Africa

Dozens of videos involving a senior civil servant in Equatorial Guinea have flooded social media, shocking people in the country.

Dozens of videos involving a senior civil servant in Equatorial Guinea have flooded social media, shocking people in the country.

Dozens of videos involving a senior civil servant have flooded social media, shocking people in the central African country.

India has built a 3km-long runway on Agalega and no-one has fully explained why, angering residents.

India has built a 3km-long runway on Agalega and no-one has fully explained why, angering residents.

India has built a 3km-long runway on Agalega and no-one has fully explained why, angering residents.

Sanju Samson blasts a 47-ball century as India clinch an emphatic win over South Africa in the first T20 international in Durban.

Arm wrestling is trying to shed its reputation as a bar sport. Could its inclusion at the African Games could help it enter the mainstream?

Arm wrestling is trying to shed its reputation as a bar sport. Could its inclusion at the African Games could help it enter the mainstream?

The lack of access to C-sections is seen as a reason behind Nigeria's high maternal mortality rate.

A child receiving his second dose of the polio vaccine at a health clinic in Gaza City. Credit: UNICEF/ Eyad El Baba

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

On November 6, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the second round of polio vaccinations in the Gaza Strip has been completed. A total of 556,744 children under ten years of age received the mOPV2 vaccine along with a dose of vitamin A to ensure immunization. However, due to rampant hostilities from the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), the campaign has not been entirely successful, leading to humanitarian organizations fearing that herd immunity has not been achieved.

During a United Nations (UN) press briefing, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric informed reporters that despite the numerous access challenges faced by aid personnel, the campaign has been relatively successful. Approximately 103 percent of children in central Gaza were immunized, meaning that more children in this region were reached than expected. 91 percent of the children in southern Gaza received the vaccines.

However, northern Gaza has been of great concern for humanitarian groups due to frequent access challenges and hostilities since September. Preliminary data from the UN suggests that only 88 percent of children in this region received the vaccine.

Figures from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) show that there are an estimated 7,000-10,000 children that remain unvaccinated in the Jabalia, Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanoun regions.

According to a press release from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, at least 90 percent vaccination coverage during each round of the campaign is necessary in order to effectively stop the outbreak in Gaza and prevent the international re-emergence of polio. Due to Gaza’s compromised healthcare, water, and sanitation systems, civilians are particularly vulnerable to the spread of disease.

Escalated hostilities in the Gaza Strip in the days preceding the completion of the second round of vaccinations had significantly hampered immunization efforts. Despite the campaigns in central and southern Gaza having run relatively smoothly, hostilities in northern Gaza in the days preceding the completion of the second round of vaccinations had significantly hampered immunization efforts.

On November 2, the IDF issued an airstrike on a healthcare center in the Sheikh Radwan district of Gaza City. WHO reported that this attack led to six civilians being injured, including four children.

“This attack, during humanitarian pause, jeopardizes the sanctity of health protection for children and may deter parents from bringing their children for vaccination. These vital humanitarian-area-specific pauses must be absolutely respected,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, in a statement issued to X (formerly known as Twitter).

Attacks in the Gaza Strip have continued after the humanitarian pause designated for the vaccination campaign was lifted. The recent bills passed by the Knesset exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) can no longer play their pivotal role in providing aid.

Israel’s ongoing aerial campaign in Gaza has killed over 43,000 Palestinians, decimated entire neighborhoods, and made areas in the northern region, such as Jabalia, Beit Lahiya, and Beit Hanoun almost uninhabitable.

In a press release from WHO, the situation in northern Gaza has been described as “apocalyptic”. It added that dozens of school-turned-shelters have been targeted by the IDF or evacuated. Tents have been burned and refugees have been shot at. Injured civilians are taken to almost non-functioning healthcare centers, in which life-saving services have been disrupted and essential supplies and equipment have been destroyed.

