
caused skepticism given President Alexander Lukashenko’s attempts to silence opposition politicians.