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Bastien Hery: Linfield midfielder called into Madagascar squad

BBC Africa - Sat, 02/29/2020 - 15:07
Linfield midfielder Bastien Hery has been called into Madagascar's squad for the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in March.
Categories: Africa

Guinea's President Condé postpones controversial referendum

BBC Africa - Sat, 02/29/2020 - 14:49
Protesters have been angered that a new constitution would allow the president to seek a third term.
Categories: Africa

African Champions League: Zamalek and Raja Casablanca win quarter-final first legs

BBC Africa - Sat, 02/29/2020 - 12:37
Zamalek defeat holders Esperance 3-1 in their African Champions League quarter-final first leg as Raja Casablanca beat TP Mazembe 2-0 on Friday.
Categories: Africa

Kizito Mihigo: The Rwandan gospel singer who died in a police cell

BBC Africa - Sat, 02/29/2020 - 03:27
Rwandan genocide survivor Kizito Mihigo, hailed as a national talent, was later accused of treason.
Categories: Africa

Paris protests over DR Congo star's concert

BBC Africa - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 21:23
Police said there had been "unacceptable incidents" linked to a Congolese singer's concert.
Categories: Africa

Mexico’s Battle with Obesity

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 18:05

Members of the Alliance for Food Health, a collective of organisations and academics, called in Mexico for better regulation of advertising of junk food aimed at children and of food and beverage labelling, during the launch of the report “A childhood hooked on obesity” in Mexico City. Credit: Emilio Godoy/IPS

By N Chandra Mohan
NEW DELHI, Feb 28 2020 (IPS)

Paradoxically, when the number of people suffering from undernourishment or hunger has risen in the world, so, too, have those afflicted by overweight and obesity. Latin America’s second largest economy, Mexico, for instance, is currently battling one of the world’s largest epidemics of obesity and its success is bound to be emulated by countries of the South. The numbers involved are staggering. The director-general of the National Institute of Public Health, Dr Juan Rivera told the Financial Times that “seventy five percent of adults and 35 percent of children and adolescents are overweight or obese… The State has a duty to protect public health.”

Mexico’s public health crisis is reflected in the third edition of the Food Sustainability Index (FSI) – based on the pillars of sustainable agriculture, food loss/waste and nutritional challenges — developed by the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition in Italy. Nutritional challenges in particular are tracked by several indicators like life quality (prevalence of malnourishment, micronutrient deficiency), life expectancy (prevalence of overnourishment, impact on health) and dietary patterns (diet composition, number of people per fast food restaurant and quality of policy response to dietary patterns).

Out of a scale of 0 to 100, where 100 represents the greatest progress towards meeting a performance indicator, Mexico registered low scores of 13.9 on the prevalence of overnourishment or overweight that ranks it 61st out of 67 countries tracked by the FSI.The share of those who are overweight among adults and children are also broadly in line with what was indicated by Dr Rivera. Mexican diets have high levels of sugar with a score of 10.3 that places it among the bottom five out of the 67 countries as per this indicator. The score for the number of people per fast food restaurant is also rather low at 1.9.

N Chandra Mohan

However, Mexico is in the top five countries for its policy response to dietary patterns. The country now plans to have a compulsory labeling system in place by March whereby food and beverage products sold in the country will have warnings that they “contain too much sugar” or “too many calories” or “too much fat”. In 2014, this country imposed taxes on sugar in foods like soft drinks and junk food. But this taxation route has had a limited impact in curbing consumption of these items as obesity has acquired epidemic proportions. Non-communicable diseases in the population have also increased like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.

The proximate causes of this obesity epidemic stem from more and more Mexicans living in urban areas with economic development. Only a fifth now resides in rural areas. Urbanisation in turn has been associated with shifts in dietary patterns from traditional foods including fruits and vegetables towards low-cost energy-dense foods that are high in sugar and deficient in micronutrients. Metropolitan life styles are also sedentary than living in the rural countryside. With the consumption of more fast food and sugary drinks, the energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended is manifested in overweight and obesity.

