Zambian President Edgar Lungu may revoke emergency powers before they expire in 90 days if there is an end to the &#8220;acts of sabotage&#8221; they were meant to quell, his spokesman said on Wednesday.
Africa&#8217;s second-largest copper producer, one of the continent&#8217;s more stable democracies, has been unusually tense since the arrest in April of opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema on treason charges, ostensibly for impeding Lungu&#8217;s motorcade.
On Tuesday, parliament extended Lungu&#8217;s emergency powers by three months in an attempt to quash a spate of arson attacks on market places and court-houses.
Lungu spokesman Amos Chanda said police were making progress in their investigations and had observed no new incidents since emergency rule was imposed a week ago.
&#8220;If these acts of sabotage do not continue this should be lifted within three months. It could be revoked even earlier than three months. The president at any point can revoke it,&#8221; Chanda said.
Critics say the emergency powers will be used to harass political opponents after last year&#8217;s bitter and violent election, which Hichilema&#8217;s United Party for National Development (UPND) says was rigged.
(Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Ed Cropley)

Zambia says emergency rule may end early if sabotage stops

South Africa&#8217;s consumer confidence slipped deeper into negative territory in the second quarter, highlighting households&#8217; concerns about the weak outlook for the economy, a survey showed on Wednesday.
The consumer confidence index, sponsored by First National Bank (FNB) and compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research, slumped to -9 in the second quarter after registering -5 in the first three months of the year.
&#8220;Despite the recent deceleration in food inflation, food prices remain very high and will continue to dampen the real purchasing power of consumers, especially for low income households,&#8221; FNB senior economic analyst Jason Muscat said.
&#8220;Per capita real disposable income is set to deteriorate further on the back of exceedingly poor economic growth, little to no job creation, and substantial increases in personal income taxes for middle and high-income earners,&#8221; he added.
South Africa sank into recession for the first time in eight years in the first quarter, hit by weakness in consumer sectors such as wholesale, retail and accommodation.

South Africa consumer confidence slips as growth concerns weigh

Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was in London on Tuesday, spending an hour at the country&#8217;s High Commission where President Muhammadu Buhari has spent much of the past two months on medical leave.
A Reuters reporter saw Osinbajo arrive at Abuja House, the Nigerian High Commission, or embassy, in London, late on Tuesday. He left an hour later without comment.
Buhari left Abuja on May 7 and handed over power to his deputy, to allay concerns of a void at the top of Africa&#8217;s biggest economy.
&#8220;Osinbajo meeting with President Buhari in London today, and returning to Abuja immediately afterwards,&#8221; the vice president&#8217;s spokesman, Laolu Akande, said in a Twitter message posted earlier on Tuesday. No details were given.
Officials have not disclosed details of Buhari&#8217;s illness, which has caused fierce speculation in Nigerian media and on social media about his ailment and whether he will seek a second term in the 2019 election.
A thin-looking Buhari, 74, was last seen in Nigeria on state television welcoming a group of 82 girls released by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, hours before he flew to Britain.
It is the ailing president&#8217;s second break in Britain this year. The first began in January and lasted nearly two months.

Nigerian VP meets with ailing President Buhari in London

Digital money transfer service WorldRemit has partnered with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei to enable the international transfer of money across Huawei&#8217;s mobile services in Africa, the companies said on Tuesday.
Mobile money services that allow customers to transfer funds using their phones have proved hugely popular in parts of Africa, particularly where people have less access to traditional bank accounts.
&#8220;International remittance is a very important mobile money service in Africa, and our partnership with WorldRemit will bring international remittances directly to Huawei’s customers across the continent,&#8221; David Chen, Vice-President of Huawei Southern Africa, said in a statement.
Safaricom&#8217;s mobile phone-based financial service M-Pesa in east Africa has already seen success in this market.
The partnership will allow London-based WorldRemit to connect to over 100 million mobile accounts currently using Huawei’s platform, which delivers basic banking transactions through its mobile money offerings on smartphones and basic handsets.
The deal will reduce the barrier of technical integrations with new mobile money operators to offer international remittances for mobile network operators to enable all Huawei partners to swiftly switch on this service, WorldRemit and Huawei said.

