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'If I were president of Senegal'

BBC Africa - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 13:33
While Senegal prepares for the upcoming presidential elections one school in Dakar went ahead and held its very own elections.
Categories: Africa

60 migrants die in dinghy in Med, survivors say

BBC Africa - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 13:25
Shipwreck survivors tell rescuers they had set sail from Libya a week earlier.
Categories: Africa

Biden’s Balancing Act: Israel’s National Security vs Palestinian’s Humanitarian Crisis

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 09:43

A family cooks in the rubble of their home in the Gaza Strip. Credit: WFP/Ali Jadallah

By Alon Ben-Meir
NEW YORK, Mar 14 2024 (IPS)

In recent weeks, the Biden administration has found itself facing a serious dilemma as to how to balance its commitment to Israel’s national security along with the humanitarian crisis facing the Palestinians in Gaza.

Whereas the United States provides military aid to Israel, including bombs and other defense systems, as a part of the US strategic alliance, this support has always been rooted in their shared democratic values, mutual security interests, and historical ties.

It is also influenced by domestic political factors within the United States, including strong support for Israel among the American people and American lawmakers.

At the same time, the US is facing tremendous pressure to provide humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians in Gaza, including food, water, medicine, and fuel.

Having failed to persuade Israel to increase these supplies to the Palestinians recently, the United States decided to drop this aid from the air and now is also considering building a floating pier to provide such support from the sea, aiming at alleviating the humanitarian crisis.

This could lessen, to some extent, the dire shortages of these essential supplies, but they are no substitute for direct deliveries from Israel in terms of quantities and speed.

This dual approach of supporting Israel’s security needs while also providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians is part of the US’ broader diplomatic effort to balance its interests in the region.

However, the United States’ effort to promote regional security by supporting Israel’s right to defend itself while advocating for the Palestinians’ humanitarian needs and acting on them presents a dilemma for President Biden. The Biden administration may well have to resort to direct measures to force Netanyahu to change his policy.

There are significant policy differences between Netanyahu and Biden that go back years before the Israel-Gaza war. They include policy differences related to the expansion of the settlements in the West Bank, the Iran nuclear deal, and President Biden’s efforts to renegotiate a new deal in the wake of Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA.

In addition, and perhaps most importantly, they differ dramatically regarding the overall approach in the search for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where the United States supports a two-state solution to which Netanyahu vehemently objects.

There is also significant disagreement on two other major issues: The Biden administration would like the Palestinian Authority to take charge of the Strip following the end of the war.

Conversely, Netanyahu completely opposes the return of the PA to Gaza, primarily because he wants to maintain security control over most of the Palestinian territories and prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state.

As he stated in January, “I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over the entire area in the west of Jordan – and this is contrary to a Palestinian state.”

In addition, whereas President Biden wants to see a clear exit strategy from the war, Netanyahu is insisting on maintaining indefinite security control over Gaza, which, from the United States’ perspective, will result simply in the expansion of the Israeli occupation and creeping annexation of Palestinian territories, with no resolution in sight.

It should be noted that the upcoming US presidential elections in November are playing a role in Netanyahu’s strategy. If there are only two people in the world who want Trump to win the election this fall, the first is Trump himself, and the second is Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister will do everything in his power to undermine President Biden’s reelection.

He is cheering the fact that President Biden is intensely criticized by some Congressional Democrats as well as a multitude of young voters who oppose his unwavering support of Israel while tens of thousands of Palestinians have died and counting.

He will prolong the war as long as it serves his personal interest and weakens Biden politically as he is embarking on his reelection campaign.

President Biden should not allow Netanyahu to set the agenda. He must now take definitive measures to alert the Israeli public that, although the US commitment to Israel’s national security is unshakable, the US administration differentiates between the state of Israel and the current Netanyahu government with which he has fundamental disagreements.

To that end, there are five different measures that will not affect the US commitment to Israel’s national security but will send a clear message to Netanyahu that the US must draw the line and will not allow him to drag the US into the morass of his own creation.

Although some of these measures are sensitive and may raise some objections from Congress, nevertheless, the Biden administration has no choice but to act to alleviate the massive humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

First, as one of Israel’s largest financial supporters, the US could use its economic aid as leverage. Adjusting such aid levels and stipulating specific conditions related to its use could pressure Netanyahu, at least in part, to reconsider his policies, albeit as indicated, this particular approach is sensitive and would need to be carefully balanced to prevent unintended consequences.

Second, since the United States provides significant military aid to Israel, the administration should assess the kind of weapons it is providing to Israel that indiscriminately kill many innocent Palestinians, such as bombs.

This may well force Netanyahu to follow the US’ advice to resort to a surgical approach to weed out Hamas fighters and potentially capture or kill some of Hamas’ leaders. This, too, would send a clear message that the United States cannot sit idly by while the carnage in Gaza continues, however inadvertently that might be.

Third, on a political level, the United States can introduce a resolution or vote in favor of a resolution in the United Nations Security Council that calls on Israel to agree on a ceasefire for six to eight weeks and allow the flow of aid to the Palestinians while negotiating the release of the hostages.