To combat obesity, a welcome factor of change is that local communities, especially in Mexico’s countryside, are also getting involved in this effort. Last year, IPS reported the efforts of the non-governmental Amaranth Network in the Mixteca region, in the southern state of Oaxaca, to grow a native crop amaranth alongside traditional corn and beans. The inclusion of amaranth with other high protein seeds helps to significantly improve the nutritional quality of diets. The cultivation of this crop has produced benefits such as the organisation of farmers, processors and consumers and much-needed public funding to scale up this laudable initiative.

In contrast to Mexico, elsewhere in the South – in vast parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia like India — the problem is much grimmer with the paradox of undernourishment or hunger coexisting with obesity. This double burden of malnutrition co-exists within countries, within communities and also within households according to Dr Raghav Gaiha, Professorial Research Fellow, University of Manchester. The excess energy from low-cost energy-dense food can affect children and adults within the same household differently: The children may use up the excess energy and remain underweight while adults are likely to become overweight.

In India, for instance, the ranks of the hungry are also set to further rise with domestic food prices (including global as well) going through the roof amidst a sharp slowdown in overall economic growth. This can constrain budgetary resources for vastly stepping up outlays for nutrition initiatives for children through schemes like the Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-day Meals Programme. The provision of healthy food items like millets and pulses through the nationwide public distribution system is also necessary. The prevalence of hunger with rising obesity calls for best practices to be shared within the South.

N Chandra Mohan is an economics and business commentator


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The post Mexico’s Battle with Obesity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

The music teacher who makes his own trombones

BBC Africa - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 17:45
Dan Abisi learnt how to make brass instruments after he noticed a rise in popularity in schools.
Categories: Africa

Kazeem Tiamiyu: Nigerian footballer laid to rest as police face questions

BBC Africa - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 15:21
Nigerian footballer Kazeem Tiamiyu is laid to rest but the police are still facing questions over the circumstances that led to his death.
Categories: Africa

Q&A: Misinformation in the Time of an Uncontainable Virus

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 13:52

Civil protection volunteers engaged in health checks at the "Milano Malpensa" airport. This week a joint team between WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control arrived in Rome to review the public health measures put in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Courtesy: Dipartimento Protezione Civile

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 28 2020 (IPS)

Just a month since the World Health Organization declared the Coronavirus a public health emergency, it is now taking steps to contain misinformation being spread about the disease. Globally, there have been more than 82,000 cases of Coronavirus, which has claimed 2,800 lives — the majority being in China, where the disease has been traced to. 

On Thursday, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres reiterated at a talk in New York that it’s not yet a pandemic but urged people to practice caution. 

“We are not yet in a pandemic, but there is a clear risk there and the window of opportunity to avoid it is narrowing,” he said, adding that governments must do everything possible to stop the transmission and to do it now. He also expressed his concern about countries in the developing world that “lack the capacity” to address the massive scale of the issue. 

“This is still the moment to ask for countries to contain the disease and to do everything possible to contain the disease because we’re not yet in an irreversible pandemic,” he said. 

He urged people to avoid stigmatising the illness, and to “have a human rights approach to the way this disease is fought”.

However, as health officials around the world continue to gear up for the disease, which seemingly has no cure, there is another aspect of the crisis to be dealt with: misinformation about it spreading on the internet. 

David P. Fidler, a senior fellow for cybersecurity and global health at the non-profit think tank, Council on Foreign Relationsdetailed the issue of misinformation and the harm it does during a health emergency like this. 

“Disinformation threatens health because it undermines confidence in the underlying science, questions the motivations of health professionals, politicises health activities, and creates problems for responses to disease challenges,” he wrote in 2019 about how disinformation during an Ebola outbreak was a major concern. 

He went on to explain that it has historic roots: often, illnesses are mistakenly associated or linked to immigrants or a foreign country in order to perpetuate xenophobic sentiments.

“Spreading misinformation about diseases was a tactic of disinformation campaigns by governments before the social media era,” he wrote. 

IPS caught up with Fidler on how misinformation in the current situation can exacerbate the crisis:

Inter Press Service (IPS): Usually during a crisis like this (or in the past during Ebola or SARS), what is the main challenge in containing misinformation being spread?