Huawei joins WorldRemit in mobile money transfer deal for Africa

Nigeria must not borrow more to fund its budget and should instead raise money it needs by other means, the country&#8217;s finance minister said on Tuesday, calling into question planned foreign loans of $2 billion from lenders like the World Bank.
Africa&#8217;s largest economy is in its first recession in 25 years, and had planned to borrow extensively from overseas to fund a record budget aimed at helping the country spend its way out of its economic doldrums.
But plans for lenders like the World Bank and African Development Bank to loan at least $2 billion to Nigeria have been stalled for over a year as international organisations&#8217; frustrations mounted at the country&#8217;s refusal to impose key fiscal reforms such as allowing its foreign exchange rate to float freely.
Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun&#8217;s comments, made while speaking at a business forum in the capital of Abuja, suggest that Nigeria will no longer seek such loans, or an additional $1.5 billion it had planned to raise from international debt markets.
&#8220;We cannot borrow anymore, we just have to generate funds domestically enough to fund our budget. Mobilize revenue to fund the necessary budget increase,&#8221; she said.
In May, the head of Nigeria&#8217;s budget office said the country has a shortfall of $7.5 billion for its 2017 budget expenditure, and said that would be addressed with $3.5 billion from the aforementioned loans and debt.
The government also planned to raise $4 billion from the local debt market, he said at the time.
Nigeria&#8217;s presidency signed off on its record 7.44 trillion naira ($24.39 billion) budget for 2017 in June, after numerous delays.
The plan projects a deficit of 2.21 trillion naira, implying a deficit equivalent to 2.18 percent of Nigerian gross domestic product.
($1 = 305.0000 naira)
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Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Pritha Sarkar
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Nigeria “cannot borrow anymore”, says finance minister

South Africa state-run power utility Eskom said on Tuesday external auditors had raised &#8220;two reportable irregularities&#8221; with their regulatory body related to an obscure company and the reinstatement of former CEO Brian Molefe, who has since left.
Eskom, which earlier postponed its annual results presentation scheduled for Tuesday, said in a statement it &#8220;had 30 days to take appropriate steps to mitigate the risks identified.&#8221;
Company spokesman Khulu Phasiwe said one of the irregularities related to another former acting chief executive, Matshela Koko, who allegedly violated procurement rules by giving contracts to a firm where his stepdaughter was a director.
&#8220;The Board has finished its investigation and the matter is now with the Minister of Public Enterprises Lynne Brown, who is applying her mind to the matter,&#8221; he said.
Eskom, which provides virtually all of the power for Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy, has lurched from crisis to crisis as it tries to build new power stations.
In late June the company appointed Johnny Dladla as acting chief executive, a stopgap measure after a leadership vacuum at the company worsened when the chairman abruptly resigned.
Dladla replaced Molefe, who was briefly reinstated and then removed in May by a team of government ministers amid growing concerns about governance at Eskom.
Eskom has also come under scrutiny in the media after leaked documents put it at the centre of allegations of improper dealings in government contracts by the Guptas, business friends of President Jacob Zuma. Both Zuma and the Guptas have denied any wrongdoing.
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Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia and David Evans
</div>

Eskom results delayed, auditors flag “irregularities”

LUANDA (Reuters) &#8211; Emirates airline has scaled back its five weekly flights to the Angolan capital Luanda to three due to the difficulty of repatriating revenue earned in the country, the president of the Middle East&#8217;s largest airline said.
&#8220;As I have previously indicated, the viability of our operations in Luanda is being severely impacted by limitations on the repatriation of out sale proceeds being accumulated in Angola on a daily basis,&#8221; Timothy Clark said in letter dated July 9 to Angola&#8217;s transport minister Augusto da Silva Tomas.
Hit by a collapse in the price of crude oil, Africa&#8217;s second largest oil exporter has been depleting its reserves at a faster rate to fund imports and pay down government debt, and imposed capital restrictions including amounts travellers can take abroad.
Clark said the limitation on flights, which came into effect on Sunday, would also come under review very quickly if significant progress on the moving its funds out of the country was not made in the coming days.
The Gulf airline also terminated a deal with Angolan airline TAAG, under which Emirates took operational control of the airline for 10 years and the two cooperated on commercial opportunities on the continent. The agreement was signed in 2014.