Fourth, since President Biden has been advocating a two-state solution, he should act by taking interim measures to demonstrate his commitment to that objective. To start, Biden should allow the reopening of the United States mission in East Jerusalem to serve the Palestinians.

In addition, Biden should invite the Palestinian Authority to reestablish its mission in Washington, DC, to restore ties between the United States and the Palestinians. These two measures will demonstrate to the Palestinians that Biden means what he says and, community, congressional Democrats, and many of the EU and Arab states.

Fifth and most importantly, President Biden himself should make a public statement to the effect that while the United States is and will remain committed to Israel’s national security, it has clear disagreements with the Netanyahu government.

As such, the US will no longer support the Netanyahu government in any way that might aid it in continuing its military campaign without clearly spelling out a strategy that will achieve four objectives: 1) dramatically minimize civilian casualties by resorting to surgical operations; 2) articulate a credible exit strategy from Gaza; 3) allow for the creation of an international peacekeeping force to assume overall security; and 4) facilitate the return of the Palestinians to their homes once the fighting comes to an end.

Needless to say, these measures rest on a set of considerations as stated above and their political implications. Nevertheless, President Biden has no choice but to act to balance his commitment to Israel’s national security and his determination to permanently alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

IPS UN Bureau

 


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Categories: Africa

US Delivers Both Life –and Death– to a Devastated Gaza

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 09:28

Much of the Gaza Strip lies in ruins. Credit: UNRWA/Ashraf Amra. February 2024

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 14 2024 (IPS)

The Biden administration’s sheer hypocrisy is reflected in its policy of dropping food packages into a devastated Gaza, while at the same time, it continues to arm Israel with missiles and heavy artillery to kill Palestinian civilians suffering hunger and starvation.

As US Congressman Ro Khanna (Democrat of California) said last week: “You can’t have a policy of giving aid (to Palestinians) and giving Israel the weapons to bomb the food trucks at the same time”

And as the New York Times put it: “From the skies over Gaza these days fall American bombs and American food pallets, delivering death and life at the same time, and illustrating President Biden’s elusive effort to find balance in an unbalanced Middle East war.”

Mouin Rabbani, Co-Editor of Jadaliyya and Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies, told IPS the US deliveries of token amounts of aid to the besieged Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip has several, inter-related dimensions:

At one level, he pointed out, the air drops, plans for a mobile pier, and the like are pure theater, smoke and mirrors intended to divert scrutiny away from active US participation and complicity in Israel’s genocidal assault, including its medieval siege, on the Gaza Strip.

“The current crisis has demonstrated Israel’s extraordinary dependence on the US and its inability to conduct sustained military operations or evade accountability without US sponsorship.”

Yet the US, he said, has made it a matter of policy not to instruct its Israeli proxy to either cease its genocidal onslaught, nor to terminate a siege that is explicitly designed to produce famine, epidemic disease, and the like.

“To the contrary, Washington has deployed the full range of its influence, including the delivery of tens of thousands of tons of high explosives, UNSC vetoes, and bullying of its allies and client regimes, to ensure that Israel can continue with its genocidal onslaught and continue to do so with impunity.”

These theatrical air drops are as much of a charade as is the recent decision to promote an image of opposition to Israel’s state policy of West Bank settlement expansion by sanctioning four Israeli settlers, Rabbani said.

A calculation of the ratio of bread to bombs delivered by the US to the Palestinian population of the Gaza Strip tells you all you need to know regarding US intentions, priorities, and preferences, he declared.

In an oped piece for IPS, Dr. Alon Ben-Meir, a retired professor of international relations, most recently, at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University, wrote the dual approach of supporting Israel’s security needs while also providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians is part of the US’ broader diplomatic effort to balance its interests in the region.

However, the United States’ effort to promote regional security by supporting Israel’s right to defend itself while advocating for the Palestinians’ humanitarian needs and acting on them presents a dilemma for President Biden.

The Biden administration may well have to resort to direct measures to force Netanyahu to change his policy, he added.

“It should be noted that the upcoming US presidential elections in November are playing a role in Netanyahu’s strategy. If there are only two people in the world who want Trump to win the election this fall, the first is Trump himself, and the second is Netanyahu. The Israeli prime minister will do everything in his power to undermine President Biden’s reelection.”

He is cheering the fact that President Biden is intensely criticized by some Congressional Democrats as well as a multitude of young voters who oppose his unwavering support of Israel while tens of thousands of Palestinians have died and counting. He will prolong the war as long as it serves his personal interest and weakens Biden politically as he is embarking on his reelection campaign.

“President Biden should not allow Netanyahu to set the agenda. He must now take definitive measures to alert the Israeli public that, although the US commitment to Israel’s national security is unshakable, the US administration differentiates between the state of Israel and the current Netanyahu government with which he has fundamental disagreements, said Dr Ben-Meir, who taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

Elaborating further, Rabbani said every specialist and agency that has commented on these air drops has without exception concluded that air drops cannot even begin to address the humanitarian emergence created by the US and Israel in the Gaza Strip, but that this can be addressed by the delivery of aid which is already present through overland routes.

