Showing 1 - 10 of 21
G20 must commit to debt relief
Oped, Olusegun Obasanjo, Published on 04/12/2025
» As G20 leaders met in Johannesburg last month, they faced a grim reality: many developing-country governments are spending more than they can afford on debt service. To keep funds flowing to foreign creditors, policymakers have been forced to cut spending on education, health care, and infrastructure. These countries have so far avoided default, but at the expense of their own development.
Stepping up the poverty fight
News, Akinwumi A Adesina & Ilan Goldfajn, Published on 15/09/2025
» Faced with a slowing global economy and rising debts, many developing-country governments may be tempted to scale back anti-poverty programmes. That would be a grave mistake. Combating poverty is not just a moral imperative; it is also crucial for economic stability, conflict prevention, and long-term development.
A new page as France quits key bases in Africa
News, John J Metzler, Published on 02/08/2025
» It's a turning of the page in Franco-African diplomatic relations. For the first time since the decolonisation of the French colonies in the 1960s, there will be no formal French military bases on the African continent.
Invest in WHO for outsize returns
News, Gordon Brown, Published on 23/10/2024
» In August, 14 of Africa's poorest countries, alongside international organisations and private companies, pledged over US$45 million (1.5 billion baht) to the World Health Organization's (WHO's) new Investment Round, which aims to raise $7.1 billion in voluntary contributions to close its current funding gap for the next four years, improve primary care, and build a more robust, better-trained health workforce.
World oblivious to risk of all-out war in Africa
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 02/05/2024
» 'We could see an all-out war between all the tribes and that is really the doomsday scenario. At this point, it's not unrealistic," the head of an international non-government organisation that is working in Sudan told the Al Jazeera news agency last week. (She asked them to withhold her name to protect her in-country team in North Darfur.)
Sudan: Death on the Nile and contagion risk
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 05/05/2023
» There's blood in the Nile. The mighty river separating Sudan's capital city Khartoum has seen fighting erupt between two rival factions of the army. What could have been a quick internal flash-up between the main military factions, which have tenuously ruled this vast land since the 2021 military coup, has morphed into a bitter fight for power on the streets of the capital. More than 500 civilians have been killed in the crossfire, and foreign diplomatic, humanitarian workers and business people have been trying to flee the country.
The best way to preserve nature is also the fairest
Oped, Hindou Ibrahim, Published on 15/09/2022
» This is a critical year for the natural environment. Negotiations by world leaders in Montreal in December will determine the fate of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, a far-reaching agreement that will set the world’s environmental agenda for the next decade. The future of perhaps a million plant and animal species hangs in the balance, as do the lives and livelihoods of billions of human beings.
Climate action needs more women
News, Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Published on 02/05/2022
» 'The higher you go; the fewer women there are." This observation by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and environmental trailblazer Wangari Maathai, reflects a reality familiar to all women who have aspired to leadership positions, and it has gained a new meaning for me as the climate crisis has intensified. Though it is already clear that women and girls will face higher risks and greater burdens because of climate change, they remain significantly underrepresented in climate and environmental negotiations.
Coups are all the rage again in beleaguered Africa
Oped, Gwynne Dyer, Published on 09/02/2022
» Military coups are back in fashion in Africa. There have been over 200 attempted coups in the continent since 1960, about half of them successful, but in the past two decades they had dropped to only two a year. Last year saw six, however, and there have been two already this year. The latest in Guinea-Bissau.
The on-again, off-again magic jabs deal
News, Veera Prateepchaikul, Published on 09/08/2021
» The show must go on. This maxim may explain the reason why Dr Boon Vanasin, chairman of Thonburi Healthcare Group, came out again on Aug 3 to talk to the Thai media with a new claim that he was in the process of signing a deal with the Defence Ministry to procure an unspecified amount of the mRNA Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for import into Thailand.