Africa

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

November 16, 2016 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopia's tourism revenue has shown a decline after months long violent protests, Ministry of Culture and Tourism said on Wednesday.

According to the ministry's report, revenue obtained from tourism has fallen by over 7.4 million USD during the first quarter of the current Ethiopian budget year.

The turn down the ministry said was due to decline in tourists visiting the country in fear of safety after violent protests in many parts of the country.

The state of emergency declared last month was also mentioned as a cause for the turn down in tourists flow to the country.

The ministry said the revenue collected in the first quarter of the year was some $ 872 million, which was below the target set for the quarter.

Thousands of tourists have reportedly cancelled planned trips to the horn of Africa's nation following the violent protests and state emergency.

In the last decade number of tourist visiting Ethiopia has steadily increased.

Ministry Public and International Relations Director, Gezahegne Abate told journalists that the ministry has began dispatching up-to-date information about the current situation of the country to allow tourists get the right information.

Ethiopia is among the top 10 countries recommended to be visited in 2017 by Lonely Planet, the world's prominent travel publisher.

Since last year the east African nation has faced an unprecedented wave of violent protests that claimed the lives of over 500 people.

But the country's most recent protests were sparked after a religious festival in Oromia region turned into violet anti-government protests claiming lives of 55 in stampede.

After the protests spread to many parts of the country, Ethiopia imposed a six-month state of emergency to contain the deadly the anti-government demonstrations which were most held the Oromia and Amhara regions.

The protests first erupted over demands for land rights however later turned in to calling for increased political and economic rights.

Last week, Ethiopia has lifted a ban on diplomats travelling more than 40km from the capital Addis Ababa without permission.

Officials say the travel ban against diplomats was imposed for the safety of diplomats.

The travel restrictions were lifted as the situation nationwide appears to be more stable.

Ethiopia's State of Emergency Inquiry Board last week announced that authorities have arrested 11,607 people under the state decree.

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November 16, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - Sudanese government on Wednesday has welcomed Russia's decision to withdrawing its signature from the founding statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Russian Foreign Ministry made the announcement on Wednesday on the orders of the president, Vladimir Putin, saying the tribunal had failed to live up to hopes of the international community.

“The court has unfortunately failed to match the hopes one had and did not become a truly independent and respected body of international justice” said Russia's Foreign Ministry in a statement Wednesday.

Russia signed the Rome statute of the ICC in 2000 but did not ratify the treaty and thus remained outside the ICC's jurisdiction.

Moscow's decision comes a day after the ICC published a report classifying the Russian annexation of Crimea as an occupation.

In a statement on Wednesday evening, Sudan's Foreign Ministry welcomed Moscow's decision, saying it gives strong support to the African stance against the Hague-based tribunal.

“[Russia's] decision is a major step on the road to achieve large-scale international consensus to withdraw from this tribunal which has become a mere political tool exploited by some Western powers to achieve its own interests at the expense of the values” read the statement.

Several African governments and the African Union (AU) have voiced concerns over the ICC's fairness, and accused it of targeting African leaders.

They further to say that war crimes court has violated its founding treaty the Rome Statute, when it prosecutes cases investigated by the national jurisdiction.

The 27th AU summit held in the Rwandan capital Kigali last July did not call for a mass withdrawal from the court, despite calls by several African leaders including Sudan.

However, an African Union ministerial committee is debating the issue and is expected to present reform demands at the next meeting of ICC assembly of states parties, in November.

Last month, three African countries who were all full members of the ICC – South Africa, Burundi and Gambia – said that they intend to withdraw from the Hague-based court, alleging it is biased.

Sudan which is not a state member to Rome Statute has been campaigning for an African withdrawal from the ICC which has charged President Omer Hassan al-Bashir with ten counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide connected to the Darfur conflict.

Established in 2002 to try war criminals and perpetrators of genocide never tried at home, the ICC has opened inquiries involving nine nations, including Kenya, Ivory Coast, Libya, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic, Uganda, Mali and, most recently, Georgia.

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November 16, 2016 (EL-FASHER) - Unidentified gunmen on Wednesday have attacked a resident in downtown El-Fasher, capital of North Darfur state and stole his money at gunpoint.

Abdalla Abdel-Kabeer told Sudan Tribune that three gunmen on an unlicensed vehicle have attacked him in front of the premises of the Ministry of Urban Planning, saying they stole 25,000 Sudanese pounds from him at gunpoint and “drove off in less than half a minute”.

