Mali talks propose junta rule for three more years
11/5/2024: Participants in Mali's national dialogue have recommended extending the military-led transition to democracy by three years. An alliance of political parties and civil society organisations refused to participate in the national dialogue. The substantial delay is likely to deepen concerns about democratic backsliding in West and Central Africa, where there have been eight coups over the past four years.
Source: The East African
Chad declares interim President Deby winner of disputed vote
10/5/2024: Chad's junta has become the first of the coup-hit countries in West and Central Africa to stage a return to constitutional rule via the ballot box. But the International Crisis Group has said that “several problems in the run-up to the balloting cast doubt on its credibility”.
Source: The East African
Kenya calls for sustainable peace in South Sudan as talks begin
10/5/2024: Kenyan President William Ruto has launched mediation talks, dubbed the Tumaini Initiative, between parties in South Sudan's peace process. He said that the initiative exemplifies the pan-African policy of African solutions to African challenges.
Source: The East African
Gender activists want more philanthropic funding for maternal health
9/5/2024: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation reports that the Sustainable Development Goal for reducing maternal mortality and ending all preventable deaths under 5 years of age is worryingly off track. Total official development assistance to maternal, newborn, and child health stagnated between 2017 and 2021 at around $10 billion annually.
Source: Devex
IMF, DR Congo reach agreement on $1.5bn loan deal
9/5/2024: Recent progress in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund takes the Democratic Republic of Congo one step closer to completing an IMF programme for the first time. A loan agreement will be conditional on transparency relating to the finances of the country's joint venture with Chinese companies developing vast cobalt mines.
Source: The East African
How to stop Western theft of developing countries’ IP wealth
8/5/2024: Developing countries have struggled to stop industrialized nations from co-opting and patenting products based on the knowledge and culture of local peoples. A new UN pact, to be facilitated by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) at a conference later this month, could help them stop so-called biopiracy.
Source: DW
Summit of the Future: A historical pivot or mere footnote?
7/5/2024: Four major initiatives are emerging through negotiations on drafts of the Pact for the Future, to be presented to the UN Summit of the Future in September. Much work remains to be done to overcome great-power tensions, especially over Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, that risk paralyzing the intergovernmental negotiations.
Source: PassBlue
World Migration Report 2024 reveals latest global trends and challenges
7/5/2024: There are now an estimated 281 million international migrants worldwide, according to the latest annual report by the International Organization for Migration. This includes 117 million displaced due to conflict or disaster, the highest level in modern-day records. Remittances sent by migrants to low– and middle-income countries reached $647 billion, surpassing foreign direct investment in those countries.
Source: International Organization for Migration
Chinese fishing fleets in Indian Ocean accused of abuses
5/5/2024: A recent investigation has revealed evidence that China's distant-water fishing fleet commits environmental and labour abuses in the southwest Indian Ocean off the coast of East Africa. The report by the Environmental Justice Foundation also finds that entering a fishing zone reserved for local fishers is another common illegal behaviour.
Source: DW
Amnesty report unhappy with African states on human rights
4/5/2024: In its annual international report Amnesty International says that African governments continue to be largely indifferent to calls to tackle impunity over human rights, thereby disregarding the rule of law. Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea and Kenya are named in the report.
Source: The East African