United States - The African Mirror

Jul

27

2024

DRC ceasefire for humanitarian aid is a small step forward – what must happen next for peace

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

THE United States has negotiated a truce so humanitarian assistance can be given to more than seven million people, including children, caught in the grip of the conflict in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The initial cessation of hostilities was for two weeks. It was extended by a further two weeks. Armed conflicts and other forms of violence have triggered wave after wave of internal refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). More recently, fighting between government troops and the M23 rebels has trapped millions in and around Goma, the main eastern city.…

Jul

25

2024

By CONRAD ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

US, Russia compete for Africa’s nuclear power deals

NEWS

THE United States and Russia are looking to increase their influence in the nascent African nuclear energy market, as more African countries seek to pursue power generation from nuclear plants. Many of those countries are eyeing 2030 as a start date for the generation of nuclear power. Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, Morocco and Tanzania are all seeking to join South Africa, currently the only country with a nuclear power plant on the continent, in the production of this low-carbon electricity. The US and Russia are courting these countries with forums that offer insight on their nuclear journeys, by…

Jul

18

2024

By ERIC REIDY

US Gaza pier to close after costing $230m for a day’s worth of aid

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian. By Eric Reidy THE United States will soon permanently shut down the floating pier it constructed earlier this year to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip, bringing to a premature end an ill-fated $230 million project beset from the start by unrealistic expectations and logistical problems. Billed as an effort to drastically increase the amount of aid entering the enclave, the temporary pier project was mired in controversy right from the get-go. “It was a boondoggle from start to finish,” Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International, told The New Humanitarian. The…

May

22

2024

By ANDREA SHALAL, TREVOR HUNNICUTT and STEVE HOLLAND

Biden, Kenya’s Ruto to discuss Kenyan debt relief this week

NEWS

U.S. President Joe Biden will play host this week to Kenyan President William Ruto for wide-ranging talks expected to include debt relief for Kenya as well as the way forward for Haiti, Ukraine, Sudan and other areas. Kenya has been grappling with acute liquidity challenges, and a senior administration official told Reuters on Monday that the United States is urging big creditor countries like China, Kenya's biggest creditor, to offer debtor countries relief. "We think it's essential that responsible debtors provide reprieves for countries like Kenya, whether that's by debt service suspensions or via new grant assistance," the official said. Washington is…

May

20

2024

By MICHAEL HOLDEN and SAM TOBIN

WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange faces U.S. extradition judgment day

WORLD

A British court could give a final decision on whether WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange should be extradited to the United States over the mass leak of secret U.S. documents, the culmination of 13 years of legal battles and detentions. Two judges at the High Court in London are set to rule on whether the court is satisfied by U.S. assurances that Assange, 52, would not face the death penalty and could rely on the First Amendment right to free speech if he faced a U.S. trial for spying. Assange's legal team say he could be on a plane across the…

May

19

2024

By BERNARD ORR, GUY FAULCONBRIDGE and ANDREW OSBORN

Putin and Xi pledge a new era and condemn the United States

WORLD

CHINA'S Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin pledged a "new era" of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world. Xi greeted Putin on a red carpet outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where they were hailed by marching People's Liberation Army soldiers, a 21-gun salute on Tiananmen Square and children waving the flags of China and Russia. China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he sent tens of…

May

17

2024

By BERNARD ORR, GUY FAULCONBRIDGE and ANDREW OSBORN

Putin and Xi pledge a new era and condemn the United States

WORLD

CHINA'S Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin pledged a "new era" of a partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon that was sowing chaos across the world. Xi greeted Putin on a red carpet outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where they were hailed by marching People's Liberation Army soldiers, a 21-gun salute on Tiananmen Square and children waving the flags of China and Russia. China and Russia declared a "no limits" partnership in February 2022 when Putin visited Beijing just days before he…

May

09

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, STEVE HOLLAND and MOHAMMAD SALEM

U.S. pauses some weapons to Israel as battles rage around Rafah

WORLD

HAMAS said it was battling Israeli troops on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip's crowded southern city of Rafah after a U.S. official said Washington had halted a shipment of powerful bombs that Israel could use in a full-scale assault. The United States, which is seeking to stave off an Israeli invasion of Rafah, said it believes a revised Hamas ceasefire proposal may lead to a breakthrough in an impasse in negotiations, with talks resuming in Cairo on Wednesday. Israel has threatened a major assault on Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are holed up there, but Western nations…

May

06

2024

By GRAM SLATTERY and NATHAN LAYNE

Trump vows to fight ‘anti-white feeling’ in the United States. His allies have a plan

WORLD

DONALD Trump's pledge to fight what he calls "anti-white feeling" in the U.S. will likely embolden allies who seek to dismantle government and corporate programs created to battle racism and boost diversity in American life. Some high-profile supporters of the former president, now the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, say policies for safeguarding people of color in classrooms, workplaces and charities should be repurposed to protect the rights of white people as well. "I think there is a definite anti-white feeling in this country," Trump told Time in an interview published on Tuesday. "I don't think it would be a very…

May

04

2024

By The African Mirror

NEW UNITED NATIONS REFORMS MUST FAVOUR THE GLOBAL SOUTH

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

ABBEY MAKOE THE rise of the Majority World, or global south, in world politics has triggered pertinent issues in relation to the archaic nature and form of the UN system. And, Secretary-General of the UN Antonio Guterres summed it absolutely spot-on when he recently delivered a frank appraisal of the UN in this day and age. “We cannot solve 21st century problems with 20th century tools,” he said. The UN system has been grossly undermined by the stranglehold of the Western-led unipolar international world order. The UN Charter effected at the end of WW11 in 1945 sought to create a world that…