 |
|
|
|
|
|
By Ilya Kursenko
MOSCOW (IDN) – It all began with a question to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in 2016 during the plenary session of the 20th anniversary of CTBTO, the Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization. I asked him back then: “What can the youth do to change the world?” Right after the session, I got invited to join the newly founded Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) Youth Group and respond to the question by myself.
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.
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.
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?
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.
By Santo D. Banerjee
NEW YORK | BANGKOK (IDN) – Lack of territorial access to the sea, isolation and remoteness from world markets impose constraints on trade competitiveness of the 32 landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) and their overall socio-economic development.
In addition to the geographical impediments, LLDCs face challenges linked to high trade and transport costs, limited or low-quality infrastructure, delays at borders, bottlenecks related to customs procedures and border crossing regulations, and productivity constraints.
By J Nastranis
NEW YORK (IDN) – In view of the increasingly critical situation for ordinary Venezuelans, the United Nations remains committed to providing humanitarian support, based on “need, and need alone”, according to a senior aid official.
But the oil-rich country is not only suffering from food and medical shortages. The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) noted that dozens of opposition politicians continue to face ongoing harassment in the South American country.
By Rodrigo Pérez
MONTEVIDEO (IDN) – The United Nations is willing to bring Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido together for "serious negotiations" at their request, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said during a press conference at the 32nd African Union summit on February 10 at Addis Ababa. Ethiopia.
Earlier, the spokesman for Guterres, Stéphane Dujarric, said that the UN Chief "supports the efforts of the international community that will help find a political solution" to the situation in Venezuela.
By J C Suresh
TORONTO (IDN) – With the Venezuelan crisis worsening on its doorsteps, the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been at pains to prevent the situation in the Bolivarian Republic taking a sharp turn for the worst.
It has censured the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) Luis Leonardo Almagro on his “unilateral” stance in accepting Juan Guaido as interim president of Venezuela, according to a report by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
By Scott Morgenstern and John Polga-Hecimovich*
LONDON (IDN-INPS) – As political and economic crises threaten to topple Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, political scientists like us are not surprised that he has run into trouble.
Instead, we see Venezuela as another example of what scholars call the “resource curse.” That’s the unfortunate correlation first described by the British economic geographer Richard M. Auty between nations with vast wealth from oil or other natural resources and political instability.
IDN-InDepthNews offers news analyses, features, reports and viewpoints that impact the world and its peoples. It has been online since 2009. Its network spans countries around the world.
IDN-InDepthNews serves as flagship agency of the International Press Syndicate and its partner, the Global Cooperation Council, established in February 1983.
