THE WORLD

Photo: Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland addresses parliamentarians from 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) and 28 European Union (EU) countries at the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest.

Commonwealth Offers Closer Cooperation to Help ACP Group Realise ‘Full Potential’

By Robert Johnson

BRUSSELS | BUCHAREST (ACP-IDN) – Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland has reaffirmed the 53-nation group's support for the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, while urging deeper collaboration to boost their trade and development potential.

She was addressing the 37th session of the ACP and European Union (EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly on the impact of Brexit on ACP-EU Partnership in Bucharest, Romania. The Assembly aims to promote greater dialogue, cooperation and understanding among ACP and EU countries.

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 19 March 2019

Photo: Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto (left), French President Emmanuel Macron and his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta tour the Nairobi Central Railway station during a briefing tour on the progress of the proposed commuter rail service to JKIA on March 13,2019. Credit: Samuel Miring'u

France and U.S. Striking Different Notes In Africa

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – There were smiles all around in Kenya as French President Emmanuel Macron and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta shook hands over a series of infrastructure deals worth $3.3 billion.

It was the third stop on the French president's East African charm offensive – and the first-ever visit to Kenya by a French head of state.

France wants trade and commercial relationships that are "fair and profitable for the Kenyan people," Macron said. Alluding to Africa’s many relationships with China often freighted with debt, French investments would be respectful of the receiving country's sovereignty and sustainable, he pledged.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 March 2019

Photo: President Félix Tshisekedi (left) and predecessor Joseph Kabila (right). Credit: DR.

DR Congo President Resists Latest Power Grab by Predecessor

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Joseph Kabila, ex-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, may have gone once too often to the cookie jar, taking back one by one all of the powers and rights earned by his successor from a recent election, Felix Tshisekedi.

President Tshisekedi may have had enough.

After a disputed vote that gave the former president’s allies an overwhelming majority in the upper house of parliament, 80 out of 100 seats, while the actual president’s Union for Democracy and Social Progress party (UDPS) gained only three, the newly-named senators were blocked from taking office in a surprise move by President Tshisekedi.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 March 2019

India at Crossroads as Modi's Promises Remain Unfulfilled

By Ram Puniyani

This article is the sixth in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate.

MUMBAI (IDN) – Elections in a democracy can rightly be called as festival of the masses. They determine the course of the country in times to come. That is generally the case and Indian democracy has been steering this path, deepening the democratic process so far. It is not that there are no problems. Many issues related to money power, muscle power, electronic voting (EVM) machines' reliability have marred the objectivity of the process.

: Suresh Jaura; OPINION; 18 March 2019

Photo: Heiko Mass, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany, addressing the Security Council meeting on collective action to improve United Nations Peacekeeping Operations on 28 March 2018. Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe.

Germany Backs UN Chief in Countering Autonomous Weapons

By Ramesh Jaura

BERLIN (IDN) – Keeping humans in control of autonomous weapons and artificial intelligence is an important element of UN Secretary-General António Guterres' action plan to implement the Agenda for Disarmament, Securing Our Common Future, presented in May 2018.

"Essentially, the question is whether we are in control of technology or whether, ultimately, it controls us," said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in his remarks on March 15 at the conference '2019 Capturing Technology. Rethinking Arms Control' at the German Foreign Office in Berlin. The development of fully autonomous killer robots, cyber weapons and new biological agents has created scenarios for which there are to date almost no internationally recognised rules, he added.

: Ramesh Jaura; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 17 March 2019

Photo: Basantapur Tower, one of the four red towers that King Prithvi Narayan Shah built delimiting the four old cities of the Kathmandu Valley namely, the Kathmandu or the Basantapur Tower, the Kirtipur Tower, the Bhaktapur Tower or Lakshmi Bilas, and the Patan or Lalitpur Tower. CC BY-SA 3.0

Overdue Ban on a Faction of the Nepalese Communist Party

By Ajit Kumar Singh

This article is the fifth in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management.

NEW DELHI (IDN) – The Nepal Cabinet during a meeting on March 12, 2019, decided to ban the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist-Chand). An aide to Prime Minister (PM) K.P. Sharma Oli stated: "After being briefed by the four security agencies, the Government concluded that the Chand party’s activities were more criminal than political: so it needs to be dealt with accordingly."

: Suresh Jaura; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 16 March 2019

Upsurge in Middle East Arms Imports Amid Upswing in Global Weapons Trade

By Jaya Ramachandran

BERLIN | STOCKHOLM (IDN) – Global arms trade is on the upswing with the United States increasing dominance in the group of five largest exporters including Russia, France, Germany and China, which together account for 75 per cent of the total volume of weapons exports in 2014-2018. While the Middle East imports almost doubled in the past five years, Saudi Arabia became the world’s largest arms importer.

According to new data on arms transfers published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the volume of international transfers of major arms in 2014-2018 was 7.8 per cent higher than in the previous five years and 23 per cent higher than in 2004-2008.

: Jaya Ramachandran; ARMAMENTS; Arms Trade; 14 March 2019

Mexico: A Growing Global Crisis of Confidence

By Bill Dahl*

At least one child dies from a residential home fire every day. Another three hundred are injured as a result of fire. However, before the fire breaks out, there’s something smoldering before it bursts into flames. The same is true with the economic sectors of nations. In this article, we examine two dimensions of Mexico’s economy that are currently smoldering: Tourism and oil Mexico’s energy sector.

REDMOND, Oregon, USA (IDN) – According to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s report on Mexico for 2018, travel and tourism made direct contributions to Mexico’s GDP of US$82.2 billion or 7.1 percent in 2017. However, the total contribution to Mexico’s GDP by the T&T industry was US$185.4 billion or 16.0 percent of GDP in 2017.

: Admin; OPINION; 14 March 2019

Image credit: The Ouagadougou Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO)

New ACP-EU Culture Programme Launched at Pan-African Fest

By ACP Press

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Assistant-Secretary-General of the ACP Group, Léonard-Emile Ognimba, together with the Director General for Development and International Cooperation of the European Commission, Stefano Manservisi, officially launched the new ACP-EU Culture Programme on the occasion of the 26th edition of The Ouagadougou Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO), on February 24, 2019 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

: Robert Johnson; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 12 March 2019

Photo: Syrian refugees in Iraq. Credit: EU

Getting the Priorities on Human Rights Right in Syria

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The long war is almost over in Syria. Tyranny has won. Violence has won. Most have suffered, many unspeakably. For too long all sides were stalemated by each other’s brutality. Now the government of Bashar Al-Assad has come out on top, aided by Russia and Iran

What to do next? On March 12, 2019 the EU member states start their three-day third annual Conference on Supporting the Future of Syria and the Region, co-chaired by the UN. It’s time for some radical re-thinking. Well-wishing for good things like the persecution of war crimes is whistling in the wind, at least for now.