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What Is Mali Telling Africa?

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – The headlines, especially in the Western press, suggest that Africa is back again in the news for the wrong reasons.

Misery has really never been too far away, but in the last few years, foreign journalists looking for stories of deaths, diseases and destruction on the continent have had to find another hobby, the trendiest of which is Trumpoline, a riveting show from the White House.

With violent conflicts receding, more orderly transfer of power, better business climate and growing prosperity, Africa has been rising.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 28 August 2020

Photo: At least two officers and up to 21 civilians were killed in a clash between Nigerian security forces and members of the separatist group the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in the city of Enugu, Nigeria on August 23. (Left) A video showing a civilian carrying a stick in defence as gunshots are heard in the background. (Right) A member of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) with a gunshot wound after the clash. (Source: Twitter.)

Biafra Politicians Advocate Comprehensive Review of Nigeria's Constitution

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – Leaders of integrated associations and politicians, mostly from the Eastern region of Nigeria, are calling for a thorough constitutional review that will incorporate the diverse ethno-political interests and also offer equal representation in the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGR). Several archival reports made available and different interviews conducted by IDN vividly show rising tensions and the lack of strategic foresight in the current approach towards national integration before 2023, the end of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 August 2020

Photo: Commander-in-Chief Rodrigo Duterte (His Excellency) in full Battle Dress Uniform (BDU). Source: Wikimedia Commons

Four Ways the Philippine Strongman Rodrigo Duterte Could Fall

Viewpoint by Walden Bello *

“This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.” — T.S. Eliot, The Hollow Men

NEW YORK (IDN) – The fix that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is in now illustrates the truth in the saying that the best-laid plans of mice and men are often unravelled by the least expected event.

In the case of the beleaguered Philippine president, the equivalent of the asteroid from outer space that killed off the dinosaurs was COVID-19, which threw him from the high horse he was riding in triumph after the midterm elections of 2019, which his partisans swept at all levels.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 27 August 2020

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Photo courtesy the UN.

Nuclear Testing Should Have No Place in the 21st Century

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres has in a message for the International Day against Nuclear Tests warned of resurgent nuclear menace and called for a complete ban on testing. Following is the full text of his message.

Commemorated annually since 2010 on the anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan, the International Day against Nuclear Tests takes on special meaning in 2020 in also marking 75 years since the first-ever nuclear test, code named “Trinity”, was undertaken in July 1945 in the United States.

: Santo D. Banerjee; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 27 August 2020

Photo: US Democratic Party's 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden with Kamala Harris, nominated as vice-presidential candidate. Courtesy: The Bay Observer.

The nomination of Kamala Harris Attracts Great Attention in Neighbouring Canada

By Suresh Jaura

TORONTO (IDN) – Any student of world affairs may know the phrase “when America sneezes, the world catches a cold.” What the phrase means, of course, is that what happens in America affects the rest of the world, be it for good or bad.

It is no surprise, therefore, that citizens and the media in Canada are interested in the US Presidential election.

In fact, in Canada, there was more news coverage of the nomination of Harris by the Democratic Party's presidential candidate Joe Biden than Leslyn Lewis' bid for the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, in which she finished third.

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 26 August 2020

Photo: The Slave Ship by J.M.W. Turner depicts the Zong massacre. Credit: Wikimedia

How the Shadow of Slavery Still Hangs over Global Finance

Viewpoint by Philip Roscoe*

ANDREWS, Scotland (IDN) – When the infamous Zong massacre trial began in 1783, it laid bare the toxic relationship between finance and slavery. It was an unusual and distressing insurance claim – concerning a massacre of 133 captives, thrown overboard the Zong slave ship.

The slave trade pioneered a new kind of finance, secured on the bodies of the powerless. Today, the arcane products of high finance, targeting the poor and troubled as profit opportunities for the already-rich, still bear that deep unfairness.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 26 August 2020

El Sistema Brings Forth Genius in Every Child

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – Simon Rattle, the former chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and now conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, has said that El Sistema in Venezuela is “The most important thing happening in classical music today in the world”. Julian Lloyd Weber, the renowned cellist, has said, “It’s surely the most extraordinary musical phenomenon of our times”.

It seems like whenever I switch on Mezzo, the superb French TV classical and jazz channel, I see either conductors, Valery Gergiev, maestro of the Mariinsky or Gustavo Dudamel, chief conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Gergiev, along with Rattle, are probably the world’s top conductors and Dudamel, close behind them but only 39 years old, is a graduate of El Sistema.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 25 August 2020

Photo: A child being given polio oral vaccination. Credit: WHO Regional Office for Africa

In a Historic Move, Africa Eradicates Devastating Polio

By Ronald Joshua

GENEVA | BRAZZAVILLE (IDN) – While COVID-19 pandemic is playing havoc with the global economy and a frantic search continues for a vaccine, thanks to a concerted campaign of immunization, Africa is free of a highly infectious disease which mainly affects children under 5 years of age. It is a significant development marking the eradication of the second virus from the face of the continent since smallpox 40 years ago.

"Today is a historic day for Africa," said Professor Rose Gana Fomban Leke, Chairperson of the African Regional Certification Commission for Polio eradication (ARCC), which has declared the region free of polio,

: Ronald Joshua; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 August 2020

Image: Part of the Cover of the UNDP South Africa report.

UNDP South Africa Analyses the Horrendous Impact of COVID-19

By Devendra Kamarajan

JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – The COVID-19 pandemic will push South Africa's overall GDP down by 7.9% in 2020 leading to major setbacks in addressing poverty, unemployment and inequality, the government's development priorities, according to new research by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The study expects the economy to recover slowly through 2024.

: Devendra Kamarajan; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 August 2020

Photo courtesy: 247 News Around the World

US-Trained Colonel Called 'True Force' Behind Mali Coup

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita has been ousted from power, removed by troops unwilling to keep up a bloody fight against jihadists and religious extremists who have been gaining ground while charges of corruption against the government continue to pile up.

The “mutinous” army had been taking heavy casualties in the seemingly endless fighting despite vast quantities of international support, training and intelligence pouring in from the U.S., and France. The United Nations alone spends $11.2 billion annually on a peacekeeping mission with 16,600 peacekeepers.