Kim says N Korea ready for ‘dialogue and confrontation’ with US

North Korean leader stresses preparedness in responding to US in his first direct statement since Joe Biden became president.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said his country needs to prepare for “both dialogue and confrontation” with the United States under President Joe Biden, state media reported on Friday.

At a plenary meeting of the central committee of the governing Workers’ Party of Korea on Thursday, Kim outlined his strategy for relations with Washington, and the “policy tendency of the newly emerged US administration”, the Korean Central News Agency said.

The comments mark the first time Kim has made a reference to the country’s policy towards the US since the inauguration of US President Joe Biden.

Kim “stressed the need to get prepared for both dialogue and confrontation, especially to get fully prepared for confrontation in order to protect the dignity of our state” and reliably guarantee a “peaceful environment”, KCNA reported.

The North Korean leader “called for sharply and promptly reacting to and coping with the fast-changing situation and concentrating efforts on taking stable control of the situation on the Korean peninsula”, the agency said.

Pyongyang had already accused Biden of pursuing a “hostile policy” and saying it was a “big blunder” for the veteran Democrat to say he would deal with the threat posed by the North’s nuclear programme “through diplomacy as well as stern deterrence”.

In 2019, the North said Biden should be “beaten to death with a stick”.

‘Calibrated’ approach

Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump made headlines – but little diplomatic progress – with a series of face-to-face meetings with Kim, an approach that Biden has said he will not pursue unless the terms change dramatically.

During a visit to Washington last month by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Biden said he “would not meet” Kim unless there was a concrete plan for negotiating on Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.

And he made a clear criticism of Trump’s chummy relationship with Kim, saying he “would not do what had been done in the recent past. I would not give him all he’s looking for – international recognition.”

The White House said it is now pursuing “a calibrated practical approach” – seemingly keeping expectations realistically low, while remaining open-minded.

“We understand where previous efforts in the past had difficulties and we’ve tried to learn from those,” a senior White House official said.

During South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s visit to the US in May, Biden said he ‘would not meet’ the North Korean leader unless there was a concrete plan for negotiations on Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal [File: Alex Brandon/AP]

North Korea has carried out six atomic bomb tests since 2006, and is under multiple sets of international sanctions for its banned weapons programmes.A report from US intelligence experts released in April said North Korea could resume nuclear tests this year as a way to force Biden’s administration to return to the negotiating table.

Kim “may take a number of aggressive and potentially destabilising actions to reshape the regional security environment and drive wedges between the United States and its allies – up to and including the resumption of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) testing,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said.

Kim’s message also came as the new US special representative for North Korea, Sung Kim, is set to arrive in Seoul on Saturday for trilateral talks with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.

The trip “emphasizes the fundamental importance of U.S.-ROK-Japan trilateral cooperation in working toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, protecting our shared security and prosperity, upholding common values, and bolstering the rules-based order,” the State Department said in a media note.

Despite the sharp rhetoric from Pyongyang, observers said that Kim may be also sending a signal to the US that he is willing to talk.

“The North appears to have decided on the direction toward resuming talks with the US within a broad framework, though it is likely to discuss with China the timing and scope,” Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, told Yonhap.

SOURCE: AFP, AL JAZEERA

………………………………………………………………

MTN picks partners to expand mobile OpenRAN network in Africa

South Africa’s mobile and broadband operator MTN Group has selected five partners to launch an open radio access network (OpenRAN) in Africa to expand 4G and 5G services more quickly and cheaply, it said on Wednesday.

A radio access network (RAN) connects individual devices to other parts of a network through radio connections.

MTN said it aimed to roll out OpenRAN by the end of 2021 with its partners, namely Voyage, India’s Tech Mahindra and U.S.-based firms Altiostar, Mavenir and Parallel Wireless.

In the past, network equipment from Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and other firms was largely proprietary, making it difficult to mix.

But U.S. government restrictions that have hit Huawei’s ability to source chips have sped the adoption of so-called openRAN technology, where any vendor can assemble industry-standard chips and software to create inter-operable networking gear.

“This is a real game-changer for mobile advancement in emerging markets,” said Amith Maharaj, MTN group’s head of network planning and design.

For mobile network operators, a radio access network makes up the bulk of capital and operating costs.

MTN said it would reduce power consumption and emissions by modernising its radio access networks using OpenRAN, supporting its target to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.

MTN, the largest telecommunications operator in Africa by subscribers, first rolled out open-source technology in 2019 to improve rural coverage. It has deployed over 1,100 commercial sites in more than 11 countries.

