tel aviv, israel — As the first Egypt International Air Show wrapped up Thursday, industry analysts debated the significance of China’s presence, which included the most complete demonstration of its advanced Y-20 transport aircraft and the first showcase of its J-10 fighter jets in Africa.

Analysts say the high-profile presence of the Chinese air force at the event held at Egypt’s El Alamein International Airport underscores China’s growing technological prowess, military ambitions, and expanding influence in the Middle East and North Africa.

But analysts also question how much demand the region will have for the Chinese military planes.

“China is expanding and targeting the [Middle East] regional market,” Kostas Tigkos, manager of mission systems and intelligence at global military intelligence company Janes, told VOA. “This marks another milestone in China’s military diversification and opens doors to more collaboration in security domains, encourages investment opportunities and opens new channels to developing trade beyond traditional ties.”

Tigkos said the Middle East’s ranking as the region with China’s highest bilateral trade growth rate, and source of half of its imported oil, gives it a strategic interest in fostering economic, security, supply route and energy source development.

Interest in Chinese equipment

Countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are increasingly turning to China for military equipment, such as drones, missiles and anti-drone systems. Egypt has expressed interest in acquiring the J-10 fighter jet to diversify its military suppliers and enhance its capabilities.

In July, Egypt’s air force commander, Lieutenant General Mahmoud Foaad Abdel Jawad, traveled to Beijing at China’s behest for a meeting with China’s air force commander, Star General Chang Dingqiu.

According to an Egyptian military statement, the visit was characterized by Egypt’s “keenness to enhance areas of military cooperation with brotherly and friendly countries.” The statement added that the talks “opened new prospects between the air forces of both countries.”

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi attended the opening ceremony for this week’s air show and visited the Chinese pavilion.

Images of the Chinese-manufactured Y-20 transporter trailed by six J-10 jets flying over Egypt’s Giza pyramids in formation last week drew global attention, demonstrating distance and performance capabilities in the 10,000-kilometer flight from China to Egypt. 

The Y-20 appearance at the airshow is significant, Wendell Minnick, editor of the “China in Arms” Substack newsletter, told VOA.

“This is their attempt to match the U.S. heavy lift, long-range transport or aerial-refueled aircraft,” Minnick said.

Capabilities

China says the Y-20 can lift up to 66 tons and carry several tanks over a distance of 7,800 kilometers. Nicknamed “Chubby Girl” by China’s aviation industry for its broad fuselage girth, the Y-20 has been in development for 17 years. 

Dubbed “Vigorous Dragon,” China’s Chengdu J-10C is a combat aircraft armed with air-to-air and surface attack weapons. Primarily an air-to-air combat aircraft that can perform strike missions, the J-10C has been compared to and contrasted with the U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon. 

“China needs these to project force beyond the mainland for expeditionary warfare,” Minnick said, “like the U.S. with the C-5 Galaxy and the C-17 Globemaster.”

The C-5M Super Galaxy is the U.S. Air Force’s largest aircraft, strategically designed to transport cargo and personnel. With a cargo load of more than 127 tons, nearly double China’s Y-20, it can carry oversized cargo over oceans and take off and land on relatively short runways.

The C-17 Globemaster III is “the most flexible cargo aircraft to enter the airlift force,” according to a U.S. Air Force press release, with a maximum payload of 74 tons.

Nonetheless, China’s state media touted the Y-20’s performance debut and quoted the People’s Liberation Army Air Force saying it carried out six maneuvers on Tuesday, “including large angle ascension and dive, large slope turning and fast landing, showing the aircraft’s outstanding maneuverability.”

China’s Y-20 and J-10 appeared at last November’s Dubai Air Show, and the Y-20 took part in a joint drill in Russia in July and joint drills with Mozambique and Tanzania in August. But this was the first time the Y-20 had performed aerial maneuvers in a show outside China, and the first time the J-10 had performed in Africa.

“China wants to have an Africa footprint as part of their expansionist plans,” Minnick said.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in March reported, “China, which accounted for 19% of deliveries to sub-Saharan Africa, overtook Russia as the region’s main supplier of major arms.”  