Emirates cuts flights to Angola over revenue repatriation issues

Libya and Nigeria may attend a joint meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC this month, Russia&#8217;s energy minister said on Monday, as oil producers look for ways to cap rising production to help support oil prices.
Both nations have boosted production since they were exempted from an OPEC-led deal to cut output, weighing on global prices LCOc1. This has prompted more talk among producers about including them in the pact.
&#8220;We have spoken to (OPEC Secretary General Mohammad) Barkindo and in the next two weeks there will be conversations with them (Libya and Nigeria) and possibly we will invite them to the technical summit,&#8221; Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference in Istanbul.
Six ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC nations including Kuwait, Venezuela, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Oman will meet on July 24 in St Petersburg, Russia, to discuss the current situation in the oil market.
This group, called the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, could recommend expanding the pact to the wider group, which holds its next meeting in November.
The ministerial talks will be preceded by a meeting of a technical committee involving all OPEC and non-OPEC members currently participating in the oil output-cutting deal.
Both Nigeria and Libya were given exemptions to the supply cut, under which OPEC, Russia and other non-OPEC producers are reducing their output by about 1.8 million barrels per day because their output has been curbed by conflict.
OPEC delegates have said bringing Nigeria or Libya into the production pact would likely focus on capping their output, rather than asking them to cut their supply so soon after it had recovered from involuntary curbs.
Nigeria&#8217;s oil minister Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu has said that Nigeria was not opposed in principle to joining OPEC&#8217;s production cap, but would have to wait and see if production returned to acceptable levels.
The minister is not planning to attend the Russian talks because he already has another ministerial-level meeting scheduled at home in Abuja, a source familiar with his schedule said.
OPEC has not been in touch with Libya on the issue of capping the country&#8217;s output, an OPEC delegate said. The Libyan government has not received an invitation to attend the ministerial meeting in Russia, he added.
In comments to Reuters on Monday, the head of Libya&#8217;s National Oil Corporation did not indicate any willingness to cap output yet, saying Libya&#8217;s humanitarian problems must be considered in any talks on the subject.
NOC Chairman Mustafa Sanalla added Libya could assist with efforts to stabilize the market by informing OPEC about its plans to restore production.
(Reporting by Olesya Astakhova, Alex Lawler and Ahmad Ghaddar; editing by Jason Neely and Louise Heavens)

Libya, Nigeria may attend OPEC, non-OPEC July meeting: Russia

Abu Dhabi&#8217;s Etisalat has terminated its management agreement with its Nigerian arm and given the business time to phase out the brand in Nigeria, the chief executive of Etisalat International told Reuters on Monday.
Nigerian regulators intervened last week to save Etisalat Nigeria from collapse after talks with its lenders to renegotiate a $1.2 billion loan failed.
All UAE shareholders of Etisalat Nigeria have exited the company and have left the board and management, Hatem Dowidar said in an interview.
He said discussions were ongoing with Etisalat Nigeria to provide technical support, adding that it can use the brand for another three-weeks before phasing it out.
(Reporting by Stanley Carvalho; Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Louise Heavens)
&nbsp;

Etisalat pulls out of Nigeria after loan talks collapse

Headlines surrounding the G20 Summit held in Hamburg, Germany, last week have been nothing short of gloom, with some protesters waving signs directed at world leaders who gathered for the summit, reading “<a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/06/welcome-to-hell-protesters-clash-with-police-g20-summit-hamburg.html">Welcome to Hell</a>”. It is reported that on the eve of the summit, water cannons had been deployed and directed at protesters attempting to disrupt the gathering of world leaders.
People are clearly very angry at the status quo. This was not the first time an expression of dissatisfaction by civil society was manifested at a high-level gathering of this nature. Recall the 1999 WTO Protests in Seattle, USA – when people gathered to protest during the WTO Ministerial Conference. The 1999 protests were anti-capitalism. Union workers, labour rights groups, and other civil society organizations took the streets to express their <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/the-dark-side-of-globalization-why-seattles-1999-protesters-were-right/282831/">frustration</a> with ‘globalization’ as they saw it.
<h4>Almost 20 years later, the cry is still the same</h4>
Last week, and almost 20 years later, the cry is still the same, with wide protests during the Group of 20 Summit held in another developed, high-income country, Germany. Protesters do not see the point of the G20 and the summit. In a <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/g20-summit-2017-protests-prompt-police-reinforcements/">news report</a>, one of the protest organizers is quoted as attributing economic inequality, issues surrounding climate change and the migration crisis on the G20 and its world leaders.
At a recent <a href="http://www.t20germany.org/">Think20</a> summit, on May 29, 2017 – May 30, 2017, held for the purpose of providing G20 leaders with policy recommendations for Global Solutions, various professionals &#8211; businesspeople, researchers, academics, media representatives, think tanks from around the world &#8211; gathered to engage in dialogue and debate surrounding ways towards economic growth, social cohesion, peace and security and ways to protect the environment.
Policy recommendations were researched, drafted and ultimately culminated into 20 policy proposals that were <a href="http://www.t20germany.org/2017/06/15/20-solutions-g20/">presented</a> to the German Chancellery Minister. The presentation of the policy briefs called on the G20 to take strides towards the implementation of the recommendations.
<h4>Where to these recommendations leave Africa?</h4>
Where is Africa in all of this? There is only one African nation in the G20, South Africa. There is a paradox to be drawn from this with respect to engaging Africa significantly on issues of global importance at such gatherings. This point, of “talking about Africa without Africa” and “a stronger voice for Africa at the G20 [and in other global settings]” was highlighted by one of the panelists during a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7Pq6WQuVTQ">discussion</a> at the Think20 Summit. The current frustration
The current frustration, as manifested in Hamburg, is frustration against the status quo, frustration against a club of world leaders in an exclusive group driving the agenda for everyone else. Their inability to drive the agenda or to contribute significantly to the agend has frutrated African countries, who see themselves as being driven by the agenda. Even though Africa’s position is not significantly on the minds of those thousands of protesters in Hamburg, it is clearly part of the bigger problem with the formation of the existing structures and models.
<h4>Governance as we know it is being questioned</h4>
The protests surrounding the G20 summit are yet another reminder (after the 2016 US elections, the Brexit vote, the near misses in the Dutch and French elections) that governance as we know it is being questioned.
The tough questions and civic resistance is a wakeup call that it is no longer business as usual. Grassroots organizations also want a seat at the table; as do indigent communities and smaller economies, particularly those in Africa. It cannot be about ‘club governance’. If seats are not provided for all stakeholders, there are those prepared to bring folding chairs to disrupt the formal gatherings – as it was clearly being seen in Hamburg.
The G20 (and particularly the summit) was birthed from an attempt to learn lessons from and address the consequences of the 2008 financial crisis. As an informal political forum it has made significant steps towards being more inclusive and not simply a club for the biggest economies. It has engaged various groups: businesses, youth, think tanks, and others; however, it still is an exclusive group trying to be inclusive. Integration and cohesion is a global goal at this point, the stakes for further disintegration (socially and internationally) are all too high at this point.
Integration and Cohesion is a global goal at this point, the stakes for further disintegration (socially and internationally) are all too high at this point.
Author: Mary-Jean Nleya, Founder &amp; Editor of <a href="http://www.theglobalcommunique.com/">The Global Communiqué</a>. Mary-Jean was selected as a G20 Young Global Changer to attend the <a href="http://www.t20germany.org/">Think20</a> Summit in Berlin, Germany in May 2017.

