By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 22 May 2023 (IDN) — Outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari has been ordered to account for a $460 million loan from a Chinese bank to pay for a closed circuit TV (CCTV) project that failed to materialize. Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed reportedly has been unable to explain […]
How Myanmar’s Arms Purchases Circumvent Sanctions
By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, 18 May 2023 (IDN) — The much-maligned military regime in Myanmar, accused of genocide and human rights abuses, is being sustained by nearly a billion dollars’ worth of arms—plus raw materials to manufacture weapons—originating primarily from China and Russia, two permanent members of the Security Council, along with Singapore, Thailand […]
Thai People Want Change. And the Conservative-Military Elite?
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS, 16 May 2023 (IPS) — 39.5 million (or 75% of registered) Thai voters flocked to the polls on 14 May in a hotly contested election that will determine whether Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, the general who seized power in a 2014 coup, will be overthrown by his rivals. There is a […]
After Historic Apology, Fiji Moves to Build a New Nation
By Kalinga Seneviratne SUVA, Fiji, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — In an emotionally charged “Reconciliation and Thanksgiving” service organized by Fiji’s Methodist Church—the country’s largest Christian denomination—the President of the church Reverend Ili Vunisuwai and Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka apologized to the Indo-Fijian community for the suffering and insults they have endured in Fiji’s post- […]
African Migrants Finding Sanctuary in US Maine
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — An African migrant crisis in southern Maine, the easternmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States? Newly arrived asylum seekers have been overwhelming several Maine cities, straining municipal budgets to the breaking point. Surprising to some, many of […]
How Hopes for A Sudanese Spring Failed to Take Hold
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — Since independence six decades earlier, through long stretches of military rule interrupted only by brief spells of democracy, Sudanese citizens began to dream of freedom. They had suffered enough.
Doomsday Cult in Kenya Had White Supremacist Roots
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK, 15 May 2023 (IDN) — Cults are common in Kenya, which has a religious society. But the toll taken by the lead pastor has horrified Kenyans and governing officials who are set to prosecute Paul Mackenzie for terrorism-related offenses. Mackenzie, his wife and 16 other suspects will […]
Thai Elections: More of The Same, Or Break with Tradition?
By Jan Servaes* BRUSSELS, 7 May 2023 (IDN) — The 69-year-old General Prayuth Chan-Ocha, who has been Prime Minister of Thailand since his coup in 2014, is again a candidate in the elections on 14 May 2023. He refuses to participate in debates but fully indulges during the Songkran New Year festivities. It had been […]
Africa Pays High Interest Rates for Private and Chinese Loans
By Jutta Wolf BERLIN, 4 May 2023 (IDN) — African countries pay much higher interest rates to foreign bondholders and Chinese lenders than to international financial institutions such as the World Bank, says Germany’s eminent Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Besides, the hiatus in borrowing conditions has grown over the past ten years, suggesting […]
Zimbabwe Government is Muzzling Politically Conscious Artists
By Farai Shawn Matiashe HARARE, 3 May 2023 (IDN) — As a crucial election approaches, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime is in overdrive cracking down on politically conscious musicians who encourage people to register to vote and sing against corruption. The southern African nation is set to hold its general elections in August this year.