(September 9, 2024)
The Court has yet to issue any warrants.
(…)
Four States Parties argued that the Court lacks or may not exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals who commit international crimes in Gaza: Argentina, Congo, Czechia, and Hungary. They were joined by the United States, which is not a State Party
The CFA franc zone consists of 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, each affiliated with one of two monetary unions. Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte D’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo comprise the West African Economic and Monetary Union, or WAEMU, founded in 1994 to build on the foundation of the West African Monetary Union, founded in 1973. The remaining six countries — Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon — comprise the Central African Economic and Monetary Union, or CAEMC.
These two unions maintain the same currency, the CFA franc, which stands for Communauté Financière Africaine (African Financial Community) within WAEMU and Coopération Financière en Afrique Centrale (Financial Cooperation in Central Africa) within CAEMC. WAEMU and CAEMC account for 14 percent of Africa’s population and 12 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
Putin pointed out that the Russian side has never rejected negotiations with Ukraine. It was Ukraine that declared its unwillingness, which was cemented by Zelensky’s decree.
Putin also pointed out that the Ukrainian authorities have preliminarily signed the draft agreement with Moscow, prepared in March, 2022, in Istanbul; however, after Russian forces were withdrawn, Ukraine disregarded the document. The President presented the document, which includes 18 articles and appendixes, to the African leaders. The document included clauses on neutrality and guarantees of security.
„It also touches upon armed forces and other things. It was all written down – up to numbers of vehicles and personnel,“ Putin disclosed.
Ramaphosa went on to outline a proposal that has been agreed upon by the seven countries involved in the mission:
– Both leaders must listen to one another;
– The war must be settled through negotiations and diplomatic means;
– There must be a de-escalation of conflict on both sides;
– The sovereignty of countries in terms of the UN Charter and internationally recognised principles should be recognised;
– There needs to be a guarantee of security for all the countries involved. This issue has been raised by all sides;
– The movement of grains across the Black Sea must be opened up to remove blockages so that commodities can reach markets;
– humanitarian efforts must be set up for those affected by the war;
– Prisoners of war must be released and children returned to Ukraine;
– There must be reconstruction of the destruction caused by the war; and
– Further engagements should be held to encourage more dialogue through the Africa Peace Mission.
South Africa‘s Ramaphosa, Zambia‘s Hakainde Hichilema and Comoros‘ Assoumani look much happier to be in Russia than they looked in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun talks with a delegation of seven African nations that arrived in St. Petersburg to look for solutions to the Ukraine crisis.
The meeting is taking place at the Konstantinovsky Palace in Strelna, which was a residence of the Romanov imperial family and now hosts official events, including international ones.
„Judging by the schedule, after visiting Kiev [South African President Cyril] Ramaphosa will be the first to come here, President of the Union of the Comoros Azali Assoumani will be here, as well as Senegalese President Macky Sall, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuly. There will also be representatives of Congo and Uganda. This will be the African delegation that visited Kiev on the previous year, holding a meeting with [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky,“ Peskov added.
„I reiterate that we are thankful to every country, every state or every public figure – because many initiatives were personally proposed by prominent figures, internationalists; we are grateful to everyone, who speaks about peace, who speaks about [peaceful] settlement and, who wants to be useful regarding this issue,“ she said.
„There are interesting ideas, which may work. There are ideas that are in sync with our approaches, and, for instance, it includes the Chinese initiative,“ she continued.
“A lot depends on our activity in the region, on dialogues and contacts at different levels, on Minister Kuleba‘s direct tour and on the upcoming visit of the presidents of African countries. But, I emphasize: we should not expect that a change in the positions of countries will occur in the short term. This is a ‘long game.’ And it requires strength, enthusiasm and faith. I believe that in the end it will become absolutely clear to African countries that Ukraine is fighting for the same values, freedoms, and rights for which these countries have been fighting and shedding blood for many years,” the ambassador said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched six Kalibr cruise missiles, six Kinzhal ballistic missiles, and two drones to carry out the strikes.
No buildings or facilities were damaged in the attack, Klitschko said.
(16.06.2023)
The delegation from South Africa, Egypt, Senegal, Congo-Brazzaville, Comoros, Zambia, and Uganda is meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday and President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.
But the timing of the visit seems off. It comes just as Kyiv is launching its much-vaunted counter-offensive.