Op-Ed: The G20 Summit – global goal of integration

The president of Democratic Republic of Congo&#8217;s electoral commission said on Sunday that a vote to replace President Joseph Kabila will probably not be possible this year, violating a deal that let Kabila stay on past the end of his mandate.
Kabila&#8217;s refusal to step down at the end of his second elected term in December sparked protests that killed dozens of people. The opposition quickly denounced commission president Corneille Nangaa&#8217;s announcement on Sunday as a declaration of &#8220;war&#8221;.
&#8220;The parameters at our disposal give us, more or less, reason to think that, in December, it will probably not be possible to stick to that date,&#8221; Nangaa said in an interview on France&#8217;s TV5Monde, referring to the year-end deadline.
Under the accord struck on Dec. 31 between Kabila&#8217;s representatives and opposition leaders, Kabila, in power since 2001, is also barred from trying to change the constitution to stand for a third term.
However, Kabila has said only the electoral commission can schedule the vote once it finishes enrolling millions of voters. In an interview last month with German newspaper Der Spiegel, he also said that he had &#8220;promised nothing&#8221; in the December deal.
In response to Nangaa&#8217;s comments, opposition leader Felix Tshisekedi wrote on Twitter that the commission president &#8220;had declared war on the Congolese people&#8221; and promised a full response by the country&#8217;s main opposition bloc on Monday.
(Reporting By Aaron Ross; Editing by Mary Milliken)

DRC elections unlikely to take place this year

Kenya&#8217;s chief justice warned President Uhuru Kenyatta on Sunday not to undermine public confidence in the judiciary, in an unusually sharp exchange between the two men less than a month before national elections are due.
Kenyatta had earlier responded to a court victory for the opposition against Kenya&#8217;s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) by cautioning against any use of the court process to delay the elections.
&#8220;They are taking us for fools,&#8221; he told an election rally in the western county of Baringo, referring to the judiciary.
&#8220;I want to tell those in courts, we have respected you. But do not think respect is cowardice. And we will not allow our opponents to use the courts and to intimidate the IEBC, thinking they will win using the back door.&#8221;
Chief Justice David Maraga released a statement a few hours later, saying: &#8220;When political leaders cast aspersions on the administration of justice based on a misinterpretation of my statements, it has the potential to impair public confidence in our courts, and this concerns me a great deal.&#8221;
Memories are still fresh in Kenya of the violent clashes that killed more than 1,200 people following a disputed election in 2007. Some fear a repeat following the Aug. 8 polls in which Kenyatta is seeking a second and final five-year term.
Kenyans are also due to choose legislators and local representatives for the first time since 2013, when the elections passed peacefully after the opposition challenged the results in court.
The opposition has already brought a flurry of cases against the electoral commission, including the one settled on Friday when the high court ruled that contract to print ballot papers for the presidential poll had not been awarded transparently.
Kenyatta&#8217;s chief rival is veteran opposition leader Raila Odinga, the head of the National Super Alliance, who was also the opposition candidate in both 2007 and 2013.
A spokesman for Odinga said he had been hospitalised on Sunday with a suspected case of mild food poisoning.
(Additional reporting by Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Katharine Houreld; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Kenya’s president and chief justice clash as elections approach

