Africa

In February, Ethiopia’s federal parliament extended the state of emergency in Amhara region, which had been in place since August and affords the government sweeping powers. The Committee to Protect Journalists reported that four of the eight journalists in detention as of early 2024 were detained under these emergency powers.

These latest arrests demonstrate that in Ethiopia today, no one is safe from arbitrary arrest and detention. Ethiopia’s long-time partners should condemn the spate of wrongful detentions and challenge the government’s growing intolerance of peaceful dissent.

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/9595787

Ten years into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects, the expansion of corporate investments in the global agri-food system has reached new heights. As evidenced by China’s plans in agriculture, fisheries and e-commerce in Africa and Asia, it is hard to find anything “green” or small-scale about the BRI.

China seems to be caught in a vicious cycle: the more its BRI expands with its large-scale agricultural techno-fixes for the profit of a few large Chinese conglomerates, the more dependent it becomes on food imports, increasingly undermining its own food sovereignty.

[Edit typo.]

Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/9489915

The 7,600 tonnes of wheat flour donated by Ukraine will be provided to Sudan families, many of whom have fled their homes due to the fighting and are struggling every day to meet their food needs, the UN says.

The shipment was made possible by the German Federal Foreign Office, which covered the entire €15 million operating costs, including the transportation of the wheat from Ukraine to Sudan and the implementation and distribution within the country.

At the end of December, a civil claim was filed against Fresh Del Monte by a group of human rights organisations on behalf of 10 individuals, who alleged they were stabbed, stoned, tortured and raped by the company’s guards.

Del Monte, whose fresh fruit is a global staple, is the largest exporter of Kenyan produce to the world, and one of the East African country’s biggest employers.

It’s important, though, to distinguish the position of the African Union from the position of individual member states. So, while the union itself has been consistent and has always held the line that Palestinian independence was an integral part of the African Union’s foundational documents and foundational position in international relations, various African nations — because there is no impetus from the African Union for there to be always a single position within each country, various African nations do have different relationships with both Israel and Palestine. So, for example, while every single country in Africa except one recognizes the state of Palestine, the recognition of the state of Israel has varied. There was a time after that 1972 war where African nations wholesale declared that they would not recognize the state of Israel, but that has changed considerably.

The statement issued by the U.S. Department of State on 17 February 2024 fundamentally distorts these realities, and stands in puzzling contradiction with the substance and tone of the confidence-building process initiated by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence in November 2023, which created a productive framework for de-escalation. Rwanda will seek clarification from the U.S. Government to ascertain whether its statement represents an abrupt shift in policy, or simply a lack of internal coordination.

An Abbey spokesperson tells The Art Newspaper: “The Dean [David Hoyle] and Chapter has decided in principle that it would be appropriate to return the Ethiopian tabot to the Ethiopian Church. We are currently considering the best way to achieve this, and we are in ongoing discussions with representatives of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. This is a complex matter, and it may take some time.”

Boko Haram has targeted schools as part of its campaign of atrocities in north-eastern Nigeria since 2010. It has carried out massacres and multiple abductions, including 2014’s killing of 59 schoolboys, the kidnapping of 276 schoolgirls in Chibok in 2014 and 101 girls in Dapchi in 2018.

Between 2013 and 2018, according to the UN, Boko Haram abducted more than 1,000 children, using them as soldiers and domestic or sex slaves. Amnesty International has estimated that 1,436 schoolchildren and 17 teachers were abducted between December 2020 and October 2021.

"This is the Russian state coming out of the shadows in its Africa policy," says Jack Watling, land warfare specialist at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) and one of the report's authors.

According to Dr Watling, "there was a meeting in the Kremlin fairly shortly after Prigozhin's mutiny, in which it was decided that Wagner's Africa operations would fall directly under the control of Russian military intelligence, the GRU".

"The narrative that Russia is pushing [in Africa] is that Western states remain fundamentally colonial in their attitude," says Dr Watling. "It's very ironic because the Russian approach, which is to isolate these regimes, capture their elites and to extract their natural resources, is quite colonial."

The fundamental change lies in "the overtness with which Russia is pursuing its policy", Dr Waitling added. Prigozhin's Wagner Group had always provided Russia with a level of plausible deniability in operations and influence abroad.

Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many in the Western security apparatus say that Russia's mask has slipped.

Girls who become parents often experience discrimination, stigma, and a lack of support and accommodation that makes juggling school and childcare responsibilities impossible. The lack of free education pushes many girls from the poorest households out of school.

Carved wooden figure at Venice Biennale in Europe aims to spark debate about colonial blindspots in the art world.