Gunmen commonly use vehicles and motorcycles that don't hold license plates to carry out killing and looting crimes.

Earlier this week, commissioner of El-Fasher locality issued a decision banning movement of unregistered vehicles into the town as of last Sunday, demanding cars owners to register their vehicles.

The decision, which was seen by Sudan Tribune, directed the traffic police and the competent authorities to implement its provisions immediately, saying those who violate the decision will subject themselves to legal accountability and their vehicles could be confiscated.

It is noteworthy that last Friday was the deadline set by the North Darfur government for the registration of the smuggled vehicles.

During his five-day tour in April, President Omer al-Bashir directed the authorities in Darfur's five states to register the smuggled vehicles to prevent the looting and killing crimes.

Last June, a joint campaign between the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS) and the traffic police in North Darfur had led to the seizure of dozens of vehicles illegally smuggled from the neighbouring countries and in particular noteworthy.

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November 16, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has reportedly granted amnesty to 750 troops loyal to his main political rival and the country's former First Vice-President Riek Machar.

South Sudanese president Salva Kiir (Photo: Reuters)

Those pardoned crossed in to neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) when fighting erupted in the capital, Juba in July this year.

Local media reports quoted South Sudan's Defence Minister Kuol Manyang saying the Juba regime was ready to welcome the armed opposition forces residing in refugee camps in DRC.

“The President of the Republic made an amnesty for those who will be ready to come back and this is the message we were carrying to the authorities in DRC,” Manyang told the Dawn newspaper.

A team, the minister disclosed, would be sent to convey the amnesty message to the rebels, whose leader declared armed resistance against President Kiir in September.

“Those who will want to go back to the army; we will send them to contentment sites where they will be screened. And those who will want to be in the police, will be re-trained,” added the minister.

Violence broke out in South Sudan's capital in July when the two rival forces clashed, leaving hundreds dead and thousands displaced. The incident forced Machar to flee Juba into the DRC.

The Defense Minister, however, said Machar who is currently in South Africa, would have to denounce violence before he is allowed to return into the young nation.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced since conflict erupted between South Sudan's main rival political factions in December 2013.

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The withdrawals by South Africa and Burundi from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) pose a real challenge to the evolving system of international justice centered on the ICC. Coming after escalating criticism from a small number of African leaders, the withdrawals represent a loss to the court, to the victims it serves and a threat to perceptions of the ICC’s legitimacy. This pushback is “buyer’s remorse” of a core principle of the Rome Statute—the irrelevancy of official position in possible prosecution before the court. While giving a respectful airing to different views, strong court-supporting states parties must remain firm in their defense of the integrity of the Rome Statute so that the ICC remains a “court worth having.” Fundamental principles agreed to in Rome cannot be “bargained off” in the face of exorbitant and baseless demands. Even with additional withdrawals, the outcome could be a strengthened Rome Statute system.

In withdrawing from the ICC, the government of South Africa cited a purported conflict between its ICC obligations and its ability to interact with leaders as a regional peacebroker. Significantly, a South African court had found that the Zuma government violated domestic law when it failed to arrest ICC fugitive President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan during his visit to the country for an African Union summit in 2015.

There is much at stake. Giving sitting leaders immunity for the most serious crimes would create perverse incentives for alleged perpetrators to hold onto power indefinitely or to gain power to avoid prosecution. Through its current about face on global justice, the Zuma government is sending a message to the nearly 20,000 African victims who have or will be participating in ICC proceedings.

Activists from across Africa highlight the need for African governments to support the International Criminal Court in a video by 21 African and international nongovernmental organizations. 

Withdrawal does nothing to address the real gaps in the reach of the international justice system, including the failure of key powers, like the United States and Russia, to sign up to the ICC treaty as well as those stemming from the veto prerogative of the Permanent Members of the UN Security Council. These ugly double-standards need to be addressed, but the solution lies in expanding the ICC’s reach, not undermining it.

Doubtless, South Africa’s withdrawal is a blow. Its government played a vital role in the negotiation of the Rome Statute. At his invitation, I participated in a September 1997 meeting of the Southern Africa Development Community’s (SADC) justice ministers convened by Nelson Mandela’s Minister of Justice, Dullah Omar, outside Pretoria. Minister’s Omar’s objective was to work with his counterparts from SADC to formulate joint in the ongoing negotiations. Six weeks later, in the United Nations General Assembly I heard South Africa’s UN Ambassador proudly proclaim “the ten SADC principles” for an effective, independent and impartial ICC. This leadership flowed from self-confidence following the end of apartheid and the promulgation of a historic new constitution enshrining human rights and respect for the rule of law domestically as well as globally.

