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Photo: Horst Köhler, newly-appointed Personal Envoy for Western Sahara (file). UN Photo/Mark Garten

Former German President Tasked With Bringing Peace To Western Sahara

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – Nearly 26 years after a ceasefire was signed between Morocco and the Polisario Front on Western Sahara, the United Nations is hoping that Horst Köhler, former President of the Federal Republic of Germany, can help achieve a peaceful solution to the conflict. France and the Polisario Front share Secretary-General António Guterres' expectation.

Guterres announced on August 16 Köhler's appointment as his Personal Envoy for Western Sahara – located on the north-west coast of Africa bordered by Morocco, Mauritania and Algeria – which has been disputed since 1976, when fighting broke out between Morocco and the Polisario Front after the Spanish colonial administration of the territory ended.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 18 August 2017

Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the nation from the ramparts of the historic Red Fort on the occasion of Independence Day on August 15 in New Delhi. Credit: PTI/PIB | The Wire

India Sliding Into Deadly Peril Two Years Ahead of Next General Election

Analysis by Prem Shankar Jha

Prem Shankar Jha is a senior Indian journalist and the author of several books including Crouching Dragon, Hidden Tiger: Can China and India Dominate the West? This article is being reproduced courtesy of The Wire which carried it on August 17 with the headline: Modi Is Taking India to a Dangerous Place. – The Editor

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) - There was a discernible note of self congratulation in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day (August 15) speech this year. As usual, it was replete with claims – “In our country everyone is equal”, “Those who have looted the nation and looted the poor are not able to sleep peacefully today” – and exhortations – “Bharat jodo“, “Let us create a new India” – that are entirely devoid of content.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 17 August 2017

Photo: A H/mong hill tribe woman in a village of Sin Chai, Sapa, Viet Nam. Women’s labour accounts for the two-thirds of subsistence agriculture in developing countries, yet they often have no rights over the land. Credit: UN Photo/Kibae Park

Indigenous Women Still Face Huge Rights Challenges

By Phil Harris

ROME (IDN) – Almost ten years have come and gone since the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly on September 13, 2007, but indigenous people continue to face discrimination, marginalisation and major challenges in enjoying their basic rights.

“The Declaration, which took more than twenty years to negotiate, stands today as a beacon of progress, a framework for reconciliation and a benchmark of rights,” according to a joint statement on the occasion of International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9 issued by Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Mariam Wallet Aboubakrine, Chairperson of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, and the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

: Phil Harris; UN INSIDER; 16 August 2017

Photo: Panaromic view of fully integrated PSLV-C38 seen with Mobile Service Tower. Credit: ISRO

India at 70 – III: From Aryabhata to Mangalyaan in Quest for Outer Space

By Pallava Bagla

India celebrated 70 years of Independence from British colonial rule on August 15, 2017. This is the third in a series of three sponsored articles on India at 70. Pallava Bagla is an eminent Indian science journalist and author of book `Reaching for the Stars: India’s Journey to Mars and Beyond’ published by Bloomsbury. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. - The Editor

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) - India has a rich tradition of using outer space as a tool for national development. The poorest of the poor have always been the beneficiaries of India’s space technologies, from farmers to fisher folk Indian satellites touch the lives of almost the entire 1.3 billion population.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 August 2017

India at 70 – II: The Paradigm for Citizen Friendly E-Governance

By R S Sharma

India celebrated 70 years of Independence from British colonial rule on August 15, 2017. This is the second in a series of three sponsored articles on India at 70. R. S. Sharma is Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). - The Editor

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) - Building trust between governments and citizens is fundamental to good governance. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been recognized as an essential tool for achieving the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by United Nations for the welfare of mankind. It is globally recognized that ICT promotes good governance.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 August 2017

Photo: The Indian Navy launched a major rescue operation in the cyclone-hit Bangladesh in May 2017. Credit: The Tribune | ANI

