IDN-InDepthNews – Page 733 – News for a Sustainable World, Peace and Security

ARTS & CULTURE2016-04-272023-07-10

Tributes Pour in For Papa Wemba

NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – To some, he was the King of Congolese rumba – a sound that layered luscious Cuban rumba with African instruments and beats.

Papa Wemba, or Jules Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba, was rebellious, prolific, a style icon, at times notorious and always innovative.

“The world of popular music has lost a giant—a consummate musician, a shape-shifter who challenged norms and rewrote the rules of his nation’s music repeatedly over four decades, who spearheaded a fashion movement, and now has left us suddenly and far too young,” wrote ethnomusicologist Banning Eyre on the website Afropop.

ARTS & CULTURE2016-04-272023-07-10

Somali-British Poet Penned Verses in ‘Lemonade’

NEW YORK (IDN | GIN) – Beyonce’s pick for lyrics setting off her latest production, LEMONADE, was Warsan Shire, a poet of Somali-British parentage.

A 27-year-old born in Kenya to Somali parents, who published her first pamphlet Teaching My Mother How to Give Birth in 2011, Shire went on to win the inaugural Brunel University African Poetry Prize in 2013.

“I tried to change/Closed my mouth more/Tried to be softer, prettier – less awake” – uttered as Beyoncé spins under water, her eyes open as if in a trance – is adapted from “For Women Who Are Difficult To Love.”

CTBTO2016-04-272023-07-10

UN Chief Calls CTBTO 20 Anniversary ‘a Call to Action’

Addressing a CTBTO Panel in Vienna, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on April 27: “When I was serving as the representative of the Republic of Korea I had the honour of presiding as Chairman of CTBTO. While assuming my chairmanship, I made small talk, saying: “My name is Ban Ki-moon; it is pronounced Ban, it is spelled B-a-n. While I will encourage constructive dialogue, I will ban using my name [for] nuclear tests”. Since then, my nickname has been “Mr. Nuclear-Test-Ban”. So, I will still carry that name, so I will try to ban any nuclear test. So, we ask [for] your strong commitment on this.”

Asia-Pacific2016-04-272023-07-10

China Triggers Regional Divisions On South China Sea

Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne

SINGAPORE (IDN) – Announcement by China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the Laotian capital Vientiane on April 23 that a four-point agreement has been reached with three ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) member states on the disputes over some islands, rocks and shoals in the South China Sea (SCS) ahead of a China-ASEAN summit in Singapore, has exposed divisions among the 10-member regional grouping on the issue.

The SCS dispute which first entered ASEAN forums during the 2010 ASEAN Summit in Vietnam, when the then U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised the issue during a speech, has increased in intensity in recent years with the U.S. and Japan along with its ally the Philippines fanning the flames, while China has responded with some aggressive moves of its own.

UN INSIDER2016-04-262023-07-10

A Woman to Lead the UN? ‘Angela Merkel Should be the One’

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – A woman for the next secretary-general of the United Nations? Well, it’s a lot more complicated than that. There are other criteria in play – tthere is an unwritten rule that the regions of the world should take it in turns to occupy the UN’s top job. The east Europeans are saying it is their turn.

Ironically, since eastern Europe is now part of western Europe, the EU, the would-be candidates are in effect appealing to Russia to vote for them, since only as geographically part of the old Soviet alliance can they be regarded as an entity separate from western Europe.

How about a South Asian? Now that would make sense, since there has never been a secretary-general from there before and the subcontinent contains 1.7 billion people. However, no-one has put themselves forward.

ARMAMENTS2016-04-262023-07-10

Chernobyl 30 years on: Exploring the Zone

DEVNET2016-04-262023-07-10

Building an Efficient Asian Network for Disaster Risk Reduction

Viewpoint by Toshiaki Kitazato*

TOKYO (IDN) – In the January 1995 Great Hanshin Earthquake, Kobe City – with its population of 1.5 million – was hit hardest by strong tremors. Nearly 6,500 people lost their lives

Eighteen years later, Japan suffered a great disaster yet again, followed by the massive tsunami caused by the earthquake in deep sea crusts in the Pacific Ocean on March 11, 2013. The East Japan Great Earthquake Disaster not only caused more than 20,000 death casualties but also destroyed the nuclear power plant buildings in Fukushima.

In Indonesia, great tsunamis were generated by the Sumatra earthquake in 2004 that recorded more than 220,000 death casualties in total in Thailand, Sri Lanka, India etc. Four years later, more than 87,000 people were killed by a devastating earthquake in Sichuan province of China. SPANISH | GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE

UN INSIDER2016-04-252023-07-10

Kazakhstan’s Passionate Bid for UN Security Council Seat

Analysis by J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the UN Security Council inches closer to the election of five non-permanent members on June 28, participants of the Istanbul Summit have urged the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries to support Kazakhstan’s bid for 2017-2018 membership.

Five new non-permanent members are scheduled to be elected for a two-year term, beginning January 2017: one for Africa; one for the Asia-Pacific Group; one for Latin America and the Caribbean; and two for the ‘Western European and Others Group’ (WEOG).

Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands are bidding for two seats due to the amorphous WEOG. Kenya, Ethiopia and Seychelles are vying for a single seat available to Africa. Kazakhstan and Thailand are pitted against each other for one seat allocated for the Asia-Pacific Group.

UN INSIDER2016-04-242023-07-10

UN Concerned Over Growing Military Role in Thailand

By International Press Syndicate

GENEVA (IDN) – As Thailand prepares to vote on a final draft Constitution, the United Nations human rights chief has expressed growing concern about the military’s deepening role in the country’s civilian administration as well as tight curbs on dissent. The draft is scheduled to be put to a national referendum on August 7, 2016.

“An open and dynamic public debate on the draft Constitution would foster national unity, strengthen the legitimacy and acceptance of the Constitution and provide a sense of collective ownership,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement.

“I urge the Government to actively encourage, rather than discourage, dialogue and engagement on the draft Constitution. This would be an important step in establishing a solid foundation for a sustainable democracy in Thailand,” he added.

ACP Group of States2016-04-242023-07-10

Trade and Development Finance Top ACP Ministers’ Agenda

By International Press Syndicate

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Ministers representing African, Caribbean and Pacific countries will take key decisions when they gather in Dakar, Senegal, on April 25 to address sustainable economic development, trade and political issues in ACP countries, reports the ACP Press Office.

The Senegal Prime Minister Mohammed Dionne will open the 103rd session of the ACP Council of Ministers on April 26. The three-day programme from April 25 to 27 will include preparatory meetings of the Development Finance Committee, ministerial consultations on commodities (sugar, cotton, bananas), and the plenary session chaired by Leon Raphaël Mokoko, the Minister of Planning and Integration of the Republic of Congo.

The ACP Council of Ministers will lead into the 41st session of the ACP-EU Joint Council of Ministers on April 28-29, which will be officially opened by the President Macky Sall of Senegal.