While the influx of Chinese capital has boosted economic growth in many countries, concerns surrounding human rights abuses, opaque practices, and environmental degradation cast a long shadow over China’s involvement. China holds a lot of African debt (around $153 billion), and some analysts argue it is designing loans to induce debt and strengthen its grip on the continent.

It is essential that China and the African nations also uphold international labor standards by guaranteeing fair wages, safe working conditions, and respect for workers’ rights in all projects. Additionally, local communities should participate in the planning and decision-making, respecting their concerns and minimizing displacement.

There is no specific law in Somalia against domestic violence.

In 2018, a comprehensive UN-backed sexual offences bill was introduced but it has not yet been passed by parliament.

Rating agency Moody’s says Kenya will need $3 billion in annual external financing to meet its external debt service needs after 2024. These needs include nearly $2 billion per year owed to private creditors and Chinese bilateral creditors, two groups for which refinancing can come at a higher cost of borrowing and lack predictability.

Apart from a new eurobond issuance, Kenya has had substantial foreign currency inflows in recent months from multilateral creditors, and also from bilateral and commercial creditors.

IMF approved sixth review of Kenya’s Extended Fund Facility and the Extended Credit Facility disbursing $624.5 million in January, and the World Bank is expected to provide Kenya between $1 billion and 1.5 billion under its Development Policy Operation before 2024 eurobond maturity.

Other external financing sources are less certain, but the government has raised funding from the syndicated loan market and could receive additional loans from bilateral creditors, which would boost Kenya’s international reserve position from around $7 billion currently, or about four months of import coverage.

He was killed alongside his coach, Rwanda's Gervais Hakizimana, in a car on a road in western Kenya on Sunday.

Kiptum made a breakthrough in 2023 as a rival to compatriot Eliud Kipchoge - one of the greatest marathon runners.

And it was in Chicago last October that Kiptum bettered Kipchoge's achievement, clocking the 26.1 miles (42km) in two hours and 35 seconds.

The two athletes had been named in Kenya's provisional marathon team for the Paris Olympics later this year.

Senegal is in the midst of its worst political upheaval in decades after the president postponed this month’s election. More than 200 opposition politicians and protesters have been arrested, and the government has shut down some internet access, amid what the decision’s opponents are describing as a coup.

“This is just the latest step in a string of human rights abuses,” says Amnesty International researcher Ousmane Diallo, who says President Macky Sall's latest anti-democratic move is characteristic of an increasingly repressive regime.

Financial technology (fintech) allows people with a mobile phone and internet connection to more safely buy basic groceries, settle bills, and receive money from abroad – easing some of the hardships. These apps have been available for over a decade in Sudan, with nearly all public sector workers paid digitally.

But they are now more than just a convenience to millions of Sudanese, their lives upended by nine months of fighting between the regular army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.

People transact as much as they can online to avoid navigating embattled neighbourhoods or the risk of carrying physical currency, and to cope with the reduced operating hours of the few bank branches that manage to remain open.

An investigation has uncovered claims that apparent representatives of the company made multiple approaches to witnesses of a December 2023 confrontation between Del Monte guards and pineapple thieves that led to the deaths of four men. Three people approached allege that Del Monte staff offered money and jobs in exchange for signing statements that supported the company’s version of events.

Despite Ethiopia’s outlawing of physical cryptocurrency exchange, the country welcomes Bitcoin mining operations.

Bitcoin mining has become increasingly popular in Ethiopia since China expelled the industry from its territory in 2021.

After the prohibition was lifted, the largest corporations in China dispersed worldwide in search of new locations that would accommodate their energy-intensive business practices.

When cargo containers containing powerful mining computers appeared near electricity substations associated with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam last spring, that journey brought many individuals to Africa.

A total of 28 insurers have so far declared they will not insure Eacop following pressure from climate activists.

The 1,443-kilometre pipeline from Hoima in western Uganda to the Tanzanian Indian Ocean port of Tanga, is majority-owned (62 percent) by French oil giant TotalEnergies and state oil companies of China, Uganda and Tanzania.

Eacop is planned to pass through areas of sensitive ecological importance, including national parks and wildlife reserves. There has been criticism from international environmentalists.

According to Dickens Kamugisha, executive director of the Kampala-based Africa Institute for Energy Governance (Afiego), the Ugandan government is likely to lower its standards and offer attractive terms because it’s heavily indebted.

“The government currently has over $25 billion in debts, 80 percent of which has been accumulated during the time when it’s been pursuing these oil projects. The government is now desperate that it is likely that it will lower its expectations to attract investors,” Mr Kamugisha said.