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Next month, Gambia will mark 50 years of independence from colonial rule. Yet the big talk among Gambians is not the Golden Jubilee celebrations, but early January’s botched attempt to overthrow President Jammeh.
Dozens of military personnel and civilians were arrested and a large cache of weapons and explosives confiscated following a reported coup attempt in the West African country.
Intelligence sources close to Gambia's National Intelligence Agency (NIA) said that the detained suspects, held in or near the capital, Banjul, have been interrogated.
In this edition of Africa Today we will address the incident and ask: Who was really behind the coup and what was their wider agenda?
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Showing posts with label African Union. Show all posts
Showing posts with label African Union. Show all posts
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Video: Diaspora Calling (African identity in Europe during the World Cup) - Press TV
In 2010, South Africa hosted World Cup for the first time in History. This is while two decades ago the people were fighting against the South Africa Apartheid system. The conflicts created by bigotry and racial intolerance separated African families and forced many of them to take refuge in Europe.
But how serious a role hosting a tournament in Africa is playing to forge a sense of an imagined community? What happens in the hearts and minds of Africans when their teams are playing with the European countries they live in? Do they pin their hopes on their motherland or reject their original culture in order to be adapted to the host country? South Africans and Algerians living in London, Cameroonians living in the Netherlands and Ghanaians in Serbia may have answers to these questions.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Video: Russia warns EU against controlling Africa - Press TV
The foreign affairs minister of Russia, Lavrof is in Africa to seek closer economic and political ties with the continent. His visit is timely since Russia is currently suffering from sanctions applied by the European Union and the US following its involvement in Ukraine.
Russia’s intends to expand its economic ties with Africa while its economy is now affected by the ongoing sanctions. Moscow has signed a mining deal with Zimbabwe, a country that openly opposes the western powers. It is now looking to develop nuclear energy projects with countries like Angola and South Africa. While meeting the chairperson of the African Union Russia warned the European Union against meddling in Africa’s affairs. Russia is openly de-campaigning the imposers of its sanctions in Africa. It has disclosed that during the Libyan crisis while it supported AU’s idea of having political dialogue, the other western countries supported the NATO bombing of Libya that ended Muamar Ghaddafi’s 41 year reign and led to a civil war. Some analysts feel that welcoming Russia now might jeopardize Africa’s relationship with the European Union. The European Union is the chief funder of the African union commission, peace operations in Africa as well as Africa’s biggest trading partner. Before now, Russia has had minimum involvement in Africa.
Friday, August 29, 2014
Video: Slavery continues in Mauritania - Press TV Africa Today
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It was a controversial election, boycotted by several parties, but General Ould Abdel Aziz has been returned as the president of Mauritania, winning 82 percent of the votes.
Aziz has been congratulated by the African Union as well as the United States and France, which see him as a key ally in their "war on terror."
But while he claims to be a defender of human rights, Mauritania has become known as the last bastion of slavery.
Although the practice was finally criminalized in 2007, the country still has around six hundred thousand people, known as Haratan, who are held in bondage by fellow Mauritanians.
While the Haratan are black sub-Saharan Africans, their "owners" are overwhelmingly lighter-skinned Arabs.
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It was a controversial election, boycotted by several parties, but General Ould Abdel Aziz has been returned as the president of Mauritania, winning 82 percent of the votes.
Aziz has been congratulated by the African Union as well as the United States and France, which see him as a key ally in their "war on terror."
But while he claims to be a defender of human rights, Mauritania has become known as the last bastion of slavery.
Although the practice was finally criminalized in 2007, the country still has around six hundred thousand people, known as Haratan, who are held in bondage by fellow Mauritanians.
While the Haratan are black sub-Saharan Africans, their "owners" are overwhelmingly lighter-skinned Arabs.
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Thursday, May 8, 2014
Obama prepares to smash BRICS during his last few years in office
The buildup of NATO air and ground forces along the borders of Russia in eastern Europe and President Barack Obama’s American power-influencing trip to Asia have a single purpose. The seen and unseen forces who dictate policy to their political puppets in Washington, London, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, and other vassal capital cities have decided to smash BRICS -- the emergent financial power bloc encompassing Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
Bilateral and multilateral discussions among the five emerging economic powers aimed at decoupling BRICS economies from the US dollar as a reserve and trading currency have met with the only power Washington can muster on behalf of itself and its foundering allies -- military force. The problems between Ukraine and Russia over Crimea and federalism within Ukraine are a mask designed to cover Obama’s true intentions, which are the smashing of the BRICS as a viable alternative to the neo-colonialist financial systems of the West and subsuming the economies of the BRICS to the whims of the United States and the ever-teetering European Union.