(17.10.2022)
Khalid bin Salman on Sunday said he was „astonished“ by claims his country was „standing with Russia in its war with Ukraine“.
„It is telling that these false accusations did not come from the Ukrainian government,“ he wrote on Twitter.
“It is a decision well taken,” said APPO secretary-general Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim. “I believe it is the right thing to do to save the industry and also to ensure that there is stability for today and tomorrow.”
The decision by OPEC, which includes major oil producers Russia and Saudi Arabia, as well as African countries and APPO members Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Congo and Libya, saw the price of Brent crude oil rise 1.5% to more than $93 a barrel.
(24.07.2022)
US narrative that Russia is isolated has completely failed – no one believes this BS
Sergey Lavrov landed in Cairo late on Saturday, the first leg of his Africa trip that will also include stops in Ethiopia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to Russia’s state-run RT television network.
On Sunday, he first held talks with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, then his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shukry. Lavrov also met with Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, before addressing the pan-Arab organization, the Arab League said.
Surprisingly, Gertler submitted the documents that got him into trouble while he was receiving legal counsel from top lawyers in Israel. In the arbitration, Gertler is represented by attorneys Dori Klagsbald and Boaz Ben Zur. The latter is also former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s defense attorney in the so-called Case 4000, in which Netanyahu is accused of offering favors for positive media coverage.
The Congo Republic pressed ahead with a presidential election on Sunday with the Internet and social media sites down since midnight, the main opposition candidate gravely ill and all signs showing the incumbent, Denis Sassou Nguesso, likely to win yet another poll following a boycott by the main opposition.
A South African military plane has crash-landed at Goma airport in the eastern DRC. SABC Correspondent Chris Ocamringa has more information on this developing story. He joins us on the line from Goma.
Emmanuel Ma cron ruft nach mehr EU-Militär in Afrika, und Berlin setzt den Tropenhelm auf. Paris sieht im Zerfall der meisten Staaten Westafrikas, den es 2011 durch den Krieg gegen Libyen gemeinsam mit Großbritannien und den USA herbeigeführt hatte, ein Sicherheitsproblem erster Ordnung. Das frankophone Kolonialreich droht anderen in die Hände zu fallen.
He notes that several countries including France, Belgium, Sweden and Zimbabwe had responded to his questions, but the US, Britain and South Africa had not, even though they had designated an „independent appointee“ to handle his requests.
Lord Lea of Crondall, chair of the Hammarskjöld Inquiry Trust, accused the British government of thwarting disclosure. “MI6 is running out of hiding space,” Lea said. “After this report they will be called out even more strongly by the UN.” He added: “The time has come for the UN to put a direct question to the UK: will they agree a meeting with MI6, yes or no?”
Greenpeace Africa is appalled — but not surprised — by reports of violent nocturnal arrests and torture of Congolese villagers in Tshopo province. The communities are involved in a conflict over their land with Plantations et Huileries du Congo SA (PHC), a palm oil plantation company owned by the Canadian company Feronia Inc.
„Atomkraft ist auf den Rohstoff Uran angewiesen“, sagt Makoma Lekalakala aus Südafrika, Trägerin des Goldmann Umweltpreises. „Urangewinnung und der Bau von Atomkraftwerken verletzen oft grundlegende Menschenrechte, insbesondere die Rechte indigener Völker und Gemeinschaften. Mein Kontinent Afrika und seine Bevölkerung haben genug unter den gesundheitlichen Folgen des Uranbergbaus gelitten. Die Arbeiter der Shinkolobwe Mine im Kongo, die das Uran für die Atombomben in Hiroshima und Nagasaki schürften. Die Arbeiter und die Bevölkerung des Niger, die für die französische Atomindustrie ihre Gesundheit opferten. Auch in Südafrika wurde die Bevölkerung durch den Uranbergbau vergiftet und verstrahlt, durch die toxischen und radioaktiven Hinterlassenschaften des Uranabbaus“, so Lekalakala.
