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S.Africa Releases Emergency Funds For Deadly Floods

By
Zoe Maven
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South African authorities were releasing emergency funds on Friday to help tens of thousands of people left without shelter, water and electricity by flash floods that washed away homes and roads and killed more than 300 people on the country’s east coast.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told TV station Newsroom Afrika that an initial billion rand ($68.30 million) for emergency relief was available for immediate use — local authorities have estimated the damage at several billion rand — and that more would follow.

This week’s floods in Kwazulu-Natal Province have knocked out power lines, shut down water services, interrupted operations at one of Africa’s busiest ports and strewn highways and beaches with debris.

Local TV stations carried footage of volunteers cleaning up plastic containers, piles of bamboo and driftwood from Durban beachfront. Ministers were arriving in Durban on Friday to assess the damage.

Local authorities estimate 341 people have been killed so far — a toll that could rise as they tally the full extent of the damage from the rains. More than 40,000 people have been affected. The province was declared a disaster area on Wednesday to enable emergency relief funds to start flowing.

As the Indian Ocean warms owing to human emissions of heat-trapping gases, scientists believe it is battering Africa’s southwestern coast with more violent storms and floods — a trend likely to worsen dramatically in the next few decades.

Meanwhile, local climate campaigners are calling for greater investment into adaptation to help communities better prepare for weather shocks.

Russia Pledges More Strikes On Kyiv After Missile Attack

By
Zoe Maven
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0

Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday it had struck a military target on the edge of Kyiv overnight with cruise missiles and promised more strikes against the Ukrainian capital in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian targets.

The ministry said its forces had also taken full control of the Ilyich Steel Plant in the besieged port city of Mariupol, which has been encircled by Russian troops for weeks.

Powerful explosions were heard in Kyiv on Friday which appeared to be among the most significant there since Russian troops pulled back from the area earlier this month in preparation for battles in the south and east.

The explosions were reported to have been heard after the Russian defence ministry announced that the Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, had sunk while being towed after being badly damaged.

Ukraine claimed the Moskva’s damage was the result of one of its missile strikes. Russia’s defence ministry spoke only of a fire breaking out and of exploding ammunition.

The defence ministry said in its statement that its overnight missile strikes on Kyiv had struck the ‘Vizar’ factory on the edge of the Ukrainian capital which it said made and repaired missiles, including anti-ship missiles.

It pledged more strikes on Kyiv.

It said its forces had shot down a Ukrainian Mi-8 helicopter which it said had attacked the village of Klimovo in Bryansk region on April 14 and had also shot down a Ukrainian Sukhoi-27 jet.

A group of up to 30 Polish mercenaries had also been destroyed, it said.

U.S. Special Representative For N.Korea To Visit Seoul

By
Zoe Maven
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The U.S. State Department says an envoy for North Korea will visit Seoul next week for meetings with South Korean counterparts to discuss the international response to the North’s recent intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) launches.

U.S. Special Representative Sung Kim has said he is open to talks with North Korea at any time and without preconditions, but Pyongyang has so far rebuffed those overtures, accusing Washington of maintaining hostile policies such as sanctions and military drills.

Last month North Korea test fired an ICBM for the first time since 2017, and U.S. and South Korean officials say there are signs it could also be preparing to resume nuclear weapons tests.

In a statement, the State Department said Kim, and his deputy, Jung Pak, will meet with South Korean officials, including nuclear envoy Noh Kyu-duk, during a five-day visit starting Monday.

The visit underscores the U.S. and South Korean commitment to ongoing close collaboration on North Korean issues as they “seek to advance complete denuclearization and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula,” the statement said.

The United States is pushing the U.N. Security Council to further sanction North Korea over its renewed ballistic missile launches by banning tobacco, halving oil exports to the country and blacklisting the Lazarus hacking group, according to a draft resolution reviewed by Reuters.

South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative who is set to take office on May 10, has called for stronger ties with the United States to deter the North.

China Holds Drills Around Taiwan As U.S. Lawmakers Visit

By
Zoe Maven
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China says it has conducted military drills around Taiwan on Friday as a U.S. Congressional delegation visited the island in a show of support to a fellow democracy, with Beijing blaming the lawmakers for raising tensions with their “provocative” trip.