US suppliers

Despite China’s military sales in the region, Middle East buyers won’t be cutting ties with U.S. suppliers in favor of China in the near future, according to defense experts, who note that while the Y-20 is cheaper than the U.S. C-17 or C-5, it is less impressive and more vulnerable to missile attacks.

Minnick questions whether there will be any demand from customers in Africa and the Middle East for China’s military aircraft.

The Chinese transporter requires “tremendous training, technical support and additional off-the-shelf parts and components that most Mideast countries can’t handle” on both technical and financial fronts, he said.

“Iran is too poor,” Minnick said. “Saudi prefers Western aircraft, and Jordan is far more focused on internal security.”

Other defense experts like Tigkos say the Y-20 and J-10 present opportunities for long-term business and relationships with training programs, spare parts and maintenance – if they can find buyers.

“When a country is successful in the aviation realm, it marks a significant difference and ‘upgrade,’ if you will, toward helping foster relationships of trust and wider markets for China,” he said.

The first Egypt International Air Show was held Tuesday through Thursday with about 50 aircraft on display and with representatives from 100 countries and 300 companies in attendance, including U.S. industry giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
…

your ad here

GENEVA — United Nations investigators are accusing both of Sudan’s warring parties and their allied militias Friday of an appalling range of human rights violations that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The report, the first by the three-member Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for Sudan, presents a harrowing account of large-scale violations, including “indiscriminate and direct attacks carried out through airstrikes and shelling against civilians, schools, hospitals, communication networks and vital water and electricity supplies.”

Mona Rishwami, expert member of the fact-finding mission, told journalists in Geneva that both the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) “conducted hostilities in densely populated areas,” damaging and destroying infrastructure and objects that were “indispensable for the survival of the civilian population.”

“We found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that both SAF and RSF and their respective allies have committed the war crimes of violence against life and persons, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment, and torture, and committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliation and degrading treatment,” she said.

The 19-page report, which will be submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council next week, is based on over 700 submissions from various entities, organizations, individuals and experts.

Sudanese authorities refused to grant investigators access to the country, so they gathered information and evidence of violations through in-depth interviews with 182 victims, their families and other eyewitnesses during visits to Chad, Kenya, and Uganda.

“Since mid-April 2023, the conflict in Sudan has spread to 14 of 18 states impacting the entire country and the region,” Mohamed Chande Othman, chairperson of the fact-finding mission, said.

Over the past 17 months, the conflict has uprooted millions of people from their homes. U.N. officials estimate 10.7 million people are displaced inside Sudan with some 2 million others having fled to neighboring countries as refugees, making Sudan the world’s largest displacement crisis.

“It is our view that the conflict is protracted and has engulfed the territory, affecting the whole of Sudan,” Othman said, adding that the true scale of the devastation caused by the conflict and the extent of suffering of the population is yet to be known, but the impact from the horrors inflicted upon the Sudanese “will last for decades to come.”

“We have found that the Sudanese warring parties … have committed an appalling range of violations,” he said. “We found reasonable grounds to believe that many of these violations amount to international crimes.”

The report accuses the warring parties of targeting civilians through rape and other forms of sexual violence, arbitrary arrest and detention, as well as torture and ill-treatment.

Fact-finding mission expert Joy Ngozi Ezeilo observed that women and children are among the main victims.

“Conflict-related sexual violence in Sudan has a long and tragic history and often is used as a weapon of war to terrorize and control communities,” she said.

While both parties to the conflict are guilty of rape and sexual violence, Ezeilo said that members of the RSF in particular have perpetrated the crimes on a large scale in Darfur and the greater Khartoum area.

“Victims recounted being attacked in their homes, beaten, lashed and threatened with death or harm to their relatives or children before being raped by more than one perpetrator,” she said. “They were also subjected to sexual violence while seeking shelter from attack or fleeing.”

The report also found that the RSF and its allied militias “committed the additional war crimes of rape, sexual slavery, and pillage, as well as ordering the displacement of the civilian population and the recruitment of children below 15 in hostilities.”

Investigators condemned what they called the “horrific assaults” carried out by the RSF and its allies against non-Arab communities — specifically the Masalit in and around El Geneina, West Darfur — including “killings, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, destruction of property and pillage.”

