SUSTAINABILITY

Photo: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed with Presidfent Guelleh of Djibouti on 18 November 2018.

Ethiopian Old Guard Rejects Prime Minister’s Sweeping Reforms

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | ASMARA (IDN) – Since becoming prime minister of Ethiopia in April 2018, Abiy Ahmed has launched a wide-ranging programme of political and economic reforms, not all of which have met with favour by supporters of the federalism-based constitution and system of the land-locked country on the Horn of Africa.

In a challenge to his sweeping reform, rebel gunmen launched a coordinated assault on June 22-23 in the Amhara region. Several senior government officials died in the assault including the army chief and the governor of Amhara state.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 June 2019

BIOPAMA Launches the 1st Call for Proposals for Medium Grants

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) has launched on June 24 the first call for proposals for medium grants (up to € 400,000) in the frame of its "Action component". The Programme assists the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to address their priorities for improved management and governance of biodiversity and natural resources.

BIOPAMA provides a variety of tools, services and funding to conservation actors in ACP countries. It is an initiative of the ACP Group of States financed by the joint ACP-European Union (EU) 11th European Development Fund (EDF).

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 25 June 2019

Photo: Palestinian boys raise their hands during one of the first classes of the new academic year, at a school in Gaza supported by UNRWA. UN Photo/Shareef Sarhan

UN Calls for Bridging Palestinian Refugee Agency's Funding Shortfall

By Jaya Ramachandan

NEW YORK (IDN) – UNRWA, officially the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, faces a "serious funding shortfall", the General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés has warned. The agency is $211 million short of the $1.2 billion needed to deliver its aid programmes.

She was speaking at the opening of the 2019 pledging conference for UNRWA on June 25, alongside Secretary-General António Guterres, and the agency’s Commissioner-General, Pierre Krähenbühl.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 25 June 2019

Families in a Changing World Call for Reality Check

Viewpoint by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

The writer is UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director, of UN Women.

NEW YORK (IDN) – What’s a family? Classically, we think of a mother, a father and the children. The father goes out to work, the mother takes care of the children, maybe she works part time, at home or close to home so she can be there when the children get back from school. It’s a common formula in advertising, movies and the media. It’s the pattern of romance plots, the story of song lyrics, the image for illustrations in schoolbooks. It’s comforting, stable, predictable. And it’s wrong, for the majority of families in the world.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 25 June 2019

Photo: Qu Dongyu of China was elected Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on June 23. Credit: FAO

China Bags Yet Another Trophy with Qu Dongyu as FAO Chief

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | ROME (IDN) – With the election of Qu Dongyu as Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), China has made yet another stride in its unrelenting efforts to take over a signature role in strategic UN organisations and foster its massive 'Belt and Road' infrastructure initiative spanning the globe.

Qu takes over from Brazil's José Graziano da Silva August 1. He was first elected in 2011 and has served two consecutive terms. The new FAO chief is expected to find in LI Yong, the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) Director-General since 2013, an example of how a UN organisation can be deployed to proselytise the advantages of the Belt and Road initiative.

: Ramesh Jaura; UN INSIDER; 25 June 2019

Photo: Pamir mountains. Credit: Alijon Boynazarov

Climate Change Finds Its Way to the 'Rooftop' in Tajikistan

By Alisher Kukanbekov*

PAMIR, Tajikistan (IDN) – The great mountains of Pamir that have been known as the ‘Roof of the World’ over the centuries is now falling victim to climatic change. One of the largest glaciers here, Garmo glacier, has retreated by a staggering 7 kilometers in the past few decades with the annual mean temperatures recording an upwards trend over the past decade.

Pamir is situated at an altitude of over 2000 meters in the heart of Central Asia. Throughout centuries it has been the hub for many great empires such as the Persian Empire and the Greek Empire led by the boundless Alexander the Great. However, in the recent years, climate change has had its toll on the great mountains here and the whole of Tajikistan.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Central Asia; 24 June 2019

Photo: Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia. Credit: IOM – UN Migration

Continuous Influx of Eritrean Refugees Challenges Ethiopia

Viewpoint by Kristina Melicherová

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Refugee and host communities in Ethiopia came together on June 20 to commemorate World Refugee Day through various cultural activities, organized within refugee camps as well as urban settings. But the reality behind the festivities is that hundreds of Eritrean refugees continue to cross the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia every day.

Despite the peace deal between Ethiopia and Eritrea, signed in July 2018, the internal situation and oppression of Eritrean people, mainly through the indefinite military service, remains intact. The continued inflow of young Eritreans fleeing oppression is putting strain on Ethiopia’s refugee camps.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 22 June 2019

Photo: Foreign corporations exploit Africa's mineral resources leaving a big hole for the people. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Pillaging of Mineral Resources Leaves Behind Poverty Holes for Africans

By Jeffrey Moyo

HARARE (IDN) – More than a decade ago, he lost his home as diamond miners from China razed it to the ground searching for the gems. Still, today, 74-year old Tobias Mukwada lives with his family in shanty thatched huts they erected hoping that perhaps one day the Chinese diamond merchants would remember them and offer them a decent home.

But for the poverty-stricken Mukwada and his family, it may be a wait in vain.

Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe ordered Chinese diamond miners out of the mining fields in the country’s eastern highlands in 2016.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 June 2019

Russia and Africa Gearing for Inter-Parliamentary Conference

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, (IDN) – With high optimism, Russian legislators plan to use the forthcoming Russia-Africa inter-parliamentary conference scheduled for July 3 to discuss effective ways of strengthening Russia-African relations with a focus on new mechanisms for exploring business opportunities in Africa.

More than 30 African countries will take part in the conference in Moscow, an indication that African governments have a renewed interest in and looking forward to developing policy ties that could foster greater economic engagement and investment in sustainable development on the continent.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 21 June 2019

Photo: Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque during the violent dispersal of pro-Morsi sit-ins, 14 August 2013. CC BY-SA 3.0

Speculations about Ousted Egyptian President's Death in Court Hearing

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Egyptian ex-president Mohammed Morsi, persecuted by the current military regime according to rights activists, collapsed on the stand and died after giving testimony in his trial, the state TV reported.

Morsi, 67, had been speaking from the glass “cage” where he was confined during sessions. He warned of “many secrets” he could reveal, when suddenly he collapsed. The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood was stricken by a heart attack, sources said. State TV said Morsi died before he could be taken to the hospital.