IDN-InDepthNews

Africa2016-08-122023-07-10

Africa’s Civil Society Faces Up to Hostile Governments

By Kingsley Ighobor*

NEW YORK (IDN | Africa Renewal) – A Liberian women’s peace movement led by 31-year-old Leymah Gbowee did something extraordinary in July 2003 to force Liberian warlords to sign a peace agreement that ended 10 years of a bloody civil war.

After months of fruitless negotiations, hundreds of women, members of Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, gathered at the venue of the peace talks in Accra, Ghana, and sat at the entrance to the conference hall. They looped their hands and vowed to stop the warlords from leaving the venue until they had reached a peace agreement.

UN INSIDER2016-08-122023-07-10

Austria’s Ex-Chancellor UN Special Envoy for Youth Employment

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Three months after being constrained to quit as Chancellor of Austria and head of the country’s Social Democratic Party, Werner Faymann has been named by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a new Special Envoy for Youth Employment.

Faymann was Chancellor of Austria and chairman of the country’s Social Democratic Party from 2008 to 2016. He resigned both posts on May 9, 2016, after losing confidence from a considerable number of party members, after his party’s candidate and the candidate from its coalition partner were both eliminated in the first round of the presidential elections held on April 24, 2016.

UN INSIDER2016-08-112023-07-10

Explosive Legacy of 2014 Conflict Continues to Hurt Gaza

By Bernhard Schell

AMMAN (IDN) – Two years after the Gaza conflict, paucity of sufficient funds is hampering a speedy clearance of Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) that pose a serious threat to the life and physical integrity of the population in the tiny self-governing Palestinian territory.

During the 2014 conflict, Israel launched more than 6,000 airstrikes and fired nearly 50,000 tank and artillery shells in the 51-day operation in Gaza, killing 1,462 Palestinian civilians, a third of them children.

The United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry’s report on Gaza conflict, published on June 22, 2015, found that Palestinian armed groups fired 4,881 rockets and 1,753 mortars towards Israel in July and August 2014, killing 6 civilians and injuring at least 1,600.

ARMAMENTS2016-08-102023-07-10

The No Nukes Mantra Between Hope and Despair

Analysis by Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) – UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s mantra “No more Hiroshimas – No more Nagasakis – Never again”, chanted to commemorate the anniversaries of the devastating atomic bombings of two Japanese cities has yet to usher in a nuclear-weapon-free world. Also his ‘five point proposal on nuclear disarmament’, tabled on UN Day October 24, 2008, has been practically consigned to oblivion.

The fault does not lie with the Secretary-General. As the world commemorated the 71st Hiroshima and Nagasaki anniversaries on August 6 and August 9, the question on the minds of proponents of a world free of nuclear weapons was: Is there reason to hope rather than despair?

UN INSIDER2016-08-102023-07-10

Peace Uncertain When Yemen Talks Resume in September

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – Yemen, an Arab country in Western Asia, has been undergoing a civil war since 2015 causing huge suffering. The United Nations has been at pains to encourage the conflicting parties to come to a lasting agreement in talks that have been hosted by Kuwait for the past three months.

In a statement announcing one-month break in negotiations – between a Yemeni Government delegation and a delegation of the General People’s Congress and Ansar Allah – on August 6, UN Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed assured that the process will enter a “new phase,” during which “the focus will be on working with each side separately to crystalize precise technical details”.

Asia-Pacific2016-08-092023-07-10

The Return of Australian Firebrand Pauline Hanson

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne*

SYDNEY (IDN) – The return of the firebrand anti-immigration politician of the 1990s Pauline Hanson along with three others from his One Nation Party (ONP) to the federal parliament after a 20-year absence has triggered debate in the Australian media about racism coming to the surface again in Australian politics and the failure of multiculturalism.

But a more intelligent analysis of the election results would show that the impressive showing of her ONP has more to do with socio-economic issues and average White Australians’ disillusionment with mainstream political parties.

UN INSIDER2016-08-092023-07-10

Ban Counts on Argentina’s Support ‘in Critical Years Ahead’

By J C Suresh

TORONTO (IDN) – United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has applauded Argentina for its strong partnership with the UN and its cooperation with and support to other countries.

“You are a standard bearer for United Nations values and principles,” said Ban in his remarks to the Argentine Council for International Relations on August 8.

“I count on Argentina’s support in the critical years ahead as we work together to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and provide peace and prosperity for all on a healthy planet,” he added.

USA and Canada2016-08-092023-07-10

Strategic Dialogue Needed to Avert New Cold War

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Nearly everyone I talk politics to says the world is in a mess. But I live in a student town and most of them have nothing to measure their opinions against. They know not much about the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis, Watergate or the great famines in Africa and India.

In many ways most of us live in the best of times, on better incomes than our parents, with longevity increasing all over the world, not least in the poorer countries and helped by inventions that our parents never dreamt were possible.

Africa2016-08-092023-07-10

Mandela’s Political Heirs Get a Beating from Voters

PRETORIA (IDN | GIN) – It was a long night for the African National Congress (ANC) party faithful as a popular revolt in the cities of Tshwane (Pretoria) and Port Elizabeth upended its long-held power base in those two key municipalities.

The ANC was beaten in working-class “black township” areas such as Mamelodi in Tshwane, and Motherwell in Port Elizabeth.

Africa2016-08-092023-07-10

Ugandan Police Attack LGBTI Pride Event

KAMPALA (IDN | GIN) – Police are resuming their attacks on Uganda’s mostly underground LGBTI community – raiding nightclubs and making arrests.

The renewed police activity comes as gays and rights activists mark the day and month in which a law requiring homosexuals to be jailed for life was overturned.

During the latest crackdown on August 4, police unlawfully raided a pageant in Kampala’s Club Venom to crown Mr/Ms/Mx Uganda Pride, according to a release by a coalition of activist gay rights groups including Human Rights Watch.