EU & Europe

Photo Source: Safe Water Africa. Credit: Salomon Lda (Mozambique)

EU Leaps to Africa’s Rescue with Clean Water

By Jeffrey Moyo

BLANTYRE, Malawi (IDN) – In Karonga, a district in the northern region of Malawi, 32-year old Mavis Banda, a mother of three daughters busies herself drawing safe drinking water from a borehole located at the heart of her village.

Banda and several other villagers claimed they long abandoned a local well where for years they drew water for domestic purposes, thanks to the initiative by the European Union (EU) ensuring developing African countries like Malawi access safe drinking water – as stipulated in Goal 6 of the UN Agenda 2030, which aims to “ensure access to water and sanitation for all”.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 July 2019

Photo: Walter Lindner (right), German Ambassador to India, with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Credit: OFM

Outrage After German Ambassador to India Visits Paramilitary RSS Headquarters

By OFMI*

This article is the eighth in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

NAGPUR, India (IDN) — Controversy is raging after Germany’s Ambassador to India, Walter Lindner, visited the Nagpur, Maharashtra headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on July 17 despite the group’s implication in anti-minority pogroms and heavily documented inspiration by European fascist movements, including that of Nazi Germany.

: J C Suresh; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 18 July 2019

Photo: The July 7-8 talks between the Taliban and Afghan delegates in Doha. Credit: MEMRI

Germany and EU Encouraged by Afghan Talks in Doha

Afghanistan On the Long Road to Trust and Reconciliation

By Rita Joshi

BERLIN (IDN) – As a friend to Afghanistan, Germany has supported efforts to achieve peace in the country for many years. After 40 years of almost constant violence, the main prerequisites for peace, according to the German Foreign Office, are "a willingness to engage in dialogue and a certain level of trust across deep divides."

: Rita Joshi; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 14 July 2019

Promoting Sustainable Development Through Aid for Trade

By Jaya Ramachandran

GENEVA (IDN) – "Over the past 40 years the ACP and the EU have promoted a unique trade and development cooperation model that inspires global North-South cooperation," said Viwanou Gnassounou, Assistant Secretary-General of the ACP Group of States, at the 'Aid for Trade' Global Review 2019.

"Evidently from the post 2020 EU-ACP trade cooperation, the objective of maintaining inclusiveness while seeking to achieve greater integration into the global economy and promoting sustainable development remains central going forward," added Gnassounou.

: Jaya Ramachandran; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 07 July 2019

BIOPAMA Launches the 1st Call for Proposals for Medium Grants

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – The Biodiversity and Protected Areas Management (BIOPAMA) has launched on June 24 the first call for proposals for medium grants (up to € 400,000) in the frame of its "Action component". The Programme assists the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries to address their priorities for improved management and governance of biodiversity and natural resources.

BIOPAMA provides a variety of tools, services and funding to conservation actors in ACP countries. It is an initiative of the ACP Group of States financed by the joint ACP-European Union (EU) 11th European Development Fund (EDF).

: Reinhard Jacobsen; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 25 June 2019

Photo: Relieved and happy to be released from detention, a refugee hugs UNHCR staff as they meet at the Gathering and Departure Facility in Tripoli, Libya. © UNHCR/Mohamed Alalem.

European Union Lambasted for 'Externalising' Migration Policy

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – More than twenty African and international organizations have signed a letter which slates the European Union and its member states for externalizing migration policy through direct and indirect cooperation with regimes and militia forces that are utterly unaccountable for their actions, and violating its constitutional values and international obligations, including the responsibility to protect.

The letter to the European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, and High Representative of the European Union, Federica Mogherini, appeals for "an EU external policy framework based on European values".

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 19 June 2019

Volunteering Kicks Up a Notch in Kenya

By J W Jackie

RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) – One of the biggest cross-nation collaborations currently, is between the European Union and Kenya. This unusual pairing provides Kenya with the resources to implement development strategies with a Sh8 billion line of credit (USD 78.922.800,00) from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

While the loan is earmarked for the private sector to improve development, there is a definite need for support in all areas to make these funds go even further. One of the biggest cost items for any development project is labour. While paid labour will still be a component, a large form of relief is through skilled volunteers.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 June 2019

Photo: UN Secretary-General António Guterres receives the Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, Germany on 30 May 2019. Credit: UNFCCC/James Dowson.

The United Nations Need a Strong and United Europe

Viewpoint by António Guterres

The following are extensive excerpts from the Secretary-General's address on May 30, 2019 in Germany at the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen, the ancient continental capital for the Unity of Europe, close to the French border, where he received the prestigious Charlemagne Prize, awarded each year since 1950, for services towards European unification. The European Union, which grew out of the ashes of two world wars, has forged “an exemplary partnership” with the United Nations, said the UN chief, and the breakup of the 28-nation political and economic bloc, “would inevitably be the failure of multilateralism and the failure of a world in which the rule of law can prevail”. – The Editor

: Ramesh Jaura; OPINION; 30 May 2019

Supporting Local Energy Access Projects Across East Africa

By Radwan Jakeem

This article is part of reports by the UN SDG Media Compact of which IDN is a member.

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – UN Secretary-General António Guterres has repeatedly said that it is time to end the fallacy that subsidizing fossil fuels is a way to improve people’s lives, and has called for the private sector to support the climate agenda.

As an example of how business can support the UN’s climate agenda, Portugal-based utility company EDP (Energias de Portugal) has partnered with the UN-backed Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) initiative to fund sustainable and clean energy projects in east Africa, notably in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi.

: Jaya Ramachandran; THE WORLD; Africa; 29 May 2019

Photo: "Baker Shot", part of Operation Crossroads, a nuclear test by the United States at Bikini Atoll in 1946. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

USA Claims Russia Flouting Global Ban on Nuclear Testing Too

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – Amid mounting signs of a new arms race unleashing between the United States and Russia, which together account for 93 percent of the nuclear weapons around the world, a top Trump Administration official has obliquely accused Russia of violating the global ban on nuclear tests enshrined in the 1996 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

The allegation comes within days of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message on the anniversary of the launch of his disarmament agenda 'Securing Our Common Future', in Geneva on May 24.