“The latter would require no more than a phone call from the White House to the Israeli government. Washington has made a policy decision not to pursue this option”.

Secondly, these charades are intended to legitimize Israel’s genocidal onslaught on the Gaza Strip, much as the November temporary truce was, in the words of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, required to maintain Western endorsement for Israel’s war and for its resumption and intensification in early December of last year.

Given the above, Palestinians would be better off without these air drops, particularly since at least five have already been killed by them, declared Rabbani.

Meanwhile, in a new report released March 13, CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organizations (CSOs), said hypocrisy by powerful countries undermined the rules-based international order in 2023, making it harder to promote human rights and resolve the world’s most devastating wars.

In its 13th annual State of Civil Society Report, the Johannesburg-based CIVICUS detailed how powerful states selectively chose to respect international laws, shielding allies but castigating enemies.

The most blatant examples are countries that rushed to Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s invasion but backed Israel’s assaults on civilians in Gaza, and vice versa.

“Armies, rebels and militia around the world committed horrific human rights abuses in 2023 because they knew they could get away with it thanks to a flailing international system full of double standards,” said Mandeep Tiwana, CIVICUS Chief Officer of Evidence and Engagement.

“Starting with the UN Security Council, we need global governance reform that puts people at the centre of decision making,” he declared.

Asked about a report from the Gaza Health Ministry that deaths in Gaza have now topped 31,000, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters March 13: “It’s another grim marker, and I wish we weren’t here waiting for these markers to fall’.

“What we want yet again, and we’ll call it for it again, is an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, a silencing of the guns so we can get the humanitarian access that we need, we can run the humanitarian operations on a scale that we need, that the civilians in Gaza can stop suffering, can get food, can get the basic services they need, and that we see the hostages, the Israeli hostages and others still held in Gaza immediately released,” he said.

Meanwhile, amid the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, US Senators. Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, Jeff Merkley, and five Democratic colleagues in the Senate on Monday sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging him to enforce federal law by requiring Netanyahu’s government to stop restricting humanitarian aid access to Gaza or forfeit U.S. military aid to Israel.

In the letter, the senators made clear that Netanyahu’s interference in U.S. humanitarian operations in Gaza violates Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, also known as the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act.

The law states: “No assistance shall be furnished under this chapter or the Arms Export Control Act to any country when it is made known to the President that the government of such country prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance,” according to a press release from the office of Senator Sanders.

To President Biden, the senators wrote: “According to public reporting and your own statements, the Netanyahu government is in violation of this law. Given this reality, we urge you to make it clear to the Netanyahu government that failure to immediately and dramatically expand humanitarian access and facilitate safe aid deliveries throughout Gaza will lead to serious consequences, as specified under existing U.S. law.”

“The United States should not provide military assistance to any country that interferes with U.S. humanitarian assistance,” the senators continued.

“Federal law is clear, and, given the urgency of the crisis in Gaza, and the repeated refusal of Prime Minister Netanyahu to address U.S. concerns on this issue, immediate action is necessary to secure a change in policy by his government.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 


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Categories: Africa

Is hosting the African Games worth it for Ghana?

BBC Africa - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 08:11
Ghana is spending almost $250m hosting the African Games, and the country's outlay amid a time of economic turmoil has brought scrutiny.
Categories: Africa

Is hosting the African Games worth it for Ghana?

BBC Africa - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 08:11
Ghana is spending almost $250m hosting the African Games, and the country's outlay amid a time of economic turmoil has brought scrutiny.
Categories: Africa

Zuma - the political wildcard in South Africa's poll

BBC Africa - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 05:01
The disgraced ex-president has ditched the ANC, spelling danger for the party that ended apartheid.
Categories: Africa

Zuma - the political wildcard in South Africa's poll

BBC Africa - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 05:01
The disgraced ex-president has ditched the ANC, spelling danger for the party that ended apartheid.
Categories: Africa

Nigerian woman speaks of slavery and rape in UK

BBC Africa - Thu, 03/14/2024 - 02:40
Rose describes the exploitation and sexual violence she faced after escaping a "life of hell".
Categories: Africa

Brazil’s Biofuel Potential Set to Expand Thanks to Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Wed, 03/13/2024 - 19:04

An Air Force plane brings home Brazilians who managed to escape the war in Gaza as part of a humanitarian operation. Airplanes shorten distances but pollute the atmosphere and aggravate the climate crisis by emitting two percent of greenhouse gases. Sustainable biofuels can mitigate that damage. CREDIT: FAB

By Mario Osava
RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 13 2024 (IPS)

Brazil is counting on biofuels to assert itself as an energy powerhouse in the near future, as a decisive supplier of low-carbon jet fuel, a requirement of the climate crisis.

The electrification of automobiles has tended to curb the strong ethanol and biodiesel agribusiness developed in the country since the 1970s. But demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) now offers the possibility of significant new expansion for many decades to come.

