Africa

Photo: Joseph Hammond, aged 91, is a Commonwealth veteran from Ghana who fought for Britain in WWII. Credit: DFID

African WWII Vets Seek Formal Apology, Compensation From UK

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | LONDON (IDN) – The UK government is coming under pressure to compensate and apologize to the last surviving African veterans who fought alongside white British soldiers in the Second World War that began 80 years ago and lasted six years.

More than half a million black African soldiers who fought in the British army were paid up to three times less than their white counterparts, a newly unearthed document has revealed, prompting calls for an investigation and the government to compensate surviving veterans.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 February 2019

Photo: Open-pit mine Montepuez, considered the world’s most lucrative ruby operation. Source: Gemfields

African Villagers Tortured For ‘Blood Rubies’ Worn by Stars

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – A British mining company has agreed to pay over $7 million to settle claims including allegations of torture and murder at ruby mines in the northeast of Mozambique. The brilliant red stones, worth millions, have been worn by international actresses Mila Kunas, Bel Powley, and Sophie Cookson, among others.

The company, Gemfields, chose to pay community members living near its Montepuez ruby mine on a “no admission of liability” basis that settles a claim of human rights abuses over a decade brought against it by local villagers.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 February 2019

Photo: African First Ladies. Credit: African Union Commission.

Africa's First Ladies Launch Strategy to Promote Health

By Ronald Joshua

ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – The Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) has launched a New Strategic Plan (2019-2023) which envisions “a developed Africa with healthy and empowered children, youth and women”. The plan will make a significant contribution to the health and well-being of children, youth and women in Africa.

OAFLAD, which traces its roots to the Organization of African First Ladies against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), has officially announced its new name – OAFLAD – during the 22nd Ordinary General Assembly in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.

: Ronald Joshua; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 February 2019

Photo: Participants pose for a group photo during the opening of the 32nd African Union (AU) summit of heads of state and government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 10, 2019. Second from left in the front row is Egyptian President El-Sisi and third from right is Rwanda President Kagame. Credit: Xinhua/Micharl Tewelde

Egypt's El-Sisi Takes Over African Union Chairmanship from Rwanda's Kagame

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Rwandan President Paul Kagame has turned over the leadership of the 55-member African Union (AU) to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of Egypt, at the 32nd ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

El-Sisi has pledged to work for the welfare of African people during his one-year tenure. He said that over the next one year he would energetically work toward achieving the goals set by the AU during the summit.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 February 2019

Photo: A political Advocacy Road show for reelection of Buhari, led by Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, a foremost Buhari loyalist, who is also a member of the Presidential Campaign Council and the National Women Leader of the Presidential Support Committee. Credit: Vanguard.

Buhari, If Re-elected, Could Put Nigeria Back on Track

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Nigeria is a veritable factory of sophisticated novelists. It was no surprise that Ben Okri won the British Booker Prize that goes annually to the best novelist of the year.

Considering that high-class novel writing in English only began in Nigeria in 1958 with Chinua Achebe’s famous work, “Things Fall Apart”, now a classic, it has come a long way in a short time. Will Nigeria move at a similar speed with its economy and banish poverty as it once promised to?

: Jonathan Power; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 February 2019

Photo: President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Credit: GhanaWeb.

African Leaders Put Rich Nations on Notice That Days of Cheap Resources Are Ending

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | CAPE TOWN (IDN) – African leaders had a new message for foreign companies seeking the diamonds, gold, rubies and emeralds so plentiful in desperate dirt-poor countries and so pricey when polished and sold in New York, Paris and Switzerland.

We’re no longer a cheap date. That message – in so many words – was heard again and again at this year’s posh African Mining Indaba (February 3-6) – a glittering conference in Cape Town, South Africa, that unites investors, mining companies, governments and stakeholders from around the world with the single goal of advancing mining on the African continent.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 February 2019

Photo: An exceptionally rare high quality 5,655 carat (1.13kg) emerald crystal discovered at Kagema mine in Lufwanyama. Source: Zambia Reports.

Emeralds, Rubies Could Make Zambia Rich

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Foreign mining companies extract more than a quarter of the world’s production of rare emeralds in Zambia yet, in some quarters, are alleged to declare losses to make themselves tax exempt.

So far, charges of tax evasion filed against Kagem mine, a subsidiary of the London-listed gemstone miner Gemfields, have been unsuccessful on investigation and dismissed by the Zambian Revenue Authority.

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

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres (right) briefs the UN Security Council meeting on threats to international peace and security. The focus of the meeting on February 4 was on mercenary activities as a source of insecurity and destabilization in Africa. UN Photo/Evan Schneider.

Mercenaries Undermine Rule Of Law, Perpetuate Impunity

Viewpoint by António Guterres

The following is the text of UN Secretary-General's remarks to a high-level debate of the Security Council on 'Mercenary activities as a source of insecurity and destabilization in Africa' with the Central African sub-region as a focus, under the presidency of Equatorial Guinea for the month of February. Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo chaired the meeting on February 4. – The Editor.

NEW YORK (IDN) – The use of mercenaries dates back through the ages. From antiquity to the medieval era to the present day, those who fight for financial reward or other material compensation have been a near constant on the battlefield. The shadowy nature of the practice makes data hard to come by. Reports suggest a surge in the use of mercenaries and other foreign fighters. While the numerical picture may be murky, the impacts of mercenaries today are all too clear.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 05 February 2019

Photo: Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey. Credit: Graphic Online.

U.S. Hits Ghana With Visa Sanctions In Spat Over Deportees

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) - The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and State Department say they will no longer issue visas for certain Ghanaians owing to a “lack of cooperation” by the West African nation – namely its refusal to accept 7,000 Ghanaian nationals that the U.S. wants to deport.

Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said Ghana has “denied or unreasonably delayed accepting their nationals ordered removed from the United States.”

But Foreign Affairs Minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey hotly disputed the charge, calling the allegations “unfounded.”

: Ramesh Jaura; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 February 2019

Photo: Dumisani Kumalo served as Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations, from 1999 – 2009. Credit: Thabo Mbeki Foundation.

Remembering Dumisani Kumalo, Anti-Apartheid Campaigner And South Africa's Leading Diplomat

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – In an interview for the book No Easy Victories: African Liberation and American Activists Over a Half Century, Dumisani Kumalo recalled the struggle to cut off the U.S. funds that were sustaining the apartheid government of South Africa.

“I spoke to more than 1,000 campuses all over the country in all 50 states,” Kumalo recalled. A particular triumph came in 1986, when the U.S. Congress, overriding a veto by President Ronald Reagan, passed the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act.