Politics

Dutch, Danish Prime Ministers on working visit to South Africa

Published

2 years ago

June 20, 2023

Prime Ministers of the Netherlands and Denmark are currently in South Africa on a joint working visit.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, who recently returned from a peace mission in Europe, received the two leaders on Tuesday morning.

According to the South Africa’s public broadcaster, SABC, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen’s trip aims to strengthen connections between the three nations in the areas of green hydrogen, renewable energy, and a just energy transition.

In his speech, while receiving the Prime Ministers, President Ramaphosa noted that the joint working visit was indicative of shared objectives between the countries in the areas in which they cooperate.

Both countries have long and historic relationships with South Africa, which have grown in substance and diversity over recent years, the president said.

He noted that the engagements on closer cooperation in the energy space were very opportune and important.

“Renewable energy forms an increasingly important part of our energy mix and is vital to both the achievement of a just transition and greater energy security. We hope to benefit from closer cooperation with your countries in this regard, Ramaposa said.

If we are to bridge the growing divides between nations, between regions, and between the Global North and South then we must begin with dialogue,” He added.

“Denmark, the Netherlands, and South Africa – alongside the African Union and European Union – are important partners in addressing our common and respective challenges” said.

Many European countries are seeking alternate sources of energy to manage reliance on supply from Russia as part of the fallouts of the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

Related Topics:Denmark Featured Netherlands South Africa

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Politics

Egyptian court upholds ex-presidential candidate Ahmed Tantawy’s sentence

Published

14 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Former presidential candidate, Ahmed Tantawy, and his campaign manager, Mohamed Abou El-Diar, were found guilty of faking election paperwork, and given a one-year jail term with labour by an Egyptian court, Tantawy’s legal team announced Tuesday.

Last year, Tantawy was the most well-known candidate to run against Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for a third term, winning 89.6% of the vote.

To avoid receiving the necessary number of public endorsements to be on the ballot, he halted his campaign before to the election, alleging harassment and arrests directed at hundreds of his family members and associates.

Egyptian authorities criticised Tantawy’s tactic of distributing unapproved copies of endorsement forms to garner popular support, but they denied any misconduct.

Egypt’s Misdemeanour Appeals Court upheld the May court ruling on Monday, which prohibits Tantawy from seeking public office for five years and mandates that he pay a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($395).

Tantawy’s defence team member and well-known human rights attorney Khaled Ali said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that the appeals procedure was riddled with anomalies.

Ali said lawyers struggled for months to confirm court dates, with hearings appearing absent from official schedules and case files missing from court registries.

The public prosecution was not immediately available to comment on the ruling or on Ali’s allegations over the process.

Politics

Court orders Uganda to compensate LRA war crimes victims

Published

14 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Uganda’s tribunal has ordered the government to pay up to 10 million Ugandan shillings ($2,740) to each victim of Lord’s Resistance Army commander, Thomas Kwoyelo, the first senior rebel leader to be convicted.

Kwoyelo, a mid-level LRA leader, was sentenced to 40 years in jail in October for war crimes like murder, rape, slavery, torture, and kidnapping.

Kwoyelo’s “indigent” status prevented him from compensating the victims, thus the court ordered the government to compensate.

Kwoyelo’s crimes were “a manifestation of failure on the part of the government that triggers a responsibility on the state to pay reparations to the victims,” the verdict added.

The court also ordered various financial compensation to Kwoyelo’s property destruction and theft victims.

From strongholds in northern Uganda, the LRA brutalised Ugandans under Joseph Kony for over 20 years while it fought the military to destroy the government.

The militants raped, abducted, cut off victims’ limbs and mouths, and bludgeoned them to death using crude implements.

Under military pressure, the LRA withdrew to lawless forests in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic in 2005 and perpetrated civilian atrocities.

Although assaults are rare, Kony and splintered groups are reported to dwell there.

Kwoyelo was taken by the Ugandan military in 2009 in the northeastern Congo, and his case made its way through Ugandan courts until he was found guilty in August.