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Photo: Crowds celebrate on the streets of Sudanese capital Khartoum as reports suggest President Omar al-Bashir has stood down. Video: WDMUSA24

Genocide Trial Looms for Former Sudanese Leader and Aides Over Darfur Conflict

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The architects of crimes against humanity and genocide in the Sudanese region of Darfur may finally appear before the International Criminal Court, at least a decade after the atrocities occurred.

Ex-president Omar al-Bashir is among the group wanted by the court in The Hague since 2009 over atrocities committed by his government in Darfur, where at least 300,000 people were killed and 2.7 million displaced in a war from 2003 to 2008, the United Nations estimates.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 22 August 2021

Photo: Hidilyn Diaz with her gold medal in Tokyo Olympics 2020. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Filipino Medal Winners at Tokyo Olympics Show Sports Could Empower The “Economically Disabled”

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — As the Paralympics begin in Tokyo—a celebration of the athletics prowess of the “differently-abled”—it will be appropriate to look at how the Tokyo Olympic Games that concluded on August 8 empowered the “economically disabled” athletes from the Philippines—a Southeast Asian country not well-known for its sporting prowess except for the legendary boxer Manny Pacquiao, whose own story is a great rag to riches one.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 22 August 2021

Top Photo: San Jose, Batangas (22 January 2020) —An evacuation centre in San Jose, Batangas where over 700 families are staying due to the continued eruption of Taal Volcano. The Philippines is one of the world’s most disaster-prone countries. Photo credit: OCHA/P. Peron

The Human Race Against the Climate Crisis Clock

By Kirsten Mildren

The writer is Head of Campaigns & Advocacy, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

NEW YORK (IDN) — On 19 August 2003, a bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in Baghdad, Iraq, killed 22 humanitarian aid workers, including the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello. Five years later, the General Assembly adopted a resolution designating 19 August as World Humanitarian Day.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 21 August 2021

Photo: The Russian President Vladimir Putin (second from left) and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (third from right) at the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi Summit in 2019. Credit: Sochi Summit

Tales of Egypt's Quest for Russian Nuclear Power

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) — It was a highly unique step forward in October 2019, when during the first Russia-Africa Summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi reaffirmed commitment to scale-up cooperation in various economic sectors and particularly expedite work on the special industrial zone and the construction of proposed four nuclear power plants, raising hopes for an increased power supply in Egypt.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 21 August 2021

Photo: The writer, Manish Rai, in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan

Exploring why Afghan Forces Vanished So Fast

Viewpoint by Manish Rai

KABUL (IDN) — The Taliban now control almost the whole of Afghanistan including the capital city, Kabul, almost two decades after they were driven out by US troops. It was widely expected that after the United States’ complete withdrawal the Taliban will make significant territorial gains.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 21 August 2021

Development Banks Must Prioritize Childcare to Improve Women’s Economic Standing During and After COVID-19

Viewpoint by Megan O’Donnell

Megan O’Donnell leads the Center for Global Development’s COVID-19 Gender and Development Initiative, which aims to promote gender equality and long-term prosperity in low- and middle-income countries by informing global and national decision-makers’ policy responses to the current pandemic and future crises.

WASHINGTON DC (IDN) — Lack of access to quality childcare has been a longstanding issue, especially in low- and middle-income countries, with consequences for children’s and caregivers’ well-being and countries’ overall development.

: UN Bureau; OPINION; 20 August 2021

Photo: Vienna Global meeting of the Foreign Ministries Science & Technology Advice Network (FMSTAN) & Global meeting of the Science Policy in Diplomacy and External Relations Network (Spider) in November 2019. Credit: Mahmoud CCBY 2.0

Jeffrey Sachs Should Lead a Knowledge Coalition to Enhance Power to Reduce if not Stop the Exploitation of Africa

Viewpoint by Babafemi A. Badejo, Ph.D

The writer is Professor of Political Science/International Relations, Chrisland University, Abeokuta, Nigeria, and a former Under-Secretary-General for the UN Mission in Sudan. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. +2348055331448

ABEOKUTA, Nigeria (IDN) — The United Nations held a pre-Summit on Food Systems on July 26-28, 2021, as a primer for its first Global Food Summit coming up in September 2021. At this meeting, Jeffrey Sachs, American and popular Economist as well as UN Special Envoy on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), made an important intervention.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 20 August 2021

Photo: Kabul skyline, displaying both historical and contemporary buildings. CC BY-SA 3.0

The Truth Behind Damned Lies About Afghanistan

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — In journalism proverb, Afghanistan is a convenient shelter, the writer’s fantasy island from topical issues at home. In the current deluge of news from that country, however, that proverb appears to have lost its meaning.

There’s no need for escape to Afghanistan; the traffic is the other way, while Afghanistan’s mythical status is being supplanted by lies, damned lies.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 19 August 2021

Collage: (left) The tree nursery at Imerdel, Province of Ouarzazate, Morocco (7 July 2021, HAF). (right) The day Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir and colleagues of the High Atlas Foundation installed the sign at Imerdel, the burial site of Rabbi David-Ou-Moche and the location of the new community fruit tree nursery in the Ouarzazate province of Morocco (7 July 2021).

The Significance of the New Signage at the Ouarzazate Tree Nursery in Morocco

By Yossef Ben-Meir

Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir is President of the High Atlas Foundation and Chief of Party of the USAID Religious and Ethnic Minorities Activity Program in Morocco.

MARRAKESCH (IDN) — Twenty-seven years ago, I lived in a village called Amsouzerte in the Tifnoute Valley, the south side of the High Atlas Mountains, closeby to the burial location of the Moroccan-Hebrew saint David-Ou-Mouche. The Tifnoute community and its region long desired for the building of a fruit tree nursery so that they could move away from subsistence agriculture. They struggled with the risk of giving over portions of their farmlands to the venture.

: Europe Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Sustainable Cities & Communities; 19 August 2021

Photo: The UN has been supporting displaced families in Afghanistan, providing emergency shelter and protection. Credit: IOM/Mohammed Muse

UN Relocates its Besieged Staff from a Strife-Torn Kabul in Virtual Chaos

By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK (IDN) — As the US airlifts its diplomats and embassy staffers, along with thousands of local Afghan employees, from the chaotic capital of Kabul, the United Nations has followed in its footsteps by relocating some of its more than 300 international and 3,400 national staffers who were tasked with peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in Afghanistan.

UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said August 18 that some of these staffers were traveling from Kabul to Almaty, Kazakhstan, where they will continue their work remotely.