David Fidler (DF): In past outbreaks, two factors typically converged to produce problems from information and misinformation: uncertainty about the outbreak on the part of national and international health officials making efforts to address the disease, and lack of trust in the population in the information provided by official sources. These factors appeared in disease outbreaks before the advent of social media, and the scale and intensity of information and misinformation circulating on social media platforms exacerbates the two factors noted above.

In addition, the ease with which misinformation can be spread and amplified on social media has become yet another factor public health officials have to address in dealing with outbreaks. Social media even makes communicating accurate information more difficult. I have seen, across my Twitter feed, a cacophony of attempts to share information that has frustrated experts trying to identify and share the latest information about COVID-19.

 

IPS: What leads to misinformation during times like this?

DF: In the past, people with political agendas would exploit the fear that serious outbreaks create to produce and spread misinformation. Such misinformation in essence weaponised the outbreak for other political purposes. In the age of social media, this “weaponisation” of outbreaks for political purposes has become, for lack of a better term, industrialised by state and non-state actors exploiting the potential of social media to spread misinformation on a scale and at a speed never seen before, especially in the public health context.

 

IPS: What, in your opinion, is currently the biggest misunderstanding about the Coronavirus?

DF: We are seeing, I think, a “triple burden” in the information space concerning COVID-19. First, international and national health officials are struggling to communicate information concerning a new virus about which much is not known.

However, at the international level, WHO has made the information climate worse by praising China’s response even though much of what China has done in trying to address the outbreak in its territory is not consistent with WHO’s recommendations on the outbreak or WHO’s emphasis in the past on responses to outbreaks that do not unnecessarily restrict trade, travel, and human rights. WHO’s credibility, I think, has taken a massive hit. At the national level, we see, for example, the current circus in the U.S. government about communicating to the American people about the outbreak, and I imagine other national governments are also scrambling to get the “messaging” right.

What’s astonishing to me, having studied outbreaks for nearly three decades, is that this communication problem continues to flummox national and international health officials just about every single time–so that “lesson learned” is apparently never actually learned.

Second, we are seeing the weaponisation of the outbreak in the misinformation being circulated for different political purposes. For me, this outbreak is different in that the weaponisation has connected to the change in geopolitics, with the rise of China and worries about China’s growing power and influence sharpening and broadening criticism of China’s response to the outbreak. Here, unlike Ebola in Africa, we have the outbreak entangled with the increasing rawness of balance of power politics between the United States and China.

Third, we have the social media effect where state and non-state actors are spreading misinformation widely and rapidly in a context where no government or international organisation has any effective policy responses to address this problem.

 

IPS: What is your recommendation to the following sections of society to do their role in making sure misinformation doesn’t spread:

 

DF: Policymakers: The touchstones of effective communication during outbreaks have been studied and promulgated frequently, so follow the playbook, including making the most up-to-date information available with great frequency across media outlets in ways accessible to people, and include in the information advice on any steps individuals can take to protect themselves and their families. Rinse and repeat, again and again as the outbreak evolves. The information/misinformation environment is more competitive now because of social media, but the basic principles of effective communication in a crisis context remain valid even amidst more noise.

 

DF: Institutions such as schools and workplaces: School and company leaders should monitor information being released by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and translate that information into actionable steps and plans for the school context and for specific workplace contexts. Again, be fast, frequent, and user-friendly with the information that school and company leaders provide to students and employees.

 

Individuals: Do not rely solely on social media for information about the COVID-19 outbreak and how it might affect you and your family. Visit and re-visit the information provided by the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and translate that information into your individual and family circumstances. 

  • In order to tackle the misinformation concerns, WHO launched its EPI-WIN initiative, which aims to provide users with timely and accurate information while also filtering through “infodemics”, which the organisation describes as “excessive amount of information about a problem that makes it difficult to identify a solution”. 
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The post Q&A: Misinformation in the Time of an Uncontainable Virus appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Netflix’s first African series, Queen Sono, premieres

BBC Africa - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 13:42
Queen Sono is about a South African spy who takes on corruption, terrorism and a Russian heiress.
Categories: Africa

Coronavirus: Nigeria confirms first case in sub-Saharan Africa

BBC Africa - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 12:27
The Italian citizen had returned from Milan, in a region badly hit by the outbreak of the virus.
Categories: Africa

Anti-corruption body asks for help to find Madagascar FA boss

BBC Africa - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 12:20
Madagascar's anti-corruption watchdog is asking for help to track down Raoul Arizaka Rabekoto, the head of the country's football federation.
Categories: Africa

Government of Kenya, United Nations and Foreign Missions to Kenya Visit the Frontier Counties of Kenya

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 12:08

The delegation visit a water pumping and desalination station in Wajir County, constructed under a Public-Private Partnership between the Government of Kenya, USAID, the Swiss Government, World Vision, Boreal Light and the Millennium Water Alliance.

