Africa

Photo: Secretary-General António Guterres addresses a high-level event inaugurating Africa Week on 16 October 2017 at the UN headquarters in New York. UN Photo/Cia Pak

Strategic Alignment of Global, African Agendas a Must

By António Guterres

Note: Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the high-level event inaugurating the Africa Week (October 16-20) at the UN on the theme: “Supporting an Integrated, Prosperous, People-Centred and Peaceful Africa: Towards the Implementation of Agenda 2063 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. – The Editor

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) - In recent years, the continent has made headway in reducing poverty, diversifying economies, building the middle class and nurturing growth in a variety of growing sectors such as banking, telecom and retail. More children – and especially girls – are in primary school. More women are serving in parliaments. Child and maternal deaths have been reduced – as has the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 16 October 2017

Photo: Dorothy Githae, founder and chief executive officer of the Kenya-based 360 Degrees International. Credit: A.D. McKenzIe.

Forum Calls for More Support to African Entrepreneurs, Youth

By A.D. McKenzie

PARIS (IDN) – Africa is the world’s most entrepreneurial region, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), but “manufacturing is receding”.

To discuss solutions as well as highlight some of the challenges facing the continent, the organisation’s 17th International Economic Forum on Africa brought together government leaders, businesspeople, civil society and others in Paris on October 4, with a focus on entrepreneurship and industrialisation.

“Of the 25 countries with the strongest economic growth between 2004 and 2014, 10 were African,” says the Paris-based OECD. Yet, “not enough jobs have been created for the rapidly expanding youth population” and “growth has not been inclusive enough,” the organisation adds.

: A.D. McKenzie; THE WORLD; Africa; 09 October 2017

Photo: Capoeira classes with boys formerly associated with armed groups in North Kivu. Credit: Flavio Forner | IDN-INPS

Orphans of Conflict in DR Congo Learning a Brazilian Martial Art to Overcome Pain

By Fabíola Ortiz

GOMA (IDN) - Since February this year, 16-year old Melvin* lives in a shelter for former child soldiers in the suburbs of Goma, the capital city of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He belongs to a small community.

His story resembles that of many Congolese boys living in the faraway communities in eastern DRC. He was abducted from his home village to forcedly join the Nyatura rebels – a Mayi-Mayi ethnic community-led armed group founded in 2010 mainly by the Congolese Hutus. Among the human rights violations they have been accused of is the recruitment of child soldiers – one of the most heinous crimes they have committed.

It is two years now that the introverted Melvin, who has lost track of his family, has not been able to return to his community. He is likely to be one among thousands of orphans from the conflict.

: Fabiola Ortiz; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 October 2017

Photo: Mustapha and the students of Future Prowess Islamic Foundation School before morning assembly. © UNHCR/Rahima Gambo

Nigerian 'Unsung Hero' Honoured with Major UN Award

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) - Zannah Mustapha, a champion for the rights of displaced children growing up amid violence in north-eastern Nigeria to get a quality education, was honoured with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR's Nansen Refugee Award on October 2 for his dedication and commitment to ensuring children and orphans affected by the conflict in Borno State can attend school. A lawyer turned property developer in Borno state, Mustapha also took part in mediating between Boko Haram and the Nigerian government.

Mustapha took home prize money of $150,000, funded in partnership with the Norwegian Refugee Council, the Swiss Government, the Norwegian Government and the IKEA Foundation.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 02 October 2017

Photo: UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka speaks at the high-level event titled "The Women, Peace and Security Agenda in a Changing Global Context" during the 72nd UN General Assembly. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Taking Women, Peace and Security to the Next Level in Africa

By UN Women

UNITED NATIONS (IDN-INPS) - African advocates, pioneers, and thought leaders of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, together with the Norwegian Foreign Minister Børge Brende, took stock of the achievements and challenges for women building sustainable peace on the continent at a high-level event on September 22 during the 72nd General Assembly.

“If peace processes do not include women, civil society and youth, they are not sustainable,” Børge Brende summarized the common understanding motivating all panellists in their endeavour.

