Category: ZA

Climate change and security in Ethiopia, Sudan and the Sahel are set to top the agenda as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Nairobi on Wednesday to visit three of the continent’s major players: Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal.

Blinken’s first Africa trip follows the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, where poorer nations called on wealthy governments to do more to help them combat climate change.

His visit will likely seek to underscore the difference between President Joe Biden’s administration and his predecessor Donald Trump.

Trump dismissed some African nations as”s**tholes”, left key diplomatic posts to Africa empty and scoffed at climate change science.

Blinken’s first stop will be Kenya, where President Uhuru Kenyatta will want to discuss security following last month’s coup in Sudan and a widening war in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation and the headquarters of the African Union.

Blinken said last week that Ethiopia could “implode”, a prospect that would widen famine there and send millions of refugees around an already unstable region.

Kenya also contributes troops to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, where Al Qaeda-linked insurgents are battling the government.

The mandate of the AU force is up for renewal next month and the United States is a key donor.

Blinken will also meet civil society representatives, considered an important bulwark of Kenyan democracy ahead of next year’s national election.

Polls can sometimes turn violent and Kenya, East Africa’s wealthiest and most stable nation, is headquarters to many multinationals.

VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA

On Thursday, Blinken will visit Nigeria – Africa’s largest oil exporter – to meet President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government is battling an Islamist insurgency in the northeast and mass kidnappings by armed gangs in the north and northwest.

The two are expected to discuss possible security assistance from the United States, a source in the Nigerian presidency told Reuters.

In July, Nigeria received its first six A-29 Super Tucano planes, four years after the United States agreed to sell the light attack aircraft to fight insurgents.

But analysts say Buhari has made little progress tackling corruption that has eroded the nation’s infrastructure – half of its citizens lack access to electricity – or abuses by the security services.

A judicial panel report this week accused the army and police of firing on protesters in Lagos last year in what it called a “massacre.”

Blinken’s final leg is Senegal, considered one of Africa’s most stable democracies, where the focus will be on leaders and female entrepreneurs.

He will also visit Dakar’s Institute Pasteur, which signed an agreement – alongside Rwanda – with BioNtech in October to build the first mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa starting in mid-2022.

Biden’s government has said it was working with manufacturers to help African countries boost vaccine production.

 

The post Climate and security to dominate US Secretary of State’s maiden Africa tour appeared first on SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa’s news leader..

Read more here:: South Africa News Post

At least 1 000 people, mostly ethnic Tigrayans, have been detained in cities across Ethiopia in the past week, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on November 2, a year after a conflict erupted between the federal government and forces aligned with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the political party controlling the northern region of Tigray.

The declaration, which is valid for six months, allows suspects to be detained without trial for as long as the state of emergency lasts and allows house-to-house searches without a warrant.

“At least 1 000 individuals are believed to have been detained over the past week or so with some reports putting the figure much higher,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.

“These developments are all the more disturbing given that most of those detained are reported to be people of Tigrayan origin.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “his concern over reports of arbitrary arrests and detentions, which serve to widen divisions and resentment between groups,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not respond to a request for comment.

Police have previously said the arrests are not ethnically motivated but are aimed at detaining supporters of the TPLF.

The conditions in detention centres were poor and overcrowded and many were not told the reasons for their detention, the United Nations said.

Ten UN workers also were still being held, after the arrest of 16 last week, the organization said.

And 34 contractors remain in detention out of 72 who were arrested last week.

Any Ethiopians working for the United Nations would be held accountable for lawbreaking, the government said Ethiopian staff working for the United Nations or African Union do not live “in space” and will be punished for any lawbreaking, the government said on Thursday, after the arrest of several UN employees for unspecified offences.

Guterres called for the immediate release of detained UN staff members, the UN statement said.

It said UN staff were held without charge and there was no specific information provided for the arrests.

The TPLF, which used to dominate Ethiopian politics, accuses the federal government of centralising power.

The government accuses the TPLF of trying to return to its previous dominance.

Both are accused of violations that may amount to war crimes,the United Nations has said.

 

The post Over 1 000 people, mostly Tigrayans, detained in Ethiopia in week – UN appeared first on SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa’s news leader..

Read more here:: South Africa News Post

Climate change and security in Ethiopia, Sudan and the Sahel are set to top the agenda as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Nairobi on Wednesday to visit three of the continent’s major players: Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal.

