Africa

Photo: ICAN Executive Director Beatrice Fihn and Bekele Gonfa attended the AU Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa to lobby for signature and ratification of the #TPNW. Credit: ICAN France

African Nations Can Choose Their Own Destiny

Viewpoint by Beatrice Fihn

Following are extensive excerpts from International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Executive Director Beatrice Fihn’s address to the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council on April 4, 2019 at the organization's Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

ADDIS ABABA (IDN-INPS) – Across the world we have seen the devastating impacts of weapons on civilian populations. Humanitarian disarmament is a preventative approach aimed at reducing human suffering through the creation of norms and laws around weapons with indiscriminate and inhumane impact on civilians.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 April 2019

Photo: South African nuclear weapon. Credit: The National Interest.

South Africa a Shining Example of Dismantling Nuclear Arsenal

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the nuclear weapons and fossil fuel divestment campaigns gather steam, their political impact could be as powerful as the divestment campaign against South Africa in the late 20th Century, which was a critical factor in moving the South African government to end apartheid in 1994, anticipates Thies Kätow, researcher for the World Future Council.

There are hardly any signs that such an expectation will be realized and the campaign under way would persuade heavily armed nuclear states to disarm. Yet South Africa remains a shining example of a country that went from developing its own nuclear arsenal to dismantling it and being an outspoken advocate against these weapons of mass destruction.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 April 2019

Photo: Sengalese at cultural parade in Harlem in New York. Photo: Alamy | Richard Levine | Source: Africa Renewal.

African Migrants Strive to Preserve Their Cultural Heritage

By Sharon Birch-Jeffrey*

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – To experience a taste of African culture deep inside the Big Apple, visitors – including many Senegalese – turn to Le Petit Senegal (Little Senegal), a West African neighborhood in West Harlem, New York.

African grocery shops, fabric stores, hair braiding parlors and regional restaurants sit shoulder to shoulder along the streets. The Sandaga Market of Little Senegal showcases a strong blend of African cultures, customs and languages, symbolizing efforts by African immigrants to project and protect their cultural identities.

: Africa Renewal; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 April 2019

Photo: President of Angola Joao Lourenco.

Angola Plans Manufacturing Russian Military Equipment

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – Many African countries are looking for profitable business, investment and trade rather than development aid. Now Angola, a south-central Africa, has announced corporate plans to diversify its state business away from purchasing to full-fledged manufacturing of Russian military equipment for the southern African market, and possibly other regions in Africa – impeding realization of the Sustainable Development Goal 16 calling for peace and justice.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 April 2019

Photo: President Lourenço of Angola with President Putin of Russia. Credit: en.kremlin.ru

Russia and Angola Stuck between Diplomatic Rhetoric and Business Reality

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – Strengthening cooperation in trade, economy and culture, as well as current international and regional matters were top issues in talks between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President João Lourenço of Angola at the Kremlin on April 4.

Striking a personal note, the Angolan leader, who completed his education in 1982 in Moscow, said: “Moscow then and now are two different cities. My congratulations – you have ensured progress and development for Russia and the Russian people.”

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 April 2019

Photo: Atewa forest. Source: Save Atewa Forest

Bauxite Mining Threatens Ghana’s Crown Jewel of Biodiversity

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | ACCRA (IDN) – Environmental groups in Ghana are waging an eleventh-hour battle to stop the government of Ghana from opening the Atewa Forest Reserve – a crown jewel of biodiversity and a source of three rivers – to commercial large-scale bauxite mining.

Their resistance conforms to the Fourth United Nations Environment Assembly's resolution on mining resource governance in Nairobi from March 11-15. The resolution stresses in particular Sustainable Development Goal 7 calling for 'affordable and clean energy' and Goal 12 on 'responsible consumption and production', "reminding the important contribution of mining to their achievement".

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 02 April 2019

Photo: The Inner Circle that helped Jammeh (centre) steal Gambia. Source: OCCRP. Credit: Edin Pasovic.

Gambia’s Ex-President Plundered Nearly One Billion Dollars

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Experts who follow the money are still scratching their heads as to how a quarter of a billion dollars vanished from the national coffers along with former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh at roughly the same time.

Before his flight into exile in 2017, Jammeh ruled the small palm-fringed country in West Africa with an iron fist. Through the army and his private mercenaries, known as “the Jungulars”, he ruled by torturing and imprisoning political opponents and human rights activists, murdering journalists and depriving citizens of their right to exist.

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

EU and International NGOs Exploit Aid to Fortify Forced Labour in Eritrea

Viewpoint by Makeda Saba

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Dutch Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans, an organization of exiled Eritreans, is taking legal action against the European Union. It is demanding of the EU to immediately stop funding a project in Eritrea which involves use of forced labour and enslavement.

The European Union has allocated €20 million for the project aimed at “reconnecting Eritrea and Ethiopia through rehabilitation of the main arterial roads in Eritrea”. It will finance the reconstruction of the Nefasit-Dekemhare-Senafe-Zalembessa road, the main route that allows the easy transportation of goods between landlocked Ethiopia and Eritrea.

: Robert Johnson; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 March 2019

Photo: Malian women protesting massacre of Fulanis. Credit: Hilltop Monitor

Senior Malian Officers Removed from Posts After Massacre of Fulani Herdsmen

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Jihadist groups dislodged from Middle East battlegrounds are reportedly regrouping in West Africa, exploiting longstanding grievances between the Dogon farmers and the Puelh-Fulani nomadic herdsmen of Mali over access to limited supplies of land and water.

A militia in Dogon attire entered Ogossagou, a Fulani village and suspected jihadi hideout at about 4 a.m. local time and murdered over 100 men, women and children.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 March 2019

Photo: Relief efforts under way in Mozambican city of Beira. Source: africanews.

Aid Slow to Come to the Rescue of Mozambicans Hard Hit by Idai

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) - Since Cyclone Idai roared into the Mozambican port city of Beira on March 14, devastating losses are mounting exponentially yet international aid has been slow to reach all survivors.

Severe flooding produced by Idai's strong winds and heavy rains caused the rivers Pungwe and Buzi to break their banks. In the district of Buzi, thousands clung for their lives on trees and rooftops, as their villages turned into an ocean. Even as the rains have subsided and the waters are receding, the risk of flooding remains, as dams upstream reach full capacity.