Headlines

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric has sowed anxiety and confusion about the foreign policy path he will pursue.

During the Republican primaries and in the general election contest against former secretary of state Hillary Clinton the wealthy businessman was vague on some key issues, including the fight against the so-called Islamic State group.

On other matters he was consistent and adamant: advocating rejection of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership, renegotiating the nuclear deal with Iran and withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement; all centerpieces of the Obama administration.

The TPP remains important despite reports the White House has given up on congressional approval, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in New Zealand Sunday.

Climate change

As far as the climate change treaties to which the United States has agreed "we will wait to see how the next administration addresses this, but I believe we're on the right track, and this is a track that the American people are committed to because the majority of the American people believe climate change is, in fact, happening and want to see us address it," Kerry added prior to heading to Oman.

Visiting Antarctica last Friday, the top U.S. diplomat appeared to call for citizens to actively oppose Trump's skepticism toward climate science.

"We need to get more of a movement going," Kerry told several hundred scientists there. "We need to get more people to engage."

Despite an incoming administration that appears intent on wrecking much of what he and predecessor Clinton constructed, Kerry has instructed an orderly transition at the State Department.

"Our focus over the next couple months is making sure the transition runs as smoothly and as efficiently as possible, State Department spokesman John Kirby told VOA.

Details

Rita Akana

13.Nov.2016

Hits: 1358

Write comment (0 Comments)

At the conclusion of this year 2016, Cameroon is the 27^th most prosperous country in Africa (out of 45 countries) and the 127^th in the world, according to London-based think tank Legatum Institute, who published the Legatum Institute Prosperity Index on 3 November 2016. The country loses 9 spots in the African ranking compared to last year's edition issued on 1 June, and in which Cameroon was 18^th.

Cameroon is outranked by small countries such as Djibouti (16^th) or Togo, who grabbed the spot just ahead of Cameroon; or countries which went through several years of civil warnsuch as Côte d’Ivoire (23^rd) and Sierra Leone (25^th). Within the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC), which gathers six States, Cameroon comes in six spots behind Gabon, ranked 21th.

The most prosperous country in Africa, according to this report is Mauritius, who takes the first seat away from South Africa, down to the 2^nd spot in this ranking, followed by Botswana, who completes the winning trio of most prosperous States in Africa.

The last ranking, which lists 149 countries worldwide, was based, we learned, on more than 90 criteria grouped in eight categories: economy, business environment, governance, education, health, security, personal freedom and social capital.

BRM

Details

Rita Akana

12.Nov.2016

Hits: 1639

Write comment (0 Comments)

Explosions were heard across the Borno State capital when two of the bombs went off on the assailants, killing all three of them.

Local media portals quoted the police spokesperson in the state, Victor Isuku, as having confirmed the incident.

The Nigerian army shot and killed three women strapped with explosive device on their bodies while attempting to invade Maiduguri in the early hours of Friday, an official said.

Explosions were heard across the Borno State capital when two of the bombs went off on the assailants, killing all three of them.

Local media portals quoted the police spokesperson in the state, Victor Isuku, as having confirmed the incident.

“This morning at about 0530hrs, three (3) female suicide bombers with IED strapped to their bodies were sighted by military patrol team in Umarari village, near Mulai towards Maiduguri”, he said.

“They were promptly gunned down and the IED on two of them exploded killing all three of them. The unexploded IED on the third was rendered safe and detonated by Police bomb disposal Unit who promptly mobilized to the scene”.

Boko Haram insurgents have in the recent past increased the intensity of their attacks on the local population and Army officers engaged in the counter terrorist insurgency. Late last months, two suicide bombers killed 9 people in Maiduguri.

The Army on Monday buried seven officers who were killed by Boko Haram insurgents in the Mallam Fatori area. Local media also reported the death of another two soldiers and injuries to eight others in Borno.

The Borno State police commissioner, Damian Chukwu, recently blamed the increased Boko Haram attacks on the coming of the dry season, which, he said, gives the insurgents ample access routes to invade the city through bush paths.

Africannews

Details

Rita Akana

11.Nov.2016

Hits: 1445

Write comment (0 Comments)

Some 30,000 residents of the Nigerian megacity Lagos have become homeless because of state-ordered demolitions and fighting between rival communities, residents and a rights group said on Thursday.

The violence highlights the challenges of a rapidly rising population unable to provide enough jobs and housing for its 180 million people. Many end up trying to migrate to Europe by boat from lawless Libya.

Africa's largest economy is in recession as oil revenues have fallen and hard currency reserves dwindled, forcing the closure of plants unable to import raw materials. Every day, thousands head to Lagos, the commercial capital, seeking work in a city of 23 million.

A spokeswoman for Lagos police said officers had arrested several people for setting fire to makeshift houses in the affluent Lekki island district. She denied claims by a Lagos-based rights group, the Justice and Empowerment Initiatives (JEI), that the police had destroyed buildings.

Trouble started when fighting erupted this week between locals and others from Benin, a poor nation just west of Lagos, several residents told a Reuters reporter at the scene, where rows of bamboo buildings had been burned down. Some were still burning.

