Musings From Abroad

Minerals, export market in view as South Korea’s Yoon hosts Africa summit

Published

6 months ago

June 4, 2024

South Korea is hosting a meeting this week with the presidents of 48 countries, and at the top of its agenda is aiding Africa’s industrial infrastructure and digital transformation, citing the continent’s abundant mineral riches and potential as a massive export market.

According to Kim Tae-hyo, deputy national security adviser to President Yoon Suk Yeol, “cooperation with Africa is not a choice but a necessity” and Africa is a “crucial partner” for South Korea to develop its economic advancements.

There are 48 national delegations present at the summit on Tuesday, including at least 30 heads of state. According to Yoon’s office, a joint statement will be released by Yoon and President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of Mauritania, who is the chair of the African Union.

Business leaders from South Korea are organizing a business forum on investment, industrial development, and food security this Wednesday. “Africa’s strategic importance has never been greater,” Kim said.

Leading semiconductor manufacturers and the world’s fifth-largest automaker, which is pushing for electrification, are based in South Korea, which is also one of the biggest energy consumers in the world. According to Yoon’s office, collaboration with Africa is essential since it provides 30% of the world’s essential minerals, such as manganese, cobalt, and chrome.

Yoon has been meeting with the leaders of Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Sierra Leone since Friday. On Monday, he is expected to meet individually with the leaders of Zimbabwe, Togo, Rwanda, and Mozambique.

In the meantime, Ethiopia inked a $1 billion finance agreement over four years for infrastructure, science and technology, health, and urban development, while Tanzania announced that it would borrow $2.5 billion through concessional loans from South Korea over the next five years.

Reaching out with offers to assist with digital transformation and industrial infrastructure, South Korea is attempting to get a foothold in a massive and rapidly expanding market that is home to 1.4 billion people, most of whom are under 25.

Several nations are anticipated to sign agreements meant to create the framework for trade and investment, which will assist in creating the administrative framework for increased trade freedom and sophisticated customs administration, according to Kim.

Plans for collaboration on climate change measures and assistance with agricultural technologies are also on the table.

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Musings From Abroad

Finnish court imprisons Nigeria’s Simon Ekpa for aiding terrorism

Published

10 hours ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Simon Ekpa, a Nigerian separatist leader based abroad, has been placed under detention by the Päijät Häme District Court in Finland on suspicion of inciting others to commit acts of terrorism.

According to the local daily, Helsingin Sanomat, the court rendered the ruling on Thursday following his arraignment by the Central Criminal Police for his involvement in the terror attacks that have afflicted the southeast area of Nigeria.

“The police suspect that the man has promoted his efforts from Finland with means that have led to violence against civilians in the region of South-Eastern Nigeria,” stated Otto Hiltunen, the crime commissioner and investigation head.

“The man has carried out his activity, among other things, on his social media channels.”

Hiltunen also informed the court that the police suspected four additional individuals in Finland of funding Ekpa’s activities.

According to the story, Ekpa is of Nigerian descent and was born in the Finnish city of Lahti.

His offence occurred between August 23, 2021, and November 18, 2024, according to court documents cited in the publication.

Ekpa is not the only person the police have arrested. In February 2023, they caught him at a private Lahtian flat, but he was freed the same day.

Through the Eastern Security Network (ESN) and the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement, Ekpa has continued to be outspoken on social media, raising money and agitating for a Biafran nation to secede. In the southeast part of Nigeria, both factions have been involved in acts of violence, murders, and maimings.

Since gaining formal independence in 1960, Nigeria has seen the emergence of several separatist organisations. The latest surge of calls for self-determination among different ethnic groups has been louder under its immediate previous President Muhammadu Buhari.

Musings From Abroad

Malian singer Rokia Traore arrested in Italy, to be sent to Belgium

Published

1 day ago

November 20, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

After Italy’s top court denied her appeal, well-known Malian singer, Rokia Traore, who was detained in Rome in June due to a global child custody dispute, will be sent over to Belgium in the next few days, her attorney announced on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old Traore is a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR and one of Africa’s most well-known vocalists.

“Rokia suffered an injustice. She was arrested without the Belgian criminal court hearing her voice. Now, the battle for Rokia’s rights moves to Brussels,” lawyer Maddalena Del Re said in a statement to Reuters.

The attorney also stated that in its decision late Tuesday, Italy’s Court of Cassation upheld an extradition decision from the European Court of Justice.

Under a European arrest order, Traore was taken into custody on June 20 at the Fiumicino airport in Rome. In October 2023, she was given a two-year prison sentence in Belgium related to a dispute over her daughter’s custody.

She had flown to perform outside Rome’s Colosseum, and she has been imprisoned in Civitavecchia, close to the Italian city, since her detention at Fiumicino.

Lawyer Del Re said that because a conviction was rendered without the defendant’s presence, the Belgian process goes against both international norms and Italian constitutional standards.

After she disregarded a court order to turn over her baby to her Belgian father, the singer’s divorced ex-partner, she was initially taken into custody in France in 2020 on a Belgian arrest warrant.

She disobeyed orders not to leave France until her extradition case was handled by taking a private jet to Mali months after being conditionally released. Mali is where her daughter resides.