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Ghana Starts with Cocoa to End Neocolonial Trading Ties

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — At a state visit to Switzerland last year, Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo put his cards on the table. The second-largest cocoa producer would no longer ship the raw material to Switzerland if by doing so, it would trap the country in poverty for the next century.

Ghana and the Ivory Coast supply 70% of the cocoa beans, but most of the value in a chocolate bar is generated in Europe and North America. The global chocolate industry is worth over US$150 billion. West African economies receive less than US$6 billion.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 June 2021

Photo: President Buhari of Nigeria. Source: The Premium Times Nigeria.

US Think Tanks Consider Nigeria ‘A Failed Nation’

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Over 200 people were killed in violent attacks across Nigeria last week, as the insecurity across the country continues despite the efforts of security agencies. Over the same period of time, no fewer than 137 people were abducted across the country.

The figures were gathered by the Premium Times of Nigeria from newspaper reports and family members of victims.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 June 2021

Photo: TB Joshua. Source: fullview.co.za

Nigerian Preacher's Sudden Death Stuns Scores of His Followers

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — “Time for everything—time to come here for prayer and time to return home after the service.”

With those words, Nigerian preacher TB Joshua, one of Africa's most influential televangelists, ended his final sermon on Emmanuel TV, the broadcast arm of his megachurch. His death was marked by over 300,000 followers on Facebook within 24 hours of his passing on June 5. He was 57.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 June 2021

Photo: UN Human Rights Committee session. Credit: Jaurocks

Canadian and French Nuclear Weapons Policies Challenged for Violating the Right to Life

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) — Spurred by civil society organisations, the UN Human Rights Committee has challenged the nuclear weapons policies of Canada and France as being in violation of the Right to Life, a right enshrined in Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). These rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.

In addition to Canada and France, civil society organisations have also challenged the nuclear policies of Iceland, North Korea, Russia and the United States. The nuclear weapons policies of Denmark have been challenged as part of the periodic review of their obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 07 June 2021

Photo: Risk of COVID-19 surge threatens Africa’s health facilities. Credit: WHO Africa

WHO Warns of the Risk of COVID-19 Upsurge Threatening Africa’s Health Facilities

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA | BRAZZAVILLE (IDN) — The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of the threat of a third wave of COVID-19 in Africa threatening Africa's health facilities, and advised them to urgently boost critical care capacity to prevent health facilities from being overwhelmed. At the same time, vaccine shipments to the continent are grinding to a near halt.

: Jamshed Baruah; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 06 June 2021

Photo: Before and after image of the effects of three years of ecosystem restoration in Tanzania. Using bund-digging, the water level in the soil has been restored to regrow trees and grass (Just Diggit: 2018-2021) Source: UN Environment Programme.

Avenues of Action: UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Viewpoint by Rene Wadlow, President, Association of World Citizens

GENEVA (IDN) — The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, 2021-2030 began on June 5. An ecosystem is an interaction between people, plants, animals and their surroundings. The UN Environment Programme and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization are the lead UN agencies for this Decade. However, the Decade aims to become a broad-based global movement in which many can play a role.

: Rene Wadlow; OPINION; 06 June 2021

Photo: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali apparently asked Eritrea dictator Isaias Afewerki to launch a second offensive in Tigray with the aim of destroying the TPLF. Source: lndro.it

Afwerki’s Regime in Eritrea Has Been a Malign Influence in The Horn of Africa

Viewpoint by Daniel Haile*

COLLEGE STATION, Texas | USA (IDN) — The Ethiopian government claims the conflict in Tigray is a law enforcement operation, but that is incorrect; it is a war involving the Ethiopian government, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), and the malign foreign influence of the Eritrean regime. The Eritrean regime in Asmara will be the only victor from the Ethiopian civil war.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 05 June 2021

Addressing IUU Fishing in The Interest of Blue Economy and Caribbean SIDS

Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes

Dr P.I. Gomes is former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African, the Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS was previously ACP Group of States).

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) — Illegal, Unreported & Unregulated (IUU) fishing continues to have serious negative effects on the management of marine ecosystems across the Oceans of our world, as a whole; but the practice of IUU is devastating lives and livelihoods of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), particularly in the much admired and turquoise tourist havens of the Caribbean Sea.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - former ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 04 June 2021

Photo: The fruit tree nursery management by the Takherkhourt Women’s Cooperative in the Marrakech region of Morocco (High Atlas Foundation), 2021

People’s Participation Decides the World’s Environment

Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and president of the High Atlas Foundation

MARRAKECH (IDN) — Recognizing this week’s World Environment Day reminds us of the evolution of the concept of sustainable development since the phrase was coined in a 1987 United Nations report. At that time, sustainable development concentrated on the idea of natural resource management and how humanity must not consume the sources of our sustenance to an extent that any harm is brought upon our collective future.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 04 June 2021

Photo: Pro-Biafra activists wave flags in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on February 28, 2016. Pope Francis greeted spoke of the activists as indigenous peoples of Biafra during his Angelus address. Credit: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images

Stop Treating Nigeria’s Southeast as Hostile Territory

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — Nigeria has been struggling with insecurity for over a decade. Against reasonable expectations six years ago when President Muhammadu Buhari was voted in, things have worsened.