Electrically powered airplanes are not viable with current technology, and will not be for a long time. “Batteries are very heavy and store little energy,” said Arnaldo Walter, a mechanical engineer and professor at the University of Campinas."Brazil has favorable conditions for biofuels, such as available land, good climate and rainfall, although they are now more uncertain than before." -- Arnaldo Walter

Nor is green hydrogen, the fashionable ecological fuel, an alternative for aviation, because of the difficulty of storage and the need for temperatures of more than 250 degrees Celsius below zero to keep it in a usable liquid form. In addition, the entire design of aircraft would have to be changed, a process that could only be achieved in the long term.

Brazil has everything it needs to become a major producer of green hydrogen, which is generated by electrolysis of water, but requires abundant electricity from renewable sources. That is the case in this country, especially in the Northeast region, which has huge potential in wind and solar energy, in addition to ports closer to Europe than those of other competitors.

The solution is biomass-derived fuel, which does not require altering the format of aircraft or their turbines, by naturally replacing aviation kerosene, the use of which generates two percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Climate requirements

“Not just any biofuel will do, it has to meet the requirements for environmental, social and economic sustainability certification,” Walter told IPS by telephone from the southern city of Campinas, with a population of 1.1 million people located 90 kilometers from São Paulo.

Deforestation, for example, is one of Brazil’s Achilles’ heels, given the reports of forests being cleared to grow soybeans, whose oil will probably be one of the main raw materials for SAF. It is not enough to decarbonize the fuel, but also the whole process of its production.

The goal is to meet the target set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

“SAF is the only economically viable and available alternative, despite its sustainability challenges,” argued Amanda Ohara, a chemical engineer and fuel specialist with the non-governmental Climate and Society Institute, in an interview with IPS in Rio de Janeiro.

Soybean monoculture represents half of agricultural production and is the main Brazilian export. It occupies extensive areas of the Cerrado, the Brazilian savannah, and part of the Amazon rainforest, after extensive deforestation. It can now provide the oil for the production of sustainable aviation fuel, known as SAF. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

Soybeans and sugarcane, abundant but disputed

Brazil is the world’s largest soybean producer, with an output of 154 million tons in 2023, about half of which was exported to China. Its oil is the main raw material for biodiesel, which is blended with fossil diesel in this country at a current proportion of 14 percent. Congress is discussing the possibility of raising it to 25 percent in the future.

In addition to its thriving agriculture, based largely on oilseeds and sugarcane, which can supply SAF plants, the country has ample potential for expansion.

“Brazil has favorable conditions for biofuels, such as available land, good climate and rainfall, although they are now more uncertain than before,” said Walter. Tens of millions of hectares of land degraded by extensive cattle ranching in the past can be used to recover production.

In Latin America’s largest country, with 850 million hectares of territory, only 61 million hectares were dedicated to agriculture and 164 million to cattle pastures in 2022, according to MapBiomas, a monitoring platform of a network of organizations focused on climate change.

The government set a goal of recovering 40 million hectares of degraded land in 10 years, almost the same as the area planted with soybeans today: 44.6 million hectares.

Soy already has a well-established market and consumers. Dedicating part of its oil to SAF competes with these uses and will require a large expansion of its cultivation, that is to say, new lands and the risk of deforestation, which together with changes in land use constitute the great source of greenhouse gases in the country.

They represent economic and environmental costs that drive the search for alternatives.

The macauba, a tropical palm tree whose scientific name is Acrocomia aculeata, is attractive because of its high oil productivity and its presence in almost all of Brazil, as well as in other Latin American countries under various names, such as coyol, corojo, grugru or macaw palm.

It has not yet been commercially produced, nor has it been domesticated, making it a long-term, risky bet.

But Acelen, a company controlled by the Mubadala Investment Company of the United Arab Emirates, is promoting a project to grow macauba palm trees on 200,000 hectares of land in northeastern Brazil to produce SAF as of 2026.

To this end, it has an oil refinery in Mataripe, 70 kilometers from Salvador, capital of the northeastern state of Bahia, acquired in 2019 from the state-owned oil company Petrobras.

Ethanol is another alternative raw material, which, like soybean oil, has the advantage of large-scale production, but competes with other uses. In Brazil, sugarcane is the main source of ethanol, whose consumption as a fuel is almost as high as that of gasoline.

In its anhydrous form, it currently accounts for 27 percent of gasoline sold, a mix that is expected to rise to 30 percent or even 35 percent. But ethanol is also used alone, in its hydrated form. In Brazil today, almost all cars have flexible engines, powered by gasoline or ethanol, or by a mixture of any proportion.

A photo of the monotonous landscape of sugarcane in one of the plantations in the interior of the state of São Paulo, which provides almost half of the sugar and ethanol produced in Brazil. The 31 billion liters of ethanol in 2023 could be tripled in 20 years by increasing productivity and monoculture, to provide surpluses for the production of SAF. CREDIT: Mario Osava / IPS

Cane and corn ethanol

Ethanol lags behind vegetable oils in the production of SAF, but will benefit from a production boom expected in the coming years. It will be able to triple its annual production, which totaled 31 billion liters in 2023, without the need to greatly expand the cultivated area, according to industry leaders.

Brazil is already the country that grows the most sugarcane in the world, which allows it to lead the sugar market and occupy second place in ethanol, surpassed only by the United States, where corn is the main source.