The report describes in searing detail the abuse to which children are subjected. Beyond recruitment for battle, children have been “killed, injured, forcibly displaced, detained with adults, tortured, subjected to sexual violence and deprived of healthcare and education.”

“The rare brutality of this war will have a devastating and long-lasting psychological impact on children in Sudan,” Ezeilo said.

Mission chairperson Othman warned that “The gravity of our findings and failure of the warring parties to protect civilians underscores the need for urgent and immediate intervention.

“Our report therefore calls and recommends for the deployment of an independent, impartial force to protect civilians in the country,” adding that both sides to the conflict must comply with their obligations under international law and “immediately and unconditionally cease all attacks on the civilian population.

The people of Sudan, he added, “have suffered greatly and the violations against them must stop.”

.
…

your ad here

Beijing — China’s years of splashing cash on big-ticket infrastructure projects in Africa may be over, analysts say, with Beijing seeking to shield itself from risky, indebted partners on the continent as it grapples with a slowing economy at home.   

Beijing for years dished out billions in loans for trains, roads and bridges in Africa that saddled participating governments with debts they often struggled to pay back.   

But experts say it is now opting for smaller loans to fund more modest development projects.   

“China has adjusted its lending strategy in Africa to take China’s own domestic economic troubles and Africa’s debt problems into account,” Lucas Engel, a data analyst studying Chinese development finance at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center, said.   

“This new prudence and risk aversion among Chinese lenders is intended to ensure that China can continue to engage with Africa in a more resilient and sustainable manner,” he told AFP.   

“The large infrastructure loans China was known for in the past have become rarer.”   

 

As African leaders gathered this week for Beijing’s biggest summit since the pandemic, President Xi Jinping committed more than $50 billion in financing over the next three years.   

More than half of that would be in credit, Xi said, while the rest would come from unspecified “various types of assistance” and $10 billion through encouraging Chinese firms to invest.   

Xi gave no details on how those funds would be dished out.   

Loans redirected 

China has for years pumped vast sums of cash into African nations as it looks to shore up access to crucial resources, while also using its influence as a geopolitical tool amid ongoing tensions with the West.   

But while Beijing lauds its largesse towards the continent, data shows China’s funding has dwindled dramatically in recent years.   

Chinese lenders supplied a total of $4.6 billion to eight African countries and two regional financial institutions last year, according to Boston University research.   

The key shift concerns those on the receiving end: more than half of the total amount went to multilateral or nationally owned banks — compared with just five percent between 2000 and 2022.   

And although last year’s loans to Africa were the highest since 2019, they were less than a quarter of what was dished out at the peak of nearly $29 billion eight years ago.   

“Redirecting loans to African multilateral borrowers allows Chinese lenders to engage with entities with high credit ratings, not struggling individual sovereign borrowers,” Engel said.   

“These loans reach private borrowers in ailing African countries in which African multilateral banks operate.” 

Modest approach  

China coordinates much of its overseas lending under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the massive infrastructure project that is a central pillar of Xi’s bid to expand his country’s clout overseas.   

The BRI made headlines for backing big-ticket projects in Africa with opaque funding and questionable impacts.   

But China has been shifting its approach in the past few years, analysts said.   

It has increasingly funneled money into smaller projects, from a modestly sized solar farm in Burkina Faso to a hydropower project in Madagascar and broadband infrastructure in Angola, according to Boston University’s researchers.   

“The increased volume of loans signals Africa’s continued importance to China, but the type of loans being deployed are intended to let Africans know that China is taking African concerns into account,” Engel told AFP.   

This does not mean that Beijing is “permanently retrenching its investments and provision of development finance to the continent,” Zainab Usman, director of the Africa Program at the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said.   

“Development finance flows, especially lending, (are) now starting to rebound,” she said.    

No ‘debt traps’  

African leaders have this week secured deals with China on a range of sectors including infrastructure, agriculture, mining and energy.   

Western critics accuse China of using the BRI to enmesh developing nations in unsustainable debt to exert diplomatic leverage over them or even seize their assets.   

A chorus of African leaders — as well as research by leading global think tanks like London’s Chatham House — have rebuked the “debt trap” theory.   

“I don’t necessarily buy in the notion that when China invests, it is with an intention of… ensuring that those countries end up in a debt trap,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in Beijing on Thursday.   

