Africa

Photo: Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed wants the diaspora to tear down the wall of hatred and bring home the culture of innovation. Source: ECADF

Ethiopian PM Sparks Euphoria In A Whirlwind U.S. Trip

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – It’s been called 'Abiy-mania' – an impulse to reach out and hug the young new Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, who brought an end to his country's two-decade-long war with Eritrea and other sweeping changes in the Horn of Africa.

The 41-year old Ethiopian leader landed in the United States on July 26 where he met with thousands of his countrymen and women and reiterated his message of love and unity. "He urged them to tear down the wall of hatred and bring home the culture of innovation that Los Angeles is known for," his chief of staff wrote on Twitter.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 July 2018

Photo: LandInfo App training in Nakuru, the fourth-largest city in Kenya after Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. Credit: ATPS.

African Experts Decry Information Gap on Climate Change

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – Climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts in Africa are being undermined by lack of information on climate issues among the public, policy-makers and leaders in Africa, leading to poor and delayed decision making as well as untimely undertaking of remedial actions.

This emerged during a Regional Climate Change Dialogue and Training Workshop organised by the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS) held on June 25-27, 2018 in Nairobi.

ATPS is a trans-disciplinary network of researchers, policy-makers, private sector actors and the civil society that promotes the generation, dissemination, use and mastery of science technology in Africa.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 July 2018

Photo: VW Polo assembled in Rwanda in the showroom. Credit: ktpress.rw

Rwanda President Launches VW's Car Assembly Plant in Kigali

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | KIGALI (IDN) – You'll see plenty of Volvos, Mercedes, Hondas, Toyotas and even a Ford Windstar tootling around the booming cities of Lagos, Nairobi and Johannesburg.

But these foreign cars were no spring chickens when they arrived in Africa after years of use. Often they had to be totally rebuilt in order to sell at top dollar. Only six cars claim to be made in Africa but Asian origins belie that claim.

Now, at a launching ceremony attended by Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame, the first domestically built car has rolled off the assembly line at Volkswagen's new factory in Kigali. With 5,000 cars envisioned for the first phase, VW aims both to sell cars and use them in the Uber-like car-sharing system.

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

Photo: More than 35,000 rural households in Kenya will soon be eating better and earning more money thanks to a new financial agreement signed by the IFAD and Kenya in support of the country’s aquaculture sector. Credit: IFAD

Stories Behind IFAD's Focus on Africa

By Kwame Buist

ROME (IDN) – In its recently released Annual Report 2017, the Rome-based International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – a specialised agency of the United Nations dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of developing countries – promises to leverage core resources of 1.2 billion dollars to fund a programme of loans and grants totalling 3.5 billion dollars over the 2019-2021 period.

Ninety percent of these core resources will be allocated to low-income and lower-middle-income countries, with about 45 percent being channelled to sub-Saharan Africa, and 50 percent to Africa as a whole.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 July 2018

Photo: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet Paul Biya, President of the Republic of Cameroon, and Chantal Biya. Credit: U.S. Department of State.

Why Must President Biya Follow President Robert Mugabe?

By LIsa Vives | Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Cameroon's President Paul Biya is seriously considering a re-election bid despite having served 36 years in the job and despite approaching 90 years of age. The President-for-Life syndrome is sadly alive and well. An editorial in the Liberian Daily Observer expressed on July 16 its frustration in dramatic fashion.

The text of the editorial follows.

It was announced late last week (July 13, 2018) that Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, has said he would run for re-election in October, in a bid to further extend his 36-year term of office. If re-elected, Biya would, like Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, be well into his 90s as president.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 July 2018

Photo: Eritrean Prime Minister Afwerki (left) and his Ethiopian counterpart Ahmed in Asmara. Credit: africanews.

Eritrea and Ethiopia End Two Decade Long War

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | ASMARA (IDN) – “And into ploughshares beat their swords. Nations shall learn war no more.”

With those words of Isaiah, Ethiopia and Eritrea announced the end of a futile war and agreed to normalize ties, drawing the curtain on a 20-year military standoff on the Horn of Africa that cost over 70,000 lives and hundreds of millions of dollars.

This was 10 years after the Security Council decided to end the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) terminating the mandate of the eight-year-old peacekeeping force monitoring the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea in response to lack of fuel supplies following Eritrean government restrictions.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 July 2018

Photo: UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. UN Photo/Mark Garten

UN Will Continue Support Of Africa's Transformation Under Way

By Amina Mohammed

Following are extensive excerpts from UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed's remarks to the 31st ordinary session of the African Union in Nouakchott, Mauritania, on July 1, 2018. – The Editor.

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (IDN-INPS) – The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, places great importance on our long-standing but new-found strategic partnership with the African Union. Sustainable development is at the centre of that work. Africa's Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development share a common vision and, together, they provide the basis for the African Union-United Nations Partnership framework for development informing the action plan to be launched in Addis Ababa in the coming days.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 July 2018

Photo: Inauguration Ceremony of Women's Farm Cooperative in Nielle, Côte d'Ivoire. UN Photo/Abdul Fatai Adegboye

Sham Organisations Pose A Serious Threat To Cooperatives

Viewpoint by Amy Zhang*

MARRAKECH (IDN) – The United Nations International Day of Cooperatives, commemorated every year on the first Saturday of July, underlines the role of cooperatives in sustainable development, wealth creation, and poverty alleviation, giving the hope for an equitable future. But what led to the creation of cooperatives and how do they function.

Today's cooperatives can be traced back to the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, founded in 1844. Although other cooperatives preceded them, the Rochdale Pioneers' co-operative became the prototype for societies in Great Britain.

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 July 2018

Photo: South Island of Lake Turkana, Kenya © Doron CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

UN Sounds Alarm About Ethiopian Dam Threatening World Heritage Site

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Lake Turkana, the reputed birthplace of mankind, has been designated an endangered environmental hotspot by a UNESCO panel. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1997, Kenya’s Lake Turkana stands among such treasures as the Taj Mahal, the Grand Canyon and the Great Wall of China.

It’s the world’s largest desert lake, a spectacular site whose fossil finds have contributed more to the understanding of human ancestry than any other site in the world. Turkana is an outstanding laboratory for the study of plant and animal communities.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 July 2018

Image: 70 years of peacekeeping operations spanning across four continents. Credit: UN.

Africa Is the Epicentre of UN Peace Operations Since 2008

By Timo Smit

The author is a Researcher with the SIPRI Peace Operations and Conflict Management Programme. He is currently in charge of maintaining SIPRI’s database on multilateral peace operations (including data-collection), and conducts research on trends in peacekeeping. This article first appeared on June 20,2018. – The Editor

STOCKHOLM (IDN-INPS) – This year it is 70 years since the United Nations Security Council established the first UN peacekeeping operation. On May 29, 1948 it authorized the deployment of military observers to supervise a cessation of hostilities in the First Arab-Israeli War and to support Count Folke Bernadotte in his role as UN mediator.