PRESIDENT TINUBU SAYS ECOWAS COMMITTED TO UPHOLDING GOOD GOVERNANCE, COMBATING TERRORISM.
President Bola Tinubu says the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is committed to upholding good governance and combating terrorism.
Tinubu stated this in Beijing, China while addressing a high-level meeting on peace and security at the 2024 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
He said ECOWAS remains deeply committed to upholding good governance, combating terrorism, providing humanitarian aid, and engaging in intensive peacekeeping, diplomacy, and mediation.
Nigeria’s approach to fostering peace and stability in West Africa is comprehensive, combining military intervention, diplomatic engagement, dialogue, negotiations, and mutually beneficial economic collaboration.
“Nigeria’s unwavering commitment to peacebuilding has solidified its position as a cornerstone of regional stability.
President Tinubu reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to promoting peace and security across West Africa.
He also commended China’s contributions to Africa’s development through initiatives like the Belt and Road and FOCAC.
Tinubu highlighted the importance of confronting the root causes of conflicts, such as poverty, inequality, and social injustice, emphasizing that true peace is not just the absence of war, but the presence of justice, equity, economic opportunity, and human security.
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TUNISIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ZAMMEL RELEASED FROM DETENTION.
Tunisian presidential candidate Ayachi Zammel has been released from police custody on Friday shortly after he was set free from a previous detention then re-arrested over alleged election-related irregularities.
Zammel is one of three candidates approved by Tunisia’s electoral commission to run in a presidential election on Oct. 6 which opposition critics say is rigged in favour of President Kais Saied.
He was arrested on Monday on suspicion of falsifying voter forms.
A judge ordered him set free on Thursday.
But two lawyers for Zammel, Abdessatar Massoudi and Dalila Ben Mbarek, said he was arrested again immediately after his release from Borj El Amri prison.
On Friday, he was released again on a judge’s orders.
His case was postponed until 19th September.
Zammel campaign member Mahdi Abdel Jawad described his arrest as a kidnapping.
He is accused of falsifying voter forms for next month’s election.
Each candidate must submit forms from 10,000 supporters to qualify to stand.
He denies the allegation.
Zammel has said he faces restrictions and intimidation because he is a serious competitor to Saied.
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TUNISIA’S LAW PROFESSORS WARN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION LEGITIMACY AT RISK
Tunisian legal scholars has warned that the legitimacy of next month’s presidential election will be damaged if the electoral commission does not respect court decisions last week to reinstate three disqualified candidates.
The warning came in a statement by scores of academics in Tunisia, where rights groups accuse President Kais Saied of unpicking the democracy introduced after the Arab Spring.
Last week, the administrative court, the highest judicial body that adjudicates over electoral disputes, reinstated three prominent candidates, Mondher Znaidi, opens new tab, Abdellatif Mekki and Imed Daimi, in the Oct. 6 vote after the commission had rejected their candidacy.
But this week the election commission rejected the court ruling.
It approved only the candidacies of Saied and two others, Zouhair Magzhaoui and Ayachi Zammel, for the election.
The decision has sparked widespread criticism among all parties, activists and rights groups.
Znaidi, Daimi and Mekki said they would continue their legal battle against what they say is a “fraud” by the commission aimed at paving the way for Saied to win a second term.
The statement, by about 90 law professors and academics widely seen as neutral in Tunisia’s complex political landscape, called on the commission “to abide by the Court’s decision to ensure the credibility of the electoral process and protect the rule of law”.
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U.N MISSION SUSPECTS WAR CRIMES IN SUDAN, CALLS FOR PEACEKEEPING FORCE.
Both sides in Sudan’s civil war have committed abuses on a large scale which may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity.
A U.N.-mandated mission said on Friday, recommending an arms embargo and a peacekeeping force to protect civilians.
The 19-page report by a UN Fact-Finding Mission, based on 182 interviews with survivors, their family members and witnesses, said both the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) were responsible for attacks on civilians and had used torture and carried out arbitrary arrests.
The gravity of these findings underscores the urgent and immediate action to protect civilians,” said the mission’s chair Mohamed Chande Othman, calling for an independent and impartial force to be deployed without delay.
The report is the three-member mission’s first since its creation in October 2023 by the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Civilians in Sudan are facing worsening famine, mass displacement and disease after 17 months of war between the army and the RSF paramilitary.
U.S.-led mediators said last month that they had secured guarantees from both parties at talks in Switzerland to improve access for humanitarian aid, but that the Sudanese army’s absence from the discussions had hindered progress.
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WORLD BANK, FRENCH DEVELOPMENT AGENCY GIVE UGANDA AID OF OVER SIX HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS.
The World Bank and French Development Agency (AFD) have given Uganda more than $600 million to fund infrastructure development and manage waste in the capital Kampala.