Additionally, millions have been displaced from their homes, with Gaza being one of the biggest displacement crises in the world. On October 5, IDF Brigadier-General Itzik Cohen informed reporters that civilians from northern Gaza would not be allowed to return to their homes. Cohen cited that troops entered certain areas twice, such as the Jabalia camp, and therefore, allowing Gazans to return there would complicate security efforts. He added that routine humanitarian aid deliveries would be allowed in the southern and central regions of Gaza, but not the north, since, as he claimed, “there are no more civilians left.”

UNRWA’s absence in the Gaza Strip is expected to be severely felt by the approximately 2 million people struggling to stay alive.

“The decision (Israel’s bills banning UNRWA) will further undermine the ability of the international community to provide sufficient humanitarian aid and to save lives in any safe, independent and impartial way. Israel has bombed Palestinians to death, maimed them, starved them, and is now ridding them of their biggest lifeline of aid. Piece by piece, Israel is systematically dismantling Gaza as a land that is autonomous and liveable for Palestinians,” says Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa.

On November 6, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini addressed the UN General Assembly, urging the UN to prevent the implementation of Israel’s two most recent bills.

“Without intervention by member states, UNRWA will collapse, plunging millions of Palestinians into chaos,” Lazzarini said. “First, I ask that Member States act to prevent the implementation of the legislation against UNRWA. Second, I ask that Member States ensure that any plan for a political transition delineates UNRWA’s role. Finally, I ask that Member States maintain funding to UNRWA, and do not withhold or divert funds on the assumption that the Agency can no longer operate.”

Lazzarini reminded the General Assembly of the toll that UNRWA and its staff has taken through the duration of the crisis. 239 UNRWA personnel has been killed, and more than two thirds of UNRWA’s facilities had been damaged or destroyed. Lazzarini urged that these violations of international humanitarian law be investigated.

It is estimated that the costs of providing funding to UNRWA in this transitional period will be immense. However, dismantling UNRWA will be particularly costly as well. Through its flash appeal, the UN is seeking over 1.2 billion dollars in funding to assist over 1.7 million people who are facing extreme conditions. Due to the recent banning of UNRWA, these costs are estimated to be much higher. It is crucial for donor contributions to continue as humanitarian aid is still being blocked in northern Gaza. Conditions are expected to further deteriorate as the harsh winter season approaches.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Financial limitations mean there are no immediate plans to change the format of the eight-team Women's Champions League in Africa.

Financial limitations mean there are no immediate plans to change the format of the eight-team Women's Champions League in Africa.

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, addresses the General Debate of the General Assembly’s 75th session September 2020. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

By Mandeep S.Tiwana
NEW YORK, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

On the day following the US election, UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres issued a brief statement commending the people of the United States for their active participation in the democratic process. He wisely omitted to mention that the election of Donald J. Trump – who attempted to overturn the people’s mandate by inciting an insurrection in 2020 – is a major setback for the UN’s worldwide quest to advance human rights and the rule of law.

Trump is a self-avowed admirer of authoritarian strongmen like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orban who disdain international norms that the UN seeks to uphold. Unsurprisingly, questions posed to the UN Secretary General’s spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, in a press conference on November 6, ranged from what will be Trump’s response to the war in Ukraine to potential funding cuts that might come with the new US administration to whether the UN has contingency plans ready for when Trump takes office.

The US plays an outsized role in global affairs. Therefore, any changes in policy in Washington impact the whole world. As someone who bears responsibility for stewarding a global civil society alliance, it worries me what a second Trump presidency will unleash.

Even without Trump in power we are living in a world where wars are being conducted with complete disregard for the rules; corrupt billionaires are dictating public policy for their benefit; and greed induced environmental degradation is putting us on a path to climate catastrophe. Hard fought gains on gender justice are in danger of being rolled back.

The first Trump administration showed disdain for the UN Human Rights Council and pulled the US out of vital global commitments such as the Paris Agreement to combat climate change. It restricted support for civil society groups around the world and targeted those that sought to promote sexual and reproductive rights of women. Promotion of democracy and human rights are key pillars of US foreign policy.

