In Bangladesh, an independent commission formed after the August ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is investigating enforced disappearances during her 15-year rule. As VOA’s Sarah Zaman reports from the capital, Dhaka, the five-member commission is a ray of hope for many, but the panel’s pace is frustrating others. Camera: Rubel Hassan; Video editor: Malik Waqar Ahmed
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Beijing calls for urgency as Pakistan boosts security for Chinese projects
KARACHI, PAKISTAN — Pakistan has agreed to increase security for Chinese citizens and projects in the South Asian nation, a joint statement said on Tuesday, as Beijing called for urgent security measures following an escalation in militant threats in the country.
China has pumped billions of dollars into Pakistan over the years building infrastructure under the Belt and Road Initiative, while also running a strategic port and a major mine in the country.
But its citizens and projects have been attacked continuously by separatist militants fighting against what they call exploitation of the mineral-rich southwestern Balochistan province.
“The Chinese side underscored the need and urgency to take targeted security measures in Pakistan, to jointly create a safe environment for cooperation,” said a joint statement on the visit of Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Li arrived in Islamabad on Monday for a four-day visit — the first visit by a Chinese premier to Pakistan in 11 years — days after a suicide bombing in Karachi killed two Chinese engineers. It was the second attack on Chinese engineers in the country this year.
The visit coincides with a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a Eurasian security and political group.
The Pakistani side emphasized its firm commitment to enhancing security input and coordination as well as strengthening security measures, the statement, released by Pakistan’s foreign office, said.
Pakistan will make “comprehensive efforts to ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, projects and institutions,” the 30-point statement said.
Islamabad is under tight security for the duration of the Chinese premier’s visit, which concludes on Thursday.
The joint statement also touched on regional, economic and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries.
Both parties reaffirmed their commitment to an upgraded version of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, a $65 billion investment in the South Asian country under Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative.
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Africa’s farming future could include more digital solutions
NAIROBI, KENYA — More than 400 delegates and organizations working in Africa’s farming sector are in Nairobi, Kenya, this week to discuss how digital agriculture can improve the lives of farmers and the continent’s food system.
Tech innovators discussed the need for increased funding, especially for women.
In past decades, African farmers have struggled to produce enough food to feed the continent.
DigiCow is one of the tech companies at the conference that says it has answers to the problem. The Kenya-based company says it provides farmers with digital recordkeeping, education via audio on an app, and access to financing and marketing.
Maureen Saitoti, DigiCow’s brand manager, said the platform has improved the lives of at least half a million farmers.
“Other than access to finance, it is also able to offer access to the market because a farmer is able to predict the harvest they are anticipating and begin conversations with buyers who have also been on board on the platform,” she said. “So, this has proven to provide a wholesome integration of the ecosystem, supporting small-scale farmers.”
Integrating digital systems into food production helps farmers gain access to seed, fertilizer and loans, and helps prevent pests and diseases on farms, organizers said.
Innovation in agriculture technology is seen as helping reach marginalized groups, including women.
Sieka Gatabaki, program director for Mercy Corps AgriFin, which is in 40 countries working with digital tool providers to increase the productivity and incomes of small-scale farmers, said his organization stresses education and practical information.
“We also focus on agronomic advice that gives the farmers the right kind of skills and knowledge to execute on their farms, as well as precision information such as weather that enables them to make the right decisions [about] how they grow and when they should grow and what they should grow in different geomatic climates,” Gatabaki said.
“Then we definitely expect that those farmers will increase their productivity and income.”
According to the State of AgTech Investment Report 2024, farming attracted $1.6 billion in funding in the past decade. But experts say the current funding is not enough to meet the sector’s growing demands.
David Saunder, director of strategy and growth at Briter Bridges, says funding systems have evolved to cope with problems faced by farmers and the food industry.
“Funding follows those businesses, those startups, that can viably grow and scale their businesses, and that’s what we are trying to do with AgTech to increase the data and information on those,” he said.
During the meeting, tech developers, experts and donors will also discuss how artificial intelligence and alternative data could be used to improve productivity.
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Kenya’s High Court rejects move to stop deputy president’s impeachment debate
NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s High Court on Tuesday rejected an application by the deputy president’s lawyers to stop the senate from debating an impeachment motion against him after parliament voted to remove him from office last week.
Justice Chacha Mwita ruled that parliament will be allowed to proceed with its constitutional mandate and the court won’t “interfere.”
Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s impeachment motion was approved by a 281-44 vote in parliament last week and forwarded to the senate, which will begin hearings on Wednesday. Gachagua is facing impeachment over corruption and other irregularities, including allegations that he supported anti-government protests in June. He denies all the charges against him.
Under the Kenyan Constitution, the removal from office is automatic if approved by both chambers, though Gachagua can challenge the action in court — something he has said he would do.
The chief justice on Monday approved a three-judge panel to hear six petitions filed against the impeachment process.
The debate surrounding his fate has extended beyond parliament — supporters and opponents of the motion clashed last week in public forums after the ruling alliance brought the motion before parliament.
President William Ruto has yet to publicly comment about the impeachment, but is on record in the earlier days of his presidency saying that he wouldn’t publicly humiliate his deputy, alluding to the troubled relationship he had with his predecessor, Uhuru Kenyatta, during their second term in office.
The senate requires a two-thirds majority to approve the impeachment motion. If approved, it would be the first time that a sitting deputy president is impeached in Kenya.
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Pakistan hosts regional leaders for SCO summit under tight security
Islamabad — Leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization of Eurasian countries gathered in Pakistan Tuesday for an annual, two-day meeting to discuss ways to enhance regional security, stability, and development cooperation.
Authorities have placed Islamabad under a security lockdown for the SCO gathering, deploying thousands of forces, including troops, in and around the Pakistani capital to protect the high-profile event due to a recent surge in deadly militant attacks.
China and Russia established the SCO in 2001 as a way to counterbalance Western alliances in the areas of security, politics, and economics. Other members of the 10-state alliance are Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, India and Iran.
Officials said that Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin are among several heads of government who will attend the meeting, which will be presided over by Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the organization’s current chair.
Indian Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the first vice president of Iran will represent their respective countries at the meeting. Jaishankar is the first Indian foreign minister to visit Islamabad in nearly a decade.
Pakistan and India have both ruled out the possibility of bilateral talks during Jaishankar’s visit, emphasizing that the SCO is a “multilateral” gathering, and neither side has requested such a meeting.
Officials stated that Sharif would host a welcome dinner for SCO delegates on Tuesday. The summit proceedings will commence on Wednesday morning.
On Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that Premier Li “will have an in-depth exchange of view” with leaders of the participating countries on advancing the SCO’s “practical cooperation,” among other issues.
“China believes that this meeting will produce positive outcomes and give a stronger boost to the security, stability, and development of regional countries,” Mao told reporters in Beijing.
Analysts remain skeptical whether the SCO meetings have produced outcomes that would address concerns of member states, noting that Western alliances like NATO or the European Union offer members privileges such as mutual defense and economic integration.
Security concerns surrounding Tuesday’s SCO meeting in Pakistan stem from a recent surge in militant attacks in the country. However, the deadly violence has primarily affected southwestern Balochistan and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces bordering Afghanistan.
The Pakistani government has declared a three-day public holiday in Islamabad and the adjoining garrison city of Rawalpindi as part of security measures.
Last week, two Chinese engineers were killed and another was injured when their convoy was hit by a suicide car bombing in Karachi, the capital of southern Sindh province. A separatist group from Balochistan claimed responsibility for the deadly attack.
The slain foreigners were staff at a Chinese-funded coal-fired power plant under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure development bilateral collaboration stemming from Beijing’s global Belt and Road Initiative.
Despite the deadly attack, Premier Li arrived in Islamabad Monday and held wide-ranging bilateral talks with Sharif before participating in the SCO meeting.
The leaders also virtually inaugurated a CPEC-funded airport in Balochistan’s coastal city of Gwadar, which also houses a Chinese-run deep-water port on the Arabian Sea. Security concerns reportedly prompted the virtual inauguration of what officials described as Pakistan’s second-largest airport, which China gifted.
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Pakistan hosts major security meeting as it struggles against rising insurgent violence
ISLAMABAD — Pakistan is hosting a major security meeting this week, with senior leaders from longtime ally China and archrival India among those attending.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was established in 2001 by China and Russia to discuss security concerns in Central Asia and the wider region.
But it’s Pakistan’s own security that is under the microscope.
An attack on a foreign ambassadors’ convoy, violent protests by supporters of an imprisoned former prime minister and a bombing outside Pakistan’s biggest airport are signs the country is struggling to contain multiplying threats from insurgents.
