Politics

Senegal President Sall calls for more seats for African Union at UNGA summit

Published

2 years ago

September 21, 2022

President Macky Sall of Senegal and current chairperson of the African Union (AU), has advocated for Africa to get more seats at the G20.

The G20 or Group of Twenty, is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU), which aims at working to address major issues related to the global economy such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, and sustainable development.

The group holds a strategic role in securing future global economic growth and prosperity and the members represent more than 80 percent of world GDP, 75 percent of international trade and 60 percent of the world population.

While addressing the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Tuesday, Sall reiterated earlier calls for a better representation of the continent on the world stage.

“I would like to remind you of our request for the African Union to be granted a seat within the G20, so that Africa can, at last, be represented where decisions are taken that affect 1,400,000,000 Africans.”

Also speaking on rising prices to a warming planet, deadly conflicts on the continent and the global state of affairs, Sall told world leaders to, as a matter of urgency, put efforts towards resolving various simultaneous conflicts in Africa amid a terrorism threat.

“Terrorism gaining ground on the continent is not just an African matter. It is a global threat that falls under the primary purview of the UN Security Council, the guarantor of the collective security mechanism, under the UN Charter,” he said.

The AU chairperson added that Africa “does not want to be the breeding ground of a new Cold War,” alluding to the pressure mounting on the continent’s leaders to choose sides over the war in Ukraine.

Click to comment

Politics

Mozambique: Ruling FRELIMO announces Chapo as presidential candidate

Published

1 hour ago

May 7, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Daniel Chapo has announced that he will run for president in the October election on behalf of the ruling FRELIMO party in Mozambique.

Since achieving independence in 1975, FRELIMO has ruled the nation in southern Africa, and the party is hoping that Chapo can lead it to another win in the election on October 9.

“The soap opera of speculation is over, including speculation about the third term,” President Filipe Nyusi said on state television on Sunday, dismissing the prospect of contesting elections again.

“We must all unite around comrade Daniel Francisco Chapo, in the demanding march towards electoral victory next October,” Nyusi said.

The president of Mozambique is limited to two terms of five years by the constitution. Nevertheless, following his reelection as party leader in 2022, there had been conjecture in the media that Nyusi may run for a third term.

Chapo, a relatively unknown person in national politics, is the governor of the province of Inhambane in southern Mozambique. As to the party announcement, he secured 225 votes (about 94%) from the central committee of the party.

“We are going to work with all social strata,” Chapo said on television after his win.

Chapo, a former radio host, was born in 1977, making him the first candidate for FRELIMO to be born since the nation gained its independence.

He has served in many governmental capacities, most notably as an administrator of the districts of Nacala and Palma. He also has a master’s degree in development management and a law degree.

Politics

Again, Rwanda denies it attacked displaced persons in DR Congo

Published

3 days ago

May 4, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

For the sixteenth time, Rwanda refuted US charges on Saturday that its troops attacked a camp for internally displaced persons in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), placing the blame instead on militants it claimed were backed by the military of the Congo.

The US State Department released a statement in which it vehemently denounced the incident that claimed at least nine lives on Friday.

There have been persistent accusations against Rwanda of providing support to the armed organizations, which has resulted in diplomatic tensions between the neighbours in East Africa.

Citing the threat that Rwanda’s surface-to-air missile systems posed to civilians, U.N. and other regional peacekeepers, aid workers, and commercial aircraft operating in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the US demanded in February that Rwanda remove its systems and all of its armed forces from the DRC immediately. Rwanda denies providing any assistance to the rebels.

According to the U.S. statement, the M23 rebel group, which Rwanda supports, and the Rwandan Defense Forces (RDF) held the positions from which the attack was launched. The United States is “gravely concerned about the recent RDF and M23 expansion” in eastern Congo.

Speaking on behalf of the Rwandan government, Yolande Makolo refuted claims that the RDF was responsible for the attack, blaming instead rebels backed by the Congolese military.

“The RDF, a professional army, would never attack an IDP (displaced persons). Look to the lawless FDLR and Wazalendo supported by the FARDC (Congolese military) for this kind of atrocity,” she said in a post on X.

Wazalendo is a Christian sect, while the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) is a Hutu organization that was founded by Hutu officials who left Rwanda after planning the 1994 genocide.

Thousands of people from the surrounding areas have fled to Goma in eastern Congo as a result of the M23 rebels’ two-year offensive, which has advanced toward the city in recent months.