When the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) in 2000 and acknowledged the multifaceted role women play for peace and conflict, it was a milestone. In the aftermath, advocates all around the globe pushed Member States for its tangible implementation via National Action Plans (NAPs).

: UN Women; UN INSIDER; 30 September 2017

Photo: The late former South African President Nelson Mandela and President Robert Mugabe. Credit: The Herald

Mugabe Faults Late Mandela for Leaving South Africa to the Whites

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK | HARARE (IDN) - Thanks to the former South African leader, “Everything (today) is in the whites’ hands.” That was the harsh judgment of the legacy of President Nelson Mandela heard early September 2017 at a rally in Zimbabwe. It provoked a media whirlwind that rocked southern Africa.

"The most important thing for (Mandela) was his release from prison and nothing else," Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe was widely reported to say. "He cherished that freedom more than anything else and forgot why he was put in jail." Mugabe made his remarks in Shona at a ruling party rally in the central town of Gweru. NewZimbabwe.com translated these remarks.

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 26 September 2017

Photo: Eugen Fischer, an infamous German eugenicist who studied “racial mixing” in colonial Namibia, and whose theories inspired Adolf Hitler, and later eugenics researchers at South Africa’s Stellenbosch University. Credit: africasacountry.com

Skeletal Remains of Hereros Give a New Twist to Genocide Case

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The New York-based American Museum of Natural History is believed to be holding skeletal remains collected by a German racialist scientist who studied the Herero and Namaqua peoples of Namibia.

The find was announced earlier in September 2017 and will be included in a federal class action suit filed on behalf of the Hereros and Nama people by the New York attorney Kenneth McCallion.

The remains were originally gathered for use in experiments. According to representatives of the Namibian groups, skulls and skeletons dating to the German occupation of southwest Africa in the decades before World War 1 still remain in a museum archive. The museum has declined to comment.

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 26 September 2017

Photo: UNIDO DG LI Yong addresses a special event, “Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (2016-2025): From political commitment to actions on the ground". 21 September 2017. Credit: UN Photo/Manuel Elias

Making the 3rd Industrial Development Decade for Africa a Reality with Actions on the Ground

By J Nastranis

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) – When the United Nations General Assembly adopted a Resolution to declare 2016-2025 as the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (IDDA III) in August 2016, it stated: "Africa remains the poorest and the most vulnerable region in the world." And this despite the two previous decades.

The Resolution A/RES/70/293 noted "the need for the continent to take urgent action to advance sustainable industrialization as a key element of furthering economic diversification and value addition, creating jobs and thus reducing poverty," and contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 24 September 2017

Photo: The skyline of Johannesburg's Central Business District as seen from the observatory of the Carlton Centre. CC BY-SA 3.0

The 25 Biggest Companies in Africa and Their Industries

By Jackie

RENO, Nevada, United States (IDN) – Business is booming across Africa and a number of companies have risen above the fray with 24 of them being worth over $1 billion. However, many of these companies are not famous outside of the continent, so what are the 25 biggest companies in Africa? They are:

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; NEWSBRIEFS; 16 September 2017

Photo: Viwanou Gnassounou, Assistant Secretary General of the ACP Group. Credit: IISD

79 Countries Gather in the Bahamas to Address Sustainable Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture

By Viwanou Gnassounou

ACP Assistant Secretary General for Sustainable Economic Development and Trade.

Fisheries and aquaculture are critical for poverty eradication and sustainable development in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. With this in view, ministers and senior government officials from 79 countries that constitute the ACP Group of States will gather in Nassau, the capital city of the Bahamas – the coral-based archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean Bahamas with 700-plus islands – from September 18 to 21, 2017. "The focus will be on bolstering high level shared commitments, sharing national or regional best practices and seeking consensus on priority issues that need multilateral action," says Viwanou Gnassounou, ACP Assistant Secretary General for Sustainable Economic Development & Trade. – The Editor