The meeting, which begins Tuesday in Islamabad, comes at a crucial time for the government.
Here’s why:
Armed groups are outpacing the army
Pakistan says it has foiled attacks through intelligence-based operations and preventative measures. It frequently vows “to root out terrorism.”
But the frequency and scale of the recent violence give the impression that the government isn’t in control and raises questions about its ability to protect key sites and foreigners, let alone Pakistanis.
In the last few weeks, separatists from Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan province have killed Chinese nationals in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, as well as more than 20 miners in an attack on housing at a coal mine and seven workers in another attack. The outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA, is better at mobilizing fighters in different areas, and its operational capabilities have increased.
The group wants independence for the province. It’s not interested in overthrowing the state to establish a caliphate, which is what the Pakistani Taliban want. But the two groups have a common enemy — the government.
Analysts have said the BLA is getting support from the Pakistani Taliban. But, even without an alliance, attacks in the southwest are becoming more audacious and brutal, indicating that the BLA’s tactics are evolving and taking the security apparatus by surprise.
The Pakistani Taliban continue their shootings and bombings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan.
It could be difficult for militants to hit the meeting, given the security around it and the areas where delegates will stay. But they could still wreak havoc.
Vehicles are often just waved through street checkpoints in Islamabad. Aside from government buildings and top hotels, body searches and under-vehicle scanners are rare.
“At stake for the entire state is the only mission: how to hold such an event peacefully,” said Imtiaz Gul, executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies. “How to get it done without any unpleasant incidents taking place. It’s going to be a formidable challenge for the government to disprove the notion of failures within the security apparatus.”
Pakistan is paying the price for shutdowns
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said last week that the national economy suffered cumulative daily losses of more than $684 million on account of recent agitation.
He was referring to supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan reaching the heart of the capital, despite a suspension of cellphone service and placement of shipping containers at access points to the city. The shutdown hit most business sectors, the gig economy, point-of-sale transactions, commuters, students, workers and more.
Pakistan can’t afford to incur such losses or deepen people’s grievances. It relies on International Monetary Fund bailouts and multibillion-dollar deals and loans from friendly countries to meet its economic needs. There are regular protests over energy bills and the cost of living.
Despite people’s hardships, authorities have declared a three-day holiday surrounding the meeting.
There have been reports of the government ordering the closure of wedding halls, restaurants, hotels, cafes and markets in Islamabad and the neighboring garrison city Rawalpindi for security reasons.
Officials denied the reports, but not very strenuously.
“Generally, high-profile conferences are meant to promote connectivity, trade and improve a country’s image,” said Gul. But not in this case because Islamabad won’t look like a normal city, he said.
“It seems they lack innovative thinking,” Gul said. “They are unable to use smart approaches, and that’s why the easier way is to shut everything down.”
A seat at the table and saving face
The last time Pakistan hosted a major conference was in March 2022, a month before Khan was kicked out of office and a new cycle of upheaval started.
The country’s security situation and political instability are two factors that have prevented it from holding big international events.
Even its best-loved sport, cricket, has suffered. There was a 10-year absence of test matches after terrorists ambushed a Sri Lanka team bus in 2009, killing eight people and injuring players and officials.
The meeting is Pakistan’s chance to shine, especially in front of its neighbor China, to whom it is in hock by several billion dollars and whose nationals are prime targets for armed groups, as well as India, which is sending its foreign minister to the country for the first time since 2015.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars and built up their armies but also developed nuclear weapons. China and India fought a war over their border in 1962.
Pakistan, unused to hosting such a high-level meeting, will have to put its best face forward.
Senior defense analyst Abdullah Khan said the government wants to show its international legitimacy amid the domestic crises.
“The presence of heads of state and other senior officials will itself be a success as Pakistan will come out of its so-called isolation,” said Khan. “A peacefully held SCO will further improve the country’s image.”
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Kenya relocates 50 elephants to larger park, a sign poaching is under control
MWEA, Kenya — As a helicopter hovers close to an elephant, trying to be as steady as possible, an experienced veterinarian cautiously takes aim.
A tranquilizer dart whooshes in the air, and within minutes the giant mammal surrenders to a deep slumber as teams of wildlife experts rush to measure its vitals.
Kenya is suffering from a problem, albeit a good one: the elephant population in the 42-square-kilometer (16-square-mile) Mwea National Reserve, east of the capital Nairobi, has flourished from its maximum capacity of 50 to a whopping 156, overwhelming the ecosystem and requiring the relocation of about 100 of the largest land animals. It hosted only 49 elephants in 1979.
