Nigeria's Tinubu defends win in disputed presidential poll

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 01 March 2023

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By Felix Onuah and Camillus Eboh

ABUJA - Nigeria's new president-elect, Bola Tinubu, called on citizens to unite around him on Wednesday, as he defended the integrity of the national election he won amid a bitter dispute over the results.

Both of the two main opposition parties have rejected the outcome as fraudulent, and said they would challenge the results in court. The bitter dispute has raised fears of violence in Africa's most populous nation and leading energy producer, which has a long history of electoral violence.

In past polls, street gangs with loyalty to Tinubu in the commercial hub of Lagos have fought pitched battles with gangs loyal to rival parties.

"I am very happy I have been elected the president of the federal republic of Nigeria," Tinubu said to cheers in Abuja. "This is a serious mandate. I hereby accept it."

He now faces a litany of national problems, including Islamist insurgencies in the northeast, armed attacks, killings and kidnappings, conflict between livestock herders and farmers, cash, fuel and power shortages, and deeply entrenched corruption.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said Tinubu garnered 37%, or 8.79 million votes, in the weekend election, ahead of main opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar's 29%, or 6.98 million votes.

Peter Obi, an outsider popular with younger and more educated urban voters, won 25%, or 6.1 million votes.

A candidate can win by getting more votes than any of their rivals, provided they get 25% of the vote in at least two-thirds of the 37 federal territories - that is the 36 states and the federal capital territory of Abuja, which Tinubu managed to do.

LOW TURNOUT, LOW TRUST

With total votes cast at just under 25 million, out of 87 million people with voter identity cards and eligible to vote, turnout was only 29% - low, even by Nigerian standards. The 2019 election saw 35% turnout.

At least some of them were unable to vote due to malfunctioning of voter card reading machines.

Nigeria's election was meant to be its fairest and most open contest to date. But the electoral process encountered problems, owing to new technology that did not function well and seemed to overwhelm Nigeria's notoriously inadequate communications network. That undermined trust in the whole process.

"In the eyes of God, the man (Tinubu) is not the winner," trader Mercy Efong said in Akwa, in Obi's home state of Anambra.

The INEC had promised to upload results from each polling unit to its website in real time, but most units were unable to do so immediately. That was not a legal requirement, but it meant results had to be collated manually inside ward and local government counting centres as in previous polls, reneging on a policy that was meant to improve transparency.

"President Buhari said that he would do free and fair election (but) INEC is now turning everything upside down," said rickshaw driver Nedu Chukwunata, referring to the outgoing president.

"We want justice in Nigeria; we want democracy here in Nigeria ... we want our voice to be heard we are tired of corruption," said Chukwunata, who had parked his yellow rickshaw on a sandy patch of ground in Akwa.

'CREDIBLE ELECTION'

Observer missions have criticised the problems as the result of poor planning.

"I commend INEC for running a credible election no matter what anybody says," Tinubu said. "The lapses that were reported, they were relatively few in number and were immaterial to affect the final outcome of the election."

President Muhammadu Buhari, also from the All Progressives Congress (APC), congratulated his successor.

"Elected by the people, he is the best person for the job. I shall now work with him and his team to ensure an orderly handover of power," he said in a statement.

As Lagos governor, Tinubu won praise for partially fixing some of the cities problems, including reducing violent crime, waste collection and traffic.

The 70-year-old has, however, sometimes appeared frail in public, slurring his speech, answering questions with platitudes and skipping several campaign events, leaving some to doubt how effective or dynamic he will be as leader.

Pope Francis tells rich world to stop stifling Africa’s progress

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 01 February 2023

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KINSHASA - Pope Francis on Tuesday criticised those he said have been keen on stifling progress in Africa, and especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, telling the rich world that the people in the continent are more precious than the minerals in the earth beneath them.

Speaking shortly after he arrived in Kinshasa, the Catholic pontiff said the region is not only suffering internally with conflict but also from what he called “a terrible form of exploitation”.

"While you Congolese struggle to safeguard your dignity and territorial integrity against the despicable attempts to fragment the country, I come to you, in the name of Jesus, as a pilgrim of reconciliation and peace".

"It is tragic that Africa still suffers from various forms of exploitation," he said.

According to him, after "political colonialism, an "equally enslaving economic colonialism has been unleashed".

"Get your hands off the Democratic Republic of Congo, get your hands off Africa. Stop smothering Africa; she is not a mine to be exploited or a land to be robbed," the pope said.

Pope Francis Tuesday arrived at N'djili International Airport at 2.40pm and was greeted by a large crowd of Catholic clergy and some members of the government led by Prime Minister Sama Lukonde, while President Félix Tshisekedi was waiting for him at the Palais de la Nation ( State House), 25 kilometres from N'djili airport.

A warm welcome

Along the streets of Kinshasa, the Pope received a warm welcome from the people of Kinshasa, who lined up Lumumba Boulevard, greeting the pontiff as he passed.

Cardinal Fridolin a Ambongo led the masses on this welcome.

"I am happy to be here, in this land so beautiful, so vast and so luxuriant, which embraces, to the north, the equatorial forest, in the centre and towards the south, the high plateaus and the wooded savannahs, to the east, the hills, mountains, volcanoes and lakes, to the west, other great expanses of water, with the Congo River joining the ocean," the Pope said in his message, which was delivered in Italian.

"I have longed to be here," he told President Tshisekedi in the garden of the Palais de la Nation.

Before the pope spoke, President Tshisekedi welcomed in a speech that described the situation in the country, highlighting the war that is currently shaking the DRC.