Ugandans have complained about waste management and the poor state of the roads in Kampala, which suffers chronic underfunding from the central government.
Last month a garbage landslide at a landfill site on Kampala’s outskirts buried houses as residents slept, killing at least 35 people.
A total of $566 million worth in funding, much of it credit, will come from the World Bank, and $42.7 million will be provided by ADF, the statements said.
“Rapid urban expansion has exposed significant gaps in infrastructure” the World Bank said.
Last year, the World Bank said it would stop lending to Uganda after the east African country passed a harsh anti-gay law.
In an emailed response to a Reuters’ query the World Bank said the ban was still in effect but that the latest credit extended to Uganda was approved before the ban.
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Congo receives long-awaited mpox vaccine doses
Democratic Republic of Congo have received its first batch of mpox vaccines, which health authorities hope will help curb an outbreak that has prompted the U.N. to declare a global public health emergency.
Congo is the epicentre of the outbreak, which has spread to neighbouring countries and elsewhere, but a lack of vaccines in Africa has hampered efforts to stop the spread of the sometimes deadly disease.
A plane carrying doses manufactured by Bavarian Nordic and donated by the European Union touched down in the capital Kinshasa.
Congo’s health minister, Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba, told reporters the newly arrived vaccine had already proved its worth in the United States and would be rolled out to adults in Congo.
Doses of Bavarian Nordic’s Imvanex vaccine, used to protect against mpox virus, at the Edison municipal vaccination centre in Paris, France July 27, 2022.
This first delivery amounts to 99,000 doses and a further delivery on Saturday will take the total to 200,000 doses, said Laurent Muschel, the head of the EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).
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KENYA PRIMARY BOARDING SCHOOL BLAZE KILLS SEVENTEEN STUDENTS.
A fire at a primary boarding school in central Kenya has killed 17 students.
President William Ruto said he had asked authorities to investigate and hold those responsible to account.
More rescuers were on their way to the Hillside Endarasha Academy in Nyeri.
Spokeswoman, Resila Onyango, said in a broadcast on Kenya’s Hot 96 FM radio, and authorities would provide details later.
The fire had burnt the students beyond recognition, Citizen Television said earlier.
Authorities have cordoned off the school, Kenya Red Cross said on X.
There have been a series of school fires in Kenya in recent years, many of them which have turned out to be arson.
Nine students were killed in Sept 2017 in a fire at a school in the capital, Nairobi, that the government attributed to arson.
In 2001, 58 schoolboys were killed in a dormitory fire at Kyanguli Secondary School outside Nairobi.
In 2012, eight students were killed at a school in Homa Bay County in western Kenya.
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TRUMP SAYS HE WILL TAP MUSK TO LEAD GOVERNMENT EFFICIENCY COMMISSION IF ELECTED.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he would establish a government efficiency commission headed by billionaire supporter Elon Musk if he wins the Nov. 5 election, during a wide-ranging speech in which he laid out his economic vision for the country.
Speaking at the New York Economic Club, the former president also pledged to slash corporate tax rates for companies that manufacture domestically, establish “low-tax” zones on federal lands where construction companies would be encouraged to build new homes, and start a sovereign wealth fund.
Trump had been discussing the idea of an efficiency commission with aides for weeks, people with knowledge of those conversations have told Reuters.
His Thursday speech, however, was the first time he publicly endorsed the idea.
It was also the first time Trump said Musk had agreed to head the body. Trump did not detail how such a commission would operate, besides saying it would develop a plan to eliminate “fraud and improper payments” within six months of being formed.
Trump told an audience that included Trump’s former treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, and financiers Scott Bessent and John Paulson.
Musk said on an Aug. 19 podcast that he had held conversations with the former president about the commission and that he would be interested in serving on it.
Politicians have called for separate efficiency commissions before.
Republican President Ronald Reagan established a similar body during his 1981-1989 term called the Grace Commission.
Trump’s proposal drew a rebuke from Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing about 750,000 federal workers.
He accused Trump and Musk of wanting to gut the nonpartisan civil service and replace fired workers with allies.
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FRENCH FAR RIGHT EXERTS OUTSIZE POWER OVER BARNIER, MACRON.
Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally came third in France’s snap legislative elections this summer. Two months later, though, they are now the power behind the throne, propping up Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government.
President Emmanuel Macron named former Brexit negotiator Barnier as prime minister on Thursday, capping a weeks-long search following his ill-fated decision to call a snap legislative election that delivered an unruly hung parliament.
Macron took weeks to name a prime minister as he was looking for someone who would not immediately be toppled, and who would preserve his legislative achievements – requirements that gave the RN outsized power over the selection process.
The RN gave tentative support to Barnier’s nomination, but made clear it could withdraw support at any point if its concerns on immigration, security and pocketbook issues are not met.