According to the Kenya Wildlife Service Director General Erustus Kanga, the overpopulation in Mwea highlighted the success of conservation efforts over the last three decades.
“This shows that poaching has been low, and the elephants have been able to thrive,” Kanga said.
Experts started relocating 50 elephants last week to the expansive 780-square-kilometer (301-square-mile) Aberdare National Park in central Kenya. As of Monday, 44 elephants had been moved from Mwea to Aberdare, with six others scheduled for Tuesday.
Tourism Minister Rebecca Miano oversaw the translocation of five of the elephants Monday, saying: “This will go down in history as a record, as it is the biggest exercise of its kind. It is the first time we are witnessing the translocation of 50 elephants at a go.”
The process started at dawn and involved a team of more than 100 wildlife specialists, with equipment ranging from specially fitted trucks to aircraft and cruisers. A fixed-wing aircraft conducted aerial surveillance to track down herds of elephants, which naturally move in small families of about five. The craft was in constant communication with two helicopters used to herd and separate the elephants to ensure they were relocated with their family units.
Aboard one of the helicopters is a spotter, on the lookout for elephants, and a veterinarian with a tranquilizer gun.
Once an elephant is sedated, a ground team of veterinary specialists and rangers rush to find it and clear thickets to make way for transport crews. Its vitals are monitored as another group of rangers works on lifting the massive animal, weighing hundreds of kilograms, onto specialized trucks, to be driven 120 kilometers (74 miles) to their new home.
Kanga, the wildlife service director, said the relocation was also aimed at curbing human-wildlife conflict.
Boniface Mbau, a resident of the area, said, “We are very happy that the government has decided to reduce the number of elephants from the area. Due to their high numbers, they did not have enough food in the reserve, and they ended up invading our farms.”
A second phase to relocate 50 other elephants is planned, but the date has not been disclosed.
The project has cost at least 12 million Kenyan shillings ($93,000), the wildlife agency said.
Kenya’s national parks and reserves are home to a variety of wildlife species and attract millions of visitors annually, making the country a tourism hotspot.
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12 killed, 33 injured in Egypt after bus with university students crashes
Cairo — A bus carrying university students crashed and overturned on a highway in northeastern Egypt, killing 12 people and injuring 33 others, the health ministry said Monday night.
Students from the Suez-based Galala University, southeast of Cairo, were on board. Local media reported they were returning from their classes to their dormitory in Porto Sokhna resort, using the Ain Sokhna highway, when the accident happened, and that the driver was arrested as part of an investigation into the crash.
The ministry didn’t say what caused the accident.
The statement said 28 ambulances rushed to the site and transported the injured to the Suez Medical Complex, but didn’t disclose their condition.
Deadly traffic accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt, which has a poor transportation safety record. Speeding, bad roads and poor enforcement of traffic laws mostly cause the collisions.
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China’s Premier Li begins Pakistan visit amid rare strains in relations
ISLAMABAD — Chinese Premier Li Qiang began a four-day visit to Pakistan on Monday under tight security for bilateral talks and to attend the heads of government meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) hosted in Islamabad this week.
Pakistan is on high alert after a recent increase in deadly insurgent attacks nationwide, including a suicide car bomb attack in Karachi last week that targeted a Chinese convoy and resulted in the deaths of two Chinese engineers.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif received Li at a military air base outside the Pakistani capital before the two led their respective teams’ delegations to review bilateral trade and progress on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Popularly known as CPEC, the Chinese-funded multibillion-dollar bilateral project is a key extension of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s global Belt and Road Initiative.
The Pakistani government has declared a three-day public holiday in Islamabad and the adjoining garrison city of Rawalpindi. Schools and businesses are closed, and troops and paramilitary forces have been deployed to ensure “foolproof security arrangements” for Li’s visit and the two-day SCO summit starting Tuesday.
After holding delegation-level talks, Li and Sharif virtually inaugurated the CPEC-built international airport in Gwadar, a coastal city housing a Chinese-controlled deep-water port on the Arabian Sea.
“Under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and the Pakistani leadership, our all-weather strategic cooperative partnership is constantly deepening. What we have is a unique and unbreakable iron-clad friendship that has stood the test of a changing international landscape,” Li stated while addressing the ceremony broadcast live.