South Africa’s regressive step could likely provide political cover for additional withdrawals possibly by Kenya and others. Nairobi has mobilized opposition to the ICC inside the African Union due to the now-withdrawn ICC charges against Kenya’s president and deputy president. The AU has called for immunity of sitting leaders, but so far efforts pushed by Kenya for a mass walkout have achieved a much wider response.

The departure of any one state party is regrettable, but regret must not cloud perspective or diminish principle. A group of departing African states, driven by buyers’ remorse, represents a small fraction of African states parties. The court is hardly at risk of collapse or irrelevance. South Africa’s announcement has prompted an increasing number of states parties to affirm strong support for the ICC’s mission. These include Canada, Switzerland, Slovenia, Czech Republic, to name a few. The withdrawals could lead to a deeper understanding of and commitment to the ICC’s importance as the world’s accountability institution. Most significantly, the withdrawal of a few African governments has prompted strong statements of support for the court from a greater number of African states parties. This activism represents a step beyond July’s African Union Summit in Rwanda. There—at the ministerial level—five states parties, Nigeria, Botswana, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, and Tunisia, expressed their opposition to the further development of Kenya’s plan for large scale withdrawal from the Rome Statute. At the summit, several others entered objections to the final resolution. This pushback pierces the fictitious and self-serving narrative that African governments are opposed to theICC. Depending on how events unfold, factoring in additional withdrawals, the result could be a court membership that is slightly smaller but more committed to assisting the ICC.

The next round in this contentious process will play out at the fifteenth session of the Assembly of States Parties meeting. While states should be open to dialogue with South Africa and other countries, they will need to be clear in these discussions on “redlines” to preclude re-negotiation over core ICC principles. The substantive “no go areas” should include any weakening of the provision allowing sitting heads of states to be prosecuted at the cocurt..

Given South Africa and Kenya’s revision of core principles, it could well be that the great majority of ICC countries may find there is no space for principled compromise consistent with integrity of the ICC treaty and the independence of the court. These governments are drawing a circle that cannot be squared. Consistent with Dullah Omar’s visionary leadership in 1997, it is clear that it would be better for those countries unwilling to stand for justice to leave. In the long run it’s preferable for the ICC to be, as former Canadian Foreign Minster Lloyd Axworthy stated in Rome, “a court that is worth having” than one with a larger membership linked by illusory agreement to weakened principles of accountability.

This is not to say that there is not more work to be done to improve the practice of the ICC. The court’s leadership is making progress, but there are still gaps: bringing about more efficient proceedings linked to better case selection; more meaningful victim participation; more court presence in the field and; greater impact in the communities most affected by the crimes alleged. This will all need to take shape as the court extends its reach out of Africa. It is already investigating in Georgia, and the coming years could see investigations in Afghanistan, Palestine, and Ukraine. The extension of jurisdiction will also challenge the more powerful governments—Russia and the United States—that have held themselves outside of the court’s jurisdictional consent regime. Simultaneously, international agencies, donor states and civil society must ramp up efforts to enhance national accountability efforts—the first line of protection for civilians at risk.

These steps will necessarily occur on a more difficult international landscape than the one on which the ICC was created. Back then some deemed that “history had ended.” These changes won’t mollify Jacob Zuma or Uhuru Kenyatta, not to mention Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump. That is another challenge for a court that is needed now more than ever. Precisely because the ICC represents a huge advance in the fight against impunity its path was never going be a straight line forward.

Richard Dicker is the Director of Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program

Over the past two years, authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have arbitrarily arrested scores of activists and political opposition leaders and supporters who have opposed attempts by President Joseph Kabila to extend his time in office beyond the constitutionally mandated two-term limit. Many were held for weeks or months by the National Intelligence Agency (ANR) without charge or access to families or lawyers. Others were put on trial on trumped-up charges. 

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Totoro Mukenge

© Private

Human Rights Watch has compiled a list of 29 prisoners who remain in detention in Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, or Goma. They were arrested since 2015, after speaking out against attempts to extend Kabila’s term or participating in peaceful demonstrations or other political activities. Others were suspected of having links with political opposition figures.