India at 70 – I: Responding First as a Leading Power

By Constantino Xavier

India celebrated 70 years of Independence from British colonial rule on August 15, 2017. This is the first in a series of three sponsored articles on India at 70. Constantino Xavier is a fellow at Carnegie India, based in New Delhi. His research focus is on India’s foreign policy, with emphasis on relations with its neighboring countries and South Asian regional security. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. – The Edtor

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) - The emerging concept of India as a “first responder” reflects the country’s growing capability and increasing willingness to assume the role of a leading power. By contributing its resources to prevent or mitigate regional and international crises, India is demonstrating its commitment as a responsible actor in the international order.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 August 2017

Trump Should Learn From Reagan, Stop Nuclear Sabre-Rattling

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Does President Donald Trump ('also known as' Fire and Fury) have an idea what a nuclear war would be like? I ask the question because President Roland Reagan confessed he did not until he decided to look at some movies (once an actor, he was a cinema man), like “On the Beach” that depicted a nuclear war. The exercise changed his thinking and he became an anti-nuclear-weapons militant. Together with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev they cut their nuclear stockpiles sharply. They also came near an agreement to destroy all their nuclear weapons.

The blasts at the end of the Second World War in Hiroshima and Nagasaki can now be repeated hundreds of thousand times. The remains would not just be the broken arches of the Caesars, the abandoned viaducts and moss-covered temples of the Incas, the desolation of one of the pulsating hearts of Europe, Dresden, but millions of square miles of uninhabitable desolation and a suffering which would incorporate more agony than the sum of past history.

: Jonathan Power; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 15 August 2017

Photo: UNFPA does a lot of work in Sierra Leone especially with regards to maternal health. Credit: Joan Erakit | IDN-INPS

Freetown Flooding Raises Concern About Maternal Healthcare

By Joan Erakit

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - In the early hours of August 14, disastrous weather took to Freetown as the city was flooded with torrential downpour. Shortly after, a mudslide followed dragging countless homes down a suburban hillside in slushy red dirt in Regent, east of Freetown. The Red Cross reported at least 200 people dead as aid organizations and local authorities rushed to the scene.

In a statement attributable to the Spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General, Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told IDN that, “the Secretary-General is saddened by the deaths and devastation caused by the mudslide and flooding in the town of Regent, Sierra Leone, and throughout Freetown,” adding, “the Secretary-General extends his condolences to the people and Government of Sierra Leone for the loss of life and destruction caused by this natural disaster.”

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 15 August 2017

Photo: Monument at the atomic bomb hypocenter in Nagasaki. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Despite 'Fire and Fury' Milestones Toward A Nuclear-Weapons-Free World

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Considering the "fire and fury" characterizing the heated exchanges between the U.S. and North Korea, July 7 appears to be light years ago. That was the day when 122 member states of the United Nations voted to adopt a legally binding global Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that may eventually lead towards their total elimination.

The Treaty that opens for signature on September 20, was adopted four weeks ahead of the 72nd anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and August 9, 1945 – giving cause for hope, as Nagasaki Mayor Tomihisa Taue said in the Nagasaki Peace Declaration, that "all the efforts of the hibakusha over the years" would finally take shape.

: J Nastranis; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 14 August 2017

Photo: Final session of SAMVAD meeting with Yogi Adinath (fourth from left) seated among Buddhist and Hindu priests. Credit: Kalinga Seneviratne | IDN-INPS

Eastern Spirituality Could Help Sustainable Development

By Kalinga Seneviratne

This article is the 18th in a series of joint productions of Lotus News Features and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

YANGON, Myanmar (IDN) – “The desire for peace exists everywhere, but the majority of people are not in a position to enjoy peace, stability and security they desire,” noted venerable Dr Ashin Nyanissara, spiritual head of the Sitagu International Buddhist University (SIBU), in opening a two-day gathering of spiritual leaders and scholars at the university here on August 5.

The event was the second Global Initiative for Conflict Avoidance and Environmental Consciousness (SAMVAD) conference, following the first held in New Delhi in September 2015.