Asia-pacific

Crowds gather at Senekal Magistrate Court as two appear for the murder of 22-year-old farmer Brendin Horner. Image: Twitter@SABreakingNews Farm manager Brendin Horner’s brutal torture and murder may come to mark a tipping point for South Africa, says the DA leader John Steenhuisen. “It could strengthen radical groupings on the left and right, further polarizing and racialising our society, risking a rural civil war of sorts.” Or, he says, it could strengthen the centre, spurring South Africans from all communities to come together against this attack on our farming community and food security and more broadly against lawlessness. POLITICAL OPPORTUNISM The EFF, Steenhuisen says, has been quick to use the issue of farm murders to incite violence. On Wednesday, EFF leader Julius Malema t...

As Morocco steps up measures to help the economy recover from the coronavirus repercussions, special attention is also given to generalize social development notably health coverage, family allowances, pensions and unemployment protection insurance, said King Mohammed VI. In a speech on the occasion of the opening of the Parliament’s fall session this Friday, the King stressed that measures to help the economy recover should be completed by social protection measures. The King recalled the need for extending universal compulsory health coverage for an additional 22 million individuals by end of 2022, at the latest. This should include the cost of medication, drugs, hospitalization and treatment. He also urged for ensuring universal access to family allowances for approximately seven mil...

The United States announced last week nearly $152 million in humanitarian assistance to respond to the humanitarian crisis in the Sahel region countries of Niger, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, and Mali. US Special Envoy to the Sahel Peter Pham announced the aid following a trip to West Africa, where he visited Mauritania and Niger. “More than $2.5 million people in the Sahel region are displaced, $3.3 million are in need of humanitarian assistance and protection services, and the United States is proud to be the largest donor of humanitarian assistance to the region,” Pham said during a conference call announcing the aid, hosted by the Wilson Center Africa Program. Pham added that the assistance will not go to the Malian military officers who recently took power in a coup, but stopped short...

The Malian transitional President Bah N’Daw signed a decree Sunday, appointing former foreign minister Moctar Ouane head of government. The appointment was announced two days after the swearing-in ceremony of Transitional President Bah N’Daw, and following a meeting Saturday evening with junta officials and the transitional president. Since 2016, the newly appointed Prime Minister was Delegate for Peace and Security at the Commission of the Economic and Monetary Union of West Africa (UEMOA) in Ouagadougou. The man also served as representative of Mali to the United Nations and diplomatic adviser to the presidency. His relatives describe him as an independent man; very fussy about principles. Like the transitional president, he believes that one cannot do everything in 18 months, but h...

OCP Africa and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, have announced this Monday a partnership to strengthen value chains of rice in Côte d’Ivoire and millet in Senegal, and to help improve the living conditions of thousands of smallholder farmers. These crops, essential to ensure food security in these two West African countries, operate at yields well below their full potential due in part to a lack of professionalization, inadequate agricultural practices, and lack of access to financing, OCP Africa, a subsidiary of Morocco’s OCP Group, the world leader in the phosphate and derivatives market, and IFC said in a joint statement. As part of this partnership, IFC will provide consulting services to farmers and agricultural groups that are members o...

Morocco has sent Mali a message of support, friendship and solidarity with the Malian authorities and people following the important developments unfolding on the ground for a peaceful transition. The message was conveyed Tuesday by Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, who, upon the instruction of King Mohammed VI, paid a visit to Bamako. Bourita, the first senior official of a friendly country to visit Mali following the developments there, was received by interim president Bah N’daw, transitional vice-president Col. Assimi Goita and PM Moctar Ouane. Bourita also met with religious dignitaries including Bouye Haidara and Mahmoud Dicko.   Bourita reaffirmed Morocco’s commitment to accompany Mali through this important phase of its history, noting that the North African Kingdo...

How to revive the Senegalese economy? The question was at the heart of a presidential council on Tuesday, September 29. Representatives of the government, the private sector, and partners of the country were gathered around Macky Sall. The authorities presented a plan worth €22.4 billion and defined priority sectors. “After the defense, it is necessary to pass to the attack” to find the growth according to the sporting formula used by Head of State. And to do this, the authorities have adjusted their strategy, with new priorities: Accelerate food sovereignty by strengthening autonomy in basic products, where Senegal is on the right track, especially rice; sanitary and pharmaceutical sovereignty; the industrialization and digital transformation of the economy, explains Amadou Hott, Minist...