Le Tour de Langkawi 2014 - Stage 2 Result

Theo Bos (Belkin) won a crash marred stage two of the Tour de Langkawi, ahead of his teammate and lead-out man Greame Brown.

Bos managed to avoid the chaos going on around him to take his first win of the season. Brown stayed in front of the remaining pack to snatch second with Marco Haller (Katusha) finishing in third.

Astana’s Andrea Guardini has had some big successes at the race, but couldn’t contest the sprint after being caught up in the incident. The Italian rider was seen in the back of an ambulance after the finish with a puncture wound in his foot. He is now a doubt to start stage three on Saturday.

Despite the joy at his victory, Bos gave little celebration in respect to his fellow competitors. “I don’t want to salute and be so much happy (because of the crash), some see it the other way,” he said at the finish. “There was many crashes. I hear on the corner to the left with 500 meters to go, no before, there was a crash and also in the last corner, behind me.”

Like a number of other sprinters Bos has come here to try and build up his win tally before returning to Europe saying that it is good for morale despite the level being higher at other races. “There are a lot of sprints and it’s not a super high level. Also for my team it’s important to get the number of victories up,” he explained. “I’d rather ride here than do Paris-Nice where you might be satisfied with a third spot. I’d rather win here. Paris-Nice is a very hard race for me.”

Race leader Carlos Quintero finished safely within the bunch to keep hold of his leader's jersey with Jonathan Clarke and Matt Brammeier sitting just behind him.

It was a relatively straight stage forward for the peloton, with two fourth category climbs to contend with. With no breeze to cool the air, the riders were in for a sweltering say. Five riders shot up the road, with the peloton happy to leave them go. They were Ho Junrong (Ocbc Singapore), Behnam Khalikhosroshahi (Tabriz Petro Chemical), Elchin Asadov and Tural Isgandarov ( Both Synergy Baku), Jiang Zhi Hui (Giant-Champion) and Rashid Ibrahim (Malaysia). They were caught within the final 10km, leaving the sprinters teams to do their work.

The tight windy finish caught many out, with more than 20 riders being involved in the crash.

Source: http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/le-tour-de-langkawi-2014/stage-2/results

RESULT

1 BOS Theo       Belkin-Pro Cycling Team
2 BROWN Graeme       Belkin-Pro Cycling Team
3 HALLER Marco        Team Katusha
4 KRUOPIS Aidis         Orica GreenEDGE
5 KOLAR Michael    Tinkoff-Saxo
6 ROGERS Rico       OCBC Singapore Continental Cycling Team
7 REGUIGUI Youcef      MTN - Qhubeka 4 2 ,,
8 BRAMMEIER Matthew     Synergy Baku Cycling Project
9 NISHITANI Taiji       Aisan Racing Team
10 KOCHETKOV Pavel   Team Katusha

35 BERHANE Natnael     Team Europcar

58 KUDUS Merhawi       MTN - Qhubeka

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Eritreans in Britain forced by embassy to pay 2% diaspora tax

On the morning of the 18 December last year Sam* walked up the narrow steps of a nondescript building in the back streets of Islington, north London. He was visiting the Eritrean embassy to inquire about his "clearance". This is the process every Eritrean in the diaspora must undergo if they want to have any dealings with their home country.

However, being cleared entails paying a 2% tax on all UK earnings to the Eritrean authorities. Without clearance Sam could not have his passport renewed, apply for a business permit in his home country, or even send a parcel of secondhand clothes to his family.

The diaspora tax was banned by the UN security council in 2011 (pdf). Resolution 2023, supported by the UK, condemned the tax because it was being used to fund "arms and related material" for rebel groups across the Horn of Africa.

These included the Somali militant group al-Shabaab, an al-Qaida affiliate. Eritrea supported al-Shabaab as an indirect means of attacking Ethiopia, its long-standing enemy.

In May 2011 the Foreign Office notified the Eritrean authorities that "aspects of the collection of a tax levied by the Eritrean government on Eritreans living in the UK may be unlawful and in breach of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations. The ambassador was told that until it was demonstrated otherwise the embassy should suspend, immediately and in full, all activities relating to the collection of the tax."

Despite this warning, the Foreign Office is aware that pressure on British Eritreans to pay the tax has continued. Lady Warsi, the senior minister of state at the Foreign Office, confirmed in a written reply to Lady Kinnockthat the Eritrean ambassador had been warned he must comply with the resolution to desist from illicit means of collecting revenue from members of the Eritrean diaspora in the UK. "On 20 December 2012, Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials raised these concerns with the Eritrean ambassador and reminded him of UN SCR 2023," Warsi wrote.

Yet a year later, when Sam arrived at the embassy, he was informed he had no option but to pay the illegal tax. "If you have anything to do or there is any query," an embassy staff member told him. "You will have to pay it all and get clearance. You will not be able to do anything without clearance."

"We are aware of allegations over the use of harassment to collect revenue from members of the Eritrean diaspora in the UK," Warsi wrote. "On 20 December 2012, Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials raised these concerns with the Eritrean ambassador and reminded him of UN SCR 2023."

The sums involved can be substantial. Tax is claimed when an Eritrean turns 18 – even students are expected to contribute £50 a year. Upon reaching adulthood, Sam was told he had to pay the full tax. "However, after [reaching 18] and until 2013 you need to bring a payslip, a P60 or anything that indicates your income. When you come with all these documents, then you can pay the 2% tax."

Backpaying 17 years of taxes would have been a huge burden for Sam, who has a young family to support. "I need to get a mortgage to pay all this," he joked with the embassy staff as he turned to leave. Having no intention of paying the tax, he had secretly recorded the entire exchange on video.