One of the prisoners, Totoro Mukenge, president of the youth group Union of Congolese Youth for Change (UJCC), has been held incommunicado by the ANR since September 16, after having participated in an awareness-raising campaign in Kinshasa on non-violence, peace, and respect for the constitution.

Norbert Luyeye, president of the opposition political party Union of Republicans, has been held by the military intelligence services since August 7, along with six other party members and participants who attended a political meeting at Luyeye’s home on August 4. Another opposition party president, Jean-Claude Muyambo, has been in prison since January 2015, after he mobilized participation in nationwide protests against proposed changes to the country’s electoral law. 

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Jean-Claude Muyambo

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Others were arrested because of alleged links to Moise Katumbi, the former Katanga governor and opposition leader. The authorities initially investigated Katumbi for allegedly recruiting mercenaries. He was later tried and convicted in absentia for alleged forgery in connection with a real estate deal and sentenced to three years in prison and a US$1 million fine. One of the judges described in a public letter, and in an interview with Human Rights Watch, how she had been threatened by ANR director Kalev Mutond, and forced to hand down the conviction – a blatant example of the intelligence’s agency interference in the justice sector.

Congo’s government needs to get serious about easing political tensions. One of the first measures it should take is to release all political prisoners and drop politically motivated prosecutions against opposition leaders and political activists.

The list is available here: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/16/dr-congo-political-prisoners-detention 

(Many other people have been arrested arbitrarily in Congo over the years and remain in detention. This list includes only those cases documented by Human Rights Watch in the context of the political repression since 2015).

The Office of the United Nations High Commissions on Refugees (UNHCR) welcomed a statement today from the Government of Kenya in which it reiterated its continued search for solutions for refugees at the Dadaab camp, where it has been hosting and protecting refugees from Somalia for many years.

The justice system in the Central African Republic (CAR) must be urgently strengthened if the country is to achieve lasting peace, a United Nations human rights expert has said, ahead of a major donors’ conference in Brussels, Belgium, tomorrow, which aims to raise funds in support of the country’s national peace-building plan.

The President meets Mrs Jumwa Kabibu who after 50 years of misery underwent a successful UN supported fistula surgery. Photo Credit: Newton/UNIC

By Siddharth Chatterjee
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 16 2016 (IPS)

President Uhuru Kenyatta warmly welcomed dozens of U.N Agencies, development partners and senior Government officials to the State House on 02 November 2016 to discuss the joint development plan from 2014 – 2018.

He is perhaps the only head of state in Africa to take on this responsibility personally and believes in the transformational power of the Government-UN partnership to address national priorities for sustainable development. (Speech/audio)

The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) is a critical document that guides government and U.N, partnership, ensuring the UN system is fit for purpose and contributes effectively to national development priorities.

The framework is nurturing a partnership grounded in dialogue and learning, leading to concrete action and progress. Important progress has been made in areas like HIV/AIDS, clean water, energy, food security, and the environment during the past 2 years of this UNDAF(PDF document).

“I am impressed by the progress achieved since our last meeting in August, 2015. It is truly encouraging to see the Vision turn to Action,” he said during this year’s review.

He was alluding to progress resulting from a joint Government-UN approach to addressing issues such as poverty and various vulnerabilities; progress coming from commitment to joining up efforts and pooling respective expertise and resources to make an impact on Kenyans.

Testimonials abound regarding this impact. (Watch UNDAF video). They include a 70 year-old lady who received treatment after suffering fistula for 50 years; matatu (public transport vehicle) owners who have improved the terms and conditions of matatu drivers and conductors as per international labour and a women’s community group bordering the Amboseli National Park who are part of conservation efforts through livelihood programmes.

The UNDAF has leveraged the devolved system of government with tremendous results in some counties. The innovative Governments of Kenya-Ethiopia Cross-border Program on Peace and Socio-economic Development supported by the UN has potential of being replicated in other parts of the world.

These are the kind of stories coming out of the UNDAF review process, whose emphasis is on accountability for results. The stories tell of impact across most of the major pillars of the country’s Vision 2030, which also overlap with UN priorities such as peace, security, and poverty reduction.

The UNDAF in Kenya is recognized by the UN Development Group as a best practice in creating an alliance shaped by common interests and shared purpose, and bounded by clear principles that encourage autonomy and synergy.

The Framework was developed according to UN Delivering as One principles (DaO) aimed at ensuring Government ownership, demonstrated through UNDAF’s full alignment to Government priorities and planning cycles, and internal coherence among UN agencies and programmes operating in Kenya.