China’s military sent frigates, bombers and fighter planes to the East China Sea and the area around Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army Eastern Theatre Command said, in a statement released as the lawmakers were holding a news conference in Taipei.

China’s Defence Ministry, in a separate statement, said the U.S. visit was “deliberately provocative” and had “led to further escalation of tension in the Taiwan Strait.”

Taiwan is a frequent source of tension between Beijing and Washington.

Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham told Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen during the delegation’s meeting with her that the war in Ukraine and provocative behavior by China have united U.S. opinion in a way not seen before.

Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the technology hub is a “country of global significance” and its security has implications for the world.

The bipartisan group of six lawmakers arrived for their two-day visit on Thursday, in a previously unannounced trip.

Such visits, and a reference to Taiwan as a “country,” always anger Beijing, which dismisses any suggestion that Taiwan is a country. China regards the island as one of its provinces.

The United States has no formal relations with Chinese-claimed Taiwan but is its most important international backer and arms supplier.

U.S. Cannot ‘Take Lightly’ Russia Threat To Use Nuclear Weapons

By
Zoe Maven
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CIA Director William Burns says the threat of Russia potentially using tactical or low-yield nuclear weapons in Ukraine cannot be taken lightly.

In a speech at Georgia Tech, Burns referred to the “potential desperation” and military setbacks that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government have suffered since moved forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

For those reasons, Burns said that no one can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons.

That said, despite “rhetorical posturing” by the Kremlin about putting the world’s largest nuclear arsenal on high alert, “We haven’t seen a lot of practical evidence of the kind of deployments or military dispositions that would reinforce that concern.”

Burns made his comments in response to a question from former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, a leading arms control advocate, at the end of his first speech since taking the helm of the premier U.S. spy agency in March 2021.

In a wide-ranging address, the former career U.S. diplomat said U.S. spy agencies began last fall collecting “disturbing and detailed” intelligence on a plan by Putin for a “major new invasion” of Ukraine.

U.S. intelligence has been vital to Ukraine’s fight against Russian forces, said Burns, whose diplomatic posts included one as U.S. ambassador to Moscow.

Ivory Coast President Ouattara To Announce Slimmed-Down Govt

By
Zoe Maven
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Ivory Coast Prime Minister Patrick Achi tabled his resignation and that of his government on Wednesday as President Alassane Ouattara plans to slim down the size of the cabinet.

Ouattara said he would reduce the government to around 30 ministers from the current 41, with new appointments to be made next week to govern the world’s top cocoa producer.

The president is expected to address a joint session of the West African country’s parliament on April 19, a government spokesman told Reuters.

A slimmer cabinet will be more efficient and in tune with the global economic climate, Ouattara said during the cabinet meeting at which he accepted the government’s resignation.

He added that it was imperative to reduce state spending and re-focus on social and security resilience although he did not specify which ministerial positions would be cut.

Achi was not immediately available for comment but at the cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister said his decision to resign followed the intentions by the president to re-shuffle the government.

“We have given the best of ourselves to execute your vision for 2030,” he told Ouattara.

Achi, 66, was appointed prime minister in March last year.

Ugandan Filmmaker Eyes New Africa Narrative

By
Zoe Maven
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Creatures Animation Studio Director Raymond Malinga reacts during a Reuters interview outside his office in Bugolobi suburb of Kampala, Uganda April 4, 2022. Picture taken April 4, 2022. REUTERS/ Abubaker Lubowa

Ugandan film producer Raymond Malinga, whose work will feature in an upcoming Disney anthology of animated films from across Africa, hopes the project will bring African animation to the world.

“Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire”, is a ten-part collection of short animations by producers from six African countries that is set to premier on the Disney Plus streaming platform later this year.

Malinga, aged 32, is one of 14 film makers from South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Uganda and Kenya who are contributing to the anthology of sci-fi and fantasy stories set in Africa’s future with Oscar-winning film director Peter Ramsey serving as executive producer on the project.

Malinga says the positives gets lost in the narrative, Malinga, and this should change and that for him the anthology is an opportunity to contribute to that conversation.

Malinga, who holds a degree in animation and visual effects from a university in Malaysia, started his company, Creatures Animation Studios, in 2015.