Enemies of peace

"The lives of our people are still deeply linked to religious convictions that reflect the dynamism and vitality of their faith. These convictions structure our collective action, and the lives of our families are largely based on these religious values. Among these values is hospitality, which is a cardinal value shared by all our families and our people.

“Unfortunately, it has to be said that over the last three decades, this hospitality that characterises us has been undermined by the enemies of peace and terrorist groups, mainly from neighbouring countries," Tshisekedi said, citing Rwanda as a supporter of the rebel groups.

He said in 30 years of violence in the east of the DRC, 10 million people have died due to, among other things, "foreign powers greedy for the minerals in our Congolese subsoil".

For almost 20 minutes, Pope Francis poured out his heart to the people of DR Congo.

Why South Africa continues to be neutral in Ukraine-Russia war

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Written by northsouth

Category: Africa

Published: 25 January 2023

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By hamza Mohamed, Aljazeera, 24 January 2023

PRETORIA - Pretoria has refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion but continues to call for dialogue.

The United States has criticised South Africa’s decision to hold military exercises next month with Russia and China as the war in Ukraine rages on.

The exercises – called Mosi, which means “Smoke” in Tswana, one of South Africa’s 11 official languages – will see 350 of South Africa’s soldiers train alongside their Russian and Chinese counterparts.

The drills will happen off South Africa’s coast from February 17 to 27 and will take place during the first anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The United States has concerns about any country … exercising with Russia as Russia wages a brutal war against Ukraine,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said on Monday.

The comments from Washington came hours after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with his South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor, in Pretoria.

South Africa defended its decision to hold the drills.

“All countries conduct military exercises with friends worldwide,” Pandor told reporters. “There should be no compulsion on any country that it should conduct them with any other partners.”

She said the exercises were “part of a natural course of relations between countries”, adding that Pretoria should not be denied “the right to participate” in the drills.

Lavrov said there was no need for any country to be concerned about them.

“Our exercises are transparent,” he told reporters. “We, together with our South African and Chinese partners, have provided all the relevant information. We don’t want to provoke any scandals or confrontation. We just want every country to be able to have their own rights in the international systems as provided by the UN Charter.”

South African government officials described Lavrov’s visit, which came a day before US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was due to arrive in South Africa, as an ordinary visit.

Lavrov’s trip has nevertheless been described as insensitive by some opposition parties and the small Ukrainian community in South Africa.

To understand why the trip is getting so much attention within and outside the country, it is important to examine Pretoria’s stance in the war and its relationship with Moscow.

What is South Africa’s position on the conflict?

South Africa says it is impartial in the conflict, which started after Russia sent its troops into Ukraine 11 months ago.

In March, Pretoria abstained from voting on a United Nations resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calling for Moscow to withdraw its forces immediately.

South Africa, along with 34 other countries, also abstained from a vote at the UN condemning Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories in October.

“South Africa believes that the only path to peace is through diplomacy, dialogue and a commitment to the principles of the United Nations Charter, including the principles that all member states shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means,” Pandor said in her remarks after the meeting Lavrov.

“It is important, therefore, to mention our sincere wish that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine will be brought to a peaceful end through diplomacy and negotiations as speedily as possible,” she said.

But South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who has offered to mediate in the conflict, has blamed NATO for the war. The alliance ought to have “heeded the warnings from amongst its own leaders and officials over the years that its eastward expansion would lead to greater, not less, instability in the region”, he said in March.

Why is South Africa neutral?

Pretoria and Moscow have long historical ties dating back to the times of white minority rule in South Africa.

South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC) has longstanding relations with Moscow forged during the liberation struggle against apartheid. Many of the ANC leaders were educated or received military training in the Soviet Union. Some, like the late Eric “Stalin” Mtshali, have Russian nicknames thanks to their connections to Moscow.

The Soviet Union backed the liberation movement with arms and money. This was in stark contrast to the West, where the United States labelled the ANC a “terrorist organisation”. Washington considered the liberation hero Nelson Mandela a “terrorist” until 2008.

South Africa is also a member of the Non-Alligned Movement. The 120-country movement, formed during the Cold War, is not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc or superpower.

Since gaining independence in 1994, a core pillar of South Africa’s foreign policy when it comes to conflict resolution has been to call for dialogue. Pretoria has backed peace talks in several conflicts in Africa and most recently hosted peace talks between Ethiopia’s government and rebels from its Tigray region.

Pandor has repeatedly insisted that South Africa will not be dragged into taking sides and has criticised the West for selective condemnation of Russia while ignoring other acts of aggression like the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory.

Are there other ties between Moscow and Pretoria?

Both South Africa and Russia are members of BRICS, an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The bloc aims to promote trade and security ties between member countries.

South Africa, the most industrialised country in Africa, has been a trade partner with Russia for years. South African exports to Russia were valued at $587 million in 2020 while Russian exports to South Africa totalled $506 million.

How is the government’s stance viewed in South Africa?

Last week, the foundation of the late South African Archbishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu criticised the naval exercises, calling the drills “disgraceful” and “tantamount to a declaration that South Africa is joining the war against Ukraine”.

The Democratic Alliance, the country’s main opposition party, has also been vocal in its opposition to the government’s neutral stance, calling on South Africa to side with Kyiv.

“We are already involved in this war,” John Steenhuisen, the party’s leader, told parliament in March. “Our government can’t be seen to be supporting Russia’s aggression.”

“Let’s put the country before party politics and think what this war will mean to us and what will be its impact on our economy,” he said.

Steenhuisen also visited Ukraine in May for a fact-finding mission.