Blinken’s first Africa trip follows the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, where poorer nations called on wealthy governments to do more to help them combat climate change.

His visit will likely seek to underscore the difference between President Joe Biden’s administration and his predecessor Donald Trump.

Trump dismissed some African nations as”s**tholes”, left key diplomatic posts to Africa empty and scoffed at climate change science.

Blinken’s first stop will be Kenya, where President Uhuru Kenyatta will want to discuss security following last month’s coup in Sudan and a widening war in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation and the headquarters of the African Union.

Blinken said last week that Ethiopia could “implode”, a prospect that would widen famine there and send millions of refugees around an already unstable region.

Kenya also contributes troops to an African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia, where Al Qaeda-linked insurgents are battling the government.

The mandate of the AU force is up for renewal next month and the United States is a key donor.

Blinken will also meet civil society representatives, considered an important bulwark of Kenyan democracy ahead of next year’s national election.

Polls can sometimes turn violent and Kenya, East Africa’s wealthiest and most stable nation, is headquarters to many multinationals.

VIOLENCE IN NIGERIA

On Thursday, Blinken will visit Nigeria – Africa’s largest oil exporter – to meet President Muhammadu Buhari, whose government is battling an Islamist insurgency in the northeast and mass kidnappings by armed gangs in the north and northwest.

The two are expected to discuss possible security assistance from the United States, a source in the Nigerian presidency told Reuters.

In July, Nigeria received its first six A-29 Super Tucano planes, four years after the United States agreed to sell the light attack aircraft to fight insurgents.

But analysts say Buhari has made little progress tackling corruption that has eroded the nation’s infrastructure – half of its citizens lack access to electricity – or abuses by the security services.

A judicial panel report this week accused the army and police of firing on protesters in Lagos last year in what it called a “massacre.”

Blinken’s final leg is Senegal, considered one of Africa’s most stable democracies, where the focus will be on leaders and female entrepreneurs.

He will also visit Dakar’s Institute Pasteur, which signed an agreement – alongside Rwanda – with BioNtech in October to build the first mRNA vaccine manufacturing facility in Africa starting in mid-2022.

Biden’s government has said it was working with manufacturers to help African countries boost vaccine production.

 

The post Climate and security to dominate US Secretary of State’s maiden Africa tour appeared first on SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa’s news leader..

Read more here:: South Africa News Post

At least 1 000 people, mostly ethnic Tigrayans, have been detained in cities across Ethiopia in the past week, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

Ethiopia declared a state of emergency on November 2, a year after a conflict erupted between the federal government and forces aligned with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the political party controlling the northern region of Tigray.

The declaration, which is valid for six months, allows suspects to be detained without trial for as long as the state of emergency lasts and allows house-to-house searches without a warrant.

“At least 1 000 individuals are believed to have been detained over the past week or so with some reports putting the figure much higher,” the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.

“These developments are all the more disturbing given that most of those detained are reported to be people of Tigrayan origin.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed “his concern over reports of arbitrary arrests and detentions, which serve to widen divisions and resentment between groups,” UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Ethiopian government spokesperson Legesse Tulu did not respond to a request for comment.

Police have previously said the arrests are not ethnically motivated but are aimed at detaining supporters of the TPLF.

The conditions in detention centres were poor and overcrowded and many were not told the reasons for their detention, the United Nations said.

Ten UN workers also were still being held, after the arrest of 16 last week, the organization said.

And 34 contractors remain in detention out of 72 who were arrested last week.

Any Ethiopians working for the United Nations would be held accountable for lawbreaking, the government said Ethiopian staff working for the United Nations or African Union do not live “in space” and will be punished for any lawbreaking, the government said on Thursday, after the arrest of several UN employees for unspecified offences.

Guterres called for the immediate release of detained UN staff members, the UN statement said.

It said UN staff were held without charge and there was no specific information provided for the arrests.

The TPLF, which used to dominate Ethiopian politics, accuses the federal government of centralising power.

The government accuses the TPLF of trying to return to its previous dominance.

Both are accused of violations that may amount to war crimes,the United Nations has said.

 

The post Over 1 000 people, mostly Tigrayans, detained in Ethiopia in week – UN appeared first on SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa’s news leader..

Read more here:: South Africa News Post