I love baseball. I’ve been watching since 1964, when I was seven years old. It’s in my blood as it is for many of my generation. It’s uniquely American. Just like mom and apple pie. And July 4th and fireworks.
Up until I was around ten years old, I was more of a New York Mets fan because we only lived a few minutes away from Shea Stadium in Queens. But I was equally devoted to the Yankees too, and ultimately, ended up rooting for them as I got older. Man, the dilemmas we faced when we were kids.
Back in those days, my father, who worked in the garment center, would get cheap Mets tickets from his mobster bookie, Joe “The Hat.” Joe was like a character from an era gone by, and wore a large, white fedora, earning him the nickname. He was the real deal. Never without a half-smoked cigar jutting out of the corner of his mouth, he owned a tiny, hole in the wall, barber shop on West 39th Street that had one of those old, striped barber poles out in front. From that storefront, “The Hat” took bets on everything from baseball and football to horseracing and boxing. My Dad said he once heard there was a dice game in the back, although he never actually saw it.
<h4>New York&#8217;s Yankees and Mets attracted all the best ballplayers</h4>
One of the great things about growing up in New York was that, because we had two teams here, all the best ballplayers of my generation either played here, or passed through, at some point during their careers. Everyone from Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays to Pete Rose, Roberto Clemente, Roger Maris, Tom Seaver, and Hank Aaron among others. And if they didn’t play for the Mets or Yankees, then they faced them as competitors. And thanks to Joe “The Hat,” I got to see most of them play live.
There must have been a million summer afternoons too, where I’d sprawl out like a giant, gangly octopus on the couch, and watch a game from start to finish on TV. All nine innings. Days seemed to move ever so slowly back then. And baseball was part of the reason why. Sometimes, if you were watching a game on a Saturday or Sunday, it felt like someone flipped the switch and set life to slow motion. A single inning could take fifteen minutes or more. And the three-plus hours it usually took to watch an entire game, seemed like ten. I loved every minute of it.
Today, fifty-three years later, I still love it. And I watch whenever I can, although it’s hard unless I’m home alone. But I got lucky the other day, and caught the Yankees playing the Texas Rangers on television, right from the first pitch. It was a typical hot, Sunday afternoon in late June. Eighty-five or so degrees outside. The Yankee Stadium crowd was quietly buzzing in the background. And it was all sun and blue skies above. It was baseball in New York. And it felt just like it used to when I was a kid.
Well, at least for a little while.
<h4>The world is an anxious place these days</h4>
But it’s no longer 1964, and life outside is no longer slow. The world is an anxious place these days. My iPhone reminds me of this continually, beeping dozens of toxic CNN headline alerts at me all day long. Trump, North Korea, Russia, Syria, Iran, ISIS, nukes, terrorism, healthcare, travel bans, race, gender, who can go into what bathroom, Hollywood dimwits, religion, guns, speech, hate, violence&#8230;
Stop it already!!! I can’t take it anymore!!!
Frankly, I don’t care how many missiles Kim Jong-un just tested. Or what Donald Trump just tweeted about Mika Brzezinski. Or who the Russians conspired with. Even what a colossal ignoramus Kathy Griffin is. A few weeks ago, it got so bad, I even turned off my iPhone completely a couple of times. But it really didn’t matter because everybody around me still had theirs, and were locked into them like iPhone robots.
<h4>People are oblivious to most things going on around them</h4>
Sometimes, when I walk down the street in the city, people drift by me in a trance-like, almost catatonic, state plugged into the broader digital collective, and oblivious to most things going on around them. There is now a near-constant stream of information and communications being fed into our brains via our iPhones. Outside of my ninety-year-old mother, the rest of the U.S. is slowly overdosing on the crack-cocaine epidemic of our time: information overload. You just can’t escape it. Because now, it’s a way of life.
But then, just for a moment, I looked back at the TV and the Yankee game. I listened to one of the announcer’s marveling over a ball that was just hit deep into the outfield, and how it bounced off the wall, and ricocheted away from the left fielder. And I looked at the perfectly manicured, cross-hatched, green grass on the field reflecting the sunlight. And the shadows from the stadiums upper façade, slowly overtaking the rest of the diamond from the earlier innings. I watched the Yankee’s pitcher go through his pre-pitch routine, nervously spinning the ball in his hand, and then adjusting the brim on his cap so it sat just off to the left of his head. And the batter up at the plate, as he rapped the bat against his cleats a few times to shake loose the dirt that was stuck in the heel.
<h4>Baseball is antithetical to the never-ending flood of rage and vitriol</h4>
And as I briefly stared at the television, I thought about how much I’ve always loved baseball. What a refuge it is for me. Because it’s completely antithetical to the way life is today. And it&#8217;s antithetical to the never-ending flood of rage and vitriol we’ve come to accept as the new normal.
So, if you feel like you need a place to hide, or if you just don’t want to hear all the screaming and yelling anymore, try to find yourself a baseball game on television. Tune into the Mets or Yankees. Or maybe Red Sox or Cubs. Stop looking at your iPhone alerts. Turn the phone off. Lower the blinds and turn up the air conditioning. Grab a beer and some chips. Kick back and slow down. Breathe. Take in the game. And get away. What could be better?
Because during a baseball game, there is no Donald Trump or Russia. There are no Democrats or Republicans either. And no healthcare debate or immigration reform.
During a baseball game, there’s just baseball and you. Home runs, double plays, batting averages, curveballs and sinkers.
It’s nice and slow, and easy and safe. And that works just fine for me.
Something tells me that, if Joe “The Hat” was still alive today, he would’ve been pretty proud of me.

