THE WORLD

Photo: Kenyan author Binyavanga Wainaina in Nairobi, Kenya, on January 27, 2014. Source: The East African

A Pioneering Voice in African Literature Dies

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Binyavanga Wainaina, one of Africa’s best-known authors and gay rights activist, has died in Nairobi after a short illness. He was 48.

Wainaina won the 2002 Caine prize for African writing. Credited with founding the literary magazine and collective Kwani? and advancing the fight for LGBTQ rights in Africa, he made headlines around the world in 2014, when he responded to a wave of anti-gay laws around the continent by publicly outing himself in a short essay, published to mark his 43rd birthday.

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

Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin welcoming President of the Republic of the Congo, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, at the Kremlin. Credit: en.kremlin.ru

Congo Seeks Closer Relations with Russia on All Fronts

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – Russia and the Republic of Congo have enjoyed good bilateral relations over more than five decades. But, as President Denis Sassou-Nguesso's talks at the Kremlin reveal, there are still prospects for strengthening ties between the two countries, especially in the economic and security spheres. This was affirmed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, welcoming the Congolese delegation on May 23, 2019.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 May 2019

Photo: Mohammed bin Abdul-Karim Al-Issa. Credit: The Fortress

How Real is Saudi Religious Moderation?

Viewpoint by James M. Dorsey

James M. Dorsey – a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, an adjunct senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture – offered this viewpoint to IDN.

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Meet Mohammed bin Abdul-Karim Al-Issa, the public face of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s version of moderate Islam.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 27 May 2019

Photo: Some 53,000 Nigerians displaced by conflict are living in the Minawao refugee camp in north-east Cameroon. (February 2019). Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Forced Displacement in Africa Not Just a Tale of Human Tragedy

By Sean Buchanan

NEW YORK (IDN) – The estimated 24 million and more Africans who have been forced from their homes in recent years is placing a growing burden on the continent’s economy, environment and communities hosting those displaced.

This was the backdrop to a May 21-23 event held at UN headquarters as part of the Africa Dialogue Series (ADS) focused on finding durable solution for displaced person in Africa. It brought together a wide range of actors with a stake in finding ways to deal with the issue, including representatives of national governments, the African Union, civil society, the private sector and the United Nations.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 May 2019

Photo: Gathered at the climate summit in Helsinki, from back left: Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment Ola Elvestuen; Denmark’s Minister of Energy, Utilities and Climate Lars Christian Lilleholt; Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg; Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipilä; Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdóttir; Sweden’s Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate, and Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin; and Iceland’s Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson. Photographer: Laura Kotila/Valtioneuvoston kanslia

Generation 2030 in the Nordic Countries Tackles SDGs

By Lowana Veal

REYKJAVIK (IDN) – On September 5, 2017 – two years after the United Nations adopted Agenda 2030 with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets – the Nordic countries jointly launched the Generation 2030 programme with the aim of speeding up implementation of Agenda 2030 through official Nordic cooperation.

A budget of 1.925 million dollars was allocated for the project, which runs until December 2020.

: Lowana Veal; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 26 May 2019

Photo: Xi chairs leaders' roundtable of Belt and Road forum in in April 2019 in Beijing. Source: Xinhua News Agency

China's OBOR Promises a World Sans Hegemony

Viewpoint by Chandra Muzaffar

The writer, Dr Chandra Muzaffar, is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST).

KUALA LUMPUR (IDN) – The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) also known as the One Belt One Road ( OBOR) project could well emerge as the obor ( the flame in Indonesian or Malay) that will blaze the trail in the evolution of a new epoch in history.

Chinese President Xi Jinping must have sensed its historical significance when he announced OBOR in 2013. Essentially an infrastructure development endeavor, it seeks to initiate and support the construction of roads, railways, ports and bridges in at least 65 other countries spanning four continents. With a commitment of over 900 billion U.S. dollars, OBOR is the biggest infrastructure development project ever undertaken in the history of our planet.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 25 May 2019

Photo: Congress president Rahul Gandhi with his sister and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Credit: Outlook

Congress Should Dump Gandhi Family, Reinvent itself for Survival

Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran

The Congress party has to reshape and sharpen itself for re-emerging as an instrument of public usefulness, writes in the Outlook Shastri Ramachandaran, a political and foreign affairs commentator, also for IDN-INPS. Views expressed are his own.

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – Congress president Rahul Gandhi and, perhaps, his sister and party’s general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, have good reasons to step down from their official position in the party. It is irrelevant whether the Congress party failed Rahul, or the helmsman sunk the boat. In its present, vastly emaciated state what is relevant is creating conditions for the party’s revival.

: Shastri Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 24 May 2019

Photo: Shaheen II, surface-to-surface ballistic missile, according to Pakistan capable of delivering conventional and nuclear weapons at a range of up to 1,500 kilometers, during a training launch in this photo released by Inter Services Public Relations, May 23, 2019.

Pakistan Tests Nuclear-Capable Ballistic Missile, Affirms Willingness for Dialogue with India

By Ayaz Gul

This article first appeared on Voice of America on May 23, 2019.

ISLAMABAD (IDN-INPS) – Pakistan says it has successfully conducted a “training launch” of a ballistic missile capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads up to 1,500 kilometers.

The move came amid Pakistan’s heightened military tensions with neighboring rival India, and it is seen by observers as part of the efforts Islamabad is making to keep pace with New Delhi’s massive investments in military hardware and advancements.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 24 May 2019

Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Credit: Kremlin.ru

Uncertainty over U.S.-Russian Arms Control Talks

By Kingston Reif and Shervin Taheran

While Kingston Reif is Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy, Shervin Taheran is Research Assistant at the Arms Control Association, which carried this report on May 24, 2019.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – Following a May 14 meeting in Sochi, Russia, with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters that the two countries “agreed that … we will gather together teams that will begin to work not only on [the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty] New START and its potential extension but on a broader range of arms control issues that each of our two nations have.”

: UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 24 May 2019

Child Hunger Threatens Africa’s Social and Economic Future

By Ronald Joshua

ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – Africa’s future economic and social progress is under threat from alarmingly high levels of child hunger, and the severity and scale of the problem is such that it requires nothing short of a radical and transformative political and economic agenda, according to a new study released at the Eighth International Policy Conference on the African Child.

The report pleads among others for: (i) political commitment at the highest political level; (ii) a constitutional or legal commitment to ensure that no child goes hungry and to make it obligatory for governments to provide universal access to a minimum acceptable amount of food for all children; and (iii) provision of targeted social safety nets and school-feeding programmes across regions and communities.