SUSTAINABILITY

Photo: Trump has a hobby, a nasty hobby, of blocking Nigerian candidates for international positions. He incited the Board of the African Development Bank (AfDB) against its president Akinwunmi Adesina’s second term bid. And, he has been blocking, Nigeria/Africa’s candidate for the position of director general of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Collage of pictures of Akinwunmi Adesina (left) and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (right) by IDN-INPS.

Letter to US President-elect Joe Biden

By Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – If Nigerians had a vote, you’ll probably not be the 46th President of the United States of America. A Pew Research Centre poll in January showed that two countries – Kenya and Nigeria – were still madly in love with lame-duck President Donald J. Trump.

You might wonder why in spite of your long list of transgressions against Trump – from his malicious negligence in the fight against Coronavirus to his congenital lying, and from race-baiting to his crooked politics – we still love him.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 10 November 2020

Photo: Children in Ethiopia's Oromia Region, where alarming violence has erupted. Credit: WFP/Michael Tewelde

Ethnic Strife in Ethiopia Threatens All-Out Civil War

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Those who held high hopes for peace in the Horn of Africa are troubled by the rise in conflicts across the region with fears growing of a potentially destabilizing civil war. The latest conflict pits the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed against the Tigray people who see themselves side-lined from power after almost two decades as head of a coalition that ran the country from 1991 until 2012.

On November 4, Mr. Abiy, winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize after making peace with Eritrea, ordered the start of a military offensive against Tigray, accusing the region’s ruling party of attacking a government defence post and attempting to steal artillery and military equipment.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 09 November 2020

Breaking the Culture of Violence to Advance Peace and Security

Viewpoint by P.I. Gomes*

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago (IDN) – The Preamble to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development refers to what is called the 5P’s of People, Planet, Prosperity, Peace and Partnership. They capture with such lucid precision what is referred to as “all areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet.”

These are all areas deserving of concerted attention, but the widespread and insidiously yet blatant impact of violence, as the negation of “peace”, might benefit from some reflections. Manifested increasingly in such multiple forms as gender-based violence (GBV), trafficking in persons, ruthless assaults of gun violence, armed conflict, racial supremacist abusive language, ethnic profiling and violent extremism – all span a range of human behaviour that is violent in intent and in effect, resulting in loss of life or life-long injury, at times physical, psychological or both.

: Dr. Patrick Gomes - former ACP Seretary-General; OPINION; 09 November 2020

Reclaiming Public Development Banks to Finance a Sustainable & Equitable Recovery Post Covid-19

Viewpoint by Thomas Marois and Maria Jose Romero *

BRUSSELS (IDN) – Those who work in the world’s public development banks will meet virtually on November 11-12 to discuss their response to the Covid-19 pandemic and their role in a more sustainable future.

This new summit, which they have called ‘Finance in Common’ (FiC), will also bring together the governments that own them and other key stakeholders from the public and private sectors, civil society, think tanks and academia.

: Europe Editor; COVID-19; 08 November 2020

Photo: Trump's new apparently low-yield nuclear warhead entered production in 2019. Credit: Ronald Gutridge/U.S. Navy.

Nuclear Weapons Are Illegal Under International Law

A Landmark Victory for the United Nations

Viewpoint by Somar Wijayadasa*

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) reached on October 24 the required 50 signatories for its entry into force on January 22, 2021. It will eventually make nuclear weapons — the most dangerous weapons of mass destruction — illegal under international law.

Unquestionably, it is a landmark victory for the United Nations that continually for 75 years had on its agenda the issues relating to disarmament and abolition of nuclear weapons. It is remarkable that it coincided with the UN’s 75th anniversary, and also the infamous use of atomic bombs in August 1945.

: Somar Wijayadasa; OPINION; 07 November 2020

Photo: Zanzibar. Credit: Kester Kenn Klomegah

Undeterred by Health Warnings, Russians Begin Flocking to Africa's Islands

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – Despite the worsening coronavirus situation in Russia, at least during the months of October and November, Russian tourism agencies have briskly been organizing group tours to the Indian Ocean islands of Zanzibar, Seychelles and Mauritius.

Obviously, because the islands seem to have the lowest cases of the pandemic and have taken strict measures to halt the spread of COVID-19. And, these islands are favourite destinations for foreign tourists and have closely diverse geopolitical relations with the world.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 06 November 2020

Photo: A woman casts her vote in Tanzanian elections as an electoral official looks on Credit: DW/E. Boniphase Amas

Trump’s Cousins Can’t Wait to Be Born

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – I suspected the pregnancy will not be carried to full term and now, it’s playing out. Even before the US electoral monster conceived by President Donald J. Trump was weaned, a few African countries are already taking delivery of their own premature electoral monster babies.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 06 November 2020

A Rallying Call for Nuclear Weapons Elimination By 2045

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – Kazakhstan's Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in New York has joined the call of civil society for achieving the global elimination of nuclear weapons at least by 2045, arguing that setting the 2045 goal would provide a global rallying call to build a strong movement and that would leave no room for being dismissed as unrealistically early by those who rely on nuclear deterrence.

They were speaking at a Webinar on November 2, co-sponsored by Basel Peace Office, IDN-InDepthNews, Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), UNFOLD ZERO and #wethepeoples2020. It explored the political value of setting 2045, the 100th anniversary of the United Nations, as the target date by which the global elimination of nuclear weapons should be achieved, if not before.

: J Nastranis; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 05 November 2020

Pressing Need to Ensure Responsible African Digitalisation

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The profound importance of data is underlined by the fact that the United Nations is measuring progress towards the 17 ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the help of a global network working together to ensure the new opportunities of the data revolution.

Youth are being referred to as the "torchbearers" of the 2030 Agenda and have a pivotal role to play both as beneficiaries of actions and policies under the Agenda and as partners and participants in its implementation. Indeed, both explicitly and implicitly, the 2030 Agenda calls for the development and activation of sound, evidence-based youth policies and actions to ensure its full realization.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 November 2020

Photo: Ivory Coast protests. Source: Euronews.

Democracy Takes A Beating in Elections Across the African Continent

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Foul play may have been the winner in recent national elections in Tanzania, where the ruling party swept up an overwhelming majority of parliamentary seats and the leaders of both top opposition parties lost theirs.

Citing “seditious language”, the election commission suspended the campaign of opposition challenger Tundu Lissu. Heavily armed police blocked his entire convoy for hours as he headed to launch new offices earlier this month. In a similar fashion, opposition candidate Seif Sharif Hamad was arrested on October 29, soon after holding a press conference in Zanzibar.