Op-Ed: Baseball as metaphor for a better, less anxious life

Chinese and French companies are bidding to help Gambia build up its Atlantic port Banjul to be what officials hope will rival neighboring Senegal&#8217;s Dakar.
It would be one of the first major structural changes in the country following the end of President Yahya Jammeh&#8217;s more than 20-year rule in January.
State-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=601800.SS">601800.SS</a>) says one of its subsidiaries has made a bid for a 140 million euro ($159.91 million) contract Gambia has launched to redevelop the port.
France&#8217;s Bollore Group (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=BOLL.PA">BOLL.PA</a>) has also submitted an offer to develop the port for hundreds of millions of dollars, sources told Reuters, and was part of a recent delegation of French investors to the country.
The port was run by a state agency during Jammeh&#8217;s rule. It is considered to have strategic potential thanks to its easy access to Atlantic shipping lanes.
Abdoulie Tambedou, managing director of the Gambia Ports Authority said there had already been several offers.
&#8220;The Chinese are interesting in investing in the infrastructure for an overall envelope of 140 million euros,&#8221; he told Reuters in an interview. &#8220;We hope to agree the financing in the next six months.&#8221;
An official at CCCC confirmed that one of its subsidiaries was bidding for the contract, without specifying which. In a sign of their interest, a witness saw a Chinese delegation visiting the port last week.
Tambedou confirmed Bollore&#8217;s offer, without giving the price, and said this included both infrastructure costs and the rental concession.
Chinese interest in the project follows Gambia&#8217;s endorsement in March 2016 of the &#8220;one China&#8221; policy, which states that Taiwan is part of a unified China. President Adama Barrow&#8217;s new government reaffirmed that position in February.
China is also a major market for Gambia&#8217;s exports, which globally are mainly peanuts, wood, cashews, fish and fruit.
Upgrading the port will take 30-36 months to complete, Tambedou said.
STRUGGLING
Gambia is poor. It ranks 173 out of 189 countries on the U.N. Human Development Index, below Haiti.
It is badly in need of key infrastructure development. There is not a single bridge across its eponymous 1,120 km (695 mile)-long river that wiggles up the length of the country, for example.
People and goods have to be shipped across on ferries &#8211; or go around.
Gambia is nonetheless seen as a key transit country for reaching remote areas of Guinea, Mali and Senegal that are easier to access from Banjul than from the countries&#8217; own ports and capitals.
Space constraints at the port, however, currently mean that arriving cargo ships often have to wait at anchorage before entering.
Since the departure of Jammeh, Tambedou said that trade was picking up, with shippers sending imports such as sugar in bigger volumes than before.
(Additional reporting by Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Aaron Ross/Jeremy Gaunt)