The partners have also been able to jointly recognize and agree on the national, regional and global realities that should inform their interventions. For instance, both the Government of Kenya and the UN are aware of Kenya’s looming youth bulge with 1 million young people joining the work force annually and the need to turn it into a demographic dividend, lest it turn into a demographic disaster.

“We must focus on our youth and provide alternatives to crime, violent extremism and despondency,” the President said during the review.

Kenya is on a journey to realizing Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals. The UNDAF has demonstrated that it presents the best opportunity for powering the implementation of Kenya’s development agenda. Kenya’s engagement with the United Nations Country Team and indeed all development partners brought together under a solid framework is therefore a plus for the people of Kenya.

The UN and Government must not relent in pursuing more gains. New realities are bringing about new threats to social and economic development, calling for new approaches, but also creating new opportunities for collaboration.

These new approaches may for instance involve deepening private-public partnerships to engage a third force – private companies – that have unique innovation and implementation capabilities. This engagement can only develop better and more integrated solutions to important national challenges. (RC Speech Audio)

Ultimately, this framework is not about the UN or the Government or non-state actors, but is aimed at achieving a transformation in the lives of every Kenyan and ensuring that “no one is left behind”.

As the BBC launches a service in Pidgin to target West African audiences, we look at what the language entails.

Credit: Transparency International

By IPS Correspondents
BERLIN, Nov 16 2016 (IPS)

One in three people living in Europe and Central Asia think that corruption is one of the biggest problems facing their country, a figure that rises to two in three in Spain, Moldova and Kosovo, showing that urgent action against the abuse of power and secret deals is needed.

These are some of the key findings that Transparency International (TI) has revealed in a new report, which adds that a nearly a third of citizens across Europe and Central Asia believe that their government officials and lawmakers are highly corrupt. A majority of people say their governments are not doing enough to stop corruption.

Over half the people in European Union (EU) countries (53 per cent), EU accession candidate countries (53 per cent) and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), mainly former Soviet Union countries, (56 per cent) said their governments had failed to curb corruption, according to the TI new report People and Corruption: Europe and Central Asia.

The governments of Ukraine (86 per cent), Moldova (84 per cent), Bosnia and Herzegovina (82 per cent), and Spain (80 per cent) were judged worst by their citizens, adds the report, which was released on November 16.

Transparency International spoke to nearly 60,000 citizens in 42 countries in Europe and Central Asia on their experiences with corruption in their daily lives for its, which is part of the Global Corruption Barometer 2016 series.

On average, it adds one in six households paid a bribe when they accessed public services. Although fewer households paid bribes for public services in many EU member states, rates were significantly higher further east; the highest rates were in Tajikistan (50 per cent), Moldova (42 per cent), Azerbaijan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Ukraine (38 per cent), and Russia (34 per cent), says TI.

Romania had the highest rate for a EU member state at 29 per cent, followed by Lithuania with 24 per cent.

In the richest countries, it adds, almost two out of three people (65 per cent) believe the wealthy have too much influence on policy compared to 44 per cent in the EU accession countries and 46 per cent in CIS countries.

In Spain, 88 per cent of people said wealthy individuals had undue influence over government decisions; in Portugal, it was 85 per cent, in France 79 per cent, in Germany and the United Kingdom 77 per cent.

“Corruption is a significant problem all across the Europe and Central Asia region. In EU countries many citizens see how the wealthy and those in government distort the system to their advantage,” said José Ugaz, chair of Transparency International.

“Governments are simply not doing enough to tackle corruption because individuals at the top are benefiting. To end this deeply troubling relationship between wealth, power and corruption, governments must require higher levels of transparency, including around who owns and controls companies through public beneficial ownership registries.”

“By their very positions at the top of the power pyramid, corrupt elites and oligarchs are hard to remove. But we have seen that it can be done if people stand together to demand higher standards from their leaders and the judiciary acts independently to hold them to account,” said Ugaz.

Yet one key stumbling block to fighting corruption is the lack of protection for those who speak up against it, the Berlin-based organisation says.

“And 30 per cent of all those questioned across Europe and Central Asia said that the main reason more people don’t report cases of corruption is because they fear the consequences. Two out of five who blew the whistle suffered retaliation as a result.”

Fear of Speaking Out

There is also a stigma attached to speaking out, according to the new report. Particularly in CIS countries, only a quarter of people think that reporting corruption was socially acceptable (27 per cent).