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JAPAN’S LEADING PRIME MINISTER CANDIDATE KOIZUMI PROMISES SNAP ELECTION.
Japan’s former environment minister and leading prime ministerial candidate, Shinjiro Koizumi, said on Friday he would call a snap election “at the earliest date possible” if he were to win the ruling party’s leadership election this month.
Koizumi also said he would “basically carry over” the economic policies of current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration, if he were to become the country’s next leader.
“I’ll aim to beef up the underlying strength of the Japanese economy so that growth can be attained even in an era where inflation and higher interest rates co-exist,” Koizumi said in a news conference announcing his intention to run in the race.
He said upon becoming prime minister, he would immediately work on a new economic package to aid small firms and low-income households hit by rising living costs.
The 43-year-old son of charismatic former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, the junior Koizumi is seen as a leading contender in the Sept. 27 race to pick the Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) new leader, who will become next prime minister due to the party’s control of parliament.
He ranked as the most favoured candidate to become the next LDP leader in a poll taken by Nikkei newspaper on Aug. 21-22, followed by former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba.
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POPE FRANCIS DEPARTS INDONESIA FOR PAPUA NEW GUINEA.
Pope Francis left Indonesia on Friday morning for Papua New Guinea, where the 87-year-old leader of the global Catholic Church will continue an ambitious 12-day tour across Southeast Asia and Oceania.
The Garuda Indonesia plane carrying the pope and his entourage left Jakarta’s airport for the flight to Port Moresby, the Papua New Guinean capital, where he will stay for the next three nights.
While in PNG Francis will make a day trip to the northwestern town of Vanimo, before departing the country on Monday.
He is then scheduled to visit East Timor and Singapore before returning to Rome on Sept. 13.
In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation, Francis urged political leaders to guard against religious extremism.
The pope also visited Istiqlal Mosque, Southeast Asia’s largest, and signed a joint declaration with the national grand imam.
The statement called for “decisive action” by Catholics and Muslims to urge global leaders to confront the dangers of climate change.
The warming planet is expected to remain a focus for the pope’s visit in Papua New Guinea, where political leaders have blamed climate change for a spate of natural disasters, including a landslide in March that killed at least 2,000 people.
The pope has stressed the importance of environmental issues throughout his 11-year papacy.
Francis will take part in a brief ceremony on arrival in Port Moresby late Friday afternoon, and then head to the Vatican embassy for the evening.
His first public event in the country will be an address to political leaders on Saturday morning.
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UKRAINE SAYS RUSSIAN ATTACKS INJURE AT LEAST FIVE, CAUSE FIRES.
Russian attacks on Ukraine overnight caused fires and injured at least five people across the country.
Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 27 out of 44 Russia-launched drones with eight more “likely downed by the electronic warfare tools” overnight.
Russia also used two missiles in the attack, the air force said in the statement via the Telegram messaging app.
The governor of the northeastern region of Kharkiv said a missile attack damaged residential buildings and injured three people in the town of Liubotyn on Friday morning.
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Serhiy Lysak said the air force shot down five drones and one missile over the region.
Various overnight attacks in this central region injured two people, damaged over 12 homes and impacted power lines and gas pipelines, he added.
Lviv regional authorities said drone debris fell in an industrial zone, setting fire to four trucks.
A team of 32 firefighters had put out the fire by the morning and the governor reported no injuries during the attack.
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FATHER OF GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING SUSPECT ARRESTED.
A 14-year-old boy was charged with shooting four people dead at a US high school, while his father was charged with manslaughter, after the country’s latest outburst of gun violence.
The teen faces four felony murder counts after allegedly killing two fellow pupils, also aged 14, as well as two teachers at Apalachee High School in the southern state of Georgia.
Nine people most of them children were wounded in the attack.
Authorities have said they are recovering.
The suspect’s father, 54-year-old Colin Gray, was in custody and faces four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder, and eight counts of cruelty to children, making him the latest American parent to face criminal charges after a child was involved in a mass shooting.
The charges come after Gray “knowingly” allowed his son to possess a weapon, Georgia Bureau of Investigation director Chris Hosey told a press conference.
Citing unnamed sources, the gun used in the shooting which it described as an AR 15-style assault rifle had been purchased for the teenager by his father as a holiday gift.
The GBI had said the suspect would be charged as an adult. He was scheduled to appear in court on Friday, with more charges expected.
“The investigation into the shooting at Apalachee HS is still active & ongoing,” the agency said in a post on X.
“This is day 2 of a very complex investigation & the integrity of the case is paramount,” it continued, adding that all four victims would be autopsied on Thursday.
School shootings are a shockingly regular occurrence in the United States, where guns outnumber people and regulations on purchasing even powerful military-style rifles are lax.
Parental responsibility in mass shootings, particularly those carried out by minors, has come increasingly under the spotlight in recent months.
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