Bulldozers escorted by police arrived late on Wednesday to raze the traditional housing, JEI said, blaming officers for the conflict.

Reuters

 

Details

Rita Akana

11.Nov.2016

Hits: 1336

Write comment (0 Comments)

Demonstrators took to the streets across the United States for a second day on Thursday to protest against Donald Trump's presidential election victory, voicing fears that the real estate mogul's triumph would deal a blow to civil rights.

On the East Coast, protests took place in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, while on the West Coast demonstrators rallied in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland in California, and Portland, Oregon.

The protests were for the most part peaceful and orderly, although there were scattered acts of civil disobedience and damage to property.

Protesters threw objects at police in Portland and damaged a car lot, the Portland Police Department said on Twitter. Some protesters sprayed graffiti on cars and buildings and smashed store front windows, media in Portland said.

"Many in crowd trying to get anarchist groups to stop destroying property, anarchists refusing. Others encouraged to leave area" the department said on Twitter after declaring the demonstration a riot.

A handful of protesters were arrested by Portland police, according to a Reuters witness.

Dozens in Minneapolis marched onto Interstate 94, blocking traffic in both directions for at least an hour as police stood by. A smaller band of demonstrators briefly halted traffic on a busy Los Angeles freeway before police cleared them off.

Baltimore police reported about 600 people marched through the downtown Inner Harbor area, with some blocking roadways by sitting in the street. Two people were arrested, police said.

In Denver, a crowd that media estimated to number about 3,000 gathered on the grounds of the Colorado state capitol and marched through downtown in one of the largest of Thursday's events. Hundreds demonstrated through Dallas.

Thursday's gatherings were generally smaller in scale and less intense than Wednesday's, and teenagers and young adults again dominated the racially mixed crowds.

Reuters

 

Details

Rita Akana

11.Nov.2016

Hits: 1582

Write comment (0 Comments)

Many Africans fear that US policy could change under the Trump administration. But some think less US involvement on the continent could actually be a good idea.

Ethiopian university lecturer Yakob Arsano went to the US embassy in Addis Ababa to watch the final stages of the presidential race. But even Arsano, an expert in international relations, struggled to explain whether the election of Donald Trump means any change of US policy towards Africa.

"America is an established political system, which cannot be swayed by an individual president," he told a Deutsche Welle correspondent at the embassy. "But the president is powerful and very influential. He can try to influence his people and the nation."

Like Arsano, Africans across the continent were left wondering Wednesday what to expect from Donald Trump, who campaigned on a ticket of putting "America's interests first" in global, political and economic cooperation.

Africa 'not a priority for Trump'

"For him, Africa is not a priority at all," says Kenyan political analyst Naftali Mwaura. "We are talking of a man who has touted protectionalism as the defining theme of his campaign. If he pursues this protectionist line, Africa is going to suffer."

A US shift to more protectionism could mean the end for several US programs for Africa, especially the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The scheme - introduced by Hillary Clinton's husband Bill during his tenure as US president- gives preferential access to exports from selected African countries to the US.

An American withdrawal from the international scene could also mean the end of US military cooperation with countries such as Nigeria, Niger or Kenya that are battling Islamist insurgencies.

But there are also some Africans who think their continent could actually benefit if the US takes a back seat in the future.

Positive effects from US withdrawal?

"I look forward to the US cutting aid to Africa," Liberian student Tecee Boley told a DW correspondent in the capital Monrovia.

"We have received high amounts of donor funds. But we have not seen any tangible results that we can point to as what she [Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf] has done with the money," Boley said.

Africa's political elite stayed clear of any criticism of Trump in their congratulatory messages. Instead, most leaders emphasized the need for continuity in US-Africa relations.

South Africa's president Jacob Zuma wrote on his Twitter account that he "was looking forward to work with President-elect Donald Trump to built on the strong relations that exist between South Africa and the USA."

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta said that the ties between his country and the United States would also remain strong under the Trump administration. 

"They are old and based in the values that we hold dear: in democracy, in the rule of law, and in the equality of peoples. These values remain dear to the peoples of both nations, and so our friendship will endure," Kenyatta said in a statement.

Trump received a cautious welcome from many Twitter and Facebook users across the continent. DW's Kiswahili page had notched up more than 500 comments just 15 minutes after he was declared the winner. But the tone largely remained cordial and low-key, a far cry from the excitement that followed Barack Obama's victory in 2008. Many Africans then thought that Obama - the son of a Kenyan father - would give more priority to Africa than his predecessors had done. 

Taking the election on a light note

"It is the right decision. May God help him accomplish his mission," Rabiyyu Gidan Madi from Nigeria's northern Sokoto state wrote on DW's Hausa page.

Some social media users also took Donald Trump's election on a light note.

They compared him to South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, who's fighting increasing public resistance over corruption allegations and incompetence.

Others started to hold celebrities to account who had threatened to give up their residency in the United States if Trump were to become the next president. One of them is Nigerian Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka. Nigerian Twitter user Marchbanks Arthur wrote: "Our celebration will now be at Abeokuta where Wole Soyinka will tear his green card," 

DW

Details

Rita Akana

11.Nov.2016

Hits: 1821

Write comment (0 Comments)