It’s deeply concerning that when disinformation and misinformation have assumed pandemic level proportions, the majority of the US electorate have cast their vote in favour of a candidate who ran his campaign on divisive dog whistles, half-truths and outright lies. These tactics have deepened fissures in an already polarized United States.

Families countrywide were left devastated by Trump’s negligence and COVID denialism as president which resulted in tens of thousands of Americans dying of avoidable infections. His administration’s immigration detention and deportation policies instilled fear in minority communities. This time Trump has vowed to deport millions of people.

Trump’s stances on abortion rights have caused women immeasurable suffering in several US states that have introduced laws to ban the procedure. He has promised to accelerate harmful fossil fuel extraction and undoubtedly views gender justice advocates, environmental defenders and migrant rights activists as a threat his power.

Given the stated predilections of Trump and his advisors, opposition politicians, activists and journalists exposing corruption and rights violations are likely to be at risk of enhanced surveillance, intimidation and persecution by the new administration.

At the international level, Trump’s election casts a pall over efforts to ensure accountability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Sudan and Ukraine due to his tacit support for authoritarian leaders in Israel, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, all of whom are fueling conflicts and causing havoc abroad. A future Trump administration could try to starve the UN of funding to erode the rules based international order, emboldening autocrats.

Even if things appear bleak today, it’s important to remember that there are hundreds and thousands of civil society activists and organisations around the world who remain steadfast in their resolve to celebrate diversity and promote justice and equality. To imagine the future we sometimes have to take heart from the past.

India’s freedom struggle, South Africa’s struggle against apartheid and the civil rights movement in the United States wasn’t won by authoritarian leaders but by brave and determined individuals united in solidarity and determined to resist oppression for as long as it takes.

There is a lesson here for civil society in the US that higher American ideals are worth standing up for and will outlive any sitting president.

Mandeep S. Tiwana is Interim Co-Secretary General of CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance. He also serves as CIVICUS representative to the United Nations.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Credit: Emdadul Islam Bitu / UNDP Bangladesh

By Deodat Maharaj
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

The Paris Agreement on climate change is a decade old this month. While there has been progress – with new net zero pledges and new technological solutions, we are still grappling with the reality that global temperatures continue to soar. 2023 was the hottest year ever on record.

This alarming trend poses grave consequences for the world’s 45 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). These countries bear the brunt of the burden from the climate crisis even though they are the lowest carbon emitters on the planet. According to the World Bank, over the last decade, the world’s poorest countries have been hit by nearly eight times as many natural disasters, compared with three decades ago, resulting in a three-fold increase in economic damage.

Changing weather patterns, increasing droughts, flooding, crop failures, deforestation and sea level rise matter hugely to LDCs, which are largely agricultural economies. When climate change threatens farming productivity, the overall outlook for the people in these poor countries becomes even bleaker.

Policymakers meeting in Azerbaijan later this month for the United Nations Climate Change Summit (COP 29) urgently need to deliver on the financial, technical, and capacity building support that LDCs need to address the climate crisis. There is precious little time left.

Delivering results in these core areas with financing could make a difference:

Scale up early warning systems

Firstly, we need to scale up early warning systems linked to satellites and weather stations that can help forecast severe weather events such as cyclones, flooding, and droughts. Despite evidence that getting clear information on time can save both lives and livelihoods, the current capacity for monitoring and forecasting across Africa is low and in need of investment.

Early warning systems also need engagement from communities for communication and coordination and the technical training of local stakeholders to maintain and monitor them. In Fatick, in Senegal, for example, early results of a collaborative pilot project to forecast extreme heat show increased awareness and behaviour changes among the community and improved preparedness by the local health system.

Leverage cutting edge technology

Secondly, we need to leverage technology such as boosting access to climate modelling powered by artificial intelligence and big data analytics. This can provide important insights into long-term climate trends, identify patterns, and predict future changes. CLIMTAG-Africa, which is part of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, currently offers climate information for three African countries: Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia with plans to expand it further.

