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By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore…and then run?”
Those were the prophetic words of poet Langston Hughes but they could also explain the rising frustration in an African election season where hopes for a democratic change are deferred and the incumbent holds on to power year after year after year.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — The Church of England is joining a handful of museums, universities, and private owners exploring the repatriation to Nigeria of thousands of brass plaques, wooden and ivory sculptures known as the Benin Bronzes looted by British soldiers in the waning days of the colonial era.
KHARTOUM (IDN) — Sudan has declined an Ethiopian offer to share data on the second filling of a giant dam before reaching a legally binding agreement. Egypt has adopted a similar position.
Ethiopia’s foreign ministry on April 9 said it has formally requested Sudan and Egypt to "nominate dam operators to exchange data before the second filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) commences in the upcoming rainy seasons in Ethiopia".
By Philipp Jahn and Gerrit Kurtz*
This article was first published in the Journal of the International Politics and Society, issued by the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s Brussels office.
KHARTOUM (IDN) — April 11, 2019 was a day of great emotion in Khartoum. At noon, the then-Vice President Ibn Auf announced the arrest of President Omar al-Bashir. The residents of Khartoum celebrated the end of his 30-year rule by holding a sit-in in front of the military headquarters. In the evening, however, the mood shifted when the putschist military council announced two years of military rule.
By J W Jackie
RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) — Thirty years after the Americans With Disabilities Act was passed in the U.S. to make the country and the internet more accessible, the glaring problems with digital accessibility can no longer be ignored. Whether it’s access to healthcare, work and education, or even state government websites, the ongoing switch to virtual living has alienated a sizable segment of the population.
By Sugeeswara Senadhira
The writer is Director (International Media), Presidential Secretariat, Colombo.
COLOMBO (IDN) — Indian security officials believe the interception of a Sri Lankan boat carrying 300 kilograms of heroin, five AK-47 guns and ammunition off the coast of Vizhinjam in Kerala in South India on March 25 points to a network of narco-terrorism with strong links to a group in Sri Lanka. The Indian officials told the Media the network of narco-terrorism has created sleeper cells in Sri Lanka and other neighbouring countries, and exports drugs to foment trouble. They added that the drug income is then used to fund illegal activities, including extremist activities.
Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn*
KATHMANDU (IDN) — In December 2020, Dr. Leonel Fernández Reyna, former president of the Dominican Republic and President of Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo, presented his vision about “The global and regional challenges of the 4.0 world,” where he highlighted the need to facilitate access to technology for all citizens.
His observations are a clarion call to the international community as the world stands on the precipice of a great tectonic shift caused by the Fourth Industrial Revolution currently underway.
Viewpoint by Anusha Jaura-Sindhwani*
Human trafficking is one of the United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets endorsed by the international community in 2015. Goal 8.7 aims at "immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms". Anusha's Canadian perspective is based on 20 years of experience in the child welfare sector. She is also on the Human Trafficking Committee which looks at prevention and supporting youth at risk of trafficking.
By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (IDN) — The long-awaited African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)—set to be the world’s biggest free trade zone by size—which entered into force on January 1, 2021, promises a new era for African trade.
An Africa-wide free-trade pact could bolster the region’s income by $450 billion and lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035, if accompanied by significant policy reforms and trade-facilitation measures, according to the World Bank. When fully operational, the Free Trade area will create a market of 1.2 billion and drive a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*
LUND, Sweden (IDN) — Yesterday morning [April 5] I watched on BBC News the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, walking into the courtroom where he is to be tried for corruption. He is impossible to read—his mask makes it even more difficult. In repose his intentions and personality are inscrutable.
On the most important political issue of all—whether to support a two-state solution—sometimes he has said he is for it, but now he says he doesn’t. He prefers, it seems, to keep to the status quo, which means expanding Jewish settlements on Arab Palestinian land and refusing any political life to the occupied Palestinians. But we don’t really know what his inner thoughts are.
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