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Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene
The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.
ABUJA (IDN) — “I’m going to waste my vote,” a friend told me recently. “And don’t argue with me,” he added. “It’s my right to do so.”
I defied him. Regrettably, even though I also recruited help nearby to press home my point, my unsolicited advice fell on deaf ears.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | FREETOWN (IDN) — Americans aren’t alone in turning purple over the car's skyrocketing costs for housing, food, medical care and fuel.
Last month in Sierra Leone, women street vendors gathered peacefully to protest the soaring cost of living. A few days later, the number swelled to the hundreds as many more protestors turned out, clashing with police and demanding the president’s resignation over the government’s perceived failure to address the rising prices.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — What began as a quiet voting exercise with a low voter turnout ended with an upset victory for Kenya's Deputy President, William Amolo Ruto, who becomes the nation's fifth president. The race had taken a worrying turn since polls were shut down several times after complaints by supporters of the leading candidates.
On August 15, Kenya's elections chief declared Deputy President William Amolo Ruto. Still, four other senior election officials said the week-long count was too opaque amid chaotic scenes and disowned the result.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — A UN-chartered vessel has been loaded with humanitarian food grain for Africa, in a first step toward releasing much needed food aid that had been trapped in the Ukraine.
The vessel will carry 23,000 tons of grain for Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya as part of a UN-backed plan to move the grain trapped by Russia's war on Ukraine and help relieve a global food crisis.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — In a deeply disturbing new documentary, Nigerian journalist Yusuf Anka presents a devastating portrait of his country's worst security crisis. In the north-western state of Zamfara, heavily armed bandit gangs raid villages, attack drivers, abduct children and kill anyone who resists.
As seen through this hour-long video, we hear the voices of Fulani-dominated bandits, as they are popularly called in Nigeria, and Hausa-dominated vigilantes, including the men who abducted almost 300 secondary schoolgirls in February 2021.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK | LEICESTER (IDN) — It remains a bitter memory for Asians, some life-long and others more recent residents of Uganda, of their sudden, unexpected expulsion from the African country they called home 50 years ago this month.
They had just 90 days to pack up and leave, then President Idi Amin declared in a televised speech. For now, he was "giving Uganda back to ethnic Ugandans".
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — As election fever was cresting in the East African nation of Kenya, declassified documents were published exposing the spread of fake news by the UK's propaganda arm against the country's first vice president, Oginga Odinga (October 1911-20 January 1994), for his leftist views.
Provisional results of the current elections suggest a tight presidential race in Kenya between Deputy President William Ruto and Raila Odinga, Oginga Odinga's son and a former prime minister.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — The Rwandan government's human rights record is under a harsh spotlight over its role in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Sen. Robert Menendez, chair of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would place a hold on U.S. security assistance to Rwanda in Congress over concerns about the Rwandan government's human rights record.
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Senator Menendez called for a comprehensive review of U.S. policy towards Rwanda.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — As massive floods and endless droughts, unleashed by global climate change, take lives and leave homes a twisted pile of sticks, the Democratic Republic of Congo will take a dangerous step backwards—opening up the Congo Basin to fossil fuel development.
Sections of a renowned tropical forest could soon carry the pounding of oil rigs, including in Virunga National Park, the world’s largest wetland. Created in 1925 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the park is also a sanctuary for endangered mountain gorillas and other endangered species.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — The African continent of 1.2 billion people, which represents 17% of the world's population, contributes less than 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions but suffers from extreme weather events, which scientists have warned will become more frequent due to climate change.
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