Raízen, a joint venture between the British oil transnational Shell and Brazil’s Cosan, is studying the new biofuel, also in partnership with universities, while expanding its ethanol production, of which it is the national leader.

It is a pioneer in second-generation ethanol, extracted from sugarcane bagasse and other cellulose-based waste. This ensures up to 50 percent more ethanol, without the need for more crops. The company has already started up eight plants of this type and expects to have 20 in operation by 2030, despite the fact that they are more expensive than conventional plants.

Sugarcane productivity should also increase in the coming years, according to agronomic researchers, who expect to see production rise twofold mainly due to the planting of new varieties with genetic improvements.

In addition, second-crop corn, generally planted after soybeans in the same area, has allowed an increasing production of ethanol, especially in the midwest region of Brazil. It already represents 17 percent of the national total.

There are other alternatives, such as fossil derivatives but with reduced greenhouse gas emissions, wood from trees that grow faster in tropical countries such as Brazil, animal oils, and even cooking oil.

Each one requires different technologies, with their own costs, maturation times and environmental effects, said Walter. Logistical conditions, dispersion or facilities for collecting raw materials can also determine the most promising alternatives.

“There is no single solution, no silver bullet. We will have to combine various alternatives, depending on the intended or possible scale,” Ohara said. The choice is no longer purely economic, but also responds to the climate emergency, because “gas emissions must be reduced as a matter of urgency,” she added.

The expansion of monocultures will be inevitable in a country like Brazil, which aims to ensure a sustainable supply, but the damage can be mitigated with agroforestry systems, combining oilseeds with other crops, which diversify the vegetation and conserve the soil, proposed the chemist and environmentalist who worked for six years with biofuels in the state-owned Petrobras consortium.

Categories: Africa

Olympics culture row over French-Malian singer

BBC Africa - Wed, 03/13/2024 - 15:51
She is the world's most listened-to French female singer, but should Aya Nakamura perform at the Games?
Categories: Africa

Top Rwandan opposition figure barred from election

BBC Africa - Wed, 03/13/2024 - 15:37
Victoire Ingabire, an outspoken critic of President Kagame, fails in her bid to run for the presidency.
Categories: Africa

SA mother accused of kidnapping drops bail plea

BBC Africa - Wed, 03/13/2024 - 14:42
Kelly Smith has been charged with involvement in the abduction of her child, Joslin, who is still missing.
Categories: Africa

US Senators Say Biden Must End Arms Sales if Israel Keeps Blocking Aid

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Wed, 03/13/2024 - 14:13

Humanitarians warn that hunger has reached catastrophic levels in northern Gaza. Credit: UNRWA

By Jake Johnson
WASHINGTON DC, Mar 13 2024 (IPS)

A group of senators said Tuesday that under U.S. law, the Biden administratio must cut off American military assistance to Israel unless the Netanyahu government immediately stops impeding aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip, where children are dying of starvation after months of incessant Israeli bombing and attacks on humanitarian convoys.

“The severe humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza is nearly unprecedented in modern history,” the eight senators—led by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)—wrote in a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden.

“Your administration has repeatedly stated, and the United Nations and numerous aid organizations have confirmed, that Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian access, both at the border and within Gaza, are one of the primary causes of this humanitarian catastrophe.”

The senators argued that the Israeli government’s systematic obstruction of aid deliveries violates U.S. law, pointing specifically to Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The law states that “no assistance shall be furnished… to any country when it is made known to the president that the government of such country prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”

Biden administration officials have admitted that Israel is impeding aid deliveries to desperate Gazans. But when asked last week whether Israel’s actions amount to a “breach” of the Foreign Assistance Act, U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said he would “have to go back and look at the language of that text.”

“It’s not something that I’ve spent a lot of time looking at,” he added.

The senators wrote to Biden on Tuesday that “according to public reporting and your own statements, the Netanyahu government is in violation of this law.”

“Given this reality, we urge you to make it clear to the Netanyahu government that failure to immediately and dramatically expand humanitarian access and facilitate safe aid deliveries throughout Gaza will lead to serious consequences, as specified under existing U.S. law,” the letter reads. “The United States should not provide military assistance to any country that interferes with U.S. humanitarian assistance.”

“Federal law is clear,” the senators added, “and, given the urgency of the crisis in Gaza, and the repeated refusal of Prime Minister Netanyahu to address U.S. concerns on this issue, immediate action is necessary to secure a change in policy by his government.”

The senators’ letter was made public hours after the head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said Israel turned away a truck “loaded” with humanitarian aid because there were scissors in children’s medical aid kits—just one of many examples of Israel blocking the delivery of badly needed assistance.

Israel has limited the flow of aid to Gaza for years, but its siege has become much more restrictive since October 7, when Israel began its latest assault on the Palestinian territory following a deadly Hamas-led attack.

The U.S., by far Israel’s biggest arms supplier, has yet to impose any substantive consequences on the Netanyahu government for its mass killing of civilians or obstruction of humanitarian aid. The Biden administration has quietly approved more than 100 separate weapons sales to Israel since October.

