#Title

EU team holds talks with foreign envoys in Dhaka
FROM PAGE 1
the current positions of some political forces regarding their participation in the upcoming elections,” the diplomat said.
The EU delegation in Dhaka has not provided any schedule of the visiting mission’s programmes in the capital.
So far there is no plan for any press briefing, a diplomatic source said, adding that the names of the mission members have also not been made public because the delegation wants to remain fully independent.
The EU mission is scheduled to hold meetings with all stakeholders -- government, political parties, Election Commission, security officials, civil society and media.
It will meet the senior officials from the ministries of foreign affairs, home affairs, women and children affairs, Chattogram Hill Tracts affairs, police, and the Human Rights Commission, a government official said.
“They will have to decide if it is feasible, useful and advisable to deploy a full EU observation mission,” EU Ambassador to Bangladesh Charles Whiteley had told The Daily Star earlier.
The task of this mission will be to assess the scope, planning, budget, logistics and security of the main election observation mission, Mohammad Rafiqul Alam, director general (additional charge) at the public diplomacy wing of the foreign ministry, told reporters at the weekly briefing at the ministry on Thursday.
Based on the assessment report, which would be submitted to the EU High Representative Josep Borrell, the EU will decide whether to send a full-fledged Election Observation Mission (EOM) before the next general election, scheduled for December this year or early next year.
Meanwhile, election analysts said assessment of the EU mission is a determining factor in the other international observers’ decisions to come to Bangladesh to observe the polls.
The EU didn’t send election observers in 2018.
The ruling Awami League and its archrival BNP are at loggerheads over the polls-time administration. The BNP wants restoration of the caretaker government system, while the AL says the polls will be held under the incumbent government as per the constitution.
Responding to a letter from six members of the European Parliament, EU High Representative Josep Borrell on July 6 said the EU encourages genuine dialogue among the major political parties and participation of all in the next parliamentary polls in Bangladesh.
The government is also under pressure after the US on May 24 announced visa policy saying it will restrict visas for those Bangladeshis who would engage in vote rigging or undermine democratic election process.
The EU mission is scheduled to leave Dhaka on July 23.

US raid in Syria kills IS leader
AFP, Beirut
A US drone strike has killed an Islamic State group leader in Syria after Russian warplanes harassed MQ-9 drones over the war-torn country, the US Central Command said yesterday.
The strike on Friday resulted in the death of Osama al-Muhajer, IS leader in eastern Syria, Centcom said in a statement.
“We have made it clear that we remain committed to the defeat of ISIS throughout the region,” Centcom chief General Michael Kurilla was quoted as saying, using another acronym for the IS jihadist group.
“ISIS remains a threat, not only to the region but well beyond,” he added.
According to Centcom, no civilians were killed in the operation but coalition forces are “assessing reports of a civilian injury”.
Friday’s strike, Centcom said, “was conducted by the same MQ-9s (drones) that had... been harassed by Russian aircraft in an encounter that had lasted almost two hours”.
US drones taking part in operations against IS in Syria were harassed on Thursday, for the second time in 24 hours, by Russian military aircraft, a US commander said at the time.
Air Force Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich said the planes “dropped flares in front of the drones and flew dangerously close, endangering the safety of all aircraft involved”.
In another incident on Wednesday, three Russian jets dropped parachute flares in front of US drones, forcing them to take evasive action, Grynkewich has said, calling on Moscow to “cease this reckless behaviour”.
Russia is a key ally of the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
With the support of Moscow as well as Iran, Assad has clawed back much of the ground lost in the early stages of the Syrian conflict that erupted in 2011 when the government brutally repressed pro-democracy protests.
The last pockets of armed opposition to the regime include large swathes of the northern rebel-held Idlib province.
The United States has about 1,000 troops deployed in Syria as part of international efforts to combat IS jihadists, who were defeated in Syria in 2019 but still maintain hideouts in remote desert areas and conduct frequent attacks.