Politics

African leaders plead for end to Zimbabwe sanctions at UNGA

Published

2 years ago

September 23, 2022

All the African leaders who spoke at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), used the opportunity to plead and to push for an end to stiff western embargo against Zimbabwe, which has been in place for over two decades, arguing that the sanctions are hurting ordinary people in the country and in the region.

First to make the plea was African Union (AU) chairperson and President Macky Sall of Senegal who led the charge when he delivered his address at the UNGA 77th session on Tuesday.

Sall described the sanctions as stifling and detrimental to the well being of the citizens and called that it should be removed immediately to enable Zimbabwe to realise its full potential.

“The AU once again calls for the lifting of foreign sanctions against Zimbabwe.

“These harsh measures continue to inflict a sense of injustice against an entire people and aggravate their suffering in these times of deep crisis,” President Sall said.

The AU Chairperson’s impassioned plea was echoed by other African in their addresses to the UNGA, each calling on the west to lift the sanctions on Zimbabwe in the interest of the people.

President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is the current Chairman of the Southern African Development Community, in his address on Wednesday, said the sanctions on Zimbabwe was “a crime against an innocent people” who are the ones bearing the brunt and not the ruling class and the elites.

Kenyan President William Ruto who made his maiden UNGA address on Thursday, said the sanctions were only hurting the “vulnerable and ordinary people” in the country.

“Unilateral coercive actions, such as those imposed on Zimbabwe and Cuba, apart from undermining the sovereign equality of nations, also indiscriminately punish the general citizenry, reserving their bitterest sting for innocent hustlers and the vulnerable.”

South Africa also condemned the sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe and called on the international community to relax them.

South Africa’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Naledi Pandor, who represented President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Summit, said:

“South Africa calls for an end to unilateral coercive measures against Zimbabwe, which have compounded the problems experienced by the people of Zimbabwe.”

Different targeted sanctions and embargoes, including economic, were imposed on Zimbabwe in 2002 by several western countries including the US, European Union member states, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, against the regime of the late Robert Mugabe following a disputed presidential election.

Mugabe was accused of human rights violations and electoral fraud, but till he died, had always insisted the country was being punished for a land reform programme that saw over 2000 white Zimbabweans losing their commercial farms without compensation.

But the US, EU and the UK have maintained that the sanctions do not affect ordinary people as they are targeted at government officials that are linked to human rights abuses.

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Politics

Ghana’s Supreme Court reinstates ruling party’s majority

Published

3 days ago

November 13, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

The ruling New Patriotic Party regained its majority in the legislature ahead of the Dec. 7 election after Ghana’s Supreme Court declared on Tuesday that the speaker of parliament’s declaration of four seats as vacant was illegal.

Alexander Afenyo-Markin, the leader of the NPP caucus, petitioned the supreme court of the West African nation to reverse Speaker Alban Bagbin’s decision.

Bagbin had said that one member of the National Democratic Congress and two members of the NPP had resigned their seats when they registered to run as independents.

Another lawmaker with an NPP leaning filed as an NPP candidate to run for office.

Due to Bagbin’s decision, the NDC now holds 136 members in parliament, compared to the 135 held by the NPP, the party of outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo.

The approval of Supreme Court nominees, loans, and bill enactments, as well as the presentation of a provisional budget for the first quarter of 2025, were all delayed by the indefinite postponement of two further parliamentary sessions.

In a televised decision, Chief Justice Gertrude Torkornoo declared that Afenyo-Markin’s appeal was successful by a majority vote of 5:2. She noted that the court will later submit the rationale for its ruling.

According to Afenyo-Markin, the decision permitted the parliament to return to its regular activities. Among other things, it is anticipated to approve a $250 million World Bank loan intended to support the financial industry and give corporations tax breaks.

A request for comment from Bagbin’s representative was not answered.

Although some observers predict a hotly contested election, opinion surveys suggest that primary opposition leader John Dramani Mahama will likely defeat NPP contender and incumbent Vice President Muhamudu Bawumia in next month’s election.

Politics

Senegal: PM Sonko urges followers to avenge campaign violence

Published

3 days ago

November 13, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Senegal’s Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, has advised Pastef party followers to exact retribution for claimed violence against them during the Sunday parliamentary election campaign.

Before a presidential election in March in some of the greatest disturbances in Senegal’s history, supporters of the prime minister, also president of Pastef, battled with police. Since Sonko’s ally, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, won the vote, the nation has remained peaceful. He defeated then-president Macky Sall handily.

However, reports of periodic conflicts between various party supporters have surfaced recently as the nation gets ready for a legislative contest that will finally determine how much Faye and Sonko will be able to carry out their agenda.

Sonko claimed in a social media post attacks against Pastef supporters in the capital Dakar and other towns since campaigning began.

“May each patriot they have attacked and injured, be proportionally avenged. We will exercise our legitimate right to respond,” he wrote.

The text accompanied a photo of a young man showing a gashing wound on his forearm.

The first week of campaigning saw an increase in violence reported by a local civil society group involving conflicts between supporters in central Senegal and the burning of an opposition party headquarters in Dakar.

Calling for calm, the interior ministry said on Monday it had been notified of acts of violence and sabotage against party caravans and other campaign activity.

In order to stop damage, rights defender Alioune Tine asked politicians to exhibit “moderation and wisdom” in their speech and requested the interior ministry to invite various party representatives to meet.

“The verbal escalation has reached a critical threshold, we have the impression of going to war,” Tine posted on X.

Pastef is up against former ruling parties that have united ex-presidents Sall and Abdoulaye Wade into a coalition.

Dissolving the opposition-led national assembly in September, Faye accused legislators of not participating in substantive budget and other proposal debates.