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[Crisis Group] Russia has become the Central African Republic's preferred ally in its battle with insurgents. But the government's use of Russian mercenaries as it goes on the offensive is causing domestic divisions and alienating other external partners. Concerns about rights abuses and misinformation campaigns are mounting.
In May, Burundi held a presidential election which was won by Evariste Ndayishimiye, candidate of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party.
Ndayishimiye was hurriedly sworn in after the untimely death of president Pierre Nkurunziza in June.
Rights violations continue
The Council encouraged donor countries which had suspended aid to Burundi to continue dialogue towards resumption of development assistance.
A report by a UN watchdog in September said human rights violations were still being committed in Burundi, including sexual violence and murder.
The country was plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Ndayishimiye’s predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term, which he ultimately won in July 2015.
His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May 2015.
Hundreds of people were killed and over 300,000 fled to neighboring countries.
[MAP] Rabat -- The security and stability challenges facing Africa, and which manifest themselves in the multiplication of conflicts and crises, require a synergy of efforts and a concerted and united response from all, underlined, Sunday in Rabat, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Mohcine Jazouli.
The content originally appeared on: News Americas Now Barbados is now defending a UK media report that its moving to become 'Little China' as it transitioned to a Republic and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales was on hand to witness and celebrate the hand over to new President Dame Sandra Mason (in green) in Bridgetown, Barbados. (Photo by Ian Vogler - Pool/Getty Images) Compiled By NAN Business Editor News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Dec. 3, 2021: Here are some […]
[AI London] The UN Security Council must extend the mandate of the peacekeeping mission in Darfur (UNAMID) by at least six months in light of failure by government security forces to protect civilians in recent months, said Amnesty International, with weeks left to the end of the mission's mandate.
The quarrel is over the rate at which Ethiopia fills the reservoir behind the dam and its effect on water supplies downstream in Sudan and Egypt--for who the Nile is the primary water source.
On and off since construction started, Egypt has threatened to go to war to secure continued access to the Nile waters.
If Egypt attacked Ethiopia, the antiquated idea that the Nile is a common good to which all have natural rights would collapse.
The Nile has two major tributaries--the White Nile is the headwaters and primary stream of the river, and the Blue Nile, containing 80 per cent of the water and originates in Ethiopia.
For now, Uganda should be able to collect custodian's fees from South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt, and invest it in protecting the polluted Lake Nalubaale from which the Nile flows, and the real estate of the river that sits on its territory as it flows north.
On 9 June, Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan resumed talks on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), raising hopes that they can strike a deal before Addis Ababa makes good on its intention to begin impounding water in the dam’s reservoir, with or without an agreement.
Addis Ababa argued that the deal would commit it to drain the dam’s reservoir to unacceptably low levels in the event of prolonged drought and that it was designed to perpetuate Egypt’s unfair claimed quota of the Nile waters.
While such an agreement could be a way to reduce tensions and build trust while working toward a comprehensive deal – as Crisis Group argued in March – Cairo rejected it, saying a piecemeal approach would allow Ethiopia to avoid committing to an all-encompassing agreement on GERD’s filling and operating rules, and would therefore leave Egypt exposed to water shortages over the long term.
While Ethiopia is prepared to agree to release predetermined amounts – which would vary depending on the starting volume of the GERD reservoir and projected annual Blue Nile flow – in any hydrological year when drought reduces water flow below a certain threshold, Egypt has also pressed it to make additional commitments for situations when there is a multi-year drought.
Ethiopia objected to these proposals in the draft agreement, expressing particular concern about formulas that would place it in the situation of “owing water” to Sudan and Egypt if river flows to the latter fall short of certain levels over a period of years.
Sudan continues the path to democracy, two years after the revolution that “carried the aspirations of our people for freedom, peace and justice”, Prime Minister Abdalla Adam Hamdok told the UN General Assembly on Saturday.
Kofi Atta Annan, born on 8 April 1938 in Kumasi, Ghana, served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) between 1997 and 2007. As a young man, Annan finished his undergraduate studies in economics at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1961. He then completed his graduate level work, also in economics, at the Institut universitaire des hautes études internationales in Geneva, Switzerland from 1961 to 1962. Annan returned to the United States, and earned a Master of Science degree in management in 1972 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Annan fluently speaks French, English, and a number of African languages.
