By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | ABUJA (IDN) – Former President Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari, a devout Muslim, a former school teacher, son of a farmer, trader and herder, was remembered in December as a nice man, a gentle man but not a particularly strong man. Nice, gentle and amiable – good […]
Press Freedoms Return To Gambia Under New Government
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | BANJUL (IDN) – Following the end of the regime of former President Yahya Jammeh, journalists in The Gambia are beginning to enjoy press freedoms for the first time in 22 years. During the two decades of ex-President Jammeh’s rule, journalists were regularly abducted, tortured and killed. […]
Palestine Looks Forward To An Exceptional Year As G77 Chair
By Ramesh Jaura NEW YORK (IDN) – 2019 is slated to be an exceptional year for the State of Palestine, not least because it will preside over the Group of 77 (G77) – the largest bloc at the United Nations – comprising 134 developing countries representing some 80 percent of the world population. Though 71 […]
Nonproliferation Policy and Priorities – U.S. Perspective
Viewpoint by Dr. Christopher Ashley Ford The author is Assistant Secretary, Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation. The following are extensive extracts from his remarks at the 7th European Union Nonproliferation and Disarmament Conference in Brussels, Belgium, on December 18, 2018. BRUSSELS | WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – A year ago at this European Union conference, […]
UN Security Council Reform Back On The Table Again
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) – Foreign Minister Heiko Maas of Germany, which takes up its seat as a non-permanent member of the 15-nation United Nations Security Council on January 1, says the current composition of the Council is “outdated” and that it needs be reformed. He told the German news agency DPA that […]
Except A Few Dissenters World Leaders Pledge To Bolster Multilateralism
By Ramesh Jaura NEW YORK (IDN) – As the new year unfolds, UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ appeal for addressing the “trust deficit disorder” plaguing the world, and General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés’ plea for stressing the need to enshrine the General Assembly as the “chief peacebuilding organization in the world” will serve as […]
Wickremasinghe’s Reappointment As Sri Lanka PM Opens Door To The ‘Indo-Pacific’
By Kalinga Seneviratne COLOMBO (IDN) – For the past two months Sri Lanka’s deeply divided political community has been fighting to protect democracy in one of the oldest democracies in Asia. One side wants a general election to elect a new parliament claiming the current one is corrupt and wants to divide the country. The […]
A Critical Year Ahead For EU’s Ties With 79 ACP Countries
By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – 2019 will be a crucial year for relations between the European Union (EU) and 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) – uniting more than half of all UN member countries and representing over 1.5 billion people. The current partnership, governed by the Cotonou agreement, is […]
UN Intervention In The Congo Appears To Be Successful
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The general election in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) has been postponed yet again – to December 30. Will this country, the largest and potentially the richest in Africa, ever escape from its continuous dictatorship, and its propensity to civil war? It’s not so […]
Swahili Speakers Stunned As Disney Claims Trademark For ‘Hakuna Matata’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – The once common phrase “Hakuna Matata” (No Problem!) is now off limits for African speakers of Swahili. Any commercial use of the two word expression is reserved for its new owner – the American company that produced Lion King. That’s right: Walt Disney! The California-based […]