In his brief speech, Sharif thanked the Chinese premier for building the airport as a gift to Pakistan. “I want to assure you that I will work with you very closely … to promote peace and security for the people of China in Pakistan,” he added.
Neither side has commented on the reason for the virtual inauguration, but diplomatic sources cited heightened security concerns, particularly following the Karachi attack.
Li is the first Chinese premier to visit Islamabad in 11 years. The Sharif administration said the visit will help advance the development of CPEC and facilitate Chinese business expansion in the South Asian nation.
China has invested nearly $25 billion over the past decade under CPEC, building large-scale infrastructure development projects in Pakistan such as roads, highways, power plants, the Gwadar seaport and the airport.
However, critics are skeptical about whether China would be keen to expand its business investments under CPEC, citing growing security threats to Chinese workers in Pakistan, among other challenges.
Militant attacks have killed at least 21 Chinese nationals since 2017. Last week’s Karachi suicide bombing of Chinese engineers associated with a CPEC power plant prompted Beijing to ask its citizens not to visit Balochistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Both sit on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan and witness almost daily insurgent attacks.
On Monday, at least four police officers were killed when Islamist insurgents stormed a district police headquarters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Authorities said that all five assailants were also killed in the ensuing exchange of fire.
Turning point
Mushahid Hussain, a former senator and head of the Islamabad-based Pakistan-China Institute, cautioned that the latest deadly attack on Chinese nationals was a severe blow and could be a “turning point” for the “strategic partnership” between the two countries.
“China has huge investments in strife-torn Nigeria and Congo, but never have we witnessed … murders of Chinese engineers and technicians … as we see these recurring in Pakistan,” Hussain noted.
Hussain described the Karachi attack as a “blatant breach of security” and echoed Chinese calls for Pakistani authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice urgently.
“China, our best friend, has been badly let down with their confidence shaken” despite Islamabad promising “foolproof security” for its Chinese guests, he stated.
Separatist militant group the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the October 6 attack in Karachi, the capital of the southern Sindh province. The group has been waging deadly attacks in Balochistan, accusing China of helping Pakistan to exploit the region’s natural resources, charges both countries reject as unfounded.
Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told reporters Monday that their government was doing all it could to ensure the security of the Chinese nationals in Pakistan. He stated that recent attacks on Chinese workers, including the Karachi bombing, “are being probed, and the prime minister is personally looking into it.”
In their post-attack meetings with Pakistani counterparts, Chinese officials appeared “furious” and pressed the host nation to “severely punish” the perpetrators and urgently enhance the security of Chinese nationals and projects, according to diplomatic sources privy to the discussions.
Husnain Javed, a Beijing-based Pakistani researcher, told VOA that CPEC-related debt and capacity payments for Chinese-built coal-fired power plants are the main hurdles in moving the project forward.
“Pakistan is looking to defer these payments for a period of 3 years with interest and penalty amount [growing]. … We are far from CPEC phase 2,” he stated in written comments.
Javed noted that growing security concerns for thousands of Chinese workers in Pakistan have added to the bilateral project challenges.
“The recent attack, I think, is the final nail in the CPEC coffin, as it heavily damaged the trust between the two countries. … It’s important to consider that these were no ordinary engineers,” the researcher noted.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said last week that a high-level team was sent to Islamabad after the attack. It “asked the Pakistani side to properly handle ensuing matters … conduct thorough investigations, bring all the perpetrators to justice, and step up security measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, institutions and projects.”
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India recalls ambassador from Canada in growing dispute over assassination of Sikh activist
NEW DELHI — India said Monday it is recalling its ambassador and other diplomats from Canada, hours after it rejected a Canadian notification that the ambassador was a “person of interest” in the assassination of a Sikh activist last year.
India’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it had also summoned the top Canadian diplomat in New Delhi and told him that “the baseless targeting” of the Indian high commissioner, or ambassador, and other diplomats and officials in Canada “was completely unacceptable.”
“We have no faith in the current Canadian Government’s commitment to ensure their security,” it said. “Therefore, the Government of India has decided to withdraw the High Commissioner and other targeted diplomats and officials.”
In September last year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were credible allegations that the Indian government had links to the assassination in that country of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the accusation as absurd.
In Ottawa, messages left for Canada’s foreign ministry, foreign minister and the prime minister’s office seeking comment were not immediately returned.
