Up First from NPR - Haiti Instability, Fani Willis Stays on the Case, Israel Plans For Rafah Invasion

Episode Date: March 16, 2024

Haitians wait for the arrival of a peacekeeping force from Kenya, as violence continues there. After a judge's ruling in Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis remains on the election interference case against former President Donald Trump. The judge said either she or the special prosecutor with whom she had a romantic relationship needed to step aside. Israel gears up for a planned offensive in Gaza's southern city of Rafah.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Prime Minister says he will resign, but the struggle to control Haiti continues. Police are outnumbered there by armed gangs as citizens in Port-au-Prince wait for a peacekeeping force from Kenya that has yet to arrive. I'm Aisha Roscoe. And I'm Scott Simon, and this is Up First from NPR News. District Attorney Fonny Willis stays on the election interference case in Georgia against former President Donald Trump. That's after a judge ruled that either she or the top special prosecutor she had a romantic relationship with needed to step aside. We'll explain in a moment. Israel gears up for an offensive in Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinians have gone.

We'll learn more about the plans to move them out of the city. Please stay with us. We have the news you need to start your weekend. Now Our Change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to Our Change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. Haiti has a checkered history of constant occupation and invasion from the Spanish, the British, the French, to the Americans. Plus years of a stabilization force from the United Nations. All of this has contributed to the problems we're seeing in Haiti now. For the last two weeks, the country has been wracked by violence and political instability.

International discussions are focused on how to stabilize a nation that's effectively on its knees. And Bears Ader Peralta joins us now from Cap-Haitien. Ader, thanks for being with us. Good morning, Scott. Tell us about the people with whom you've spoken. They must be getting very weary. You know, I think weary is not strong enough a word. And I'll give you one example. I was talking to Jasme Fafa, an employee of a bus company here, and the routes to Port-au-Prince have been suspended because gangs have taken over the highway, but they're about to try to send

their first bus out tomorrow. And the price has gone from about 300 Haitian gourds to 800. And that's not because of inflation, but because of the many bribes that gangs are now demanding along the route. Let's listen. We are now traveling is because we are paying them, and so we are paying them in order for us to go through. Does this feel like the new reality for him? It's not the new reality. The fact that it's like that, we somewhat accept it, but we don't like it because we're not really living.

I've heard that so much here, Scott, like we're not really living. Fafa said they don't know when a gang can open fire on a bus, but it's so much more, he said. There's no water, no electricity, everything is more expensive. This is not a life, he says. Country's prime minister says he was going to resign. Who or what kind of leadership might then try to preside over Haiti? I mean, the jostling for power has begun. The international community presented a plan that forms a nine-person transitional council, which would ultimately elect a transitional prime minister. The political parties in the country

have started naming members to that commission. CARICOM, which is the organization of Caribbean states, said a majority of the nine parties had presented nominations. But at the same time, after what seemed like a lull in violence, the gangs have responded by launching renewed attacks in Port-au-Prince. Earlier this week, they attacked the airport again, they burnt down the house of the police chief. And last night, local news in Haiti were reporting heavy fighting in Basse-del-Mas. And this is an area completely controlled by a federation of gangs,

including the gang of Jimmy Cherizet, who is known as Barbecue. And he is one of Haiti's most notorious gangsters. Local news reports that they were trading fire with police throughout the night. Hader, how does Haiti expect to restore any kind of security in the country? You know, this is one of the biggest challenges. With no government in place, the UN approved a Kenyan peacekeeping force, but that has been delayed over and over. In fact, Kenya said they cannot send a force in right now

and that they won't do it until the country has a new prime minister. And yesterday, the president of Kenya, William Ruto, added yet one more hurdle to the deployment. He said that the Kenyan peacekeepers will not deploy until the country has led a, quote, reconnaissance mission so his police would be adequately informed and prepared for deployment. So we don't know when that will happen. And Pierre Zeder Peralta in Haiti, thank you so much for being with us, Zeder.

Thank you, Scott. Nathan Wade, the top special prosecutor in the Georgia state case against former President Donald Trump, has stepped down. That's after a judge's decision that either he or District Attorney Fannie Willis had to leave the case because of a perceived conflict of interest. The two had a romantic relationship while working leave the case because of a perceived conflict of interest. The two had a romantic relationship while working on the case. NPR's senior political editor and correspondent, Domenico Montanaro, joins us now. Domenico, thanks so much for being with us. Hey there, Scott. Great to be with you. Of course, Donald Trump and allies face criminal charges for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Does the departure

of the special prosecutor affect the underlying case? Well, it means that the case can continue. That's the first and most important thing, I suppose. But it's really been such a delay that really the DA, Fannie Willis, is really fighting the clock here. You know, they've spent two months on this side motion, this hearing about her ethics in this case. And, you know, Trump and his co-defendants may even appeal. This is a really widespread RICO case. It's a lot of defendants. It's really hard to get it all done in time for the November election. And Trump's team, as we've seen, has been very effective at drawing these trials out, trying to push them over the edge for the November 5th election. And it's really not

clear at all that this case is even going to get to a trial before November and really not at all what politically Democrats thought that they would be seeing when it came to these four criminal trials against former President Trump. Chris Domenico, Trump and Biden definitively won enough delegates to become their party's presidential nominees this week. You've been looking at third party candidates. What do you see? Yeah, you know, I really think that third parties may be the key to this presidential election because, you know, former President Trump didn't get above 47% in either 2016 or 2020. He won winning in 2016 when the third party vote was more than 6%. He lost in 2020 when the third party vote was less than 2%. So, you know, it really opens up a path for Trump because he has such a strong base of

