Author: pr web

NAIROBI, African countries are having to spend up to five percent of their annual economic output to shield themselves against the impacts of climate change, even though they emit the least greenhouse gases in the world, a report released Saturday said.

 

The findings, published by the Nairobi-based think tank Power Shift Africa, focus on the costs of warding off climate impacts by strengthening transport infrastructure, shoring up communications, building flood defences and other

preventative measures.

 

The threat is forcing nations to divert “already stretched” resources to climate self-defence, the report said.

 

The survey focused on seven countries from around the continent.

 

Ethiopia — which is also fighting a brutal war in its northern region — was the hardest-hit, spending up to 5.6 percent of its GDP to ward off climate-related disasters, it said.

 

Conflict-wracked South Sudan, which has been reeling from heavy rains and flash floods affecting more than 850,000 people, is on track to spend up to 3.1 percent of its GDP every year, the report said.

 

In West Africa, meanwhile, Sierra Leone will be spending as much as $90 million a year — 2.3 percent of its economic output — on climate adaptation, even though its citizens on average generate 80 times less carbon than US residents.

 

“This report shows the deep injustice of the climate emergency,” said Mohamed Adow, head of the Power Shift Africa.

 

“It is simply not acceptable for the costs to fall on those people who are suffering the most while contributing the least to climate change.”

 

Adow said African nations needed a “massive” amount of help to withstand the onslaught of climate change.

 

African economies have long struggled to find funds to limit emissions while also adapting to climate change.

 

A study published last November warned that the world’s 65 most vulnerable nations will see GDP drop 20 percent on average by 2050 and 64 percent by 2100 if the world heats up by 2.9 degrees Celsius (5.2 degrees Fahrenheit).

 

That research, commissioned by Christian Aid, found that eight of the top 10 most affected countries are in Africa, with the remaining two in South America.

 

All 10 countries would see their GDP fall by 40 percent even if global temperature rises are capped at 1.5C, in keeping with the most ambitious Paris Agreement goal, the study said.

 

To date, Earth’s average surface temperature has risen 1.1C compared to late 19th-century levels.

 

The next COP27 climate summit will be held in Egypt, seeking to build on gains made at the previous conference in Glasgow last year.

 

Pledges were made at COP26 to phase down coal-fired power, curb methane emissions and boost financial aid to developing countries.

 

Rich countries have also vowed to muster $100 billion annually in climate aid for poor nations.

 

But only a part of that funding promise has so far been earmarked for adaptation, as opposed to measures to mitigate carbon emissions.

 

A report last year by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) found that developing countries will need to spend up to $300 billion a year on adaptation measures by 2030, and up to $500 billion annually by 2050.

 

Source: Nam News Network

ABUJA, NIGERIA — “Vision Media Services Limited” reads the inscription on a metal gate leading to a compound on a dusty road in Jabi, a district in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.

 

A communication mast tapers into the sky next to a golden-yellow one-story building that houses a media conglomerate comprising seven radio outlets and one television station.

 

Vision FM is the company’s mainstay. Shuaibu Mungadi, its chief operating officer, runs the station with four other senior broadcasters who pride themselves on each having at least 30 years’ experience in journalism.

 

But the once bustling corridors are quieter than usual. Voices of top company executives who are gathered in a meeting room to discuss the station’s future can be heard from the reception area.

 

They’re reviewing the unexpected sanctions on the station’s popular Idon Mikiya or Truth to Power show.

 

The one-hour current affairs program airs at 5 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and is the station’s most successful. At least 30 million listeners tune in every week from across northern Nigeria, station managers say.

 

But on Jan. 28, all that changed. Nigerian media regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission, ordered Vision FM to suspend the show for six months and fined the station about $12,500.

 

At a recent meeting on the suspension, Mungadi sat at a table flipping through documents as management discussed a way forward. Weeks of dialogue have yet to pay off, he told VOA.

“The constitutional role of the media is being trampled by the government, that is the position of things. The government is vehement, the government is indifferent,” Mungadi said.

 

VOA’s requests for a comment from the media regulator were declined.

 

But in its letter to the broadcaster, the regulator cited a Jan. 5 show that discussed controversies over Rufai Abubakar, head of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA). Nigerian media and critics have questioned Abubakar’s suitability to lead the agency.

 

The regulator alleged that Vision FM broadcast trade secrets and other issues regarding the national security agency, and that its commentaries lacked fairness and balance.

 

The content, including information about agency appointments, constituted “a breach of the provision of section 39(3)(b) of the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which imposes restrictions on matters concerning government security services or agencies established by law,” the letter read.

 

But Mungadi said authorities are twisting the law to stifle views and said the show was just raising important issues.

 

The Nigeria Union of Journalists, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and other rights groups criticized the suspension.

 

The regulator’s actions come amid an increase in media repression that critics say has worsened under President Muhammadu Buhari.