One analyst agreed, saying that for many Africans, China has “become synonymous” with life-changing roads, bridges and ports and the debt-trap argument ignores the “positive impact” Beijing has had on infrastructure development on the continent.   

“The reality is some [African] countries have had a tough time fulfilling their debt repayment commitments due to a multiplicity of factors,” Ovigwe Eguegu, a policy analyst at consultancy Development Reimagined, said.   

Engel, of the Boston University research center, said the argument mistakenly assumes that “China solely has short-term objectives in Africa.”   

That, he said, “vastly underestimates [its] long-term vision… to shape a system of global governance that will be favorable to its rise.” 
…

your ad here

ADDIS ABABA, ethiopia — The Ethiopian government has freed seven Oromo Liberation Front, or OLF, members who have been in prison for more than four years.  

A spokesperson for OLF Lemi Gemechu told VOA’s Horn of Africa Service that the seven were released on Thursday from the different prisons where they had been held.    

He identified the seven as Abdi Regassa, Dawit Abdeta, Lammi Begna, Michael Boran, Kenessa Ayana, Gada Gabisa and Gada Oljira. 

“Before their release, there was a process that took all day,” Lemi said.  

“Just now, the Oromo Liberation Front leaders who have been imprisoned for over four years at different sites have been released, including Abdi Regassa, members of the executive committee and other officials well-known among the people, all seven of them, are now released and here at home,” he said. 

Abdi is a prominent member of the OLF who once was the commander of the military wing of OLF.    

The release took place at Burayu police station outside Addis Ababa.    

Some of the released detainees are members of the executive committee while others are central committee and executive members of the OLF.  

Lemi said they welcomed their release and congratulated their supporters and those who advocated for their release.     

On his Facebook page, Lemi posted a picture of the seven standing with the leader of OLF, Dawud Ibsa.  

In a statement issued Thursday on Facebook, OLF said the members were released on bail. OLF said they were detained for “exercising their legitimate political rights” and said their detention was “unjust.” 

The opposition members were detained in 2020 for what rights groups at the time described as “purely political” reasons.  

The Ethiopian government has not yet officially commented on the release of the opposition figures.  

The United States has also welcomed the release of OLF detainees. 

“We remain ready to support negotiations aimed at ending the violence and promoting durable peace for all Ethiopians,” the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs said in a post on X. 

Human Rights Watch had been calling on the Ethiopian authorities to release the seven senior members of the opposition political party.  

Meanwhile, the family of Taye Dendea, the detained former Ethiopian state minister of peace, has expressed their disappointment with the Supreme Court’s decision to deny him bail.    

Taye’s wife, Sintayehu Alemayehu, told VOA’s Horn of Africa Service that she is sad because of the decision of Ethiopia’s federal Supreme Court.    

The court on Wednesday upheld the decision by a lower court to reject the bail request by Taye.    

Taye appeared before a court in Addis Ababa on Wednesday to find that his bail request had been rejected. The former state minister was arrested in December last year after he posted comments criticizing Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.    

Police accused him of collaborating with groups aiming to destabilize Ethiopia. It also accused him of using social media platforms to endorse violence.  

A lower court acquitted Taye of these charges without requiring him to present a defense but ordered him to defend against the third charge concerning the illegal possession of firearms.  

This story originated in VOA Horn of Africa Service.   
…

your ad here

Johannesburg — South Africa’s Ukrainian Association has expressed outrage that a Russian naval vessel was recently allowed to dock for several days at Cape Town harbor. Critics say the incident calls into question Pretoria’s purported neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Ukrainian Association in South Africa said it was dismayed to learn the Russian naval training ship Smolnyy had anchored at the Port of Cape Town in late August.

While the vessel was docked in South Africa, Russian bombardments in Ukraine killed scores of people, including children, the association’s Dzvinka Kachur said.

“Meanwhile, a Russian military training ship docks in Cape Town reportedly strengthening military ties between the countries,” said Kachur.

The Russian consulate general in Cape Town said on its X account August 30 that the ship’s command had met with South African naval counterparts and hosted a reception “aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.”

