Africa

Upsurge in Middle East Arms Imports Amid Upswing in Global Weapons Trade

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | STOCKHOLM (IDN) – Global arms trade is on the upswing with the United States increasing dominance in the group of five largest exporters including Russia, France, Germany and China, which together account for 75 per cent of the total volume of weapons exports in 2014-2018. While the Middle East imports almost doubled in the past five years, Saudi Arabia became the world’s largest arms importer.

According to new data on arms transfers published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the volume of international transfers of major arms in 2014-2018 was 7.8 per cent higher than in the previous five years and 23 per cent higher than in 2004-2008.

: Jaya Ramachandran; ARMAMENTS; Arms Trade; 14 March 2019

Photo: Scene of the Ethiopian plane crash with pictures of Professor Adesanmi (bottom left) and former Nigerian diplomat Abiodun Oluremi Bashua. Source: Global Information Network.

Insufficient Pilot Training Suspected in Deadly Ethiopian Crash

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Fifty three minutes. That was the length of time approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) for pilot training on the upgraded Boeing 737 Max 8 jet that crashed March 10 in Ethiopia killing all aboard, according to a spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association.

Nor was the 53 minutes for face to face training. It was “computer assisted” over a laptop with slides and imagery. Some of the pilots felt shortchanged.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 March 2019

Photo: Nigerian refugees. Credit: CameroonConcordNews

Cameroon and Nigeria Uproot Thousands from Safe Haven

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – An estimated 30,000 refugees have been uprooted by officials in Cameroon and Nigeria this month and sent to known hotbeds of insurgents including Boko Haram on the Nigerian side of the border.

Humanitarian groups including Action against Hunger are questioning the wisdom of forcing refugees to move to the city of Rann in Borno state, the epicentre of the decade-long insurgency that has killed more than 27,000.

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

Food Sans Essential Micronutrients Causes 'Hidden Hunger'

By Brenda Wawa

This article first appeared on Africa Renewal, December 2018-March 2019 issue.

NAIROBI (IDN | INPS) – For years, boosting agricultural production was believed to be the solution to world hunger and malnourishment. But years of intensive farming with chemical fertilizers and pesticides has done little to move the needle on food insecurity, health metrics or life expectancy.

Today, experts have identified a new kind of hunger – one caused not by lack of food but by food that lacks essential micronutrients necessary for growth and development.

: Africa Renewal; SUSTAINABILITY; Food security, nutrition & sustainable agriculture; 08 March 2019

Fifty Years On, It's Still a Man's World at Africa's 'Oscars'

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | OUAGADOUGOU (IDN) – Africa’s major film event 'FESPACO' – on the scale of the Oscars – celebrated its 50th year February 23 to March 2, 2019 with more films, more visitors and a disappointing showing of women selected to compete for any major prize.

And women are not having it. "Can it be that in 50 years, there hasn't been a single woman capable of telling a great story to win the Fespaco?" said South African filmmaker/actress Xolile Tshabalala, who features in “Miraculous Weapons”, directed by Jean-Pierre Bekolo, a Cameroonian.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 March 2019

Photo: A bird's-eye view of Sochi. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Towards the First Russia-Africa Summit

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*, Eurasia Review

China has offered $60 billion, Japan $32 billion, and India $25 billion, while large investment funds have also come from the United States and European Union, all towards realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Africa. Russia has not pledged any funds. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to establish a committee that will be in charge of preparing for and holding the Russia-Africa Summit in October 2019 in Sochi on the Black Sea. This is the first in a series of articles on Russia’s decision to join the new “Scramble for Africa” nearly 28 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. – The Editor

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 March 2019

Photo: Accra Central. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Ghana Hosts Africa Climate Week as First of Three Regional Climate Events

By Rita Joshi

BONN (IDN) – The Africa Climate Week, which is being hosted by Ghana from March 18–22 in Accra, is the first of three annual regional climate events this year – the latter two being the Latin America & Caribbean Climate Week and the Asia Pacific Climate Week.

According to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the collective goal of these Climate Weeks is to support the implementation of countries' Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement and climate action to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In so doing, they bring together a diverse array of international stakeholders in the public and private sectors around the common goal of enhancing climate action.

: Rita Joshi; SUSTAINABILITY; Climate Action; 01 March 2019

Photo: Families wait in the early hours of the morning to be registered prior to a food distribution carried out by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and partner agencies, in Thonyor, Leer county, South Sudan. Credit: UNICEF | UN | Modola

Unrest Deepens Across East Africa and Africa’s ‘Horn’

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Instability is growing in the East African nations of Sudan and South Sudan while the U.S. pursues a military solution to a decades-long civil war in Somalia. Recent U.S. bombing raids are claiming 35 al-Shabab victims in the Hiraan region of central Somalia, the U.S. military’s Africa Command reports.

Such airstrikes in Somalia are typically carried out by armed drones. This is the 12th American drone strike on Somalia this month, according to Halgan Media, a Somali online news wire.

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

Photo: Late Mama Dorothy Masuka. Source: Music Africa.

Eulogies Flow for A Golden Voice That Challenged Apartheid

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – A baobab tree has fallen with the passing of a one-of-a-kind musician. Those were the words spoken of the legendary Mama Dorothy Masuka by South African Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa.

She was hailed alongside her friend, the late veteran star Miriam Makeba, for using music to highlight the plight of South Africans during the apartheid era.

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

Photo: The IAEA’s first School on Drafting Nuclear Security Regulations for African Countries was held at the IAEA’s headquarters in Vienna. Credit: D. Calma/IAEA

IAEA Keen to Enhance Nuclear Security in Africa

By Reinhard Jacobsen

VIENNA (IDN) – Enhancing regulatory framework for nuclear security in Africa has been on the agenda of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, for nearly two years.

Against this backdrop, lawyers and nuclear scientists from 10 African countries reviewed the status of their countries’ regulatory frameworks for the security of radioactive material and developed action plans to address any identified gaps during the IAEA’s first School on Drafting Nuclear Security Regulations for African Countries.