By PRESS RELEASE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 28 2020 (IPS-Partners)

From 26 February to 28 February 2020, the United Nations in Kenya supported a joint visit to the Frontier Counties of Kenya.

The objective of this mission was to allow delegates from the Government of Kenya, United Nations, and development partners to identify opportunities and innovation beyond what any individual stakeholder can accomplish, assess Public- Private Partnerships at county level, and ultimately promote socio-economic transformation in historically marginalised counties.

The mission was conducted as part on ongoing efforts by the Ministry of Devolution, Arid and Semi Arid Lands ( ASALs) and the UN system to build on the existing United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2018-2022 which responds to the clarion call by the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Antonio Guterres of “leaving no one behind and reaching the furthest behind first”.

The thematic focus of the mission is on access to water. Specifically, to facilitate both high-level dialogues and visits to development initiatives related to water which have the potential to advance the Kenyan development agenda, the Big 4 and enabling environment, with the CIDPs as its context and the realization of Vision 2030 and MTP III and 2010 Constitution asserting Kenya towards Shared Prosperity.

Analysis shows that a deficit of water impacts negatively on pastoralism and agriculture. Combined with the egregious effects of climate change, scarcity of water is one of the root causes of conflict and a driver of extreme poverty, leading over into degraded health, livelihoods, opening to other negative trends, radicalization, criminality; and forced migration. Water is also one of the most important inputs for industries and economic development: it can have positive impact, unlocking risk capital in SMEs if it is available, or a negative impact if it is scarce.

The development initiatives visited during the mission, which were located in the counties of West Pokot, Turkana, Wajir, Garissa, Isiolo and Marsabit, had common themes of targeted intervention and local ownership. Specifically, these initiatives were conceived to bring water and other essential services to historically marginalized communities and areas, and members of those same communities were supported to undergo technical training to both develop and maintain them.

This visit follows a previous high-level mission organised by the UN and FCDC in 2018, which had a thematic focus of Realization of the SDGs in the Counties which informed the current UNDAF.

The mission was also able to see first-hand the positive effects of devolution.

President Uhuru Kenyatta in his State of the Union address in 2019 said, “ There is No Turning Back on Devolution. The System is sound and has proven its value and contribution to national development. Its potential and value will be greatly enhanced by focus on service delivery, prioritizing development expenditure, unwavering commitment to integrity and anti-corruption, and strict commitment to value for money in procurement. Devolution will, no doubt, transform our Nation.”

Led by the Cabinet Secretary of Devolution and ASALs Hon Eugene Wamalwa and the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya Siddharth Chatterjee, this joint mission had wide representation from the Government of Kenya, the FCDC secretariat, the Council of Governors, the United Nations Country Team in Kenya as well as Ambassadors/High Commissioners/senior representatives from the missions of Norway, India, Russian Federation, Portugal, Switzerland, Netherlands, European Union to Kenya, the United Kingdom and Canada.

The post Government of Kenya, United Nations and Foreign Missions to Kenya Visit the Frontier Counties of Kenya appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

Senegal Farmer Succeeds with Regenerative Agriculture & Begins Teaching Others

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 11:48

Souylemane (second to the right) and other technicians gather to learn about tree care.

By Lindsay Cobb and Ashleigh Burgess
SILVER SPRING, Maryland, USA, Feb 28 2020 (IPS)

Souylemane Samb sits under a crowded tent on a hot Senegalese day. He wears a canvas vest with Trees for the Future printed across the back.

Despite his dark sunglasses, his expression is easy to read – the tall 43-year-old is smiling contentedly as he waves a flag that says “Kaffrine 2 Graduation Day.”