“Few citizens feel empowered to help stop corruption in their country: Less than half of people (47 per cent) in EU countries feel that they can make a difference in the fight against corruption, and this falls to less than a third (31 per cent) in CIS countries.”

Transparency International makes four key recommendations to reduce political corruption and help people speak up without fear of retaliation. Governments across Europe and Central Asia should:
• Have transparent rules on lobbying and a public lobbying register, so that policy decisions can be better scrutinised.

• Ensure the independence of the judiciary, particularly in EU accession and CIS countries, by reducing the influence of the executive over the judiciary and prosecutorial services and including transparent and objective systems for the appointment, transferral and dismissal of judges and prosecutors.

• Adopt and enforce comprehensive legislation to protect whistle-blowers.

• Support whistle-blowers and reporters of corruption and ensure appropriate follow-up to their disclosures.

Transparency International is a global movement working for a world free of corruption. Through chapters in more than 100 countries and an international secretariat in Berlin, it works together with governments, businesses and citizens to stop the abuse of power, bribery and secret deals.

For a downloadable map showing bribery rates across Europe and Central Asia, click here. To see the previous reports on Africa and the Middle East and North Africa click here and here. Reports on the Americas and Asia Pacific are upcoming in 2017.

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Mustapha Bakkoury, President of the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN), speaking at the COP22 in Marrakesh. Credit: Friday Phiri/IPS

By Friday Phiri
MARRAKECH, Nov 16 2016 (IPS)

Lowering investment risks in African countries is key to achieving a climate-resilient development pathway on the continent, say experts here at the U.N.-sponsored Climate Conference.

Mustapha Bakkaoury, president of the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy (MASEN), says his country’s renewable energy revolution would not have been possible if multilateral partners such as the African Development Bank had not come on board to act as guarantors for a massive solar energy project, tipped to be one of a kind in Africa.Renewable energy has been identified as a key driver for Africa’s economic growth prospects, but requires multi-million-dollar investments which cannot be done by public financing alone.

The multi-billion-dollar solar power complex, located in the Souss-Massa-Drâa area in Ouarzazate, is expected to produce 580 MW at peak when finished, and is hailed as a model for other African countries to follow.

“Africa has legitimate energy needs, and development of Africa will happen through mobilisation of energy resources,” Bakkaoury told IPS at COP 22 after a roundtable discussion on de-risking investment in realising groundbreaking renewable energy projects.

Bakkauory believes it is possible for Africa to develop its energy sector while respecting the environment. “What we say is that there is no fatality between having energy resources and respect towards the environment, and Africa has abundant resources to do this through its key partner—the African Development Bank,” he said, noting the instrumental role of Africa’s premier multilateral financier to renewable energy in Africa.

And in affirming its continued commitment to universal access to energy for Africa, Alex Rugamba, AfDB Director for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, told IPS that “the Bank’s commitment has shifted gear as it has now a fully-fledged vice presidency dedicated to Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth.”

Rugamba added that the Bank has learnt valuable lessons from various initiatives it is already supporting, and knows what is required to move forward with the initiatives without many challenges.

Renewable energy has been identified as a key driver for Africa’s economic growth prospects, but requires multi-million-dollar investments which cannot be done by public financing alone.

Private sector involvement is required to drive this agenda, a point underscored by World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development, Laura Tuck.

“Private sector cannot be ignored because the money they have is more than what is available under public financing,” she says.

But the risk is believed to be too high for private investors to off-load their money into Africa’s renewables, a relatively new investment portfolio with a lot of uncertainties. German Parliament State Secretary Thomas Silberhorn says the highest risk in Africa is politically related.

“It’s not about economic risks alone, but also political risks,” said Silberhorn. “You don’t need to convince German investors about solar energy because they already know that it works, what they need is reliability on the political environment and sustainability of their investments.”

Silberhorn, who gave an example of a multi-million-dollar project in Kenya currently on hold due to political interference, added that ways to reduce political risks should be devised for Africa to benefit from private sector investments in renewables.

But even as risk factors abound, World Bank’s Tuck believes there is hope for Africa, citing Zambia, where record cheap solar energy has been recorded.

“Through a competitive bidding process, we have in Zambia under the Bank’s ‘Scaling Solar’ program, recorded the cheapest price at 6.02 cents per KWh,” she said, heralding it as a model to follow in de-risking climate investments for Africa’s growth.