Instead of using its leverage to force Israel’s hand, the administration has resorted to airdropping aid into Gaza and planning the construction of a temporary port off the enclave’s coast—steps that aid groups say won’t be anywhere near enough to avert famine.

Citing four unnamed U.S. officials, Politico reported Monday that Biden “will consider conditioning military aid to Israel” if it launches a ground invasion of Rafah, a small city near the Egyptian border where more than half of Gaza’s population is sheltering.

Brian Finucane, senior adviser for the U.S. program at the International Crisis Group, wrote in response to Politico‘s reporting that “U.S. law and policy already impose conditions on military aid to Israel as well as every other country.”

“The Biden admin has just refused to enforce those conditions so far,” he added.

Source: Common Dreams

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

IPS UN Bureau

 


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Categories: Africa

LPG, a Useful “Transitional” Fuel for the UN’s Clean Cooking Effort

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Wed, 03/13/2024 - 13:16

Enabling women to transition quickly from traditional cookstoves to cleaner technologies would save millions of lives, especially in poorer rural areas where biomass use is concentrated. Credit: Athar Parzaiv/IPS

By Philippe Benoit and Kaushik Deb
Mar 13 2024 (IPS)

One of the key efforts under the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals is to provide poor households with access to clean cooking technologies to replace, in particular, the burning of solid biomass (e.g., fuelwood and charcoal) in traditional open stoves that kills millions of women and children.

To date, one of the preferred options has involved the substitution of solid biomass with bottled liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This approach, however, can be seen to run afoul of the climate change-driven opposition to fossil fuel use generally. However, LPG for clean cooking can and should be permitted as a transitional fuel to save lives in the short-term until we can provide universal access to alternative low-emissions clean cooking systems.

Africa is disproportionately burdened by a lack of access to clean cooking technologies, with over 60 percent of its population relying on biomass. That increases to over 85 percent in rural Africa. In Asia, over 45 percent of the rural population relies on biomass for cooking.

The poorest 50 percent of the world’s population (which includes those households currently relying on biomass) are responsible for a mere 8 percent of greenhouse emissions, a figure that would be marginally affected by the adoption of LPG

Enabling women to transition quickly from traditional cookstoves to cleaner technologies would save millions of lives, especially in poorer rural areas where biomass use is concentrated.

As report after report has documented, several million women and children die each year from the adverse impact of the very localized air pollution created by burning fuelwood and other solid biomass on open cookstoves (often used indoors without adequate ventilation).

Shifting away from unstainable harvesting and use of biomass would, in addition to avoiding these negative health impacts, generate important greenhouse gas mitigation and other environmental benefits.

There are a variety of clean cooking technologies that would address this issue. One solution is replacing biomass use with stoves fueled by LPG. Other alternatives include electric stoves and stoves that burn the biomass more efficiently.

Notably, electric stoves, when powered with renewable electricity, are near-zero emitting solutions. In contrast, even though LPG stoves potentially result in fewer greenhouse gas emissions than the traditional use of biomass, its promotion can be criticized as running counter to the climate change-related campaigns to eliminate all fossil fuel combustion and related emissions.

Efforts to phase out fossil fuels have gained momentum in the climate change discussions, as reflected in the discussion at COP 28 that targeted all forms of fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil and gas), as compared to, for example, COP 26 which was focused on coal.

However, this broader and strengthened effort is occurring after many developing countries have already launched substantial clean cooking programs premised on the use of LPG. For instance, India introduced a program in 2013 to achieve universal access to LPG. Cameroon is executing a masterplan to increase the share of LPG for cooking from less than 20 percent to 58 percent by 2035.

Many of these programs attempt to target one of the problems with LPG, namely its affordability for poorer households. For example, Indonesia’s Zero Kero Program (a program initially targeting kerosene but then extended to solid biomass users) provides a free stove and first cylinder and subsidized LPG thereafter.

India’s flagship cooking energy program, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, launched in 2016 provides a subsidy and loan for the upfront cost of adopting an LPG connection and has resulted in an uptake by over 80 million households. Many ongoing LPG programs enjoy degrees of institutional momentum that would be difficult to replicate quickly if replaced by new efforts premised on a different choice of cooking technology.

Climate sustainability forces generally align with anti-poverty efforts such as the UN goal to achieve universal access to clean cooking, but the use of LPG presents tensions.

While shifting to LPG for cooking can generate the above-referenced health and other benefits for poor households currently relying on biomass, these same households are also amongst the most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change induced by fossil fuel emissions.

And in the context of the climate change campaigns to reduce emissions, it is arguably strategic to adopt straightforward and clear goals and communications, such as “phasing down/out fossil fuels”, rather than a nuanced message that targets “most but not all fossil fuels.”

Given this context – one in which the poor are adversely affected by biomass use but also by emissions-induced climate change – how should LPG cooking programs be treated?

In deciding which and whose emissions to prioritize in the effort to advance global climate goals, and specifically how to address emissions from LPG-based cooking,  it is useful to place the discussion and choices in the broader emissions inequality context.

