South Africa’s parliament on Tuesday approved the long-delayed carbon tax bill as it seeks to reduce harmful carbon emissions in Africa’s most industrialised and polluting country.
Big energy users including Sibanye-Stillwater and ArcelorMittal’s local unit have opposed plans by South Africa to enact carbon tax laws in 2019, arguing the levies are unaffordable and should be scrapped or delayed. Click here to read... [2]
Senegal, the most stable democracy in West Africa, is preparing for an election on Sunday with President Macky Sall facing off against four other candidates. Sall is widely expected to win a second term, after the country's two best-known opposition figures were barred from running because of corruption allegations, in moves critics said represented a worrying crackdown on dissent. Click here to read... [3]
The United States and European allies say a new flare-up of fighting in South Sudan violates that country’s peace agreement, and are demanding the clashes end immediately. A joint statement Wednesday from the U.S., Britain and Norway, known as the Troika, says the fighting around the town of Yei represents a “flagrant breach” of a December 2017 cease-fire and the revitalized peace deal signed by South Sudan’s government and several rebel groups last September.
The U.N. refugee agency reported last week that clashes between government forces and the rebel National Salvation Front have displaced some 13,000 people and prompted about 5,000 to flee across the border into the Democratic Republic of Congo. Click here to read... [4]
The death toll from an attack last week by gunmen in northwestern Nigeria has doubled to more than 130, the Kaduna state governor has said. The attack appeared to have been a deliberate plan to "wipe out certain communities", Governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai said on Tuesday, without elaborating.
Al Jazeera's Mohammed Adow, reporting from Abuja, said the increase in death toll was "expected from the beginning" as 130 people had been marked as missing in the aftermath of the attack.Click here to read... [5]
Nigerian voters have collected 86.6 percent of all the voting cards issued, the chairman of the electoral commission said on Thursday.
Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told election observers and reporters that 72.8 million cards had been collected out of 84 million registered voters. Click here to read... [6]
The World Health Organization says that an epidemic of measles in Madagascar has caused more than 900 deaths.
According to WHO figures, there have been more than 68,000 cases of the disease in which 553 deaths were confirmed and another 373 suspected from measles since the outbreak began in September. Click here to read... [7]
An official in Burundi says the withdrawal of 1000 Burundian soldiers from the African Union regional force in Somalia is underway. The military official in Burundi, who insisted on anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the press, said on Thursday that about 200 soldiers boarded a flight from Somalia to Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, in the afternoon. More soldiers are expected to be flown back from Burundi in the coming weeks.
The African Union says it plans to withdraw the 21,500 troops that it has in Somalia by the end of 2020. The AU force, made up of soldiers from several African countries, has for years tried to secure the Horn of Africa country against the Islamic extremist rebels of Al-Shabab. Click here to read... [8]
French troops fighting Islamist militants in Mali have killed a one of the Sahel region’s leading jihadists, France’s defence minister said on Friday. Yahia Abou Hamman was the number two in command of Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an umbrella group for al Qaeda-linked insurgents in West Africa’s Sahara. The group claimed responsibility for a spate of attacks to disrupt Mali’s election last July, and more recent strikes in Burkina Faso.
“The removal of a prominent leader helps to dismantle the networks and disrupt terrorist activities in the region,” Defence Minister Florence Parly said in a statement. Click here to read... [9]
Anadarko Petroleum said one worker was killed and several others injured in two related attacks on Thursday near the construction site for its massive liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in northern Mozambique.
Anadarko said in a statement on Friday it is actively monitoring the situation and in close contact with government authorities. The US energy firm said it will not comment further on the attacks until it has a “full picture” of the events. Click here to read... [10]
Following the dissolution of government on Friday, in addition to declaration of state of emergency, president Nashir appointed Mohamed Tahir Eila as the new prime minister. Eila , who is the former governor of the agricultural state of Jazeera was sworn in on Sunday, at a ceremony, according to an AFP photographer.
“Today, a new chapter begins in Sudan’s history,” Bashir, dressed in a military uniform, said at the ceremony. Defence Minister General Awad Ibnouf was sworn in as the first vice president after his predecessor Bakri Hassan Saleh was sacked by Bashir. Click here to read... [11]
Links:
[1] https://www.vifindia.org/vifdigest/internationaldevelopments/2019/march/01
[2] https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKCN1Q81UROZATP?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
[3] https://www.voanews.com/a/the-five-candidates-running-in-senegal-s-presidential-election/4792319.html
[4] https://www.voanews.com/a/us-allies-demand-stop-to-new-fighting-in-south-sudan/4796069.html
[5] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/death-toll-week-nigeria-attack-doubles-130-190219193655675.html
[6] https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKCN1QA22LOZATP?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
[7] https://www.voanews.com/a/measles-epidemic-in-madagascar-kills-more-than-900-says-who/4798060.html
[8] https://africa.cgtn.com/2019/02/22/withdrawal-of-burundi-soldiers-from-somalia-begins/
[9] http://www.africanews.com/2019/02/23/french-troops-in-mali-kill-top-commander-of-al-qaeda-linked-group/
[10] https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/world/africa/2019-02-22-worker-at-us-energy-company-anadarko--killed-in-mozambique-attack/
[11] http://www.africanews.com/2019/02/24/sudan-protest-hub-africanews-updates/
[12] http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?title=VIF News Digest: International Developments (Africa), 18-24 Feb. 2019&desc=&images=&u=https://www.vifindia.org/vifdigest/internationaldevelopments/2019/march/01
[13] http://twitter.com/share?text=VIF News Digest: International Developments (Africa), 18-24 Feb. 2019&url=https://www.vifindia.org/vifdigest/internationaldevelopments/2019/march/01&via=Azure Power
[14] whatsapp://send?text=https://www.vifindia.org/vifdigest/internationaldevelopments/2019/march/01