And in keeping with the objective of universal energy for all, experts note the need to ensure that the end users are not exploited at the expense of investors.

“While the state should not interfere in this business model to work, modalities have to be put in place to ensure that the people for which energy is needed, afford it, otherwise, the project becomes useless,” said MASEN’s Bakkaoury.

Following up on this key aspect and responding to the political risk question, Simon Ngure of KenGen Kenya proposes a key principle to minimise political interference—involvement of the local communities.

“If you involve the local communities from the onset, regardless of whether governments change, the projects succeed because the people will have seen the benefits already,” said Ngure, who also noted policy restructuring as another key component to de-risk climate investments.

Agreed that de-risking investment is a crucial component, small grants are another issue that the African Union Commission’s implementing Agency, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), believes could unlock the continent’s challenge of access to climate financing.

NEPAD Director of Programmes Estherine Fotabong told IPS that it was for this reason that the agency established the NEPAD Climate Change Fund to strengthen the resilience of African countries by building national, sub-regional and continental capacity.

“One of the objectives of the fund is to support concrete action for communities on the ground, but most importantly, to help with capacity building of member states to be able to leverage financing from complicated climate financial regimes,” said Fotabong, citing ECOWAS which she said used the funding to leverage financing from the Green Climate Fund, one of the financing regimes under the UNFCCC.

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November 15, 2016 (JUBA) - The youth from Apuk community in Gogrial, one of South Sudan's newly states, have condemned governor Abraham Gum for what they described as “unfair” distribution of new state counties.

President Salva Kiir adresses a joint press conference on 9 July 2016 (Reuters Photo)

The chairperson of the newly created counties in Apuk area, Bol Deng Akeen accused the governor of allegedly betraying the entire Apuk community.

Makuach is further blamed for failure to deliver services to the community.

“We, the Apuk youth in Juba are extremely outraged by the negative approaches taken by the governor of Gogrial state. Hon. Abraham Gum Makuach by marginalizing and betraying Apuk community,” said Akeen.

The president appointed Makuach on recommendation from the Apuk community.

The general secretary of the area youth entity, Darius Adup Anyuon, also accused the governor of acting contrary to the state transitional constitution.

As such, they have now resolved that a vote of no confidence be passed against the governor, who they now say, caused divisions in the community.

“We urge the national government for immediate intervention for peaceful settlement of our communities' disputes Apuk Giir and Aguok-Kuei for the fact that the state government is incompetent enough and not neutral to solve the problem of the two communities,” reads a statement from the youth.

Calls have been made by youth leaders for the national government to form a fact finding committee to investigate the root causes of disputes between the Apuk and Aguok communities. The warned of possibilities of more violence and tension in the community should South Sudan President Salva Kiir fails to immediately intervene.

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November 15, 2016 (KHARTOUM) - The Sudanese pound (SDG) on Tuesday has hit another historic low against the U.S. dollar on the black market as the dollar exchange rate went up to 17.8 SDG from 17.6 SGD last week.

A worker counts US dollar bills inside a money changer in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum (Photo: Reuters)

Earlier in November, Central Bank of Sudan (CBoS) introduced an incentive policy, increasing the exchange rate in commercial banks by 131%. As a result, the U.S. dollar exchange rate went up in banks to 15.8 SDG from the official rate of 6.5 SDG.

However this measure didn't stop the rise of the dollar against the Sudanese pound in the parallel market on Tuesday, as the dollar reached 18 SDG.

Currency traders in the black market last Thursday expected that the Sudanese pound would continue to drop against the dollar. They pointed to the increasing demand while the supply remains very limited.

On Tuesday, Shazali a black market trader told Sudan Tribune that dollar exchange rate last Friday was 17.6 SDG and declined to 17.4 SDG at the middle of the week before hiking again to 17.8 SDG.

The CBoS expected that the incentive policy would help attracting Sudanese expatriates to sell their savings to the official banking institutions.

On the other side, currency trader traders stopped selling the dollar but continued buying, according to Ahmed another black market trader. He explained that they wanted to see the impact of the new measures.

The banks were not able to attract expatriates' remittances during the whole week, as the exchange rate in back market went up.

“We expect that Sudanese pound to continue dropping against foreign currencies because the central bank has no sufficient reserves of hard currency to control the exchange rate,” the trader said.

He added that expatriates have no trust in the CBoS and prefer to transfer their money through the black market which keeps offering interesting rates.