As pointed out by a recent Oxfam report on the topic, the poorest 50 percent of the world’s population (which includes those households currently relying on biomass) are responsible for a mere 8 percent of greenhouse emissions, a figure that would be marginally affected by the adoption of LPG. In contrast, the wealthiest 10 percent is responsible for 50 percent, and the top 50 percent for 92 percent.

Moreover, the use of fossil fuels for cooking is something that manifests itself at all income levels. For example, the US government has just issued regulations that tighten efficiency requirements for gas stoves, thereby also, implicitly, legitimizing their continued use for years to come.

The consumers targeted by the US regulations fall within the top 10 percent richest of the world’s population, while the women using unhealthy traditional cookstoves fall within the world’s poorest segment.

Given the lives of poor women and children that can be saved today by LPG-based cooking, coupled with the minute per capita emissions of these consumers, LPG-based efforts should continue and potentially even be expanded under a ‘transitional regime, with the focus of emissions-reduction activities in the near-term targeted at the activities of the world’s richest top 10 percent responsible for 50 percent of global emissions.

Importantly, this transitional regime would include a sunset provision on the use of LPG with a clear second transition to renewables-based electric and other non-emitting cooking solutions. The primary objective is to save lives that would otherwise be lost to cooking-related pollution in the short to medium term, while also supporting net-zero emissions over the longer run.

LPG has a productive role to play in poverty-alleviation efforts and specifically the UN’s goal of achieving universal access to clean cooking. However, the use of LPG for cooking is a strategy which, given its attendant carbon dioxide emissions, should be structured as transitional pending the fuller deployment of low-emissions clean cooking alternatives.

 

Philippe Benoit is the managing director at Global Infrastructure Advisory Services 2050. He previously held management positions at the World Bank and the International Energy Agency.

 Kaushik Deb leads the India Program at the Center on Global Energy Policy at the School of International and Public Affairs in Columbia University.

Categories: Africa

Nigerian Islamic police arrest non-fasting Muslims

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Categories: Africa

ECW Announces New Grant Funding for Ukraine’s Education Programs for Children Impacted by War

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Wed, 03/13/2024 - 11:07

Oksen Lisovyi, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine; Yasmine Sherif, Executive Director of Education Cannot Wait; and Yevhen Kudriavets, First Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine, address a briefing on funding for Ukrainian education. Credit: UN Photo/Evan Schneider

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 2024 (IPS)

The UN’s global education fund and the government of Ukraine have announced a new multi-year program funded at USD 18 million that will go toward education for children impacted by the conflict in Ukraine.

In New York, Ukraine’s Minister of Education and Science, Oksen Lisovyi, and Education Cannot Wait (ECW) Executive Director Yasmine Sherif announced the launch of a multi-year resilience program that will take effect from March 2024 until February 2026. In addition to the 18 million, they called on donors to mobilize an additional USD 17 million to fully fund the program. The program is building on ECW’s previous investments in Ukraine, which totaled USD 6.5 million; this has already reached over 360,000 children and youth for the purpose of quality education support.

According to Sherif, the program was developed “in close coordination” with the Ministry of Education and members of civil society in Ukraine. Teachers and students in the southern and eastern states will have access to mental health and psychosocial support. The program will also renovate and strengthen the damaged infrastructure.

Lisovyi stated that the program will support the government’s ongoing plans to reform its education system while also addressing the challenges that have emerged due to the conflict.

“We work toward fundamentally changing the education system,” he said. “Modernize the networks of universities and strengthen the agencies of students, providing them with more freedom and instruments for self-development.”

“Now we concentrate on our efforts to provide the usual normal education for each kid. Giving access to safe education of high quality despite the war,” said Lisovyi. This will include building shelters in schools, a new prerequisite for schools to work offline. It’s been estimated that during this conflict, children spent up to 5,000 hours in underground shelters.

More than 3500 educational institutions have been damaged since the conflict between Ukraine and Russia began in February 2022. Families and children that have been displaced by the conflict struggle to access a proper, comprehensive education. More than 900,000 children are currently receiving a blended education of in-person classes and online learning. As of September 2023, only half of the functioning schools have the capacity to provide face-to-face learning. The other alternative, online learning, has not been accessible to all students, especially those who have been displaced due to the conflict. Under this program, there will be efforts to expand access to digital education, especially for those children left behind.

In collaboration with the government of Ukraine and national organizations, the multi-year resilience program’s investment will be delivered by Finn Church Aid, an NGO whose work in Ukraine centers on education support through providing temporary learning spaces and psychosocial support, and the Kyiv School of Economics Institute, a think tank that has consulted on recommendations for Ukraine’s post-war economic recovery. It is expected that the program will reach 41,000 girls and boys, as well as indirectly benefit 150,000 children through renovated learning spaces in the eastern and southern states.

The program is also intended to invest considerably in teachers, including the estimated 43,000 teachers that have been displaced by the conflict. In addition to receiving mental health and psychosocial support, they will also receive vocational training, which Lisovyi has stated is one of the biggest priorities in his government’s education reform. The expected outcome of this is that at least 12,000 teachers will be supported with professional development and well-being support.

