Day: February 17, 2022

Zimbabwe's High Court has voided the government's three-month suspension of striking teachers, ruling the ministry of education overstepped its authority. The teachers went on strike last week over poor salaries just as schools were set to reopen after a long break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysts say children's education has been caught in the crossfire.

Zimbabwe’s High Court has ruled the suspension of striking teachers by Evelyn Ndlovu, Zimbabwe’s minister of primary and secondary education, was illegal.

Noble Chinhanu of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum represented the teachers in court.

"We managed to present our arguments before the court and the judge has given us an order to the effect that the press statement that was issued by the minister of primary and secondary education is illegal and unconstitutional," said Chinhanu. "We managed to prove that our client has a right not to be suspended in such a manner which was in violation of public service regulations of the nation.”

Government officials have not commented on the court ruling.

Schools in Zimbabwe closed last year during the COVID-19 pandemic and had been due to reopen last week.

Gibson Nyikadzino, an independent political analyst, says the government and teachers must settle the strike quickly because students continue to be the losers.

"We are seeing a lot of agitation and politicization of this from the employees," said Nyikadzino. "They are not keen to listen to what the employer is saying. Their parties that are being affected as a result of this, so what has to be done is go to the tripartite negotiating forum and in the spirit find a consensus.”

The tripartite he refers to is the government, the workers and private companies.

Sifiso Ndlovu from the Zimbabwe Teachers Association – the country’s largest teachers union – says educators want to return to work, but need more pay to sustain themselves.

"There are some members who are unable to travel: those who are far distant schools. They are finding it difficult because of the resources," said Ndlovu. "And there are some who are saying while we are within the school environs, we still find it difficult to find food for subsistence. That is what is mitigating against 100 percent attendance. We hope that after pay day (next week Tuesday) things will get back to normal. But that does not mean that the teachers are happy with the remuneration that they are getting. They still want some more.”

Taungana Ndoro, is the spokesman for Zimbabwe’s ministry of primary and secondary education and says the situation in schools now is “encouraging.”

"We have gone round in government and non-government schools, and we are quite impressed by the teaching and learning that is going on," Ndoro said. "Of course there are a few schools here and there which still face a bit of challenges.”

The pay dispute goes back to October 2018, when the government stopped paying civil servants in U.S. dollars, switching to the reintroduced Zimbabwean dollar. The new currency has steadily lost value, effectively reducing teacher wages to about $100 a month. The teachers want the $540 a month they were getting in 2018.

Last week the teachers rejected the government’s offer of a 20 percent pay raise along with some incentives, such as housing loans.

Source: Voice of America

BRUSSELS— EU and African leaders meet for a two-day summit on Thursday, seeking to reboot ties with pledges of major investment in the face of competition from China and Russia.

Relations between the two continents have been hampered by a raft of problems: from disputes over coronavirus vaccines, to curbing illegal migration, a wave of coups in Africa, and the growing clout of Russian mercenaries on the continent.

“Our common ambition, Africans and Europeans, for this summit, is to achieve a renewed, modernised and more action-oriented partnership,” said Senegal’s President Macky Sall, who currently chairs the African Union.

President Emmanuel Macron of France, whose country holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, hopes the first joint summit since 2017 can burnish his grand ambition of forging an “economic and financial New Deal with Africa”.

The EU is aiming to convince the 40 African leaders in Brussels that Europe is their “most reliable partner” by fleshing out an investment initiative that aims to mobilise 150 billion euros ($170 billion) of public and private funds over the next seven years.

The scheme is the first regional part of the EU’s Global Gateway — a $300-billion-euro ($340-billion) worldwide investment blueprint meant to rival China’s Belt and Road initiative.

The EU is eyeing a dozen ambitious projects to bolster internet access, transport links and renewable energy as it seeks to provide an alternative to cheap loans from Beijing.

But details on funding remain vague, and the projects are still to be agreed on with the African side.

African leaders are instead pushing for a far more concrete step of getting EU nations to allow the International Monetary Fund to allocate tens of billions of dollars in further aid.

The summit — which will involve a series of roundtable discussions — comes at a worrying time for Africa after a wave of military coups and as regional powerhouse Ethiopia is wracked by conflict.

Burkina Faso last month joined Guinea, Mali and Sudan as the fourth country frozen out by the AU after disgruntled soldiers toppled the elected president.

Those four will not be represented in Brussels.

As Europe grapples with a feared Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is also unsettled by the rising clout of Russian mercenaries in some of Africa’s most volatile hotspots. Shadowy paramilitary outfit Wagner, alleged to have close

ties to the Kremlin, is accused of bolstering Moscow’s geopolitical ambitions.

Western nations have condemned the reported arrival of its mercenaries in Mali’s capital Bamako to help protect a junta that seized power last year. Mali’s rulers deny hiring Wagner.

Macron is looking to redeploy France’s forces in Mali to elsewhere in the Sahel amid the breakdown in ties, ending a nine-year mission there battling jihadists.

European governments fear turmoil among the region’s rulers risks leaving a vacuum that movements tied to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group could exploit.

An EU official said the bloc would “remain engaged” in Mali, but there are still major questions over its military training mission there.

The official said that in a bid to bolster broader stability, the EU planned to increase funding for African Union peacekeeping missions across the continent.

The fight against the Covid-19 pandemic is also expected be a major topic.

Africa has been angered by what it sees as the unfair distribution of coronavirus vaccines worldwide that has left it lagging woefully behind.

South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa has accused the West of giving his continent only the “crumbs from their table” as the EU has rebuffed a push for a temporary patent waiver to allow the generic production of vaccines.