Souylemane is at a graduation for more than 200 farmers celebrating the completion of a four-year agroforestry program with Trees for the Future (TREES). Using what TREES calls the Forest Garden Approach for the last four years, the farmers have successfully planted themselves out of hunger and poverty.

Souylemane is an Assistant Technician for TREES, his job is to work with farmers and help them become experts in agroforestry and regenerative agriculture. Ultimately helping them succeed as farmers in a region and climate where farmers don’t typically fare well.

As he presents diplomas to graduating farmers, Souylemane remembers being in their position. In 2018 Souylemane graduated from the TREES program himself, after joining the program in 2015.

Obstacles in Farming

“Before joining TREES, my land was not well organized. I planted things randomly and with no real knowledge of how best to do it or what kinds of crops to pick,” he recalls. “My soil was also degraded from years of chemical use.”

A farmer all his life, Souylamene points out that farmers like him were never set up for success. Despite practicing agriculture for centuries, he says farming has never really evolved in a way that benefits both the land and the farmer.

“Farmers want to do the work but they don’t always know how to do the work, how long things take to grow, or seasonal and market planning.”

Recalling some of the biggest challenges he faced before implementing the Forest Garden Approach, Souylemane says deforestation is rampant in Senegal because farmers are forced to cut down what little tree cover they have to try to protect what little crop production they can achieve.

“Now live fencing saves money, so we have no more worries that animals will get in. The principal aspect and foundation of Forest Gardens is protection! It’s the number one most important thing! And now we feel our land can flourish, and all the life that comes with it can flourish, too.”

Seed supply was another major obstacle for him.

“There were many seasons that I unknowingly bought bad seeds from market. I spent 50,000 CFA (about $100 USD), that was a third of my entire earnings for the year back then. I spent all that money and nothing came up. Nothing came of it!”

Souylemane and fellow technician Namang visit Forest Garden farmers throughout the region by motorcycle.

A Reliable Support System

In late 2014, he met a TREES technician while in town. Although he says he was weary of another international development organization in his community, he decided to attend an informational meeting to learn more about the program.

“We’ve had many interactions with organizations trying to help us, but none has spoken truth like Trees for the Future,” he says today. “Everyone in Kaffrine, all of the Forest Garden farmers, say they have never seen a project as successful as this.”

Souylemane joined the program at the beginning of 2015 and soon began learning everything about agroforestry from his Forest Garden Training manual and the TREES technicians.

“Training has brought me so much knowledge! I learned about agroforestry and its importance for making farms better, faster,” he says. “I learned how to graft, how to organize my field, tree pruning, nursery care, composting, how to save and select seeds.”

Souylemane also participated in TREES’ water initiative. In semi-arid Senegal, farmers like must have a reliable source of water, but with such little tree cover, wells can regularly dry up.

To break this cycle of poor groundwater recharge and rapid evaporation, TREES launched its Loxo Loxo program in 2019, connecting farmers’ land to a central water source in town. Souylemane says the water initiative helped improve his land even more.

Finding Success in the Forest Garden

Where before, he was growing meager crops of chili peppers, lettuce, and okra, Souylamene now proudly describes a completely different world.

“When you open the door you see two piles of compost, tons of big trees that are pruned properly, crops growing in the alleys between trees. We have a water spigot now and so many varieties of vegetable crops. You can hear the sounds of birds, bees, wind that comes and passes over the garden… peace only.”

“But it’s a lot of work to get to that point!” he adds.

A lot of work that he says was most certainly worth it. Today, Souylemane, his wife, and their five kids are living healthier and more stable lives. With diverse foods in their garden he says their nutrition has improved greatly and they can now make a consistent living from their harvests.

“I have things to sell at the market now, before I did not. I would go and buy things but I rarely had anything I could sell there. Now I bring my vegetables and I make money.”

A Bright Future

Often, Forest Garden farmers report using their newfound income to pay for their children’s school fees. With his Forest Garden income and his salary as a TREES technician, Souylamene can afford to send his younger children to school and his older daughters to university where they are studying business and law.

As a technician, Souylemane says he enjoys being able to help other farmers change their land and lives.