Russian state news agency Tass also reported the ship’s “unofficial” port call. It said the ship had undertaken a long-distance voyage that included stops in Cuba and Venezuela so that 300 cadets from the Russian Ministry of Defense could conduct a maritime practice.

“The Ukrainian Association of South Africa urges the government to stop all military cooperation with Russia immediately,” said Kachur.

Some South African officials appeared taken by surprise when asked to comment on the ship’s visit. The mayor of Cape Town told the local Daily Maverick newspaper that he had been unaware of the port call and said it “seems to have been under the radar.’’

In response to a request from VOA for comment, the South African National Defense Force issued a statement confirming the vessel had been docked in Cape Town for re-supply purposes. It added that South Africa “as a sovereign state has a right and responsibility to accept the docking of foreign vessels as a maritime nation.”

The statement noted, “There are currently three foreign vessels in South African waters, including a Ukrainian vessel,” that is here for repairs.

But the Democratic Alliance, the former opposition party that is now part of South Africa’s new coalition government, condemned the incident as “cozying up to Russia.”

Chris Hattingh is a member of parliament for the Democratic Alliance.

“The latest incident, the berthing of Smolnyy, a Russian navy Baltic Fleet training vessel in Cape Town after visiting Venezuela and Cuba, underlines the contradiction of President [Cyril] Ramaphosa’s utterances of non-alignment in the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” he said.

The African National Congress, which has the most seats in parliament, has ties with Moscow dating back to when the former USSR backed its struggle against apartheid. They are also both BRICS members.

Pretoria has been criticized for not condemning the invasion of Ukraine and for hosting Russian warships in controversial joint exercises last year. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also visited and was warmly welcomed in 2023.

In May of last year, U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety alleged that South Africa had covertly provided arms to Russia when a different ship docked in Cape Town.

The South African government set up an independent investigation into the matter, which ultimately found no evidence of that.
…

your ad here

NAIROBI, Kenya — Ugandan Olympic marathon runner Rebecca Cheptegei has died, hospital officials said on Thursday, days after she was doused in petrol and set on fire by her boyfriend.

Kenyan and Ugandan media reported that Cheptegei, 33, who competed in the Paris Olympics, suffered burns to more than 75% of her body in the attack in Kenya on Sunday, making her the third female athlete to be killed in the country since October 2021.

“We have learnt of the sad passing on of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei … following a vicious attack by her boyfriend,” Donald Rukare, president of Uganda Olympics Committee, said in a post on X.

“May her gentle soul rest in peace and we strongly condemn violence against women. This was a cowardly and senseless act that has led to the loss of a great athlete.”

Cheptegei, who finished 44th in Paris, was admitted to a hospital in the Kenyan Rift Valley city of Eldoret after the attack.

Cheptegei “passed today morning at 5.30 am after her organs failed,” Owen Menach, senior director of clinical services at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, told Reuters, adding that a full report regarding the circumstances of her death would be released on Thursday afternoon.

Peter Ogwang, Uganda’s minister of state for sports, described her death as “tragic.”

“Kenyan authorities are investigating the circumstances under which she died and a more detailed report and program will be provided in due course,” he said.

Cheptegei’s death shines a spotlight on violence experienced by sportswomen in Kenya, where she lived when she trained.

In October 2021, Olympian runner Agnes Tirop, a rising star in Kenya’s highly competitive athletics scene, was found dead in her home in the town of Iten, with multiple stab wounds to the neck.

Ibrahim Rotich, her husband, was charged with her murder and has pleaded not guilty. The case is ongoing.

The 25-year-old’s killing shocked Kenya, with current and former athletes setting up Tirop’s Angels in 2022 to combat domestic violence.

Joan Chelimo, one of the founders of the non-profit, told Reuters that female athletes were at high risk of exploitation and violence at the hands of men drawn to their money.

“They get into these traps of predators who pose in their lives as lovers,” she said.
…

your ad here

BEIJING — Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday pledged more than $50 billion in financing for Africa over the next three years, promising to deepen cooperation in infrastructure and trade with the continent as he addressed Beijing’s biggest summit since the pandemic.

More than 50 African leaders and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres are attending this week’s China-Africa forum, according to state media.

African leaders already secured a plethora of deals this week for greater cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, mining, trade and energy.