support, whereas President Biden is fighting on a couple of fronts here. He's fighting his left flank, who is not happy with him, progressives on a lot of different things, in particular younger voters when it comes to his handling of the war in Gaza. And then you have these third party candidates, like in particular, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who polls had shown it wasn't clear who he would pull from and still is sort of showing some of that. But when I talked to the campaign earlier this week, I was struck by the issue set that they're running on. And we're talking about, you know, being anti-corruption, anti-war, pro-environment. Those are all very progressive policy sets. And when one of his spokespeople talked to me about the kinds of people they're seeing at these rallies, young people, they poll best with people

under 35. And they said they've been hearing from a lot of liberals who were Bobby Furious and are now, quote, Bobby Curious. And that's really interesting because he's not running on his false vaccine platform where he believes that vaccines were, you know, are a big problem. He's running on these other things which really could pull from Biden. And of course, we'll mention Professor Cornel West, Dr. Jill Stein, also running. Former Vice President Mike Pence said yesterday Pence didn't make any mention of January 6th, only that Trump is not conservative enough, unlike the way that they had governed over four years when really nothing's really much changed with Trump. Of course, Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Israel should have new elections and criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu as a roadblock for American politics. Is there a calculation here? Yeah, I thought it was really interesting with how President Biden responded to that, essentially saying that this was a good speech. And when you think about what Schumer might be doing here, you know, he is somebody who has been an ally of Israel and of Netanyahu for a long time. So for him to come out this way might be a little bit of cover for Biden as with what we were talking about with Biden needing to shore up some of his left flank.

And because Biden hasn't been able to really change the calculation in Israel for them to pull back with how they're approaching the war in Gaza. Domenico Montanaro, thanks so much. You're welcome. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a military plan to invade Rafah. The U.S., Egypt, and humanitarian groups have cautioned against such an invasion, saying it would create an even bigger humanitarian catastrophe. And Piers Fatma Tanis joins us now from Jerusalem. Fatma, thanks so much for being with us. Hi, Scott. Thank you for having me. What is known about Netanyahu's plans? So following a war cabinet meeting yesterday,

Netanyahu said the military would move forward with an invasion of Rafah, where nearly 1.4 million Palestinians are crammed in after being displaced from other areas. Netanyahu said that the military was also preparing to evacuate most of that population to what he called humanitarian islands in the middle of the Gaza Strip. Now, there's been a lot of international pressure on Israel to refrain from invading the south, but Israel says Hamas is still active there, and it's unclear when this invasion would happen and also the exact details of what these humanitarian islands would look like. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that the U.S. wants to see a clear and implementable plan

for a Rafah invasion that would get civilians out of harm's way and also see that they have shelter, food, and medicine, and that the U.S. has not seen such a plan yet. Scott, this announcement was also seen by some as a bargaining chip for possible ceasefire negotiations. Fatma, how are Senator Chuck Schumer's comments criticizing Netanyahu and calling for early elections in Israel being received there? Well, it hasn't really gone over so well, especially with the political leadership here. Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's political rival, polls show him as winning if an early election were to happen. And he said that external intervention in Israel's domestic affairs was unacceptable.

Israel's ambassador to D.C., Michael Herzog, also called the comments counterproductive. Of course, the U.S. is still continuing its unconditional military aid to Israel. One thing that's important to remember, Scott, is that even as there are many people in Israel also calling for early elections to oust Netanyahu, the majority of Israeli public supports some of Israel's war policies, such as eliminating Hamas, and also don't want to see humanitarian aid flowing into Gaza. And Fatma, what about that aid? First arrived yesterday by sea, I gather? Yes, that was the World Central Kitchen, which has prepared 200 tons of aid.

It's been shipped from Cyprus. And Scott, you know, it's still a trickle compared to what's actually needed. Yesterday, UNICEF came out with a report that said that the number of children with acute malnutrition in Gaza had doubled in just one month and that it's spreading fast and in unprecedented levels across the Gaza Strip. They're warning of severe wasting among older children as well and highlighting the need for immediate and consistent access to nutritious food. And aid groups say that these sea routes and the airdrops, while helpful, just won't get it done. Here's Kieran Donnelly. He's the head of crisis response for the International Rescue Committee. Airdrops are completely unnecessary in Gaza if two conditions can be met. If the obstacles to

bringing aid in by road can be lifted, and if the fighting can stop. And those two things are entirely within the power of decision makers in the Israeli authorities and their international partners to bring about. Now, aid groups say that Israel has to allow more aid in by land. And so far, there's still only one Israeli border crossing with Gaza that's open. And Piers Vatmatanis in Jerusalem, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you, Scott. And that's Up First for Saturday, March 16, 2024. I'm Aisha Roscoe.

And I'm Scott Simon. Danny Hensel produced today's podcast with help from Martin Patience and Samantha Balaban. Our editors are Tara Neal, Don Clyde, Matthew Sherman, Shannon Rhodes, and Melissa Gray. Michael Radcliffe points the finger, and it's a fine finger at that, because he's our director. Oh, he got my eye. Our technical director is Hannah Glovna, with engineering support from Carly Strange, Nisha Hynes, and Phil Edfors. Their movements are balletic behind the control room glass. Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor.

Sarah Oliver is our executive producer. And Jim Cain is our deputy managing editor. Tomorrow on Up First, losing the Gaza they knew. We hear NPR's Leila Fadl reporting on a Palestinian college student who has been sending her voice memos on a family who escaped the war only to find that it followed them home. For more news, analysis, interviews, and books and music on the weekend, you can always tune in to Weekend Edition on NPR. That's the only place to find it. Absolutely. You can find your station at stations.npr.org.