The EU — the world’s biggest vaccine exporter — points to over 400 million jabs it has contributed to the global Covax vaccine-sharing initiative and is promising to give Africa 450 million doses by mid-2022.

It says it will increase funding to help health systems on the continent get jabs into arms, and has pledged one billion euros (around $1 billion) to bolster future vaccine production in Africa.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

UNITED NATIONS— The UN chief has denounced abuses by the Central African Republic army and its foreign supporters, an allusion to paramilitary fighters from the Russia-linked Wagner group.

“I remain appalled by the continued increase in human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by all parties to the conflict, including excessive use of force,” Antonio Guterres said in a report submitted to the Security Council.

The Central African Republic has been mired in civil war since 2013. While violence had decreased in recent years, it resumed abruptly when rebels launched a failed offensive to overthrow President Faustin-Archange Touadera in late 2020.

“I urge national authorities to take demonstratable and immediate action to prevent grave human rights violations by national security forces and other security personnel, including abuses targeting ethnic and religious minorities,” Guterres said.

The UN uses the term “other security personnel” to refer to the hundreds of Russian paramilitary forces who fight alongside the army, and who have helped them over the past year push back rebels from their strongholds.

In 2021, the UN accused the mercenaries and the Central African forces of abuse, alongside its ongoing condemnation of crimes committed against civilians by the country’s rebel groups.

In the new report, which covers the period from October to February, Guterres touches in particular on an operation carried out near Bria, some 600 kilometers northeast of the capital Bangui, by the national army and paramilitaries.

The operation which occurred in mid-January resulted “in 17 civilian deaths” and displacement of the general population, the report said, without providing further detail.

Guterres indicated that the UN peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) was denied access to the army and “other security personnel” on three occasions in January under the pretext that the sites where the events of concern had occurred “were private.”

MINUSCA has around 15,000 soldiers and police, with an annual budget of approximately $1 billion.

During the period under review, “humanitarian personnel continued to be targeted by armed groups, national defense and security forces and other security personnel,” Guterres said.

“The humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate” since October, he said, adding that 63 percent of the population — or 3.1 million Central Africans — require protection and humanitarian assistance at the highest level in five years.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

Green investments, migration, security and unequal access to vaccines will top the agenda as dozens of African heads of state head to Brussels on Thursday for a two-day summit of European Union and African Union leaders.

Around 70% of Europeans have received at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine; In Africa, just 16%. That inequity is among the issues high on the summit agenda.

"Donating vaccines is one thing, but ensuring that people are vaccinated is another, and equity demands more than donations. It requires systemic change and access to doctors, to nurses, to hospitals, to medical equipment, to scientists, to technologies and to research. And last, but not least, it requires new manufacturing capabilities," said Stella Kyriakides, the European commissioner for health and food safety earlier this month, following an EU health summit in Lyon, France.

Investment

The EU aims to boost investment in Africa.

"The A.U.-E.U. summit is a key moment and opportunity to strengthen political and economic ties between the two continents. Leaders are expected to discuss how both continents can build greater prosperity. The aim is to launch an ambitious Africa-Europe Investment Package, taking into account global challenges such as climate change and the current health crisis," the EU Commission said in a statement.

As it transitions to a green economy, Europe is seeking to diversity supply chains, including those for the rare earth metals needed for battery technologies — Africa is rich in such raw materials. In December, the bloc unveiled a $300 billion "Global Gateway" fund to invest in jobs, green technologies and digital infrastructure.

Migration

Managing migration is also high on Europe’s agenda, says Hassan Khannenje, the director of the HORN International Institute for Strategic Studies in Nairobi, Kenya.

"It is important that European leaders, and the EU especially, finds a framework of working with the African leaders and African countries, number one, in being able to arrest and manage the refugee problem between the source countries, the transit countries as well as the destination countries," Khannenje told The Associated Press.

Figures released Wednesday showed an increase in the number of irregular migrants from Africa crossing the Mediterranean and entering Europe in recent months, following a decline during the height of the pandemic.

Security

Security in Africa will also be featured. The ongoing war in northern Ethiopia has killed thousands of people. There are insurgencies in Mali, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Nigeria and Somalia.

Meanwhile, Mali, Guinea, Sudan and Burkina Faso have been suspended from the African Union following military coups.

At an African Union summit last week, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo called for stronger action against such military takeovers.

"The resurgence of coups d’état in our region is a matter of grave concern. This evolution challenges the democratic way of life we have chosen," he said.

Coups

The coups stem from deep-rooted weaknesses, Khannenje said.

"What we are seeing in West Africa in summary is a result of one, the institutional weaknesses that makes a nation state. Second, the legacy, colonial legacy, that has left behind not only weak institutions but has also ensured dependence when it comes to security with the former colonial master."

"Thirdly, there is a declining in faith in the democratic project that of course came about on the continent during the wind of change following the collapse of the Soviet Union and, last but not least, the increased rate of terrorism and the desperation of populations, societal dislocation that insecurity has caused has provided fodder for would-be political profiteers and military profiteers to be able to exploit that vacuum," Khannenje said.

Several of the visiting heads of state are not democratically elected. Critics say Europe should not be rolling out the red carpet for autocratic leaders such as Egypt’s Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

"The rights and lives of the Egyptian people must come before deepening ties with this oppressive regime. This is an important moment to hold President el-Sissi to account for his human rights commitments," said Eve Geddie, the head of Amnesty International’s European institutions office and director of advocacy.

Source: Voice of America