Addressing the leaders at the forum’s opening ceremony in Beijing’s ornate Great Hall of the People on Thursday morning, Xi hailed ties with the continent as their “best period in history.”

“China is ready to deepen cooperation with African countries in industry, agriculture, infrastructure, trade and investment,” he said.

“Over the next three years, the Chinese government is willing to provide financial support amounting to $50.7 billion,” Xi said.

Over half of that will be in credit, he said, with $11 billion “in various types of assistance” as well as $10 billion through encouraging Chinese firms to invest.

He also promised to help “create at least one million jobs for Africa.”

Also addressing the meeting, UN chief Guterres told African leaders that growing ties between China and the continent could “drive the renewable energy revolution.”

“China’s remarkable record of development — including on eradicating poverty — provides a wealth of experience and expertise,” he said.

Deals and pledges

China, the world’s number two economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner and has sought to tap the continent’s vast troves of natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.

It has also furnished African countries with billions in loans that have helped build much-needed infrastructure but sometimes stoked controversy by saddling governments with huge debts.

Analysts say that Beijing’s largesse towards Africa is being recalibrated in the face of economic trouble at home and that geopolitical concerns over a growing tussle with the United States may increasingly be driving policy.

But bilateral meetings held on the sidelines of the summit delivered a slew of pledges on greater cooperation in projects from railway to solar panels to avocados.

Following meetings on Wednesday, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said he had overseen a deal between the country’s state-owned power company ZESCO and Beijing’s PowerChina to expand the use of rooftop solar panels in his country.

Nigeria — one of Beijing’s biggest debtors on the continent — and China inked a joint statement agreeing to “deepen cooperation” in infrastructure, including “transportation, ports and free trade zones.”

Expanding transport links

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, in turn, obtained a commitment from Xi to push for new progress on a long-stalled railway connecting his country to neighboring Zambia.

That project — which Zambian media has said Beijing has pledged $1 billion towards — is aimed at expanding transport links in the resource-rich eastern part of the continent.

Zimbabwe also won promises from Beijing for deeper cooperation in “agriculture, mining, environmentally friendly traditional and new energy (and) transportation infrastructure,” according to a joint statement by the two countries.

The southern African nation and Beijing also agreed to sign a deal that would allow the export of fresh Zimbabwean avocados to China, the joint statement said.

And Kenyan leader William Ruto said Xi had promised to open up China’s markets to agricultural products from his country.

The two sides agreed to work together on the expansion of the country’s Standard Gauge Railway — built with finance from Exim Bank of China — which connects the capital, Nairobi, with the port city of Mombasa.

And Ruto also secured a pledge for greater cooperation with China on the Rironi-Mau Summit-Malaba motorway, which Kenyan media has said is expected to cost $1.2 billion.

Ruto last year asked China for a $1 billion loan and the restructuring of existing debt to complete other stalled construction projects. The country now owes China more than $8 billion.
…

your ad here

…

your ad here

…

your ad here

Windhoek, Namibia — Wildlife conservationists, scientists and researchers in Namibia and Southern Africa have warned of impending legal action to halt the culling of wildlife as a “mitigation strategy” to address hunger.

Hunger affects about 700,000 people in Namibia, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization — especially in rural Namibia — and it has worsened because of the drought facing the southern African region.

Officials there have started a wildlife cull — a selective killing of wild animals to save the remaining herds and habitat — and in this instance, some of the meat will be shared with communities in need.

The cull, which began August 14, targets 723 animals: 30 hippos, 60 buffalo, 50 impala, 100 blue wildebeest, 300 zebras, 83 elephants and 100 eland antelopes.

But the Namibian cabinet decision requiring the country’s ministry of environment to aid the government’s drought relief effort has drawn the ire of conservationists and made international headlines. It’s also dividing public opinion on the timing of the decision and the logistics of culling and distributing the meat to affected communities, who are severely affected by drought.

Conservationist Izak Smit said Namibia’s constitution makes provision for the protection of its natural wildlife and heritage, and the cull could have detrimental effects on the balance of wildlife in their environment.