The allegation that staff continue to demand payment of the 2% is supported by receipts obtained from other Eritreans, dated after May 2011, when the practice was outlawed by the UN.

The taxation of the Eritrean diaspora, many of whom live just above the breadline, has been challenged by a group of Eritrean women. Team Eritrea, as they are known, are requesting that the British government ends its toleration of the illegal tax. "It is extortion from some of the poorest people in our community, who just want to help their families back home," says Feruz Werede, who is leading the campaign.

But the campaigners want the Foreign Office to go further. They are calling on the British government to follow the Canadian example and expel the Eritrean ambassador. In May 2013, fed up with repeated – and false – assurances from the Eritrean authorities, Canada's foreign affairs minister, John Baird, expelled the Eritrean consul in Toronto, Semere Ghebremariam O Micael, declaring: "Today's actions speak for themselves."

The UK diaspora fears the extortion will continue unless decisive action is taken. Eritrea is among the most repressive countries in the world, and the funds sent from Britain through this tax assist the regime in maintaining its hold over the beleaguered population.

*Sam's name has been withheld to protect his identity

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Israel Begins Deporting Sudanese, Eritrean Asylum Seekers

Israel has begun deporting African asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea to Uganda, according to reports by an Israeli news outlet. Quoting senior government officials, Haaretz reported that over the past months dozens asylum seekers had either left or agreed to leave Israel for Uganda.

The state does not forcefully deport citizens of Eritrea due to the danger they face in their repressive home country known as the North Korea of Africa, and in the absence of diplomatic relations with Sudan the country is also unable to facilitate deportations of Sudanese nationals there.

However, the government has upped its monetary incentive to Africans to leave under its "voluntary departure" scheme from $1,500 to $3,500.

Eritreans Sudanese are among the largest migrant group, accounting for 80% of the 53,646 asylum seekers from Africa in Israel.

Last June, it emerged Israel's High Court of Justice had reached an arrangement with an unnamed third country that would agree to accept asylum seekers from Africa.

At the time, the state refused to discuss the arrangement, while the Ugandan government denied the existence of such an agreement.

The UK's Guardian newspaper said Uganda agreed to the deal in exchange for agricultural technology and arms.

HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS

Israel has been reluctant to grant asylum-seekers legal standing within its borders amid fears it would spark a fresh exodus of migrants. The government continues to exert strong pressure on migrants to leave voluntarily by either stalling their claims or keeping them in indefinite detention.

Human rights and advocacy groups say Israel's actions represent a clear violation of international refugee conventions.

The director of the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, Reut Michaeli, told Haartz last week that as far as her organisation is aware, asylum seekers sent to Uganda will not receive legal status or be issued with documents allowing them to leave if they want to.

However, ongoing uncertainty about their future and the hard conditions at Saharonim and the Holot detention facility, where many asylum seekers are incarcerated means many are electing to leave.

According to government figures, 2,612 migrants from Africa left Israel in 2013 as part of its voluntary departure process. Of those, 1,955 were from Eritrea and Sudan.

MASS PROTESTS

There is growing disquiet among asylum seekers themselves in Israel. Earlier this year, hundreds of asylum seekers began a protest march from the Holot detention centre in the desert to Tel Aviv, calling for the release of all the detainees and asking that their asylum applications be processed.

That was followed by a mass rallies in Tel Aviv, in which tens of thousands of African asylum seekers went on strike in protest against Israel's migration policies, causing widespread disruption to businesses.

In a rare public statement issued during the protests, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) criticised Israel's policy on African migrants, calling on the government to seek alternatives to its current system of "warehousing" asylum seekers in detention facilities.

The agency also singled out the partial, temporary protection orders granted to asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea for particular criticism, saying the refugee recognition rates of nationals from both countries stood at 70% in other countries.

Israel has granted refugee status to just over 200 applicants since the country was founded in 1948. From 2009 and 2012, when the government took over the assessment of asylum claims from the UN, only 20 claims were approved from the 10,800 submitted. In 2013, Israel examined just 250 out of 1,800 asylum requests and approved none, according to Haaretz.

Meanwhile, Israel's interior ministry announcedin January that dozens of asylum-seekers, mainly from Sudan and Eritrea, had been voluntarily transferred to Sweden, although it later emerged the arrangement was in fact struck following a special request by the UNHCR.

NO REFUGE

Over the years thousands of African migrants have arrived in Israel on foot after fleeing persecution and oppression in their homeland. Many Eritrean asylum seekers are victims of rape and torture and have survived harrowing ordeals having been trafficked from Sudan to Egypt before escaping to Israel across the Sinai desert.

However, the influx of African migrants has sparked tensions in Israel, with locals blaming them for rising crime levels and altering the Jewish identity of some areas.

A five-metre-high fence constructed by Israel to curb the flow of African migrants was completed in December and has reduced the number of people crossing illegally from 10,000 in 2012 to fewer than 45 last year.

There are reports that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) cross into the Sinai to deteralso potential asylum seekers before they even reach the border.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201402261122.html?viewall=1

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Foreign Ministry Secretary General Receives Ambassador of Eritrea

Muscat, Feb 27 (ONA)

Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamoud al-Busaidi, Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry met here today with Mohammed Omar Mahmoud, non – resident ambassador of Eritrea to the Sultanate, to bid him farewell at the end of his tour of duty.

During the meeting, cordial conversations were exchanged and affirmed on the existing good relations between the Sultanate and Eritrea, as well as keenness of both sides in promoting them.

Foreign Ministry Secretary General expressed his sincere wishes to the ambassador to carry out his new duties.

The credentials presentation ceremony was attended by Ali bin Abdullah al-Mahrouqi, acting Head of the West Africa Department.

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