December 26, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Articles on Africa
Africa, Conflict, International Security, Peace & Security, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
U.N. Set to Cut Force in Darfur as Fighting Rises – NYTimes.com.
UNITED NATIONS — Under intense pressure from the government of Sudan, the United Nations is planning to shrink its floundering peacekeeping force in Darfur, even though renewed fighting there has chased more people from their homes this year than during any other in the past decade.
The withdrawal plans come right after the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, announced that she had decided to suspend the genocide case against Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, because world powers have done nothing to secure his arrest.
The twin retrenchments are emblematic of the limits of international attention at a time when Darfur has been overshadowed by newer crises and conflicts around the world, from the civil wars in Syria and South Sudan to the Ebola epidemic…
December 22, 2014
Peter Singhatey
African Center for Strategic Studies
Africa, Conflict, Development, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey, Research
ISS Africa | Africa in 2014: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Africa is not a country. What might have been an excellent year for some was a disaster for others. For protesters in Burkina Faso who have known only one ruler for the last 27 years, 2014 was a very good year. The peaceful overthrow of Blaise Compaoré at the end of October was a victory for democracy. Whether the strong positioning of military officials in the transitional government will undermine the democratic gains remains to be seen.
Compaoré’s ouster inspired those rejecting their own leaders’ bids to stay on beyond their legal term limits, like in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of Congo or Burundi – and sent a clear warning to leaders in countries like Zimbabwe, Uganda and Angola. The African Union (AU), which should give itself some credit for ensuring that Compaoré was replaced by a civilian-led government in Burkina Faso, also had quite a good year.
AU Commission Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma got the private sector to contribute to AU programmes, notably the AU Support Mission to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa. Following a fundraising meeting on 8 November, South African cellphone giant MTN came out tops with a sponsorship of $10 million for the fight against Ebola and Masiyiwa’s Econet donated $2,5 million…
December 18, 2014
Peter Singhatey
African Center for Strategic Studies
Africa, corruption, Dirty money, Gambia, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey, Research
Poor nations ‘lose $1 tn in dirty money’ – Americas – Al Jazeera English.
Developing countries are losing nearly a trillion dollars to crime and corruption, with the disappearance of dirty money hitting some of the world’s poorest regions hardest, a new report has found.
A record $991bn in unrecorded funds left 151 developing and emerging economies in 2012, up nearly five percent from a year earlier, a US-based watchdog that exposes financial corruption said on Monday.
Global Financial Integrity (GFI) found that, between 2003 and 2012, the estimated amount of illicit funds shifted from developing countries totalled $6.6tn and rose at an inflation-adjusted 9.4 percent a year – roughly double global GDP growth…
December 18, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
Africa, Development, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey, Renewable Energy, United Nations
Renewable Energy: The Untold Story of an African Revolution.
“There is a revolution going on in the continent of Africa and the world is not noticing it. You can go to Egypt, Ethiopia Kenya, Namibia, and Mozambique. I think we will see renewable energy being the answer to Africa’s energy problems in the next fifteen years,” Steiner said in an interview with IPS.
Sharing the example of the UNEP headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, Steiner told IPS that the decision was taken that “if UNEP is going to be centred with its offices in the African continent on the Equator, there can be reason why we are not using renewable energy. So we installed photovoltaic panels on our roof which we share with UN Habitat, 1200 people, and we produce 750,000 kilowatt hours of electricity every year, that is enough for the entire building to operate.”
He noted that although it will take UNEP between eight and 10 years to pay off the installation, UNEP will have over 13 years of electricity without paying monthly or annual power bills. “It is the best business proposition that a U.N. body has ever made in terms of paying for electricity for a building,” he said.
According to Steiner, the “revolution” is already happening in East Africa, especially in Kenya and Ethiopia which are both targeting renewable energy, especially geothermal energy.
“Kenya plans to triple its electricity generation up to about 6000 megawatts in the next five years. More than 90 percent of the planned power is to come from geothermal, solar and wind power,” he said…
December 8, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Nature
Amazon Rainforest, Anaconda, Discovery Channel, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Man ‘eaten alive’ by anaconda on wildlife show.