“It’s very irresponsible to do so after a drought before the rainy season when you actually need the population to procreate in order to bounce back from the drought,” Smit said. “And also culling means that you do not allow nature to take its course by weeding out the weak genetic material through natural selection, from which the best genetic pool will then emerge on the other side after the draught when the rainy season again starts.”

Opponents threatened legal action if Namibia authorities do not stop the cull on the grounds that it is detrimental to Namibia’s natural resources, not sustainable, and not justifiable and unscientific.

Herbert Jauch, of the Economic and Social Justice Trust, said a court of law may not be the right avenue to resolve the disagreement between the government and the conservationist, which seems to be centered on the need to protect Namibia’s Desert Adapted Elephants, which are a huge tourism attraction and an iconic heritage wildlife species in the country.

“Their chances are not really good,” Jauch said. “If there are scientific reasons, and from what I heard so far, this is largely around the desert elephants, then that should certainly be discussed with the ministry. But I think the principle is quite understandable that in drought years you might have to reduce the population.”

Romeo Muyunda, a spokesperson for Namibia’s Ministry of Environment, said the cull has been blown out of proportion and Namibia’s Desert Adapted Elephants are not the target of elephants earmarked for culling.

“We have millions of wildlife species in the country, approximately over 3 million animals in the country,” Muyunda said. “So, 723 does not even make up 1% of the total population that we have. Another example we have is the 24,000 elephants that we have in Namibia, we are only going to cull 83 elephants, and it still doesn’t make 1% of the population of elephants especially given the fact that elephants are currently the main concern here.”

The animals intended for culling will be stored at various meat processing factories in the country and will be distributed through the drought relief program. It will be headed by the office of the prime minister in a joint effort to address drought and hunger in the country.

Namibia’s cull has made international headlines, and conservationists are concerned it may create a harmful precedent for other African countries that do not have as successful conservation products as Namibia.
…

your ad here

Abuja, Nigeria — Barely 48 hours after Nigeria’s state-owned oil company made a startling revelation, hundreds of commuters joined a line stretching many kilometers for fuel at an NNPC outlet in the capital.

In a statement Sunday, Nigeria’s state oil firm, NNPC Limited, said that financial constraints are hampering its ability to import gasoline.

The statement acknowledged local media reports in July that the oil regulator owed oil traders more than $6 billion — double its debt compared with April.

Nigeria depends on imports to meet its daily demand for gasoline — more than 66 million liters — and NNPC is the sole importer of fuel.

Abuja resident John Prince said he’d been waiting in line for hours.

“When I came in the morning, they were not selling [gasoline]. They said they were waiting for orders from above. [Now] I’ve been here for the past two hours,” he said.

Prince said that while customers waited, the gasoline station increased prices by nearly 30%.

NNPC said the situation could worsen supply in coming days but also said it is working with the government and other partners to fix the problem.

Fuel shortages have been recurring in Nigeria since last year, despite Nigerian President Bola Tinubu scrapping the fuel subsidy.

Tinubu doubles as petroleum minister, but authorities later reinstated a partial subsidy to curb inflation, the high cost of living and growing public tensions triggered by economic reforms.

But the founder of the Center for Transparency Advocacy, Faith Nwadishi, said corruption and incompetence are to blame.

“It’s just a cocktail of corruption, impunity and no regard for the people of the country,” she said. “I think it’s just another ploy to make Nigerians pay for impunity. It’s quite disheartening. This morning, I had to queue so that I could get fuel to come out. You know — man hours lost, no productivity, and nobody is making any compensation for that. It’s unfortunate.”

Last month, NNPC announced a record $1.9 billion in profits for 2023 but said it was covering for shortfalls in the government’s petrol import bill.

Ogho Okiti, an economic analyst, said, “Every other oil-producing country is smiling now except Nigeria. So, it’s a transparency problem. There’s so much uncertainty. And that heightened uncertainty and volatility will continue to drive the price and, of course, drive the conditions that we see.

“As it is, we’re losing in all ramifications — we’re paying exorbitant prices for fuel, the government is not getting the resources, and the exchange rate is worsening,” Okiti said.

Meanwhile, authorities say the Dangote Oil Refinery in the Lagos area has begun gasoline production and could supply up to 25 million liters this month.

On Tuesday, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority entered an agreement with the NNPC to sell crude oil to Dangote refinery in the local currency, the naira.

