By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (IDN) — The midnight of November 3-4, 2020 witnessed the unleashing of the armed conflict in the Tigray region of Ethiopia in the Horn of Africa. For nearly a fortnight there was a communication blackout until on November 17 the Europe External Programme with Africa (EEPA) launched a daily situation report. […]
Attempts for Political Change in Senegal and in the Republic of Congo — Army Barracks Blast in Oil-Rich Equatorial Guinea
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Calm has abandoned Senegal, a country in West Africa. The young people are rising up against the “wealth hoarding” political class. In Central Africa, the Republic of Congo, the opposition is seething as the 77-year-old President seeks another term. In another Central African country, Equatorial […]
Brutal Gender-Based Violence in Tigray — A Personal Account
By EEPA BRUSSELS (IDN) — “A woman in her 40s was found dead on the road to her home. She was found with her hands tied, injured to her head and sexually assaulted. This was in Mekelle. I know her son.” This is what one of our reporters (A.G.), who herself is a young woman, […]
China Sets Over 6% GDP Target & 11 Million Urban Jobs in 2021
By Press Trust of India (PTI) BEIJING (IDN) — China, which was the first to be hit by COVID-19 and the earliest to recover from the lockdown effects, has fixed a GDP (Gross Domestic Product) target of over 6% in 2021, optimistic of an economic recovery after last year’s 2.3% growth, its weakest in decades. […]
Humanitarian Situation Getting from Bad to Worse in the Horn
By S. Gianesello BRUSSELS (IDN | EEPA) — As the UN Security Council prepared to meet on March 4 to talk over the humanitarian situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, the situation in the Horn of Africa was getting from bad to worse with reports of ethnic targeting and cleansing. The meeting was requested […]
Buddhism Under Threat in Asia, Warns New Report
By Krishan Dutta BANGKOK (IDN) — A new report released by the Sydney-based Lotus Communication Network (LCN) on February 26 warns that Buddhism is under threat across Asia, both from within and outside, and calls for concerted action by Buddhists across the region to empower themselves. The 238-page report produced as an eBook identifies six […]
Seven Years Since Chibok, Search on for Missing Schoolgirls in Latest Nigerian Kidnap
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Nail-biting negotiations are underway for the release of 317 schoolgirls kidnapped on February 26 in north-western Nigeria — a region beset by banditry that takes thousands of lives each year. Terms of a large ransom are reportedly being discussed but officially denied. Frightened parents who […]
U.S. President Biden Concerned About “Deteriorating Humanitarian Crisis” in the Horn
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — In what may be U.S. President Joe Biden’s first major test in Africa, a key U.S. ally stands accused of undertaking a campaign of ethnic cleansing, massacring hundreds of unarmed civilians and threatening the fragile stability of the region. President Biden, confronting the scenario linked […]
The Great Game of Vaccination Diplomacy Targets Africa
By Kester Kenn Klomegah* MOSCOW (IDN) — Russia is committed to helping eradicate the rapidly increasing coronavirus infections in Africa amounting to approximately 3.8 million with its latest developed Sputnik V vaccine. Such a step will enable Russia to reassert its geopolitical influence that involves a keen competition with other foreign players on the continent. […]
Heavily US-Armed Niger Faces Electoral Violence
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The country that drew worldwide attention over a now-debunked U.S. theory linking Saddam Hussein with the purchase of “yellowcake” uranium powder is in the spotlight again. On February 21, unidentified attackers set off a landmine that exploded under a car full of election commissioners in […]