Politics

Egypt: President al-Sisi promises more investment, social spending as 3rd term begins

Published

1 month ago

April 3, 2024

Tuesday saw the inauguration of Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, for a third term in the nation’s new capital at one of the biggest of the mega-projects that have come to represent his administration.

Speaking at the recently constructed parliament building, Sisi outlined the difficulties Egypt had faced recently and pledged to continue the country’s progress, which many Egyptians claim they are left out of.

“The past few years have shown that the path of nation-building is not paved with roses … between terrorist attempts at home, sudden global crises abroad, fierce wars around us,” Sisi told lawmakers and religious, government, and military officials.

During his speech, Sisi pledged to augment funding for initiatives aimed at the impoverished and involve the corporate sector, adhering to the pledges that facilitated the completion of the enlarged $8 billion agreement with the IMF last month.

In an election held in December of last year, Sisi easily won with 89.6% of the vote and no real opposition. His message of security and stability struck a chord with some voters as the conflict raged in Gaza’s neighbouring country. Still, many others, consumed by their financial struggles, showed no interest in the election and said the outcome was inevitable.

“You carry a heavy load!” shouted one attendee during the ceremony, while another interjected, “If God is with you, then no one can be against you!”

After constitutional modifications that increased the duration of presidential terms to six years and gave Sisi the ability to run for office a third time, his term as president ends in 2030.

Egypt has undergone an infrastructure boom led by the military since Sisi took office in 2014. He claims this is necessary for economic growth and to accommodate the country’s population, which has increased by 6 million since it reached 100 million four years ago.

The largest of the mega projects, which also include building a significant number of new roads, expanding the Suez Canal, and creating other new towns, is the $58 billion New Administrative Capital, which is located in the desert east of Cairo.

Opponents claim that these projects raise Egypt’s debt load and take funds away from other pressing requirements, which is what is causing the country’s economic problems.

Related Topics:Egypt Featured President al-Sisi

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Politics

South Africa: President Ramaphosa insists pause in power cuts not linked to election

Published

2 days ago

May 15, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, denied on Monday that a recent halt in the country’s long-running energy disruptions was due to the May 29 election.

Rolling power outages enforced by state utility Eskom reached record levels in 2023 and continued into the first quarter of this year, but there has now been no load-shedding, as South Africans refer to the cuts, for 48 straight days, the longest period in more than two years.

According to statistics collected by The Outlier, an independent South African publication specializing in public service data visualisations, power outages occurred every day over the same 48-day period last year.

The rapid improvement in power supply has become a talking point in South African media, prompting opposition charges that the timing was intended to boost voter contentment with the ruling African National Congress.

The ANC is expected to lose its legislative majority for the first time in 30 years, facing its most challenging election ever. According to Ramaphosa’s weekly communication, Eskom’s increased performance demonstrates the success of the government’s 2022 energy plan.

“Yet, against all the available evidence, some people have claimed that the reduced load-shedding is a political ploy ahead of the elections,” he said. “This is not borne out by the facts.”

Ramaphosa credited the improvement to Eskom’s renewed focus on maintenance, additional generation capacity from renewable energy projects, and increasing demand for rooftop solar panels, aided by tax breaks.

Last Monday, the Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party, ascribed the improved power supply to “political interference” by the ANC, accusing it of exerting pressure on Eskom to keep the lights on.

“South Africans should not be fooled by this brazen abuse of power and they must act to decisively vote out the manipulators on the 29th of May,” it said in a statement on its website.

A key point of contention was whether Eskom was burning more diesel to enhance supplies, as claimed last week by the utility’s former CEO, Andre de Ruyter, who is openly hostile to the ANC.

“If the lights are on, well done, but they’re on because we are pouring money into diesel at a rate of knots,” de Ruyter, who stepped down in February 2023, told a conference in South Africa, in comments widely reported by local media.

Politics

Niger’s Prime Minister claims Benin’s oil export blockage breaches accords

Published

3 days ago

May 14, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Niger’s Prime Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, has claimed that Benin’s suspension of Niger’s oil shipments, imposed in reaction to a border shutdown, breached bilateral trade agreements as well as those with Niger’s Chinese partners.

Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine said on Saturday that Benin’s blockade of Niger’s oil exports, imposed in response to a border closure, violated trade agreements between the two countries and with Niger’s Chinese partners.

Speaking at a press conference in the capital Niamey, Zeine said Niger could not fully reopen its border with Benin for security reasons, in comments that escalate a dispute that saw Benin this week block supplies of Niger’s crude oil to ships in its port.

The blockade threatens Niger’s plan to begin crude exports under a $400 million deal with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPET.UL). This is significant because Niger plans to use the funds from the export deal to cover missed bond payments due to regional sanctions.

Zeine claimed that the embargo breached over a dozen agreements signed by Benin, Niger, and China about a recently launched, PetroChina-backed pipeline connecting Niger’s Agadem oil field to Benin’s port of Cotonou.

However, Benin has stated that it will only back down if Niger reopens its border to Benin-produced goods and normalizes relations. According to Zeine, one of the oil export treaties stated that Benin could not unilaterally amend or limit the agreements without the assent of the other parties.

“This means that the country agreed not to take any decision that would stop the flow of Niger’s crude oil to the international market. This is serious. This is a violation of an agreement,” he said at a press conference.

The relationship between the two countries has been strained since July 2023, when a coup in Niger prompted ECOWAS to impose tight sanctions for over six months. What comes next is unclear. Zeine stated that Niger will not cooperate with Benin’s desire to reopen its border fully.

“In Benin’s territory, there are bases where in some, terrorists are trained to come and destabilise our country. So, it is for simple security reasons that we decided to maintain the border closure,” Zeine said, without further detailing the allegations.