If that happens, it could significantly address local supply issues and save the country several billions of dollars in foreign exchange.
…

your ad here

Algiers, Algeria — Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who assumed Algeria’s presidency during mass pro-democracy protests, is touting his achievements as he seeks another term. Yet, five years after the movement faded, some say real change remains elusive.

The Hirak protests, which led to the ousting of longtime autocratic president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in 2019, aimed for a comprehensive political overhaul.

Tebboune, a minister under Bouteflika, took over as president in December that year after widely boycotted elections, as the movement was stifled and its leaders were imprisoned.

Now, as he campaigns for the September 7 election, Tebboune says he has succeeded in rectifying the country’s past wrongs with broad achievements and is promising more if re-elected.

Despite more than 100 weeks of demonstrations, Tebboune “dismissed the democratic transition demanded by millions of citizens”, said Hasni Abidi, an Algeria analyst at the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center.

Abidi said a change in leadership alone was insufficient to bring about a “new era”, despite Tebboune’s frequent references to a “new Algeria.”

Even as his first term nears its end, Tebboune still faced the “difficulty of bringing about profound change,” he said.

Algeria-based political commentator Mohamed Hennad said this change should primarily be political.

“As long as political questions are not legitimately resolved, any economic, cultural, or diplomatic discourse is pure diversion,” he told AFP.

The Hirak movement withered away with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, coupled with a sweeping crackdown on protesters. Hundreds were arrested, and dozens remain behind bars or are still being prosecuted, according to prisoners’ rights group CNLD.

‘We suffered a lot’

Since taking office, Tebboune has claimed to have put Algeria back on track, frequently referring to Bouteflika’s last years in power as the “mafia decade” where control of the oil-rich country was concentrated in the hands of a “gang.”

During his tenure, several businessmen, ministers and political figures from that era, including Bouteflika’s brother Said, were convicted on corruption charges and imprisoned.

Tebboune also says he has successfully transformed Algeria into an emerging economy, now Africa’s third-largest.

Abidi, however, points out that Tebboune’s success has been aided by a “favourable international setting”, with the Ukraine-Russia war driving up natural gas prices to the benefit of Algeria, the continent’s top exporter.

This economic windfall has allowed Tebboune to deliver “local-interest speeches steeped in populism”, said Abidi, with promises of free housing, raising the minimum wage and higher social pensions.

At a recent rally in Oran, Tebboune pledged to create 450,000 jobs and increase monthly unemployment benefits if re-elected.

Launched in 2022, unemployment benefits now provide 13,000 dinars ($97) to people aged 19 to 40, and Tebboune has promised to raise this to 20,000 dinars — currently the minimum wage.

Despite these pledges, critics have said social and economic progress under Tebboune has been slow.

But the president often defends his record by saying his achievements have come despite “a war against Covid-19 and corruption” following the Hirak movement.

Abdelhamid Megunine, a 20-year-old student in Algiers, recalls that period with bitterness.

“We suffered a lot,” he told AFP. “Prices and the cost of living have since increased.”

Although Algeria’s economy has grown at a rate of about 4% over the past two years, with foreign exchange reserves reaching $70 billion, it remains heavily dependent on oil and gas.

Hydrocarbon exports account for about 95% of the North African country’s hard currency revenues, which are crucial for sustaining social assistance programs.

Diplomacy

On foreign policy, Tebboune’s tenure has seen a mix of successes and challenges.

Algeria gained international attention in January when it became a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, where it has been a strong advocate for Palestinian rights.

However, relations with neighboring countries, especially Morocco, have worsened, largely due to the ongoing dispute over Western Sahara.

Algeria, a strong supporter of the territory’s pro-independence Polisario Front, severed diplomatic ties with Morocco in August 2021 following escalating tensions over Western Sahara and Rabat’s decision to normalize relations with Israel.

Similarly, relations with France, already strained due to a history of colonialism, recently suffered a blow.

Last month, French President Macron said Morocco’s autonomy plan was the only solution for Western Sahara, which the United Nations still considers as a “non-self-governing” territory.

In response, Algiers withdrew its ambassador to France, condemning the move as a “step that no other French government had taken before.”
…

your ad here