Their big break came in 2017 when their short animated film “A Kalabanda Ate My Homework” was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival and won six awards, including for best animation film, at the African International Film Festival in Nigeria the following year.

His team, which has grown over the last few years to 10 people, works from a small dark studio sandwiched between cubicles of other startups in a makeshift innovation village built from repurposed shipping containers. African content is gaining popularity globally thanks to growing commissions for series and short films by streaming services like Netflix and Multichoice’s Showmax

U.S. Charges Russian Lawmaker Over Alleged Influence Scheme

By
Zoe Maven
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U.S. prosecutors have unsealed an indictment charging a senior Russian politician and two staff members of conspiring to illegally advance Russia’s interests in the United States, including by reaching out to members of Congress.

The defendants include fifty-nine years old Aleksandr Babakov, the deputy chairman of the state Duma, the lower house of Russia’s legislature, who is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Also charged was Babakov’s chief of staff Aleksandr Vorobev, 52, and staff member Mikhail Plisyuk, 58.

Prosecutors in Manhattan accused the defendants of having as early as 2012 operated an “international foreign influence and disinformation network” to advance Russia’s interests.

The indictment said the campaign was designed to weaken U.S. partnerships with European allies, undermine Western sanctions, and promote Russian actions “designed to destroy” Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Prosecutors quoted from a Dec. 2016 email from Vorobev promoting the influence campaign, where he allegedly said “purely legal work in hostile regimes is not enough.”

The defendants were each charged with three conspiracy counts: acting as foreign agents without formally notifying the U.S. Department of Justice, violating U.S. sanctions, and lying in a fraudulent effort to obtain U.S. visas.

None could immediately be reached for comment. Prosecutors said the defendants are based in Russia and at large.

They could each face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Russia Warns Of Nuclear Deployment If Sweden And Finland Join NATO

By
Zoe Maven
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0

One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies has warned NATO that if Sweden and Finland joined the U.S.-led military alliance then Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in a European exclave.

Finland, which shares a 1,300-km border with Russia, and Sweden are considering joining the NATO alliance with Prime Minister Sanna Marin saying on Wednesday that Finland will decide in the next few weeks.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said that should Sweden and Finland join NATO then Russia would have to strengthen its land, naval and air forces in the Baltic Sea.

Medvedev also explicitly raised the nuclear threat by saying that there could be no more talk of a “nuclear free” Baltic – where Russia has its Kaliningrad exclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania.

Medvedev, who was Russian president from 2008 to 2012 said, “There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic – the balance must be restored,”

Medvedev said he hoped Finland and Sweden would see sense. If not, he said, they would have to live with nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles close to home.

When asked how Washington views the potential addition of Sweden and Finland to NATO in light of Russia’s warning, the U.S. State Department said there was no change in Washington’s position and repeated that “NATO’s open door is an open door.”

Russia has the world’s biggest arsenal of nuclear warheads and along with China and the United States is one of the global leaders in hypersonic missile technology.

UK Tough Asylum Policy Plans To Send Migrants To Rwanda

By
Zoe Maven
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0

Prime Minister Boris Johnson says Britain could send tens of thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda, aiming to break people-smuggling networks and stem the flow of migrants across the Channel.

Concerns over immigration were a big factor in the 2016 Brexit vote, and Johnson has been under pressure to deliver on his promise to “take back control” of Britain’s borders.

But his plan drew swift criticism from opponents of his Conservative Party and from charities.

In a speech in Kent, Johnson said, “We must ensure that the only route to asylum in the UK is a safe and legal one,”

He continued, “Those who try to jump the queue or abuse our systems will find no automatic path to set them up in our country, but rather be swiftly and humanely removed to a safe third country or their country of origin.”

He added that anyone who has arrived in Britain illegally since Jan. 1 could now be relocated to Rwanda, which would disrupt the business model of people-smuggling gangs.

But the plan has drawn strong criticism from opposition parties, with interior minister Priti Patel’s Labour Party counterpart, Yvette Cooper, saying it was costly, “unworkable and unethical”.

The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) also voiced opposition.

UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs said People fleeing war, conflict and persecution deserve compassion and empathy.

Concerns were also raised about Rwanda’s human rights record, which the British government itself noted last year.

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