NEWSBRIEFS

Photo: President Félix Tshisekedi (left) and predecessor Joseph Kabila (right). Credit: DR.

DR Congo President Resists Latest Power Grab by Predecessor

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Joseph Kabila, ex-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, may have gone once too often to the cookie jar, taking back one by one all of the powers and rights earned by his successor from a recent election, Felix Tshisekedi.

President Tshisekedi may have had enough.

After a disputed vote that gave the former president’s allies an overwhelming majority in the upper house of parliament, 80 out of 100 seats, while the actual president’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress party (UDPS) gained only three, the newly-named senators were blocked from taking office in a surprise move by President Tshisekedi.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 March 2019

Photo: Joseph Hammond, aged 91, is a Commonwealth veteran from Ghana who fought for Britain in WWII. Credit: DFID

African WWII Vets Seek Formal Apology, Compensation From UK

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | LONDON (IDN) – The UK government is coming under pressure to compensate and apologize to the last surviving African veterans who fought alongside white British soldiers in the Second World War that began 80 years ago and lasted six years.

More than half a million black African soldiers who fought in the British army were paid up to three times less than their white counterparts, a newly unearthed document has revealed, prompting calls for an investigation and the government to compensate surviving veterans.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 February 2019

Photo: Voters look for their names in the lists during Presidential and Legislative elections in in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (30 December 2018). Credit: MONUSCO/Alain Likota

Congo's Constitutional Court Declares Tshisekedi Presidential Election Winner

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The Democratic Republic of Congo finally has a president. Opposition figure Felix Tshisekedi was declared winner of the presidential race by the DR Congo’s top court on January 20.

The Constitutional Court said Tshisekedi had won by a simple majority, paving the way for him to take over from the current president, Joseph Kabila.

The outcome was challenged by runner-up Martin Fayulu who claimed that the election had been stolen and called on the international community to reject the results.

Election data leaked to some news organizations suggested that he won the vote.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 January 2019

Photo: Anti-government protests have rattled Sudan after the government tripled the price of a loaf of bread. Credit: nileinternational.net

African Leaders Confront A 'Blue Wave' Demanding Change

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – When Democrats captured one House seat after another in the U.S. midterm elections, observers brushed it off as a "blue trickle". Later they had to admit: it was a giant blue wave.

Africans are also yearning for change and their frustration is erupting across the continent with a new crop of activists challenging the old order.

In Ethiopia, reforms are already underway since the installation last year of 42-year-old Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Women have been named to some of the government’s key positions – president, chief justice and half of all ministers. Thousands of political prisoners and journalists have been freed while senior officials accused of human rights abuses and corruption no longer enjoy immunity.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 January 2019

Photo: Former president Jacob Zuma. Credit: Bonile Bam

Former President Jacob Zuma Reveals Plans For New Career

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – After a brief spin as President of South Africa, the multi-talented Jacob Zuma is plunging into a new and exciting career path – he’ll be a recording artist of liberation songs from the anti-apartheid struggle.

A full-length album will be recorded in April during the Articulate Africa project, a program of national and international literary writings.

Zuma, who was forced to step down in February 2018 over multiple graft scandals, is remembered for singing and dancing at rallies during his tenure.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 January 2019

3,500 Lose Jobs As New Currency Shortage Hits Zimbabwe

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Over 3,500 youth officers have been laid off as part of the nation’s shortage of currency amid efforts to streamline the wage bill. It was explained that the layoffs would save the country a substantial amount while the nation’s economy is limping.

Public Service Commission secretary Jonathan Wutawunashe said the layoffs were in line with the transitional stabilization program as announced by Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Ncube in the 2019 national budget last November.

The measures, Ncube said, "will yield annual financial savings to be channeled to critical areas of health and education, as well as infrastructure".

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 January 2019

UNDP Selects Next Generation Of Leadership Worldwide

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) – While the vast majority of the senior leadership of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – 126 Resident Representatives – were slated to leave the organization simultaneously on December 31, 2018, a new pool of world class talent has been selected to lead the UNDP's development work across the globe.

The new pool is not only 50:50 gender balanced and geographically diverse, it also implies a significant leap forward in preparing to play a crucial role in the implementation of the Secretary-General's reform of the United Nations Development System.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; UN INSIDER; 05 January 2019

Photo: The Arch 22 monument commemorating the 1994 coup which saw the then 29-year-old Yahya Jammeh seize power in a bloodless coup, ousting Dawda Jawara, who had been President of the Gambia since 1970. CC BY-SA 3.0

Press Freedoms Return To Gambia Under New Government

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | BANJUL (IDN) – Following the end of the regime of former President Yahya Jammeh, journalists in The Gambia are beginning to enjoy press freedoms for the first time in 22 years.

During the two decades of ex-President Jammeh's rule, journalists were regularly abducted, tortured and killed. The new government has pledged to respect the media.

Outdated sedition laws are still on the books, however, and the public is urged to bring any complaints about journalists to the new Media Council of The Gambia instead of to the courts.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 January 2019

Swahili Speakers Stunned As Disney Claims Trademark For ‘Hakuna Matata’

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The once common phrase “Hakuna Matata” (No Problem!) is now off limits for African speakers of Swahili. Any commercial use of the two word expression is reserved for its new owner – the American company that produced Lion King. That’s right: Walt Disney!

The California-based company is preparing to release its remake of The Lion King next year and just to keep an enterprising African from capitalizing on the film’s success, the company registered the phrase in the U.S.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 December 2018

Photo: Gemfields announced record results of the most recent auction of Mozambican rough rubies held in Singapore from June 5-9, 2018.

Emeralds, Rubies Score Big Profits For Foreign Firms As African Countries Go Broke

The information presented here has been superseded and the corrected article can be found here https://www.indepthnews.net/index.php/the-world/africa/2476-emeralds-rubies-could-make-zambia-rich

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Foreign mining companies extract more than a quarter of the world’s production of rare emeralds in Zambia yet declare losses to make themselves tax exempt.

So far, charges of tax evasion filed against Kagem mine, a subsidiary of the London-listed gemstone miner Gemfields, have been unsuccessful – dismissed by the Zambian Revenue Authority.

Gemfields owns 75 percent of the world’s largest emerald mine in Kagem, northern Zambia. Auctions of 30 Zambian emeralds and 11 Mozambican rubies have brought the company over $1 billion of combined auction revenue, according to the Creamer Media Mining Weekly.