China, France eye Gambian port upgrade to rival Dakar

By Stephanie van den Berg
THE HAGUE &#8211; The International Criminal Court on Thursday rebuked South Africa for not arresting Sudan&#8217;s president on a genocide warrant when he visited Johannesburg in 2015, but declined to refer Pretoria to the United Nations for possible censure over the lapse.
The ICC indicted Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in 2008 over the deaths and persecution of ethnic groups in Sudan&#8217;s Darfur province between 2003 and 2008. But he has continued to travel internationally, visiting Jordan as recently as March.
The first part of Thursday&#8217;s ICC ruling was expected as the war crimes court has consistently rejected arguments put forward by the South African government, namely that it could not arrest Bashir because visiting heads of state at the African Union Summit held in the country enjoyed diplomatic immunity.
ICC judges said that heads of state or government clearly fall under the court&#8217;s jurisdiction and cannot be exempted at home or abroad, echoing the conclusion of a South African domestic court.
The second stage of the ruling was surprising as it was the first time the ICC found one of its members had defied its rules, yet took no action by reporting South Africa to the U.N. Security Council or ICC member states for possible censure.
&#8220;The decision is something of an indictment of the U.N. Security Council and the (ICC&#8217;s) Assembly of State Parties,” ICC expert and legal scholar Mark Kersten told Reuters.
Presiding Judge Cuno Tarfusser, reading a summary of the ruling, noted that past referrals of countries to the Security Council for noncompliance were &#8220;futile&#8221; in terms of leading to further action and also &#8220;not an effective way to obtain cooperation&#8221; with the ICC.
&nbsp;
BASHIR DENIES WRONGDOING
Bashir denies wrongdoing and has rejected ICC jurisdiction. It was the Security Council itself that referred Sudan&#8217;s case to the ICC in 2005.
&#8220;It is shocking that other (ICC member states) such as Jordan are also failing in their obligations to arrest Bashir, and this decision makes it clear they do so in flagrant violation of international law,&#8221; Amnesty International said in a statement.
The ICC&#8217;s decision not to refer South Africa might also be intended in part to dissuade it from pulling out of the court.
In February, the African Union called for member states to leave the ICC over a perceived bias by prosecutors in focusing on African conflicts.
Kenya, Namibia, Burundi and South Africa have threatened to ditch the ICC and Pretoria began the formal withdrawal process last year before being blocked by a domestic court for not getting parliament&#8217;s approval first before pulling out.
&#8220;I believe (Thursday&#8217;s) ruling will raise the costs of withdrawal for South African President Jacob Zuma,&#8221; Kersten said.
In The Hague, South African Ambassador Bruce Koloane said that for the time being &#8220;(we are) still a member effectively of the ICC, we still have to honour all our obligations”.
In South Africa, opinions on what to do next were divided.
Pretoria&#8217;s foreign affairs department said the government would study the ruling &#8220;and its implications and seek legal opinion on available options&#8221;.
Siphosezwe Masango, who chairs parliament&#8217;s international relations committee, said he remained convinced South Africa was right not to arrest Bashir, &#8220;a sitting head of state&#8221;.
Pretoria&#8217;s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, said the ICC ruling was an indictment of Zuma&#8217;s ANC government, noting it had upheld the domestic court&#8217;s position.
&#8220;The ANC seems intent on relegating South Africa to the status of a scumbag nation which protects the law-breakers and corrupter of this world,&#8221; DA Federal Executive Chairperson James Selfe said.
(Additional reporting by James Macharia in Johannesburg, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town, Anthony Deutsch and Toby Sterling in Amsterdam; editing by Mark Heinrich)

ICC declines to refer S.A to UN on Sudan’s Bashir arrest

<div id="article-byline">By Aaron Ross | KINSHASA</div>
Democratic Republic of Congo&#8217;s government has formally requested financial support from international donors as it confronts a worsening economic crisis, a letter seen by Reuters on Thursday showed.
Africa&#8217;s top copper producer has been hard hit by low commodity prices in recent years. It has only enough foreign currency reserves to cover about three weeks of imports and its franc currency CDF= has lost half its value in the past year.
The letter was dated July 4 and addressed to the U.N. Secretary General as well as in-country representatives of the African Union, the European Union, three regional African organisations and other foreign ambassadors.
In it, Prime Minister Bruno Tshibala&#8217;s chief of staff, Michel Nsomue, wrote that the government &#8220;needs the support of the international community and thus of its traditional partners&#8221;.
&#8220;In light of the current context, (the government) awaits in particular from these (partners) balance of payments support and budget support to allow it to confront the current economic difficulties provoked by the collapse of prices of raw materials on the world market,&#8221; Nsomue wrote.
The letter does not say how much money the government is seeking. It informally sought up to $500 million from the World Bank and African Development Bank last year.
Finance Minister Henri Yav Mulang told Reuters this week that the government was in ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund about a possible Rapid Credit Facility, a form of balance of payments support. The IMF has declined to comment on those talks.
Western donors are reluctant to aid the government of President Joseph Kabila, who refused to step down when his constitutional mandate expired last December. His government has been accused of widespread human rights abuses &#8211; charges it rejects.
The donors are also concerned about a lack of transparency. The IMF suspended its last financial assistance to Congo &#8211; a $560 million loan programme &#8211; in 2012 after the government failed to provide sufficient details on the sale of state mining assets to an offshore company.
&#8220;The transparency of Congolese government finances, including (state mining company) Gecamines, will be a precondition for any financial support,&#8221; a Western diplomat told Reuters.
Earlier this week, Congo&#8217;s government discussed with representatives of Russian bank VTB (<a href="http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=VTBR.MM">VTBR.MM</a>) the possibility of issuing a sovereign Eurobond. But VTB denied a Congolese government statement that it planned to make any direct investments.
(Editing by Gareth Jones)