“I’ve never seen a program so successful that is reflective, well-conceived, that really takes farmers out of poverty. TREES accompanies them sustainably through all of these steps and then that’s it, they have the skills they need for the rest of their lives!”

When he comes home from a day of traveling to other farmers’ Forest Gardens, he says his favorite thing to find in his own garden is tomatoes.

“Tomatoes! Sometimes I will just eat them raw with a little salt. Or my wife will pick some lettuce fresh from the garden and we make a salad with dressing and dinner is ready.”

The Kaffrine 2 graduation marks five years since Souylamene joined Trees for the Future and became a Forest Garden farmer. He is one of 75,000+ farmers to have joined the Forest Garden Training Program.

Learn more about Trees for the Future’s work with smallholder farmers, and visit their Forest Garden Training Center to learn how to implement regenerative agriculture practices.

The post Senegal Farmer Succeeds with Regenerative Agriculture & Begins Teaching Others appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Lindsay Cobb, is Marketing & Communications Manager, Trees for the Future (TREES) and
Ashleigh Burgess is Deputy Director of Programs, TREES

The post Senegal Farmer Succeeds with Regenerative Agriculture & Begins Teaching Others appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

A Glut of Arms: Curbing the Threat to Venezuela from Violent Groups

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 10:37

Demonstrators in the neighborhood of Cotiza, on the north side of Caracas. Credit: Courtesy of EfectoCocuyo.com

By External Source
CARACAS/BOGOTA/BRUSSELS, Feb 28 2020 (IPS)

Power in Venezuela is slipping away from state institutions and concentrating in the hands of criminals, guerrillas and other non-state actors. Any new negotiations between government and opposition must consider how to defang these armed irregulars, who might otherwise scuttle an eventual settlement.

What’s new? Political turmoil, economic ruin and heightening tensions with neighbouring countries have furnished non-state armed groups, including guerrillas from Colombia, criminal syndicates, paramilitaries and pro-government vigilantes known as colectivos, with the means to expand their influence and presence across Venezuela.

Why does it matter? Armed groups filling the vacuum left by a government determined to resist domestic opposition, international pressure and mounting sanctions pose a threat of escalating violence in the absence of negotiations, while also entailing major risks of sabotage in the wake of any eventual political settlement.

What should be done? These groups’ threat to peace must be contained, and that imperative should feature prominently in future talks aimed at settling the crisis. Those negotiations should include Venezuela’s military. Demobilising each armed group will require a tailored approach, but most should aim for deals securing acquiescence in a comprehensive political settlement.

As Venezuela’s turmoil deepens with no end in sight, power is seeping out of formal state institutions and pooling in the hands of various armed irregulars. Behind this phenomenon are diverse causes.

As Venezuela’s turmoil deepens with no end in sight, power is seeping out of formal state institutions and pooling in the hands of various armed irregulars. Behind this phenomenon are diverse causes.

The ceaseless struggle for supremacy between President Nicolás Maduro’s government and opposition forces has turned state organs into partisan bodies that either solicit support from armed groups or overlook them.

Economic ruin brought about by government mismanagement – now worsened by U.S. sanctions – has pushed numerous Venezuelans into illicit livelihoods and the orbit of organised crime.

Meanwhile, the country’s long, porous borders have allowed Colombian guerrillas to gain footholds deep inside the country. The armed groups are far from identical, but all are ready to use violence and territorial control to further their goals, and any might sabotage a settlement that Venezuela’s competing political forces eventually agree to.

Defanging them will require approaches tailored to each outfit, but the main goal should be to demobilise fighters and seek their buy-in to a deal that ends Venezuela’s collective agony.

Guerrillas from Colombia, loyalist pro-government militias known as colectivos, paramilitaries and a catalogue of criminal gangs stand out as the main non-state armed groups now operating in Venezuela. Their methods, goals and affinities vary hugely.

Some profess ideological motivations while others pursue naked criminal profit. Some work in alleged collusion with ruling elites, while others purportedly have ties to opposition elites. The opposition led by Juan Guaidó and its international allies, now numbering close to 60 countries, accuse all but the right-wing paramilitaries of complicity with state security forces, or even with the high military command and political elites within chavismo, the movement named after the late president, Hugo Chávez.