Der Bundesaußenminister störte sich auch nicht daran, dass die Fäden zur Ausgestaltung des Übergangsprozesses weiter von schwerbelasteten Militärs wie Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan und Mohammed Hamdan »Hemedti« Daglo gezogen werden, unter anderem verantwortlich für den Völkermord in Darfur. Verteidigung und Inneres werden selbstverständlich auch vom und mit Personal des Militärrats bestückt. Am Dienstag offiziell benannt, wird Dschamal Al-Din Omar neuer Verteidigungsminister und kann dabei auf seine Erfahrung als Chef des Militärgeheimdienstes unter Al-Baschir bauen.
Speaking on the former status of Nigerian community in Pointe Noire, he said Nigerians were not well organised, adding that some were involved in illegal deals which gave concern to the host community.
(2. Aug 1981) Others, including the C.I.A.‘s critics, warn that if these restraints are loosened, the United States may well find itself slipping back to the situation that prevailed in the 1960‘s, when the agency was virtually unbridled, when assassination of inconvenient foreign political figures was an acceptable technique, and when top officials cultivated a deliberate fuzziness that obscured the line of command from the President to the Director of Central Intelligence and on down to the operatives in the field. These critics fear that if the C.I.A. is given too much leeway in the means it employs, it may once again be tempted to interpret a President‘s wishes in a way that will damage the good name and long-range interests of the United States.
(10. Aug 2000) The evidence comes in a previously unpublished 1975 interview with the minute-taker at an August 1960 White House meeting of Eisenhower and his national security advisers on the Congo crisis.
The minute-taker, Robert Johnson, said in the interview that he vividly recalled the president turning to Allen Dulles, director of the CIA, „in the full hearing of all those in attendance, and saying something to the effect that Lumumba should be eliminated“.
Mr Johnson recalled: „There was stunned silence for about 15 seconds and the meeting continued.“
Wie eine brutale ethnische Säuberungskampagne in der Demokratischen Republik Kongo durch Trumps „America First“-Politik und die Vernachlässigung durch die Welt verschlimmert wurde. (Dieser Text wurde auf antikrieg.com im vergangenen August in Fortsetzungen veröffentlicht.)
He said they “will remain in the region until the security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes such that their presence is no longer needed.”
Trump said additional forces may deploy to Gabon “if necessary.”
Democratic Republic of Congo’s government cut internet connections and SMS services across the country for a second straight day on Tuesday as the country nervously awaited the first results from the weekend’s chaotic presidential election.
Despite these surprisingly powerful connections, Karaziwan is neither a citizen of Comoros, DRC or of any other African nation with which he has been able to secure incredible financial footholds and political appointments. He is a Syria-born Belgian citizen who for close to two decades has used Semlex and its various partners, as well as political clout and connections on the continent, to secure multiple hundred-million-dollar deals to provide passports and other identification documents to African countries at exorbitant prices and sometimes without going through open tender processes.
Noch in erster Instanz war Bemba im Hauptsacheverfahren wegen Kriegsverbrechen in der DR Kongo und in der Zentralafrikanischen Republik zu 18 Jahren Gefängnis verurteilt worden.
(31.8.2017) Mercenaries are back, a dangerous trend occurring in the shadows. Their very lack of accountability is their main selling point; they offer plausible deniability and brute force to those too weak or squeamish to wage war. Customers are buying too, with mercenary proliferation in Afghanistan, Congo, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen. Clients include countries, extractive industry and even terrorists. This trend may one day alter international relations: When anyone can rent a military, then super-rich and large corporations can become a new kind of superpower. Worse, mercenaries can start and elongate conflicts for profit, breeding endless war. A world with more mercenaries means a world with more war, which is why Prince’s proposal is so dangerous.
Er habe mit dem kongolesischen Gesundheitsminister Oly Ilunga gesprochen, sagte Salama. Er hoffe nun innerhalb weniger Tage auf eine Genehmigung, einen von der Firma Merck entwickelten Impfstoff verwenden zu können. Dieser gilt als hocheffektiv, ist bislang aber nicht lizensiert.
The surveillance system of diseases with epidemic characteristics is on high alert, he added. The minister said the Burundian government will closely collaborate with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other partners in order to boost the east African country‘s surveillance system and appropriate preventive measures.
Sicily Kariuki, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, said the government has deployed 100 medical experts at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), the main port of entry to screen and test travelers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a further 160 on standby for any eventuality.
„We have also deployed medical personnel to conduct screening along the Busia and Malaba border posts with Uganda,“ Kariuki said at a joint news conference in Nairobi.