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World Bank cuts 2024 growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa over Sudan
Nairobi — The World Bank said on Monday it had lowered its economic growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa this year to 3% from 3.4%, mainly due to the destruction of Sudan’s economy in a civil war.
However, growth is expected to remain comfortably above last year’s 2.4% thanks to higher private consumption and investment, the bank said in its latest regional economic outlook report, Africa’s Pulse.
“This is still a recovery that is basically in slow gear,” Andrew Dabalen, chief economist for the Africa region at the World Bank, told a media briefing.
The report forecast next year’s growth at 3.9%, above its previous prediction of 3.8%.
Moderating inflation in many countries will allow policymakers to start lowering elevated lending rates, the report said.
However, the growth forecasts still face serious risks from armed conflict and climate events such as droughts, floods and cyclones, it added.
Without the conflict in Sudan, which devastated economic activity and caused starvation and widespread displacement, regional growth in 2024 would have been half a percentage point higher and in line with its initial April estimate, the lender said.
Growth in the region’s most advanced economy, South Africa, is expected to increase to 1.1% this year and 1.6% in 2025, the report said, from 0.7% last year.
Nigeria is expected to grow at 3.3% this year, rising to 3.6% in 2025, while Kenya, the richest economy in East Africa, is likely to expand by 5% this year, the report said.
Commodities
The sub-Saharan Africa region grew at a robust annual average of 5.3% in 2000-2014 on the back of a commodity supercycle, but output started flagging when commodity prices crashed. The slowdown was accelerated by the COVID pandemic.
“Cumulatively, if that were to continue for a long time, it would be catastrophic,” Dabalen warned.
Many economies in the region were starved of public and private investments, he said, and a recovery in foreign direct investments that started in 2021 was still tepid.
“The region needs much, much larger levels of investments in order to be able to recover faster… and be able to reduce poverty,” he said.
Growth across the region is also hamstrung by high debt service costs in countries like Kenya, which was rocked by deadly protests against tax hikes in June and July.
“There are staggering levels of interest payments,” Dabalen said, attributing this to a shift by governments to borrow from financial markets in the last decade and away from the low-priced credit offered by institutions like the World Bank.
Total external debt among economies has risen to about $500 billion from $150 billion a decade and a half ago, he said, with the bulk owed to bond market investors and China.
Chad, Zambia, Ghana and Ethiopia went into default in the last four years and have overhauled their debt under a G20 initiative Common Framework. Ethiopia is still working to restructure its debt while the others have completed their debt restructuring.
“As long as these debt issues are not resolved, there is going to be a lot of ‘wait and see’ games going on, and that is not good for the countries, and certainly not good for the creditors as well,” he said.
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Namibia welcomes back descendants of ethnic group that fled colonial-era brutality
In Namibia, descendants of people who fled German persecution in the early 1900s are returning to their ancestral homeland. The government of Namibia has set aside five commercial farms for the relocation of almost 100 ethnic Ovaherero people. Vitalio Angula reports from Windhoek, Namibia.
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UN refugee chief urges states to drop border controls even as displacement crises worse
Geneva — The head of the U.N. refugee agency warned on Monday that displacement crises in Lebanon and Sudan could worsen, but said tighter border measures were not the solution, calling them ineffective and sometimes unlawful.
Addressing more than 100 diplomats and ministers in Geneva at UNHCR’s annual meeting, Filippo Grandi said an unprecedented 123 million people are now displaced around the world by conflicts, persecution, poverty and climate change.
“You might then ask: what can be done? For a start, do not focus only on your borders,” he said, urging leaders instead to look at the reasons people are fleeing their homes.
“We must seek to address the root causes of displacement, and work toward solutions,” he said. “I beg you all that we continue to work — together and with humility — to seize every opportunity to find solutions for refugees.”
Without naming countries, Grandi said initiatives to outsource, externalize or even suspend asylum schemes were in breach of international law, and he offered countries help in finding fair, fast and lawful asylum schemes.
Western governments are under growing domestic pressure to get tougher on asylum seekers and Grandi has previously criticized a plan by the former British government to transfer them to Rwanda.
In the same speech he warned that in Lebanon, where more than one million people have fled their homes due to a growing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, the situation could worsen further.
“Surely, if airstrikes continue, many more will be displaced and some will also decide to move on to other countries.”
He called for a drastic increase in support for refugees in Sudan’s civil war, saying lack of resources was already driving them across the Mediterranean Sea and even across the Channel to Britain.