Kofi Annan joined the United Nations in 1962 when he went to work for the World Health Organization. Since then he has been involved with the United Nations in a number of different branches, including the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN Emergency Force in Ismailia. Annan was assigned to UN Headquarters in New York where he worked with issues ranging from human resources management to peacekeeping.
On January 1, 1997, Kofi Annan became the Secretary-General of the United Nations. He served a second five year term beginning in 2002. Annan is the first Secretary-General to have been appointed from a UN staff position. In 2005, he helped establish two new bodies within the UN; the Peacebuilding Commission and the Human Rights Council. His involvement with peacekeeping is vast, as he has played key roles in a number of international negotiations. In 1996, he facilitated negotiations with Baghdad, Iraq in regards to their oil sales as funding humanitarian relief. In 1999, he played an important role in helping ease tensions between Libya and the UN Security Council, During the same period he also persuaded the international community to focus on the violence that was occurring in East Timor. Two years later, in 2000, he helped facilitate Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon.
Annans years at the UN have focused on creating relationships
There has not been any indication as to when the N3 near Van Reenen's Pass congestion will be resolved following incidents of truck drivers parking their trucks on the highway and removing the keys.
Amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, a virtual solemn ceremony presided by the UN Secretary, General Antonio Guterres, is being held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York today, to commemorate the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
It is in memory of those who lost their lives in the course of peacekeeping operations across the globe and also solidarise with the civilians, police, military who serve under the UN flag for their professionalism, dedication, and courage in the global maintenance of peace and security.
The day is set aside to commemorate the first UN peacekeeping mission on May 29, 1948 when the UN Security Council authorised the deployment of a number of military observers to the Middle East to form the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation to monitor the Armistice Agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours.
According to the UN, it has deployed more than 95,000 military, police and civilian personnel to maintain peace and security in 13 hotspots across the globe.
Other guest speakers were Lieutenant Colonel Prakash Lamichhane, UNIFIL Senior Military Public Information Officer and Lieutenant Dorcas Quaye, Military Police Officer with Cynthia Prah, National Information Officer, UN Information Centre, Accra.
A former primary school security guard aged 51 has been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for raping a 13-year-old child. The rapist has been identified Christopher Kanongola. He used to work as a security guard at Police Primary School in Zomba and on September 11 the girl went to school for evening studies. Kalondola raped […]
The post Man jailed 14 years for raping child in Zomba appeared first on Malawi 24.
Photo courtesy of Pexels (NewsUSA) - As the COVID-19 pandemic continues after nearly two years, people continue searching for new ways to take control of their health and support overall wellness. This interest in self-care has led to increased interest in immune-strengthening strategies, including the use of dietary supplements.No supplements can prevent or treat … Continued
[Tunis Afrique Presse] Tunis/Tunisia -- Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Tunisians Abroad, Othman Jarandi, expressed during a phone call with Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riad Al Maliki, Tunisia's solidarity with the brotherly Palestinian people in light of the acts of violence and incitement to which they are exposed by Israeli extremist groups in East Al Quds.
Prime Minister Trudeau’s rejection of a deal with China over the detention of two Canadians has lent a significant twist to the extradition battle over Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
A few days earlier 19 former diplomats and politicians argued in a letter to Trudeau that “[r]emoving the pressures of the extradition proceeding and the related imprisonment of the two Michaels [former diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor] will clear the way for Canada to freely decide and declare its position on all aspects of the Canada-China relationship.”
Instead he warned that intervention by the federal justice minister – who has the power to dismiss the proceedings against Meng – would embolden China, or any other country, into thinking that “all they have to do to get leverage over the Canadian government is randomly arrest a couple of Canadians.”
Last year while criticising countries which were too closely aligned with the One Belt, One Road initiative the European Commission described China as “an economic competitor in pursuit of technological leadership and a systemic rival promoting alternative models of governance.”
