Musings From Abroad

Italian PM, Meloni to visit Tunisia as efforts to speed up IMF loan intensify

Published

2 years ago

June 5, 2023

Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni is hoping that her planned travel to the North African country, Tunisia will facilitate delayed talks about the loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to a source quoted by Reuters, Meloni will be visiting the North African country on Tuesday after recent travels to neighbours, Algeria and Libya.

There are concerns that the delay with the loan could deepen Tunisia’s financial crisis and escalate migrants’ crisis across the Mediterranean Sea in search of a better life in Europe.

Tunisia and the IMF have been negotiating a $1.9 billion loan for months, with Tunisian President, Kais Saied rejecting key terms of the proposed deal.

A few months ago, Tunisia’s General Labour Union (UGTT) expressed concern about the IMF’s proposed financial bailout. During the May Day celebrations, labour officials criticized what they called an “IMF government,” while protesters chanted “No to colonization.”

Last week, President Saied announced a regime of additional taxes which would be introduced as a stopgap measure ahead of an expected IMF loan.

Tunisia is indebted to the tune of roughly 80% of its GDP and received an agreement in principle from the IMF last year for a new loan of nearly $2 billion to assist it in overcoming its severe financial crisis.

In February, he directed security forces to deport all illegal immigrants, accusing them of plotting to change Tunisia’s demographics so that it became more African and less Arab. The crackdown fuelled an increase in migrant departures to Italy.

According to the latest United Nations data, approximately 26,555 of the 51,215 boat migrants who arrived in Italy by the first week of June this year had set sail from Tunisia, compared to 3,658 in the same period in 2022.

Related Topics:Featured IMF Italy Meloni Tunisia

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Musings From Abroad

Seeking to expand ties in Africa, Indonesia’s Prabowo attends D-8 economic meeting in Egypt

Published

23 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

According to the government, Indonesian President, Prabowo Subianto, travelled to Egypt on Tuesday to attend meetings of the D-8 Organisation for Economic Cooperation, a group of eight significant Muslim developing nations.

To enhance collaboration between the nations spanning from Southeast Asia to Africa, the D-8 was formed in 1997 and consists of Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey. Beginning in January 2026, Indonesia will serve as the group’s chair.

Prabowo said that he would meet with Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the president of Egypt.

“Egypt is our close friend, our strategic partner and an important country in the Middle East,” he said before his departure, adding he would also meet the Egyptian business community.

He would go to Malaysia from Egypt and then return to Indonesia.

Since taking office in October, Prabowo has stated that his administration will uphold Indonesia’s long-standing non-alignment foreign policy.

Since winning the presidency earlier this year, he has been to more than 20 nations, including China, the US, Japan, and Russia.

Musings From Abroad

UN warns Sudan rebels may be getting weapons in Chad from UAE cargo planes

Published

5 days ago

December 14, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Flight data and satellite photographs reveal that dozens of UAE cargo planes have landed at a small Chad airstrip since Sudan’s civil war began last year, which some U.N. experts and diplomats fear is being used to transport guns into the fight.

At least 86 UAE planes have landed at Amdjarass airfield in eastern Chad since the war started in April 2023.

According to flight data and business records examined by Reuters, three-quarters of them were operated by airlines accused by the U.N. of transporting Emirati weaponry to a Libyan warlord.

The UAE, a key Western partner in the Middle East, insists it sends Sudan aid through Chad, not armaments.

The UAE denied “credible” allegations that it was supplying Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group fighting the Sudanese army in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions, via the Chad airstrip in January.

Reuters uncovered footage from Amdjarass this year, revealing two pallets loaded with khaki containers, some labelled with the UAE flag, on the tarmac.

Reuters is obscuring the footage’s date and provenance for fear of reprisals.

Three weapons specialists, two of whom were U.N. inspectors, said the containers were unlikely to convey humanitarian material, generally bundled in cardboard boxes coated in plastic and stacked high on pallets due to its lightweight. The footage shows metal containers packed low on pallets.

One U.N. weapons inspector said the contents were “highly probably ammunition or weapons, based on the design and colour of boxes,” but requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the information.

He stated that right-hand pallet cases are long and slender, suggesting weaponry.

Reuters could not independently verify the containers’ contents. The filming date is being withheld to protect the source.

The UAE government told Reuters it has deployed 159 relief planes with more than 10,000 tonnes of food and medical assistance to feed its Amdjarass field hospital.

“We firmly reject the baseless and unfounded claims regarding the provision of arms and military equipment to any warring party since the beginning of the conflict,” the statement said.

To counter Islamist militants, the oil-rich Gulf kingdom has interfered in crises from Yemen to Libya since the Arab Spring protests of 2011. The UAE views Muslim Brotherhood and other groups as threats to internal stability.

In Sudan’s army, Islamists affiliated with deposed President Omar al-Bashir have long held power.

Senior RSF official Brigadier General Omar Hamdan rejected foreign help. He told Nairobi media on Nov. 18 that Sudanese firms made its guns and ammunition. The RSF declined to comment on this topic.