Congo requests financial support from donors amid economic crisis

International and national laws broadly recognise equal rights for all. These include the right to <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx">fair and equitable</a> access to justice.
But justice for women and girls before the courts remains elusive in many African countries. This is partly because they face unique hurdles that disadvantage them from start. These include the fact that court hearings are lengthy and legal services extremely expensive. Hearings <a href="http://www.hiil.org/publication/uganda_report">can last decades</a>. The use of English and French can be intimidating and alienating given the high levels of illiteracy among girls and women.
Not all the disadvantages are necessarily unique to women and girls. But the structural conditions and cultural inequalities are loaded against them in most African societies. Court proceedings are rarely sensitive to the deep-seated <a href="http://fic.tufts.edu/publication-item/making-gender-just-remedy-and-reparation-possible/">social inequalities</a> tilted against women and girls. These include gender, ethnicity, class, culture, language, and location.
This can be seen in the case of sexual abuse cases in particular. Courts often impose very high thresholds for evidence. For example, litigants are asked to produce official documents such as medical forms, land or property titles to support or justify their claims. Yet often women and girls can’t get these documents because of <a href="http://fic.tufts.edu/publication-item/making-gender-just-remedy-and-reparation-possible/">cultural practices</a> that make owning property such as land and housing nearly impossible for them.
Women also often can’t act as surety or apply for bail for their loved ones because they don’t have a passport, national identification or proof of address.
There are other hurdles that victims of sexual abuse have to overcome. These include the fact that they are required to provide primary evidence of the abuse <a href="http://www.acordinternational.org/silo/files/uganda-an-audit-of-legal-practice-on-sexual-violence.pdf">backed</a> by a police doctor’s medical report. In reality, many victims are unable to report the abuse in good time. Police doctors are also inaccessible to the majority of victims and come with some hidden cost.
And once in court, they are subjected to painful, degrading and humiliating processes of cross examination and <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/press-releases/2010/04/uganda-victims-rape-and-sexual-violence-denied-justice/">re-victimisation</a> due to a lack of protection.
Judicial decisions should move beyond a narrow and exclusive focus on the cases before the courts. This entails focusing on social, economic and cultural rights of women and girls.
<h2>Some lessons learnt</h2>
There are ways in which judicial processes could go beyond an exclusive focus on punishment. A landmark high court ruling in Uganda which recently won <a href="http://www.womenslinkworldwide.org/en/awards/cases/missing-baby">international recognition</a> is a case in point. While the judge provided specific remedy to a couple that had their newborn stolen in hospital, it also upheld the state’s obligations under the right to health in ways that increases access to disadvantaged women.
Justice Lydia Mugambe’s ruling could go a long way in securing better health rights for women and girls in Uganda. It also points the way to transforming systems and structures of injustices and inequalities that shapes women and girls’ vulnerabilities in the first place.
The case also highlights the importance of civil society organisations acting as intermediaries between the court and victim. These organisations can provide relevant information and ensure proper procedures in handling cases.
Another area that could be improved is improving the court experience for women and girls. The process is as important as the outcome. How victims are treated through a court process can empower or disempower them. There should be accompanying efforts to engage and empower victims as citizens with full rights. This is particularly important where experience of violations strip women and girls of their dignity and sense of self-worth.
If not, court decisions could further entrench women and girls’ vulnerabilities, especially when required evidential proofs are erroneous. A case in point is the Kenya court ruling on sexual abuse which earned the dubious distinction of the <a href="http://www.womenslinkworldwide.org/en/awards/cases/she-wanted-it">worst judicial ruling</a> against women in 2016.
The Kenyan court <a href="http://kenyalaw.org/caselaw/cases/view/121219/">acquitted</a> a 23-year-old man of the crime of child defilement of a 14-year-old girl. The ruling assumed consensual sex occurred and a possible false claim by the girl due to delayed reporting. The court didn’t accord the girl special measures provided to children. Yet in reality, the girl was a minor incapable of making informed consent without special protection.
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
Women and girls experience of accessing justice in Africa is shaped by their socio-cultural context of lower social status. It’s important that courts are responsive to these prevailing gender and generational inequalities and injustices that disadvantage women and girls.
It calls for investment in processes that create and ensure inclusive, safe, participatory spaces and dignity for victims who come before courts. This could include designing victim and witness participation and protection protocols for court use.
Clear court rules of procedures are required to guarantee confidentiality, safety, and dignity for victims of highly stigmatising cases, such as sexual abuse.
And courts should aim to adopt more flexible standards of evidence. They should also ensure proceedings are conducted in local languages and responsive to local realities – such as local taboos on sexual abuse.
Lastly, the majority of women and girls in Africa live in contexts of deeply rooted systems of socio-cultural injustices and structural inequalities. Given this, court procedures and decisions shouldn’t only enable justice. They should also change situations that exacerbate women and girls’ vulnerabilities for a just and equal society.

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