On the other hand, Trudeau’s resistance to China is a powerful reminder that not all “models of governance” are equal and that liberal democracies with independent judiciaries, freedom of speech and other anti-authoritarian encumbrances, are worth defending.
1994: Five Iraqis and a Kuwaiti are sentenced to death in Kuwait for plotting to kill former US President George H W Bush with a car bomb during his visit to Kuwait in 1993.
2002: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak says that shortly before September 11, 2001, Egyptian intelligence officials warned the United States that al-Qaeda was planning an attack on an American target.
2003: The Special Court for Sierra Leone, set up to try war crimes suspects from the country's civil conflict, make public a 17-count indictment against Charles Taylor, the president of neighbouring Liberia.
2008: The US military orders navy ships loaded with relief aid off Myanmar's coast to leave the area after the country's xenophobic junta refused to let them help survivors of a devastating cyclone the previous month.
England's King George III (1738-1820); Carl Gustaf Mannerheim, Finnish marshal and statesman (1867-1951); Modibo Keita, president of Mali (1915-1977); Robert Merrill, US opera singer (1919-2004); Dennis Weaver, US actor (1924-2006); Bruce Dern, US actor (1936- ); Angelina Jolie, US actress (1975-); Noah Wyle, US actor (1971- ); Russell Brand, British actor/comedian (1975- ).
[New Era] President Hage Geingob yesterday hailed the United Nations' (UN) role in the attainment of Namibia's independence, saying the organisation has become the guarantor of human dignity for millions of people across the world. In his virtual message on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the UN, Geingob said the fact that for 75 years the world has averted a Third World War is testament to the \"success of this great human experiment in multilateralism\".
1541: Members of a Spanish expedition seeking gold, led by Hernando de Soto, become the first Europeans to see the Mississippi River, south of what is now Memphis, Tennessee.
1927: US aviator Charles A Lindbergh lands in Paris, completing the first solo airplane flight across Atlantic Ocean.
1994: Bakili Muluzi sworn in as Malawi's first democratically elected president.
2012: US President Barack Obama and leaders around the globe lock in place their exit path from the war in Afghanistan, affirming they will close the largely stalemated conflict at the end of 2014, but keep their troops fighting and dying there for two more years.
Albrecht Duerer, German artist (1471-1528); Alexander Pope, English poet (1686-1744); Henri Rousseau, French painter (1844-1910); Lazaro Cardenas, Mexican president (1895-1970); Andrey Sakharov, Russian physicist, dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (1921-1989); J Malcolm Fraser, former Australian prime minister (1930-2015); Leo Sayer, British singer (1948- ); Mr T, US actor (1952- ); Al Franken, US comedian/politician (1951- )
"Four mercenaries were killed, two were intercepted under our control. Three policemen who had been taken hostage have been recovered," said Leon Charles, the head of Haiti's national police.
A 15-year-old Malian girl on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to protect children in war zones, lest they suffer \"enormous\" consequences.
[ENA] Diplomats at the UN Security Council (UNSC) have reaffirmed their respect and commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ethiopia and commended the government for the unilateral ceasefire it declared over Tigray.
A well-known senior advocate and his co-accused who allegedly trafficked children, groomed them, raped and sexually exploited them have asked the court to relax their bail conditions.
[Capital FM] Antalya -- President Uhuru Kenyatta has called for the democratization of multilateral organizations so as to ensure inclusivity in decision-making.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is convinced there are greater economic opportunities for South Africa in the west African country.
From Kenya's perspective, it seemed like they already had it in the bag: In a secret ballot in February, the member states of the African Union (AU) nominated Kenya to take one of three African seats on the United Nations (UN) Security Council, which will become vacant in January 2021.
The importance of having three African, non-permanent members of the UN Security Council should not be undervalued, emphasizes Oloo: \"China wants to keep this group, which is known as A3.\"
So, what role could African countries like Kenya or Djibouti play in the Security Council?
However, South Africa joined the Security Council at a difficult time: The elections in DR Congo left little room for other issues and since 2020, the work of the South African diplomats have been significantly limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
I think it is time to have an African country as a permanent UN Security Council member, as the world becomes more and more interdependent.\"