Officials at the finance ministry expected that the new increase of exchange rate for the commercial banks would attract the $4 billion transferred by the expats through the black market.

Traders expect that US exchange rate in the black market might reach 20 SDG within two weeks.

Security authorities usually monitor exchange rate in black market and arrest traders for some time before to release them.

The Sudanese pound dropped down after South Sudan seceded in 2011, as the north Sudan lost three-quarters of oil output, the main source of foreign currency used to support the Sudanese pound and to pay for food and other imports.

(ST)

November 15, 2016 (YAMBIO) – The education, gender and social welfare minister in Gbudue, one of South Sudan's newly created states has condemned the killing of two teachers in the recent fighting that displaced pupils preparing for examinations.

The map of Western Equatoria in red

Addressing a public gathering in Yambio on Tuesday, Phillip Pia said the two teachers were killed in the recent fighting between armed groups who attacked the town, but were repulsed by the army.

“It is of great disappointment to see that we are killing teachers who are not supposed to be touched, we are killing the future,” said Pia.

One of those killed was a Mathematics teacher, while the other was the inspector of schools in Gbudue state, according to the minister.

Pia said government imports teachers from neighboring countries.

He further decried the fact that hundreds of pupils have fled their homes, yet schools were to start final examinations as per schedule.

Most of the schools are closed and deserted, mainly in the northern part of Yambio town, as children fled their home into safe locations.

In April, members of South Sudan National Liberation Movement (SSNLM) signed an agreement with the South Sudanese government.

Meanwhile, the commissioner of Yambio county, Grace Apolo urged the displaced residents not to randomly run during the fighting.

She said government will do what it takes to protect civilians from armed groups who intend to destabilize residents of Yambio area.

The security situation in the state is tense as people continue fleeing their homes, amidst rumours of a planned attack as government forces deploy.

(ST)

November 15, 2016 (JUBA) - The United Nations Security Council has called on Sudan and South Sudan to immediately resume negotiations on the final status of the disputed area of Abyei, saying it constitutes a serious threat to international order.

An officer from the UN peacekeeping mission in Abyei (UNISFA) on patrol in the disputed region, which is claimed by both Sudan and South Sudan (AFP)

The call came after the 15-member council voted unanimously on Tuesday to extend the mandate of its peacekeeping force in Abyei, underscoring that peacekeepers are charged with taking necessary action to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence.

In its resolution, extending the peacekeepers' mandate in Abyei, the Council further stressed that the future status of Abyei shall be resolved peacefully, through negotiations and not through the unilateral actions of either party.

The Council, in the resolution, expressed renewed concern over delays and stalled efforts to fully operationalize a Joint Border Verification and Monitoring Mechanism in the area, which its peacekeepers would support.

Ownership of Abyei, the disputed oil-producing region, remained contentious even after the world's youngest nation split from Sudan in 2011.

On 27 June, 2011, the Security Council, by its resolution 1990, responded to the urgent situation in Abyei by establishing the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA).

The Security Council was deeply concerned by the violence, escalating tensions and population displacement.

The peacekeepers are tasked with monitoring the flashpoint border between Sudan and South Sudan and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian aid, and are authorized to use force in protecting civilians and humanitarian workers in Abyei.

UNISFA's establishment came after Sudan's government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) reached an agreement in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to demilitarize Abyei and let Ethiopian troops monitor the area.

(ST)

November 15, 2016 (JUBA) - South Sudan's National Youth Union (SSNYU) on Tuesday issued a statement calling on all citizens in Juba to come out and demonstrate peacefully in support of Donald Trump's election victory.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives the thumbs up (AFP Photo)

The function, according to a public invitation notice, explains that the essence of the demonstration would to a send congratulatory message and affirmation of support to Donald Trump on his successful election as the 45th president of the United States.

The apparently government-backed demonstration will be held on Thursday and demonstrators are expected to start marching from Dr. John Garang Mausoleum to the U.S. Embassy in Juba where they will hand over a congratulatory message to the U.S. Ambassador for onward delivery to Trump.

This comes after President Salva Kiir appeared on the state owned South Sudan broadcasting corporation which he used a means of sending out his congratulatory to Trump on his victory.

The head of state offered to work closely with him to find a solution to the ongoing war in South Sudan.

He expressed hope that the new U.S. administration will be a new page and respectful bilateral diplomatic ties and cooperation to the mutual of the two countries and their citizens.

(ST)