Africa

Photo: Scenes from UNMISS Tomping POC Site, Juba. Credit: UN Photo/Isaac Billy.

UN in Desperate Need of Contributions to Peacebuilding Fund

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is concerned about the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) facing "a desperate funding shortfall" and has asked Governments to help achieve a funding target of $300 million at its pledging conference in September.

The Fund was established in 2005 through resolutions of the General Assembly and Security Council to stand alongside the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO) and "support activities, actions, programmes and organizations that seek to build a lasting peace in countries emerging from conflict".

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 04 August 2016

Photo: The power of Tomorrow's Peacebuilders: Willie Kerenga - Peace Direct

NEWSBRIEF: Kazakhstan Ready as Mediator in Africa

NEW YORK (IDN) - "Kazakhstan always stands ready to build peace in Africa as a steady and trusted mediator and partner", the country's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Barlybay Sadykov told the Security Council during an open debate on 'Peacebuilding in Africa'.

Kazakhstan was elected on June 28 as non-permanent member of the Security Council for 2017 and 2018.

In a statement on July 28, Sadykov urged the international community to develop and implement a coherent assistance strategy to rebuild Africa and declared that as a Member-Observer of the African Union and strong supporter of Africa's revival, "Kazakhstan fully supports the vision of Africa 2063 to make the region conflict-free".

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 04 August 2016

Photo: Mandela Washington Fellow Chipo Chikomo visits the Iowa City Famers' Market. Photo courtesy of Helaina Thompson.

Young African Leaders Trained at State Department Programme

WASHINGTON (IDN | GIN) – With media attention glued to the salacious details of the U.S. election, a signature program of President Obama is flying under the radar, preparing young African leaders with advanced leadership skills to bring home to their countries.

Participants in the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders are enrolled in an intensive, six-week program on academic excellence and leadership focused on business and entrepreneurship, civic leadership, public management, and renewable energy at U.S. colleges and universities.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 02 August 2016

Photo: Congolese musician Koffi Olomide (centre) with his handlers in Nairobi moments after the incident at JKIA. Credit: Nairobi News Correspondent

NEWSBRIEF: Uproar Over Star's Attack on a Dancer in Kenya

NAIROBI (IDN | GIN) – A well-known soukous star from the Congo got a quick lesson in the evolving status of Kenyan women when he was detained and summarily deported, his performance scuttled, after he was caught striking a woman with his foot on a bystander’s cell phone camera.

In the grainy video image posted online, Koffi Olomide, age 60, his musicians and dancers are seen arriving at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Without warning, he pivots to one of his dancers and aims a vicious kick at her midsection.

Band members said he overreacted after being informed that the unidentified dancer had slapped his purported girlfriend.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 July 2016

Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton makes remarks to the press with President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon, Washington, DC, in March 2010.

NEWSBRIEF: Continuation of Bongo Dynasty in Gabon Rejected

LIBREVILLE (IDN | GIN) – For the past 50 years, the citizens of Gabon have lived under a dynasty with one name. Bongo.

Omar Bongo Ondimba, the father, served from December 1967 to June 2009 to be replaced by his son, Ali Bongo Ondimba who served from 2009 until today. On August 27, Gabonese will have a chance to elect someone other than a Bongo family member although the chances are slim.

In the capital, Libreville, peaceful protestors demanding fair elections are already facing a heavy police presence. Some 15 opposition leaders and hundreds of marchers formed a human chain. Police using teargas dispersed the crowd and several shots were fired.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 July 2016

Photo: A young refugee and her family cross the border between South Sudan and Uganda. Photo: UNHCR/Will Swanson

UN Underfunded as South Sudanese Flee to Uganda

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) - The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has expressed great concern about the precarious security situation in South Sudan, where some 4,000 people are currently fleeing every day to neighbouring Uganda. 90 percent are women and children.

South Sudan’s conflict erupted in December 2013, and it has produced one of the world’s worst displacement situations with immense suffering. Some 1.69 million people are displaced inside the country, while 831,582 South Sudanese refugees are abroad, mainly in Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda.

: Jamshed Baruah; UN INSIDER; 26 July 2016

NEWSBRIEF: African Union Unveils New Pan-African Passport

KIGLI (IDN | GIN) – National leaders at the African Union summit held in Kigali, Rwanda, were presented on July 17 with a prototype of the long-awaited Pan-African passport.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by requests and enquiries of other ministers, officials and African citizens to share in this privilege of holding an African passport,” said AU Commissioner Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.

It is hoped that the new document will facilitate the seamless mobility of Africans and ease trade across the continent, consequently leading to the continent’s economic transformation.

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 25 July 2016

Photo: WPF's Alex de Waal (left) with former South African President Theo Mbeki (centre) in the remote village of Ain Siro in northern Darfur.

New Report Shows Way Out of Persistent Conflict in Africa

By Devendra Kamarajan

ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – For quite some time, Africa has been hosting at least three-quarters of the UN Peacekeepers worldwide which South African President Theo Mbeki and Algerian UN diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi bemoan as "a sad fact".

In preface to the landmark report titled 'African Politics, African Peace', the two African leaders stress that having "engaged in a successful struggle against colonialism and apartheid . . . we surely have an obligation to exercise our hard-won right to self-determination and independence effectively to address this humiliating reality of persistent conflict on our Continent and the unwelcome and painful consequences it has imposed on the masses of Africa."

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 23 July 2016

Photo: A health worker uses a stethoscope while examining a young boy, who is held by his mother, in the Gire 2 camp for internally displaced people, near Yola, the capital of Adamawa, a state in the country’s north-east. Credit: UNICEF

UNICEF Needs Funds to Keep 244,000 Nigerian Children Alive

GENEVA (IDN) - The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF appealed for $55.5 million early 2016 to respond to the humanitarian crisis in north-east Nigeria, but has so far only received 41 percent or $23 million.

Now that the scale of the humanitarian crisis caused by the Boko Haram emergency continues to unfold, and UNICEF finds that nearly a quarter of a million children are severely malnourished in Borno state, northeast Nigeria, and face a high risk of death, it expects the appeal to increase significantly.

Out of the 244,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition in Borno, an estimated 49,000 children – almost one in five – will die if they are not reached with treatment, UNICEF said on July 19, and urged all partners to join the humanitarian response and donors to urgently provide resources.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 19 July 2016

Image credit: lakehighlands.advocatemag.com

'Zombie Money’ Draws Scorn from Cash-Strapped Zimbabweans

HARARE (IDN | GIN) – With exports down and scarce dollars hidden away under pillows, banks in Zimbabwe are running out of legal tender. At the same time, some ATMs have been shuttered, leaving minimum wage workers, normally paid in cash, with IOUs as employers struggle to withdraw notes.

“We’re importing more than we’re exporting and we can’t print money because we use mainly the U.S. dollar,” explained Sam Malaba, CEO of the Agricultural Bank of Zimbabwe.

In May 2016, in a bid to relieve the cash shortage, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor John Mangudya announced the printing of “bond notes” – usable within the country but worthless outside – to begin circulating in October. However, the new currency is widely rejected as “monopoly money” by the population.