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Japan and China Boost Connectivity in Southeast Asia

Prime Minister Abe is reported to be keen to reach an agreement on specific cooperation project during his planned official visit to China this October.

Viewpoint by Zhao Hong

The author is Professor at the Research School for Southeast Asian Studies, Xiamen University, China. This article was first carried in EastAsiaForum on 15 September 2018. It is being reproduced in view of its relevance beyond Southeast Asia.

SINGAPORE (IDN-INPS) – Southeast Asian countries still face major challenges in regional market integration and connectivity. ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) plans to strengthen connectivity through the development of a series of rail, road and water links offering regional powers not only the opportunity to secure overseas investment contracts but also to shape Southeast Asian infrastructure in their favour.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 20 September 2018

Photo: Development minerals in Zambia. Credit: developmentminerals.org

Catalysing Deep and Lasting Changes in the Minerals Sectors

A global conference in Zambia aimed at the improvement of the miners' productivity and its cumulative impact on poverty reduction at local and national levels.

By Dr. Patrick I. Gomes

The author is Secretary General of the African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States comprising 79 member countries – 48 from sub-Saharan Africa, 16 in the Caribbean and 15 in the Pacific. ACP countries are endowed with enormous mineral resources. yet are characterised by chronic poverty, low human development and overall under-development; causing the categorisation of 39 ACP Member States as Least Developed Countries. – The Editor

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - ACP Seretary-General; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 19 September 2018

Photo: The leader of the opposition armed forces, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), Riek Machar, shaking hands with his chief military and political opponent, the President of South Sudan, Salva Kiir to make a fresh joint commitment to peace for the sake of their people. Credit: UNMISS

South Sudan Moves from Despair to Hope after New Peace Deal

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – South Sudan, caught in brutal civil conflict for years, has engaged the United Nations three times since the South Sudan government and opposition groups signed a Revitalized Peace Agreement on September 13.

The country gained its independence from the Republic of the Sudan in 2011, after two civil wars – in 1955, four months before Sudan achieved independence and in the wake of President of Sudan Gaafar Nimeiry in 1983 declaring all Sudan an Islamic state under Shari'a law, including the non-Islamic majority southern region.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 September 2018

Photo: A South African woman working on one of South Africa’s commercial farms. Credit: Australian Govt, Licensed under Creative Commons 2.0a

South Africa Is Determined to Grasp the Nettle of Land Reform

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Zimbabwe messed up its land reform. Now South Africa has decided to give a great push to its slow moving land reform. We'll see if it can avoid Zimbabwe's mistakes.

President Donald Trump tweeted that he'd asked his secretary of state to look into "farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of white farmers” in South Africa. That sounds more like what happened in Zimbabwe 25 years ago than what is going to happen in South Africa today, albeit the killings were not on a "large-scale”.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 18 September 2018

Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Credit: PTI

Afrophobia and Racism Keep India Trailing Behind China

By Shastri Ramachandaran

The author is an independent journalist writing on political and foreign affairs. This article first appeared in NewsClick that claims to be an alternative to the corporate media in India on July 27, 2018, and is being reproduced by the permission of the author who give editorial support to IDN-INPS editor. – The Editor.

NEW DELHI (IDN-INPS) – Prime Minister Narendra Modi's current outreach to Africa, including his participation in the 10th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, is perhaps the right juncture to take a close look at India-Africa relations since he assumed office in 2014.

: Shastri Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 18 September 2018

Photo (left to right): North Korea's Kim Jong-Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

A Rapper Accompanies South Korean President to Pyongyang

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK | SEOUL (IDN) – South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea from September 18-20, 2018 with a view to encouraging Kim Jong-Un to break the deadlock in nuclear talks between North Korea and the United States. Moon played a crucial role in President Donald Trump and Kim coming together for the summit meeting in June.

Moon's office said on September 16 that the President will be accompanied by 52 government officials, politicians, business leaders and selected representatives from various other fields, according to the South Korean Yonhap News Agency.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 17 September 2018

Photo: UNGA73 President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe.

Upcoming UN General Assembly Promises a Whiff of History

Fourth Woman President in 73 years – 18-year-old Female Activist to Speak at High Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – The 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly opening on September 18 promises to be historic. Not only because its President, María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, the Foreign Minister of Ecuador, is the fourth woman on the top in the history of the UN’s main deliberative and policy-making body.

But also because on September 26, the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, 18-year-old environmental and children's rights activist Kehkashan Basu will address the General Assembly. Espinosa has selected her to speak as one of the two representatives of global civil society.

: Santo D. Banerjee; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 16 September 2018

Photo: UN Women Deputy Executive Director Åsa Regnér speaks at the 12th ODA International Conference session on “the role of inclusive ODA by realizing human rights and gender equality” in Seoul, the Republic of Korea. Photo: UN Women/Younghwa Choi.

Gender-Responsive Investments, ODA are of Vital Importance

Viewpoint by Åsa Regnér

Following are extensive excerpts from remarks delivered by Åsa Regnér, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women at the session on “the role of inclusive ODA by realizing human rights and gender equality” at the 12th Seoul ODA International Conference in the Republic of Korea, on September 14, 2018. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – Gender equality is always a result of political will. Gender equality does not come automatically. It does not arrive with a new generation; we have to actively work towards it. In every country of the world, gender inequality is about an imbalance in power, which normally favours men over women. Achieving gender equality requires negotiations around how society should be and political priorities and positions to change.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 16 September 2018

Photo: The UN Human Rights Council meeting room in Geneva. Credit: ohchr.org

Sri Lanka Apparently Target of an Undeclared War

Viewpoint by Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) - In June this year, announcing U.S. withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Ambassador Niki Haley said, "We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organisation that makes a mockery of human rights."

U.S. is leaving because the council members voted to probe Israeli killing of scores of protestors in the Gaza Strip. However, its labeling of the UNHRC as "hypocritical" and "making a mockery of human rights" would ring a bell in many Asian and African countries.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 15 September 2018

Photo credit: James Gordon. Source: United Nations University.

Climate Change: The Devil Is in the Details

Neither Climate Change Deniers Nor Technology Enthusiasts Hold the Key to Addressing Global Warming

Viewpoint by Franz Baumann

The author is a visiting professor at New York University and a former UN assistant secretary-general, special adviser on environment and peace operations. Dr. Baumann joined the UN Development Program in 1980, began working in the UN Secretariat in 1985, and retired in 2015 after about a dozen assignments under five secretaries-general, in four duty stations and on three continents. – The Editor

NEW YORK (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, on September 10^,2018 spoke eloquently and with urgency about the frightening prospect of a climate catastrophe. "Climate Change is the defining issue of our time, and we are at a defining moment," he said. Everything in his powerful speech was backed by science and evidently correct. Yet, because Secretaries-General cannot say everything, it was incomplete.