“In this lethal equation, something has got to give. Otherwise, nobody should be surprised if displacement keeps growing, in numbers but also in geographic spread,” he said.
The UNHCR response to the crisis that aims to help a portion of the more than 11 million people displaced inside Sudan or in neighboring countries is less than 1/3 funded, Grandi said.
The number of displaced people around the world has more than doubled in the past decade.
Grandi, set to serve as high commissioner until Dec. 2025, said the agency’s funding for this year had recently improved due to U.S. support but remained “well below the needs.”
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Sri Lanka closes schools as floods hammer capital
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka closed schools in the capital Colombo and suburbs on Monday as heavy rains triggered floods in many parts of the island nation.
Heavy downpours over the weekend have wreaked havoc in many parts of the country, flooding homes, fields and roads. Three people drowned, while some 134,000 people have been affected by flooding, according to the country’s Disaster Management Centre.
The center said rains and floods have damaged 240 houses and nearly 7,000 people have been evacuated. Authorities have cut electricity in some areas as a precaution.
Navy and army troops have been deployed to rescue victims and provide food and other essentials.
Local television channels showed flooded towns in the suburbs of Colombo. In some areas, waters reached the roofs of houses and shops.
Sri Lanka has been grappling with severe weather conditions since May, mostly caused by heavy monsoon rains. In June, 16 people died due to floods and mudslides.
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Afghan Taliban vow to implement media ban on images of living things
Kabul — Afghanistan’s Taliban morality ministry pledged Monday to implement a law banning news media from publishing images of all living things, with journalists told the rule will be gradually enforced.
“The law applies to all Afghanistan… and it will be implemented gradually” by persuading people images of living things are against Islamic law, spokesman for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice Saiful Islam Khyber told AFP.
The Taliban government judiciary recently announced legislation formalising their strict interpretations of Islamic law imposed by the authorities since they swept to power in 2021.
The law detailed several rules for news media, including banning the publication of images of all living things and ordering outlets not to mock or humiliate Islam, or contradict Islamic law.
Aspects of the new law have not yet been strictly enforced, however, and Taliban officials continue to regularly post photos of people on social media.
Television and pictures of living things were banned across the country under the previous Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, but a similar edict has so far not been broadly imposed since their return to power.
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World Bank says 26 poorest countries in worst financial shape since 2006
WASHINGTON — The world’s 26 poorest countries, home to 40% of the most poverty-stricken people, are more in debt than at any time since 2006 and increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters and other shocks, a new World Bank report showed on Sunday.
The report finds that these economies are poorer today on average than they were on the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as the rest of the world has largely recovered from COVID and resumed its growth trajectory.
Released a week before World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings get underway in Washington, the report confirms a major setback to efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and underscores the World Bank’s efforts this year to raise $100 billion to replenish its financing fund for the world’s poorest countries, the International Development Association (IDA).
The 26 poorest economies studied, which have annual per-capita incomes of less than $1,145, are increasingly reliant on IDA grants and near-zero interest rate loans as market financing has largely dried up, the World Bank said. Their average debt-to-GDP ratio of 72% is at an 18-year high and half of the group are either in debt distress or at high risk of it.
Two-thirds of the 26 poorest countries are either in armed conflicts or have difficulty maintaining order because of institutional and social fragility, which inhibit foreign investment, and nearly all export commodities, exposing them to frequent boom-and-bust cycles, the report said.
“At a time when much of the world simply backed away from the poorest countries, IDA has been their lifeline,” World Bank chief economist Indermit Gill said in a statement. “Over the past five years, it has poured most of its financial resources into the 26 low-income economies, keeping them afloat through the historic setbacks they suffered.”
IDA normally is replenished every three years with contributions from World Bank shareholding countries. It raised a record $93 billion in 2021, and World Bank President Ajay Banga is aiming to exceed that with over $100 billion in pledges by Dec. 6.
Natural disasters also have taken a greater toll on these countries over the past decade. Between 2011 and 2023, natural disasters were associated with average annual losses of 2% of GDP, five times the average among lower-middle-income countries, pointing up the need for much higher investment, the World Bank said.
The report also recommended that these economies, which have large informal sectors operating outside their tax systems, do more to help themselves. This includes improving tax collections by simplifying taxpayer registration and tax administration and improving the efficiency of public spending.
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