 

In January, NIA agents demanded that People’s Gazette reveal the identity of a source use in the newspaper’s reporting about the agency director. In an unrelated incident, unidentified men beat a journalist and damaged equipment at Thunder Blowers, a news website in Zamfara state.

 

Media rights groups say journalists risk arbitrary detentions or charges under a 2015 cybercrime law. They note that last year, the president suspended Twitter for seven months.

 

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders says Nigeria is one of the most difficult places in West Africa to report from, with journalists spied on, arrested, attacked or even killed. The country registered a five-point decline on the World Press Freedom Index last year, ranking 120 out of 180 where 1 is freest.

 

Authorities deny they are suppressing press freedom. The media regulator has previously said it is not restricting the media but warned news outlets to be conscious of their reporting and said that defaulters will be called to order.

 

Vision FM feels loss

 

Back at the radio station, things have not been the same. Every week the station loses about $25,000 usually generated from advertisements and sponsorships, Mungadi said.

 

The suspension is taking a toll.

 

“We lost our marketing because there’s so much sponsorship on this program, those sponsorships were withdrawn,” Mungadi said.

 

Without that revenue, Mungadi said, he is unsure how long the station can keep up with salaries.

 

Listeners are also calling to ask why the show is no longer broadcast.

 

“Once it is five o’clock you’ll see a lot of people calling, ‘I am on your station now but I am not hearing Idon Mikiya, what is happening?’ Even if the program comes back we’re going to lose a lot of listeners,” said station manager Abdul Alugbere.

 

Supporters in the northern Nigerian states of Kano, Sokoto, and Bauchi attempted to protest the suspension but, Alugbere said, they were stopped by the police.

 

The suspension shows authorities are not open to criticism, said Kolawole Oluwadare, director of SERAP.

 

The Nigerian nonprofit focuses on fighting corruption and economic and social rights. When the regulator suspended Vision FM’s show, SERAP issued a statement urging authorities to lift the ban.

 

“(The suspension) again shows the government’s intolerance for whatever is perceived as critical views of government action. We have also approached the station because we’re willing to take this up in the public’s interest,” said Oluwadare.

 

For now, Mungadi and his team at Vision Media continue to make efforts to reverse the suspension. But he said they’d never renege on journalistic standards, no matter the cost.

 

“We are journalists, we cannot be intimidated into discarding issues of public interest. We shall rather remain sanctioned than compromised,” said Mungadi.

 

Source: Voice of America

Perpetrators responsible for recent escalating violence in Unity state, South Sudan, must be held accountable, the UN Mission in the country, UNMISS, said in a statement on Friday.

 

Fighting between the Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition and armed youths, which began in Mirmir Payam, has spread to several villages in Koch, Mayiandit and Leer.

 

“UNMISS strongly condemns the violence at a time when humanitarian needs are rising, and people are already reeling from the worst flooding in decades,” the statement said.

 

Killings, rapes and looting

The violence has been mounting over the past two weeks.

 

Civilians have been killed, while others were injured or forced to flee their homes. Property was destroyed and humanitarian supplies were also looted in the violence.

 

Nine women were raped between 22 and 23 February, health facilities in Leer town reported.

 

Prevent further escalation

UNMISS has appealed to national and local leaders, and armed groups, to immediately stop the violence.

 

“The Mission urges national and local authorities to take immediate measures to reduce tensions and to prevent further escalation of the situation,” the statement said.

 

UNMISS will ramp up patrols and continue to work with stakeholders at the state, national and local level, as well as communities, to encourage dialogue and reduce tensions and insecurity.

 

It also plans to conduct missions to the affected areas to assess the situation and document allegations of violations and abuses.

 

The statement calls for authorities to carry out timely investigations and urges the Government to hold accountable those responsible for instigating and participating in the violence.

 

Source: UN News Center

BANGUI, CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC — As much of the world denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Thursday, the Central African Republic’s capital, Bangui, hosted a tribute to Russian paramilitaries who helped beat back rebels a year ago.

In Bangui’s city center, a human-sized statue erected last year depicts Central African and Russian security forces protecting a woman and her child.

As Western countries tried in vain Wednesday to prevent Russian military aggression against Ukraine, about 100 Central Africans gathered at the monument holding Russian flags.

The group was paying tribute to Russian mercenaries who helped defend the capital, Bangui, last year against rebels.

Blaise-Didacien Kossimatchi organized the ceremony. He heads the “National Galaxy” platform, a Central African group close to the government that often holds protests against France and the United Nations.

He says they say no to everything that is a smear campaign against our army and our Russians, especially by the international press who qualify the Russians as mercenaries.. Kossimatchi adds, “no, the Russians are not here to make exactions – the Russians did nothing!”