The G-8, which suspended Russia from membership, and the World Trade Organization, of which Russia is now a member, never had a thing to do with free trade and common economic policies. These contrivances, formed in the back rooms by the bankers of the Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg Group, were always about unipolar domination of the world by a single superpower. Since the end of World War II and the collapse of the once-dominant British Empire, that superpower has been the United States.
Bilateral and multilateral discussions among the five emerging economic powers aimed at decoupling BRICS economies from the US dollar as a reserve and trading currency have met with the only power Washington can muster on behalf of itself and its foundering allies -- military force. The problems between Ukraine and Russia over Crimea and federalism within Ukraine are a mask designed to cover Obama’s true intentions, which are the smashing of the BRICS as a viable alternative to the neo-colonialist financial systems of the West and subsuming the economies of the BRICS to the whims of the United States and the ever-teetering European Union.
The G-8, which suspended Russia from membership, and the World Trade Organization, of which Russia is now a member, never had a thing to do with free trade and common economic policies. These contrivances, formed in the back rooms by the bankers of the Trilateral Commission and Bilderberg Group, were always about unipolar domination of the world by a single superpower. Since the end of World War II and the collapse of the once-dominant British Empire, that superpower has been the United States.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Haiti seeks admission into the African Union
Addis Ababa — "Even though it's situated in the Americas, Haiti still has strong roots in Africa. All the heroes who fought for the country's independence during the 1804 revolution were descendants of African slaves," he told 30 or so African presidents attending the opening ceremony.
The first independent black country in the world, Haiti is also the only independent francophone country in the Caribbean.
"This was possible after a long struggle against slavery and human oppression," Lamothe said, noting that a century and half later, the torch that was lit is still shining across the entire African continent.
Declaring the African continent as "an opportunity for Haiti" and Haiti as "Africa's gateway to the Americas," the guest of African leaders said he was pleased to be the first Haitian government leader to have addressed the AU summit on the ancestral land.
He called for the amendment to the AU Constitutive Act to allow Haiti to become a member of the 54-member bloc.
The first independent black country in the world, Haiti is also the only independent francophone country in the Caribbean.
"This was possible after a long struggle against slavery and human oppression," Lamothe said, noting that a century and half later, the torch that was lit is still shining across the entire African continent.
Declaring the African continent as "an opportunity for Haiti" and Haiti as "Africa's gateway to the Americas," the guest of African leaders said he was pleased to be the first Haitian government leader to have addressed the AU summit on the ancestral land.
He called for the amendment to the AU Constitutive Act to allow Haiti to become a member of the 54-member bloc.
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
Why is the African Union still failing its people on peace and security?
The conflict in the Central African Republic is spiralling out of control. “Strife in Central African Republic could turn into religious war and spill over borders, UN warns,” reads the headline in the UN’s latest report. The UN’s head of Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, told the Security Council that killings were continuing daily, dividing the country along religious lines – nearly 1 million have been driven from their homes and half the population needs aid.
This is exactly the kind of catastrophe that the African Union was designed to address. The organisation’s constitution was specifically written to allow it to step in where its widely discredited predecessor – the Organisation of African Unity – had failed to act. As its constitution puts it, the African Union can directly intervene in a member state in: “…grave circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.”
This was introduced to ensure that Africa’s senior organization would never again allow itself to stand idly by, as it had done during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Or so we thought.
This is exactly the kind of catastrophe that the African Union was designed to address. The organisation’s constitution was specifically written to allow it to step in where its widely discredited predecessor – the Organisation of African Unity – had failed to act. As its constitution puts it, the African Union can directly intervene in a member state in: “…grave circumstances, namely war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.”
This was introduced to ensure that Africa’s senior organization would never again allow itself to stand idly by, as it had done during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Or so we thought.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Video: 'African Union can halt NATO imperialism' - Press TV
Press TV has conducted an interview with Abiyome Azikiwe, political analyst, Detroit about the issue of the French war on Mali with 3,700 troops, 1,000 of which intend to stay beyond 2013 despite the presence of UN forces there.