Truss Surges Ahead In UK Leadership Race

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July 31, 2022

U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss cemented her place as front-runner in the race to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson, winning endorsement Saturday from an influential former rival for the top job.

Tom Tugendhat, who was eliminated from the contest in earlier rounds of voting by Conservative lawmakers, said Truss had the “resolution, determination, and passion” to be prime minister.

The endorsement is a blow to ex-Treasury chief Rishi Sunak, the other finalist in the race for the next Conservative leader. The winner will be decided by votes from about 180,000 party members across the country.

Polls give Truss an edge with Tory members, though Sunak is more popular with the general public, who don’t have a say in the race. The winner will be announced Sept. 5 and will automatically become prime minister, replacing Johnson, who stepped down as Conservative leader this month after three years in office following months of ethics scandals.

Tugendhat, a prominent figure from the party’s centrist “One Nation” group, wrote in the Times of London newspaper that Truss had “the foreign-affairs experience to build alliances and keep our country safe.”

Truss also secured backing this week from Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, who is highly regarded by party members for his handling of Britain’s response to the war in Ukraine. Wallace said Truss’s international experience as Britain’s top diplomat and commitment to increased military spending gave her “the edge.”

Sunak, who was the favorite candidate among Tory lawmakers who whittled down the field of candidates from an initial 11 contenders, is struggling to gain momentum.

He has accused Truss of peddling unrealistic promises, especially on the economy. Truss says she will cut taxes immediately to ease the cost-of-living crisis, while Sunak argues it is vital to get inflation under control first.

Spanish PM Sanchez Backs EU Candidacy For Bosnia

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Zoe Maven

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July 31, 2022

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Spain’s prime minister has expressed support for Bosnia to become a candidate for European Union membership amid fears that uncertainty caused by the war in Ukraine could fuel instability in the ethnically torn Balkan nation that went through a devastating conflict in the 1990s’.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez came to Sarajevo from Serbia, where he kicked off his tour of the Balkan region on Friday. Sanchez will also travel to Montenegro, North Macedonia and Albania.

At a press conference Sanchez said “During my meetings today I wanted to highlight the opportunity that would be for Bosnia and Herzegovina if the European Union would take its enlargement with a new sense of urgency,”

Yet Bosnia, still dominated by nationalist politicians long after the end of the 1992-95 war, has been locked in political and ethnic disputes that have stalled the country’s EU membership bid.

Bosnia’s Serbs, backed by Russia, have sought to win more independence for their Serb-run half of the country, while disagreements between the Bosniaks, who are mostly Muslim, and Croats have blocked the normal functioning of their joint entity.

The political stalemate has sparked concerns that Bosnia could face further ethnic divisions if left behind in the EU process. Some regional leaders have called for Bosnia to be granted a EU candidate status along with Ukraine and Moldova in June to show the EU’s commitment to the volatile region.

Sanchez said Spain supports Bosnia’s “European perspective.” He expressed hope the country would take necessary steps to become a membership candidate by the time Spain takes over EU’s rotating presidency in the second half of 2023.

EU Parliament Leaders Slam Orban’s Racist Words

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Zoe Maven

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July 31, 2022

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AUSTRIA-HUNGARY-DIPLOMACY-POLITICS — Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban attends a joint press conference with the Austrian Chancellor at the Federal Chancellery during Orban's official visit to Austria in Vienna, Austria, July 28, 2022. (Photo by Alex HALADA / AFP)

The leaders of the European Parliament’s main parties on Saturday condemned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for “openly racist” comments he made about racial mixing.

The group in a statement said Orban’s warning last week against creating “peoples of mixed race” was “unacceptable” and breached the values enshrined in EU treaties.

A European Parliament spokeswoman said the declaration was adopted on Friday with a “very large” majority.

The parliament leaders also urged the European Commission and the European Council to condemn Orban’s statement “in the strongest terms”.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, without explicitly mentioning Orban, stressed on Saturday that “all EU member states, including Hungary, have subscribed to global common values” which are “non-negotiable”.

Of the EU parliament party leaders, only the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists Group opposed the decision to condemn Orban’s comments, according to a parliament source.