An American television presenter has been “eaten alive” by an anaconda in the Amazon rainforest in a much anticipated documentary by the Discovery Channel.
Paul Rosolie, who describes himself as “Indiana Jones with a green twist”, said the stunt was intended to raise awareness about plummeting species populations in the rainforest.
The 27-year old wore a specially designed carbon fibre suit to protect him from the force of the constriction as well as the snake’s harmful digestive juices.
The suit was fitted with cameras and a voice transmitter, while a cable was attached to his feet in order to pull him out, The Times reports. He was then smeared in pig’s blood in order to make him more appealing to the predator.
Rosolie then allowed a 20-ft long, 250lb snake to constrict him for over an hour, with emergency teams on standby. As the snake began to try and swallow him, he asked his team to rescue him as he could feel his arms “ripping out of their sockets”…
December 3, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
credit unions, Ireland, microfinance, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Credit unions are key to building on our housing strategy.
Up to €1bn of credit union funding could be redirected to the Government’s Social Housing Strategy, which aims to meet the needs of some 75,000 households. Credit unions want to make investments that are more sustainable and socially aware, writes Martin Sisk….
…It is estimated that 29,000 construction jobs will be created as a result of this initiative which is a welcome development for every sector of our economy. The strategy envisages meeting the housing needs of some 75,000 households through local authority provision via the private rental sector — using the Housing Assistance Payment and the Rental Accommodation Scheme as well as reforming social housing delivery and management in Ireland.
The Irish League of Credit Unions welcomes this initiative and we feel that we have a very positive role to play in its delivery. Credit unions currently have large amounts of excess funds held in deposits and investments. We estimate that somewhere between €500m to €1bn of those funds could be redirected to the Government Social Housing Strategy, which would equate to 2,500 to 5,000 housing units.
…In this way, credit unions will continue to survive and thrive and fulfil the economic and social objectives of the movement and their communities. It is in keeping with the credit union ethos and philosophy that they would do so and it would continue their unending contribution to Irish society as a whole, as they have done over the last 50 years….
November 30, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Uncategorized
Africa, Gambia, MDGs, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
UN: Most African Nations to Miss 2015 MDG Goals.
ADDIS ABABA—
Most African countries will not reach the Millennium Development Goals set for 2015 because of the gap between economic and human development. That is one of the conclusions in this year’s annual U.N. report on the Least Developed Countries, presented Thursday.
Junior Davis, U.N. economic affairs officer for Africa, said African countries have not been able to translate their economic growth into structural transformation.
“We think that is the case because these countries have not focused efficiently on building what we call their productive capacities,” Davis said. “These are the basic human and economic development capacities that are needed to promote sustainable economic development. And the MDG, as they were constructed, largely ignored the need to develop the productive capacities.”…
November 20, 2014
Peter Singhatey
Health, Medical, Reports, Research
Health, obesity, People & Society, peter singhateh, Peter Singhatey
Obesity costs global economy an estimated €2tn a year.
The global cost of obesity outweighs that of alcoholism, drug use or road accidents and closely rivals that of armed conflict and smoking, according to a new study.
The cost of obesity is estimated at $2 trillion – equivalent to 2.8 per cent of the world’s economic output, the study found. This makes it one of the top three global social burdens behind smoking and armed violence, war and terrorism..
The research, which was carried out by consultancy firm McKinsey, reveals that obesity is now responsible for about 5 per cent of all deaths a year worldwide.
More than 2.1 billion people – equivalent to nearly 30 per cent of the global population- are overweight or obese. That is almost two and a half times the number of adults and children who are undernourished.
A number of studies conducted in Ireland show that two out of three Irish adults, and one in four primary school children, are overweight or obese.
“Obesity is a major global economic problem caused by a multitude of factors. Today obesity is jostling with armed conflict and smoking in terms of having the greatest human-generated global economic impact,” the report said…
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