The tool provides users with accessible climate information to support decisions about what crops to plant and when to plant them – vital to economies where small-scale subsistence farming is the norm. Similarly, it is about replicating and coming up with cost-efficient and relevant impact technological solutions in agriculture so salt-water resistant strains of rice can be planted in countries affected by sea level rise such as The Gambia.

Provide real-time weather data

Thirdly, we need to invest in low-cost, high impact innovations to provide real-time weather data and advice that can be readily shared. In Mali, the ‘MaliCrop’ App has become an essential resource for farmers in this drought-affected country. By accessing the app, farmers can receive forecasts and information in French and several local languages about weather predictions and even crop disease risks.

The project is used regularly by over 110,000 people. However, although mobile phone penetration is increasing in low-income countries, mobile infrastructure, and internet connectivity, particularly in rural areas, is lagging behind and is a barrier to access.

These are promising examples which will only have an impact if properly scaled up and supported. However, acutely limited access to finance remains a major obstacle especially for the LDCs. According to the 2023 UNFCCC Adaptation Finance Gap Update, the costs of adaptation for LDCs is estimated at US$ 25bn per year – or 2 per cent of their GDP. Actual financing to these already fiscally constrained and largely highly indebted countries falls woefully short of what is needed.

A decade ago, COP 21 in Paris offered LDCs much hope. Since then, the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries are no better off in terms of financing. However, advancements in technology, including AI, provide a glimmer of hope. To deliver results for LDCs, COP 29 must commit to more funding, scaled-up technology transfer, strengthened partnerships and relentless capacity-building.

The people in the poorest and most vulnerable countries cannot continue to absorb the hits wrought by the developed world’s carbon emissions. The choice is clear, agreement on an action agenda for LDCs or a COP-out where everyone loses.

Deodat Maharaj is the Managing Director, United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries and can be reached at: deodat.maharaj@un.org

IPS UN Bureau

 

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In Khan Younis, thousands of people are fleeing for their lives again. Credit: UNRWA

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 8 2024 (IPS)

When the United Nations imposes sanctions or penalizes a member state – be it the General Assembly or the Human Rights Council – the resolutions are “non-binding” and often remain unimplemented.

But the Security Council resolutions are “binding” – and still openly violated by countries such as North Korea—because all these UN bodies have no means of implementing these resolutions, nor a standing army to forcibly enforce them. But they only carry moral weight.

The Council can also impose its own sanctions, mostly in economic, financial and trade sectors, against violators of its decisions.

And last week there was a move to impose arms sanctions against Israel – and rightly so, judging by the 43,000 plus, mostly Palestinian civilians, killed in Gaza largely with US-supplied weapons since October last year.

But how effective will this be since the strongest opposition will come from the US, an unyielding supporter of Israel, which will unhesitatingly use its veto power if the resolution comes before the Security Council?

Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, a former UN Under-Secretary-General and one-time Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations, told IPS anything short of a real, permanent ceasefire would not create a pathway to end the perpetration of the ongoing genocidal aggression by Israel.

In this context, he said, the joint letter calling on all countries to stop the sale of arms and ammunition to Israel, signed by 52 countries and two UN-recognized multilateral organizations, is meaningfully forward-looking, and contains a purposeful objective of contributing to that “pathway”.

In fact, the Foreign Minister of Turkiye, whose country initiated the letter, asserted that “We must repeat at every opportunity that selling arms to Israel means participating in its genocide.”

“It would be argued rightfully that the United Nations and its apex body, the General Assembly have no powers to enforce such an arms embargo. The Security Council, the sole UN entity which can authorize an arms embargo and obligate the arms suppliers desist from sending arms to the areas of conflict, also becomes powerless if one of the P-5 uses the notorious veto”.

“However, I strongly believe that a General Assembly resolution following the call for the arms embargo to Israel would have a moral value which has its own merit. Despite the politics and power-play which is destroying the UN’s credibility and marginalizing its operational capacity to resolve conflicts, the arms embargo would highlight the principled position taken by the UN,” said Ambassador Chowdhury.

