Musings From Abroad

Church of England apologises over role in slave trade

Published

3 weeks ago

January 10, 2023

Africa has continue to struggle with the effects of post-imperialist reigns which saw it children captured into slavery and later colonialism in the 19th century.

One of the contributors to the imperialist acts, the Church of England, on Tuesday apologized for past links to slavery.

The church apologized for the involvement of a related financial body the Church Commissioners of England to it which is now engaged in a wide-ranging process to compensate victimized communities.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Church, remarked that “the time has come to take action in response to this shameful past.”

“I am deeply sorry,”

Revelations emerged in June 2022 that “the Church Commissioners’ endowment had historical ties” to the transatlantic slave trade.

The report reveals that this fund had invested “significant amounts” in the South Sea Company, which traded in African slaves. It also received donations from people involved in the slave trade and plantation economy.

“The Church Commissioners are deeply sorry for their predecessors’ ties to the transatlantic slave trade,” the organization said in a statement.

“Nothing we do, hundreds of years later, will restore the lives of enslaved people,” the Commissioners wrote in the introduction to their report.

“But we can and will acknowledge the horror and shame of the Church’s role in the slave trade, and through responses, we will seek to begin to address the injustices committed.”

In their efforts to find a direct trade route to Asia during the age of Old Imperialism, European nations established colonies in the Americas, India, South Africa, and the East Indies, and gained territory along the coasts of Africa and China.

Musings From Abroad

Italian firm, Eni signs $8 billion Libya gas deal as PM Meloni visits Tripoli

Published

9 hours ago

January 28, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

With the aim of boosting energy supplies and other markets, Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) signed an $8 billion gas production deal with Italian energy company Eni.

The deal, which comes despite the insecurity and political chaos in the North African country was signed during a visit to Tripoli by Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, aims to increase gas output for the Libyan domestic market as well as exports, through the development of two offshore gas fields.

Meloni met Libya’s Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, head of the internationally recognised Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli for talks that also focused on migration across the Mediterranean.

At a joint news conference with Descalzi, the NOC chief, Farhat Bengdara, said the gas deal had a duration of 25 years and called it the most important new investment in Libya’s energy sector for a quarter of a century.

According to a statement by Eni’s chief executive, Claudio Descalzi, the output will begin in 2026 and reach a plateau of 750 million cubic feet per day.

“This agreement will enable important investments in Libya’s energy sector, contributing to local development and job creation while strengthening Eni’s role as a leading operator in the country.”

Since the beginning of the current Russia/Ukraine war, European countries have sought alternate gas sources outside Russia. Italy on its part has already taken a lead in sourcing gas from Algeria, building a new strategic partnership there that includes investment to help state energy company Sonatrach reverse years of declining output.

Libya is the fourth natural gas producer on the African continent, and oil and gas resources largely contribute to Libya’s export trade. The country developed a strong oil sector after major oil discoveries in the late 1950s.

Musings From Abroad

EU chief, Josep Borrell, wants South Africa to influence ceasefire with Ukraine

Published

2 days ago

January 27, 2023

Ifeoluwa Dada

The regional bloc, European Union wants South Africa to influence Russia to stop its ongoing war with Ukraine.

The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Friday raised expectations that the African country will use its good relations with Russia to convince it to stop the war in Ukraine.

Borrell, while speaking alongside South Africa’s foreign minister Naledi Pandor in the capital Pretoria, said “The EU isn’t asking South Africa to choose sides, just asking countries across the world to stand with the UN Charter.”

The EU considers South Africa an important partner in the rules-based international order, he added.

Pandor said: “It is not just South Africa and other African countries that must play a role in seeking peace.”

Full diplomatic relations between South Africa and Russia were established in 1942 as the Soviet Union. Russia has an embassy in Pretoria and a consulate-general in Cape Town. South Africa has an embassy in Moscow.