But the exact nature of the ties between these armed groups and the state, and the mutual benefits that arise from them, are not always easy to identify. Skirmishes between state and non-state actors acting in supposed coordination have exposed the high levels of mistrust that divide them.

Formal talks between the government and opposition are moribund, but if and when they restart, they should urgently address the questions of how to reduce the armed irregulars’ influence and how to stop them from scuttling agreements that the sparring Venezuelan sides may reach. As the types of armed groups present different problems, each will need its own remedy.

Dealing with Colombian guerrillas will require intensive cooperation between Caracas and Bogotá, ideally as part of efforts in the latter capital to end the insurgencies through negotiations aimed at general demobilisation.

Some colectivos may be persuaded to reassume their historical role as mediators between state and society. As for criminal elements, several of them may also accept deals whereby they avoid prosecution or face reduced sentences in exchange for giving up arms.

Experience in other Latin American countries shows that such tactics, while not always easy to swallow, are more likely to help the Venezuelan state reassert its writ with a minimum of additional bloodshed.

This story was originally published by International Crisis Group, You can find the full report here.

 

The post A Glut of Arms: Curbing the Threat to Venezuela from Violent Groups appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Categories: Africa

South Africa rout Thailand at Women's World Cup

BBC Africa - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 08:44
Lizelle Lee's maiden Twenty20 international century helps South Africa ease past Thailand by 113 runs in the Women's T20 World Cup in Canberra.
Categories: Africa

Liverpool: Sadio Mane 'never knew' Premier League winners got medals

BBC Africa - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 07:50
Liverpool forward Sadio Mane on Premier League medals, whether Jurgen Klopp deserves a statue and why his mum "hates football".
Categories: Africa

Odion Ighalo: Manchester United striker lives his dream with first goal

BBC Africa - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 01:53
Odion Ighalo was a top worldwide trend on deadline day when he made a surprise move to Manchester United. Fans were discussing him again on Thursday.
Categories: Africa

Africa's week in pictures: 21-27 February 2020

BBC Africa - Fri, 02/28/2020 - 01:19
A selection of the best photos from across the continent and beyond this week.
Categories: Africa

The Italian Pyramid: Scientific Observatory at the Top of the World

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Thu, 02/27/2020 - 20:23

View of the Italian Pyramid, at 5,050 m a.s.l. located 20 minutes awayfrom Lobouche, Nepal. Credit: Valentina Gasbarri

By Valentina Gasbarri
MILAN, Italy, Feb 27 2020 (IPS)

 
Hello! Are you Italian?
No, I’m from Nepal.
Ops.

Kaji Bista is the staff manager of the Ev-K2-CNR’s innovative Pyramid International Laboratory/Observatory (known as the Italian Pyramid) at 5,050 m a.s.l. located in Lobouche.

He usually does not welcome trekkers, unless they stay overnight in the Nepali style lodge, located in the base of the building.

When planning the Everest Base Camp Trek, the last thing one would expect to find is a Pyramid that made it to the Guinness Book of World Records in 1998 for being the highest point in the world.

Covered with Perspex solar panels and sitting atop a low-stone building, the Everest Pyramid is about 20 minutes away from Lobuche. Crossing the glacier and a narrow lunar valley, the route reveals the vista of a past, glorious and visionary research center.

Our curiosity opened up a way for me to enter the forbidden area – entry reserved only for researchers. Inside the Pyramid there were a number of warm, clean, western-style rooms, crammed with scientific equipment, advanced lab machinery and paper files. Italian electronics labels and stickers were everywhere.

“Look – it’s just like being at home!” I said.
“I’m Italian and here it’s so strange to be in a place thats familiar, thousands of kilometers away”.

Kaji smiled, maybe not surprised anymore by my obvious reaction.

He then narrated the story of the Italian research center.
It all started more than 30 years ago, when in 1986 an American expedition declared K2 was taller than the Everest. It was the beginning of a mountaineering competition between Italy and the US.

Agostino Da Polenza and Prof. Ardito Desio, both researchers could not resist this challenge and, in 1987, they combined their scientific and mountaineering knowledge to launch the “Ev-K2-CNR Project” in collaboration with the Italian National Research Council (CNR).