By exactions, Kossimatchi means crimes such as rapes and killings. U.N. experts accuse Russian mercenaries of abusing civilians in the CAR. and several other countries.

Several of those celebrating the anniversary wore T-shirts that read “I am Wagner,” a reference to the Wagner Group, the shadowy Russian network that supplied the mercenaries.

Analysts say Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ally, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is behind the Wagner Group.

Wagner’s fighters provide security for CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra and have been spotted from Syria to Libya and from Mozambique to Mali.

Yefi Kezza, a member of the ruling United Hearts Movement party, says they’re changing history. You see what is happening in Mali, says Kezza. This is a strong message that I’m sending to the French Embassy today, he says. It is time to cooperate with President Touadera and to try and liberate the country together, says Kezza. We’re grateful to the Russians. We are here today, he says, and we have invited the Russians to join us to thank them along with our national army.

No Russians attended the celebration in Bangui, but one Central African army commander was in the crowd.

One man held a sign that read, “Russia will Save the Donbas from War,” referring to the area in southeast Ukraine that Russia declared independent this week before launching its invasion.

A CAR government spokesman declined to comment on the celebration.

 

Source: Voice of America

Seven African heads of state gathered in Kinshasa on Thursday to assess a 2013 agreement aimed at cementing peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s violence-torn east and the Great Lakes region.

The Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework aims at fostering efforts to stabilize the region.

Millions of people died from violence, disease or starvation in the 1996-7 and 1998-2003 Congo Wars — a conflict that enmeshed countries from around east and central Africa.

The Kinshasa summit, the 10th in the series, brought together the presidents of the DRC, South Africa, Uganda, Angola, the Republic of Congo, Burundi and the Central African Republic, a diplomat said.

The summit was expected to express concern about logistical and other support for armed groups that remain active in the region.

It would “take note” of joint DRC-Ugandan operations against the most notorious group, the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the diplomat said.

The historic operation was launched in the border area late last November, prompted by a string of massacres in eastern DRC and bomb attacks in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

The summit would also congratulate improved relations between Rwanda and Uganda and between Rwanda and Burundi after a long period of tension.

The 2013 accord was eventually signed by a total of 11 countries, including Kenya, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia.

The next summit will be hosted in 2023 by Burundi.

 

Source: Voice of America

NAIROBI — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has so far been met with diplomatic silence in Africa, except for a comment made by Kenya’s ambassador to the UN earlier this week. Analysts say that while many Africans disagree with Russia’s use of force, the continent’s governments are aware of Russia’s power on the world stage.

Ukraine’s ambassador to Kenya, Andrii Pravednyk, spoke to reporters in Nairobi and appealed to the international community to help his country against Russia’s invasion.

“Today, the future of Europe and the future of the world is at stake. Today Ukraine calls on the international community to take the following actions, to implement devastating sanctions on Russia now without any delay,” he said.

But so far, African governments have said nothing about the Russian aggression. One exception is Kenya, whose ambassador to the U.N., Martin Kimani, condemned the prospect of an invasion Monday, three days before Russian forces entered Ukraine.

“Kenya rejects such a yearning from being pursued by force. We must complete our recovery from the embers of dead empires in a way that does not plunge us back into new forms of domination and oppression,” he said.

Separately, South Africa issued a statement Wednesday urging Ukraine and Russia to find a way to de-escalate tensions.

Steven Gruzd is the head of the Russia-Africa Program at the South African Institute of International Affairs. He says African states are well aware of Russia’s power in the international system.

“African countries are mindful of the role Russia plays in international politics. It is a supporter without asking governance questions, without asking [about] the internal affairs of countries,” he said.

“There was a big Africa-Russia summit in 2019 in Sochi where 43 African leaders went. Russia is definitely wooing the continent and that may weigh on how critical countries are going to be,” he said.

But Grudz says in principle, African government oppose the idea of rearranging borders by force.

“We were left with colonial borders at the end of the 19th century and when our countries became independent, we decided that we would respect those borders even though they cut off ethnic groups and language groups and so on. Otherwise, it’s a recipe for total disaster. So, I think the fact that there is some political affinity between Russia and African countries would probably make the statement more muted but African countries will stand for their principles and one of those is territorial integrity and sovereignty,” he said.

Kenyan international relations expert Kizito Sabala says he doubts the Kenyan ambassador’s words at the U.N. will affect Nairobi’s relationship with Moscow.

“Russia is going to ignore this statement just like any other from the U.S. or any other partner. They are just going to proceed with what they want to do and what they think is right but in terms of relations, I don’t think it is going to adversely affect Kenya-Russia relations,” he said.

Russia has exerted increasing influence in Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Mali and Libya in recent years. Some governments have used Russian mercenaries to battle insurgent groups.

The mercenaries are accused of widespread abuses against civilians. The Russian government denies any link to the mercenaries.

 

Source: Voice of America