MEPs from Orban’s nationalist Fidesz party have been unaffiliated with any of the major EU parliament groupings since their split from the traditional right-of-centre European People’s Party.

The Hungarian leader’s remarks sparked widespread backlash outside the offices of the EU, including from the International Auschwitz Committee, while the United States called them “inexcusable” and reminiscent of the Nazi era.

Egypt Protests Ethiopia Plans To Fill Reservoir

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Zoe Maven

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July 31, 2022

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Egypt says it has protested to the UN Security Council Friday against Ethiopian plans to fill the reservoir of a controversial Nile dam for a third year without agreement from downstream countries.

The multi-billion dollar Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile is set to be the largest hydroelectric scheme in Africa but has been at the centre of a dispute with Egypt and Sudan ever since work began in 2011.

Foreign ministry statement said Egypt “received a message from the Ethiopian side on July 26, stating that Ethiopia would continue filling the reservoir of the Renaissance Dam during the current flood season

In response, Egypt wrote to the UN Security Council “to register its objection and complete rejection of Ethiopia’s continuation of filling the Renaissance Dam unilaterally without a deal.”

The ministry stressed that Egypt maintains its “legitimate right… to take all necessary measures to ensure and protect its national security, including against any risks that Ethiopia’s unilateral measures may cause in the future.”

Addis Ababa deems the GERD essential for the electrification and development of Africa’s second most populous country.

But Cairo and Khartoum fear it could threaten their access to vital Nile waters and have demanded a written agreement between the three countries on the dam’s filling and operation.

The $4.2-billion dam is ultimately expected to produce more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity, more than doubling Ethiopia’s output. The first of 13 turbines began generating power in February.

The process of filling the GERD’s vast reservoir began in 2020, with Ethiopia announcing in July that year it had hit its target of 4.9 billion cubic metres.

King Mohamed IV Reaches Out To Algeria

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Zoe Maven

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July 31, 2022

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For his 23rd anniversary as king of Morocco, Mohamed VI reached out for reconciliation with Algeria.

Relations between the two countries have been strained for several months over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Rabat has been putting forward a broad autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty supported by many countries but rejected by Algiers backing the separatist Polisario Front.

In his address Mohammed VI asked Moroccans to preserve the spirit of fraternity, solidarity and good neighbourliness” towards Algeria, denouncing those who infused hatred between the two.

Last year, the king had already chosen to address a message of peace to its neighbour.

An unsuccessful attempt as in August, Algeria cut diplomatic ties with Morocco accusing it of “hostile actions

China Announces Military Exercise Opposite Taiwan

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Zoe Maven

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July 31, 2022

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China said it was conducting military exercises Saturday off its coast opposite Taiwan after warning Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the U.S. House of Representatives to scrap possible plans to visit the island democracy, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.

The ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army, was conducting “live-fire exercises” near the Pingtan islands off Fujian province from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., the official Xinhua News Agency said. The Maritime Safety Administration warned ships to avoid the area.

Such exercises usually involve artillery. The one-sentence announcement gave no indication whether Saturday’s exercise also might include missiles, fighter planes or other weapons.

Pelosi, who would be the highest-ranking American elected official to visit Taiwan since 1997, has yet to confirm whether she will go. President Xi Jinping warned his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, in a phone call Thursday against “external interference” in Beijing’s dealings with the island.

China says Taiwan has no right to conduct foreign relations. It sees visits by American officials as encouragement for the island to make its decades-old de facto independence official.

The Ministry of Defense warned Washington this week not to allow Pelosi, who is Biden’s equal in rank as leader of one of three branches of government, to visit Taiwan. A spokesman said the PLA would take unspecified “strong measures” to stop pro-independence activity.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war that ended with a communist victory on the mainland.

The two governments say they are one country but disagree over which is entitled to national leadership. They have no official relations but are linked by billions of dollars in trade and investment.

Egypt Releases 7, Including Journalist, Researcher

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Zoe Maven

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July 31, 2022

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Egypt has released seven people, including a journalist and a researcher serving prison sentences on terror-related charges, the latest steps by the government to reach out to the opposition amid a grinding economic crisis.