They organized expeditions which put mountaineering at the service of science and re-measured both mountains using traditional survey techniques and innovative GPS (Global Positioning System) measurements.

Not only did they confirm Everest’s title but they also set the standard for altitudemeasurements to come.

Two years later, the two researchers founded the Ev-K2-CNR Committee to continue promoting technological and scientific research at high altitude.

Since then, Ev-K2-CNR has been recognized for this unique scientific research base, the quality and importance of the research carried out there and the specialized scientific contributions, combining technical and logistics know-how with scientific excellence.

I asked Kaji if he has opened the place up as a lodge for trekkers too.
He smiled and replied saying that this was the only thing he could do as the only manager still left there.

“ I had to. I’ve not been paid a salary for three and a half years”.
The Italian government stopped funding the Centre since 2015.

Kaji went on to say that they were a team of 15 people and he has been a staff manager for more than15 years. Now, he is doing more or less everything from maintaining the facility and collecting all the data himself.

“If I leave, the research station will close. So, for my income now I offer the empty space as a trekking lodge for the scientists and journalists visits, too”.

Kaji hopes the new Italian government will free up some funds to finance the Centre.

Microplastics in the Himalayas: Lessons-learned and Best Practices

Ev-K2-CNR continues to promote technological and scientific research at high altitude on health, climate change and environment as well develop new technologies.

One of the major projects carried out, despite the financial challenges, is one on micro-plastics, promoted by the Nepalese Government.

According to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), plastic pollution has emerged as an environmental crisis of international concern. With the scale of global plastic pollution now painfully clear, it is high time for corporations and governments to take into consideration scientific-based research to find alternatives to plastics.

“It is a testament to how ubiquitous this pervasive material has become in our society that it can now be easily found even on the very highest point on our planet – Mount Everest, in the Himalayas” the EIA states.

In an unprecedented clean-up campaign launched by the Nepali Government in 2019, over four tonnes of plastic debris were collected in the high-altitude region of the Everest in the first five days alone. Consequently, since January, the Nepalese authorities have banned single-use plastics in the Everest region in a bid to cut down on waste left by climbers.

All plastic drinking bottles and plastics of less than 30 microns in width will be banned in the province.

The government says the army will be used for the task, which will cost 860 million Nepali rupees ($7.5m). It has also brought in measures to encourage people not to litter, asking for a $400 deposit before climbing, which is returned if they bring their waste back down with them.

Travel agencies and sherpas have a key role to play in sensitising trekkers and citizens to curb plastic waste.

During treks, the waste is coming from a variety of products, such as climbing gear and other rubbish like food wrappers, cans and bottles. Often, abandoned oxygen and cooking gas cylinders are found on the higher levels to the Summit.

Recently, iced bodies have also being discovered, creating a global debate on the expeditions and impact on the landscape and environment in the Mt. Everest region.

Scientific tools outside the building. Unfortunately, since 2015 the research projects are all frozen due to lack of funding from the Italian Government. Credit: Valentina Gasbarri

Few Everest Base Camp trekkers expect to find a pyramid high in the Himalayas. Covered in solar panels and sitting atop a low stone building, the Everest Pyramid is an unusual sight among the rock and snow of the mountains. Credit: Valentina Gasbarri

Entrance of the Research Center entered in 1998 in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the highest in the world. Credit: Valentina Gasbarri

Kaji and Sherpa Paesang collecting samples of water for studying the effects on microplastics on water and soil in the Khumbu Valley. Credit: Valentina Gasbarri

Plastic Waste in the Everest Base Camp Trekking Route. Plastics do not quicklybiodegrade, but instead break down into smaller pieces. This has led the NepaleseGovernment to ban single-use plastics from 2020. Credit: Valentina Gasbarri

Arriving close to the highest point in the world, one can still find plastic waste and garbage to collect.
Ev-K2-CNR Side Event at the 15th meeting of the UN Committee on SustainableDevelopment, New York (2007). Credit: Valentina Gasbarri

Tourists and trekkers are considered one of the biggest polluters in the Everest Region.
Education and Awareness Raising campaigns would be critical to educate people to adoptsustainable tourism practices. Credit: Valentina Gasbarri

The post The Italian Pyramid: Scientific Observatory at the Top of the World appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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