Investing in education reform will go toward building a stronger, more resilient state, said Lisovyi. “The role of education here is crucial, so our efforts are currently focused on restoring access to education for every child. I am incredibly grateful to Education Cannot Wait and all the partners for their shared vision and support.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 


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Categories: Africa

Global South Stagnating under Heavier Debt Burden

Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE - Wed, 03/13/2024 - 07:22

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Mar 13 2024 (IPS)

Much higher interest rates – due to Western central banks – are suffocating developing nations, especially the poorest, causing prolonged debt distress and economic stagnation.

US Fed-induced stagnation
After the greatest US Fed-led surge in international interest rates in more than four decades, developing countries spent $443.5 billion to service their external government and government-guaranteed debt in 2022.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

The World Bank’s last International Debt Report showed most of the poorest countries in debt distress as borrowing costs began to surge. The increase has cut into scarce fiscal resources, reducing social spending on health and education.

Debt-servicing costs for all developing countries in 2022 increased by 5% over 2021. The US Fed continued to raise interest rates through 2023, compounding debt distress, while the European Central Bank warns against ‘prematurely’ lowering interest rates.

Poorest worst off
The 75 countries eligible to borrow from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) – which only lends to the world’s poorest – paid $88.9 billion to service debt in 2022.

Over the last decade, the cumulative debt of IDA-eligible countries grew faster than their economies. Their foreign debt stock reached $1.1 trillion in 2022 – more than twice that in 2012. During 2012-22, their external debt rose 134%, over twice the 53% increase in national income.

Interest payments by the poorest countries have quadrupled over the previous decade to $23.6 billion in 2022. The Bank expects debt-servicing by the 24 poorest countries to jump by as much as 39% in 2023 and 2024.

Growing debt distress
Bank Chief Economist cum Senior Vice President Indermit Gill has warned, “Record debt levels and high-interest rates have set many countries on a path to crisis”. “Every quarter that interest rates stay high results in more developing countries becoming distressed…”

Without “quick and coordinated action by debtor governments, private and official creditors, and multilateral financial institutions” and “better debt sustainability … and swifter restructuring” arrangements, “another lost decade’’ seems unavoidable!
Higher interest rates have worsened debt distress in most developing countries. There have been 18 government debt defaults in ten developing countries in the last three years – more than in the previous two decades!

Poorest hardest hit
About three-fifths of low-income countries (LICs) are in or at high risk of debt distress. Debt service payments consume an increasingly large share of their export earnings. Over a third of their external debt has variable interest rates, which have risen sharply over the last two years.

The Bank acknowledges, “Many of these countries face an additional burden: the accumulated principal, interest, and fees they incurred for the privilege of debt-service suspension under the G-20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI).”

With higher Fed rates, the stronger US dollar worsens developing countries’ difficulties, raising debt-servicing costs. Besides high interest rates, falling export earnings – due to lower demand – are worsening things.

Where have all the lenders gone?
New financing for the global South has dried up with the flight of capital ‘uphill’ to the North. New borrowing has been made harder by interest rate and debt-servicing cost increases.

New government and government-guaranteed foreign loan commitments to these countries fell by 23% to $371 billion in 2022 – the lowest in a decade.

Private creditors have been avoiding developing countries and got $185 billion more in principal repayments than they loaned in 2022. It was the first year they received more than they loaned to developing countries since 2015.

New bonds issued by developing countries internationally dropped by over half in 2022! New bond issues by IDA-eligible LICs and other countries fell by more than three-quarters to $3.1 billion.

With much less private financing, multilateral development banks, especially the World Bank, loaned much more. Multilateral creditors provided $115 billion in new concessional financing to developing countries in 2022, with half from the Bank.

The Bank provided $16.9 billion more in such financing than it got in principal repayments – nearly thrice the amount a decade before. The Bank also disbursed $6.1 billion in grants to these countries, three times the amount in 2012.

Wrong medicine
As the US Fed continued to hike interest rates through 2023 while the European Central Bank still warns against ‘prematurely’ reversing the rate hikes, the prospects of early relief appear remote, threatening further devastation in the global South.

The excuse for higher interest rates remains inflation above the completely arbitrary two per cent inflation targeting rate now embraced by all too many central bankers as their ‘holy grail’.

But most recent inflation has been due to often deliberate supply-side disruptions in recent years associated with the US-led new Cold War, COVID-19 pandemic disruptions and geopolitically driven economic sanctions, especially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Core inflation has largely receded in much of the world since mid-2022. But meanwhile, imported inflation has been exacerbated by exchange rate depreciation due to financial flow-induced refluxes¬.

No solution on the horizon
The 1980s’ government debt crises caused a ‘lost decade’ in Latin America and a quarter century of stagnation in Sub-Saharan Africa. It took almost a decade for the George H W Bush administration to resolve the Latin American debt crises with compromises around the Brady bonds.

This time, a resolution will be much more difficult owing to the varied creditors and much larger debt involved. Worse, there is little sense of responsibility in the West. Instead of seeking collective solutions, the evolving debt crisis is used to blame and isolate China in the fast-worsening geopolitical new Cold War.

IPS UN Bureau

 


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