In a way, he pointed out, that would strengthen the Secretary-General’s efforts to promote the much-needed ceasefire.

In the aftermath of Israel’s declaration of the Secretary General as persona non-grata (PNG) and its extension of the attacks on UNIFIL in Lebanon, the General Assembly needs to show that its moral and normative role as envisaged in the UN Charter has not been cowed down by the politics of the frequently-used threat of veto, he declared.

Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, who has written extensively on the politics of the Security Council, told IPS: “This initiative reflects the view of the vast majority of the world’s governments and peoples and is consistent with imperatives of international humanitarian law, but given that the major arms supplier of Israel is a veto-wielding permanent member of the Security Council, it is unlikely to have much of an impact.”

Also problematic, he pointed out, is that some of the countries sponsoring the initiative, such as Russia and Saudi Arabia, have been guilty not only of similarly providing weapons to those engaging in war crimes but engaging in war crimes themselves.

Turkiye’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan said last week his country had submitted a letter to the United Nations, signed by 52 countries and two inter-governmental organizations, calling for a halt in arms deliveries to Israel.

“We have written a joint letter calling on all countries to stop the sale of arms and ammunition to Israel. We delivered this letter, which has 54 signatories, to the UN on November 1,” said Fidan, according to the Times of Israel.

“We must repeat at every opportunity that selling arms to Israel means participating in its genocide,” said Fidan, adding that the letter is “an initiative launched by Turkiye.”

Among the signatories were Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Algeria, China, Iran and Russia, plus the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),

Elaborating further, Ambassador Chowdhury said the UN should not forget that the UN’s International Court of Justice which determined that Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank is illegal under international law. The judgment was followed by a General Assembly resolution last September, demanding Israel leave the occupied territories within a year.

“I am encouraged by the UN’s own 45 Human Rights Experts and Special Rapporteurs, who, driven by their conscience, forcefully called for a ‘permanent ceasefire, … an ‘arms embargo on all warring parties,’ and ‘the deployment of an international protective presence in the occupied Palestinian territory under the supervision of the UN.’ All these well-thought-out measures would only promote dialogue and diplomacy over death and destruction”.

The UN Secretary-General needs to endorse and welcome this call by his in-house experts and recommend to the General Assembly to do the same without any delay, he declared.

Back in April 2024, in a resolution adopted by 28 votes in favour, six against and 13 abstentions, the 47-member Human Rights Council backed a call “to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of arms, munitions and other military equipment to Israel, the occupying Power…to prevent further violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of human rights”.

Presented by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, delegates heard that the resolution had also been motivated by the need to stop “egregious” human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Co-sponsors of the text included Bolivia, Cuba and the State of Palestine, ahead of the vote which saw support from more than two dozen countries including Brazil, China, Luxembourg, Malaysia and South Africa, according to UN News.

Unlike the UN Security Council, Human Rights Council resolutions are not legally binding on States but carry significant moral weight, and in this instance is intended to increase diplomatic pressure on Israel as well as potentially influence national policy decisions.

Israel’s two largest arms sources, the United States and Germany, have resisted calls for an embargo on Israel, though each has been accused of withholding certain arms during the war.

In an October 2024 report, the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI) said in the past decade, Israel has greatly increased its imports of arms. SIPRI estimates that in the five-year period 2019–23, Israel was the world’s 15th largest importer of major arms, accounting for 2.1 per cent of global arms imports in the period. In 2009–13 it ranked only 47th.

Although only three countries supplied major arms to Israel in 2019–23, the United States, Germany and Italy, many others supplied military components, ammunition or services. The three other global major arms exporters among the top 10: the United Kingdom, France and Spain.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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A selection of the week's best photos from across the African continent and beyond.

A selection of the week's best photos from across the African continent and beyond.

A selection of the week's best photos from across the African continent and beyond.

The new president tells the BBC thousands of illegal Zimbabweans should be given temporary permits.