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s administration is grappling with the crisis and spiraling economy, spawned by Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous nation, imports most of its wheat from the two Slavic countries.

Saturday’s freeing of journalist Hisham Fouad and anthropology researcher Ahmed Samir came a day after El-Sisi pardoned them, along with five others, according to state-run media.

The two were released from the Tora prison complex in Cairo and images shared online showed them hugging families and friends outside the prison.

Fouad was arrested along with several other secular activists in June 2019, shortly after the group met with political parties and opposition lawmakers trying to hash out how to run in the 2020 parliamentary elections.

Among the detained were Hossam Monis and Zyad El-Elaimy, prominent activists in the country’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

They were convicted last year of conspiring to commit crimes with an outlawed group, a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt has banned as a terrorist organisation.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg welcomed the release of Samir, who had been on a visit home when he was arrested.

The minister told the Austria Press Agency that Austrian officials had repeatedly expressed concern to Egyptian authorities about his conditions of detention and “in our view, disproportionate sentence”.

Guinea Opposition Coalition Calls Off Protests

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Zoe Maven

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July 31, 2022

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A Guinean opposition coalition on Saturday said it was calling off protests for a week following deadly clashes and a plea for calm by West Africa’s regional bloc.

The National Front for the Defence of the Constitution (FNDC), an alliance of political parties, trade unions and civil society organisations, also said gendarmes had arrested its coordinator Oumar Sylla.

Abdoulaye Keita, a lawyer for the FNDC said Sylla was detained at his home overnight Friday to Saturday and “taken to an unknown destination.

The FNDC in a statement said it spoke on Friday with the head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Guinea-Bissau’s leader Umaro Sissoco Embalo, and agreed to his request to suspend protests for a week.

The truce’s only goal is to “give the ECOWAS mediation a chance to find a favourable way out of the crisis in Guinea”, the statement added.

The West African state has seen violent clashes between the security forces and demonstrators protesting against the military junta’s plans for a three-year transition to civilian rule.

The authorities said one person died in the capital Conakry on Friday, but the FNDC put the total at four.

Fresh protests had been scheduled for 4 August to denounce the “unilateral management of the transition” by the junta, which has banned all political demonstrations until the next election campaign.

A military-dominated government headed by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya has led Guinea since September 2021, when a putsch toppled former president Alpha Condé.

Tunisia’s Foreign Ministry Summons U.S. Envoy

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Zoe Maven

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July 31, 2022

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Tunisia’s foreign ministry says it has summoned an official from the U.S. embassy after Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns about Tunisia’s democracy.

Tunisia’s Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi told U.S. acting chargé d’affaires Natasha Franceschi that the statement represented an unacceptable “interference in the national internal affairs”, the ministry said in a statement.

Blinken expressed concerns about Tunisia’s democracy on Thursday after President Kais Saied introduced a new constitution giving himself far more powers, but the broad reaction among Western democracies was muted.

The new constitution was endorsed in a referendum the president held on Monday, a year after Saied moved to shut down the elected parliament and start ruling by decree.

Senegal Elects Parliament In Test For Presidential Vote

By

Zoe Maven

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July 31, 2022

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Senegal has Sunday voted in parliamentary elections the opposition hopes will force a coalition with President Macky Sall and curb any ambitions he may hold for a third term.

Polling stations opened at 0800 GMT and close at 1800 GMT.

According to Media reports, about 100 people, mostly elderly, queued up to vote at a polling station located in a school in the Dakar suburb of Mbao as police kept watch.

The single-round ballot will decide the 165 seats of the single-chamber parliament — currently controlled by the president’s supporters — for the next five years.

Lawmakers are elected according to a system that combines proportional representation, with national lists for 53 lawmakers, and majority voting in the country’s departments for 97 others.

The diaspora elects the remaining 15 members of parliament.

This year, eight coalitions are in the running, including Yewwi Askan Wi (meaning “Liberate the People” in Wolof), the main opposition coalition.

Sixty-year-old Sall, who was elected in 2012 for seven years and then re-elected in 2019 for another five, has been accused of wanting to break the two-term limit and run again in 2024.

He has remained vague on the subject, but any defeat of his supporters in the vote could upset such plans.