MTN has 277.9 million subscribers across Africa and the Middle East.

Ex-President Laurent Gbagbo back in Ivory Coast after acquittal

The 76-year-old arrives in Abidjan after ICC judges earlier this year upheld his 2019 acquittal on charges related to 2011 post-election violence.

Former President Laurent Gbagbo has returned to Ivory Coast for the first time since his arrest nearly 10 years ago following his acquittal by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The 76-year-old arrived in the country’s economic hub, Abidjan, on Thursday on a commercial flight from the Belgian capital, with crowds of supporters allowed into the airport cheering as the Brussels Airlines flight landed. Thousands also took to the streets of Abidjan, where there was heavy security presence, to celebrate his return.

Gbagbo, who was in power since 2000, was sent to The Hague-based court in 2011 after some 3,000 people were killed in a months-long conflict that followed his refusal to accept electoral defeat at the hands of incumbent President Alassane Ouattara.

He was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, but was acquitted by the ICC in 2019. Judges upheld the ruling earlier this year, paving the way for his return on Thursday.

Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from the airport in Abidjan, said the situation in the city was “very tense” in the hours before his arrival as many Gbagbo supporters eager to greet him tried to approach the site.

“The police barricaded the entire area close to the airport, and there were some incidents where they used tear gas to disperse crowds,” he said.

Supporters celebrate Gbagbo’s return to Ivory Coast [John Wessels/AFP]

Following his arrival, Gbagbo made no comment to journalists before getting into a vehicle that was soon encircled by crowds. Thousands lined the streets and gathered around the convoy carrying Gbagbo as it made its way from the airport.Gbagbo later told supporters of Ivorian Popular Front (FPI) party he was “glad to return to Ivory Coast and Africa”, in his first public remarks since coming home.

Idris, reporting from near the FPI offices, said there were “wild celebrations” by his supporters.

“For the last hour, there has been a steady stream of supporters on buses, on cars, on motorcycles and on foot, moving towards the party headquarters,” he said. “The supporters are telling us they are going to party all night.”

Henri Konan Bedie, who was president from 1993 to 1999 and whose relationship with Gbagbo has known ups and downs over the years, welcomed his “younger brother” home in a message on Twitter.

“I have always thought it was important that he return to engage together in a true process of reconciliation,” Bedie wrote.

Test for stability

Gbagbo’s return is seen as a test for the country and a population that still has the bloody conflict fresh in memory, with some analysts saying there are concerns that it could again destabilise the world’s largest cocoa producer.

The former president’s opponents maintain he should be jailed in Ivory Coast, not given a statesman’s welcome. Some demonstrated outside Gbagbo’s residence in the Cocody neighborhood of Abidjan on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, groups representing the victims of the 2010-2011 post-election violence have condemned the “impunity” he has received.

But supporters say his return is necessary to reignite a reconciliation process that never got off the ground after the 2011 violence. Ouattara’s government has also said it welcomed his return to help reconciliation following presidential elections last year in which dozens of people died.

Ouattara issued his former rival a diplomatic passport and made the presidential pavilion at the airport available for his return. He has also promised him the status and rewards reserved for ex-presidents including a pension and personal security.

Gbagbo has said little about what political role he might play back home. He retains strong support among his base of supporters, particularly in the south and the west.

But he faces an outstanding 20-year prison sentence that was handed down in November 2019 on charges he misappropriated funds from the regional central bank. Ouattara said in April that Gbagbo was free to return, but the government has not said whether he has been pardoned.

David Zounmenou, of the Institute of Security Studies, said supporters “have been ready for a long time for his return to the country”.

“In fact, some of them were expecting him to return to take part in 2020 presidential elections, but because he was still waiting for the final decision on the ICC he did not come back,” he told Al Jazeera.

Jesper Bjarnesen, a senior analyst at Nordic Africa Institute, said Gbagbo’s return was “inevitable”.

“It had to happen at some point,” he told Al Jazeera. “There will always be tensions. I think this is a fairly good moment for him to return,” citing the “regrouping” of the political landscape following the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections in recent months.

Bjarnesen said Gbagbo’s return would bring “the existing divisions into much clearer sight”, including within his FPI party, which “has been divided down the middle ever since his arrest”.

“There’s also been a sustained critique that Alassane Ouattara hasn’t really taken national reconciliation seriously enough, and Gbagbo’s return kind of [brings] that whole situation … into relief in a way,” he added.

“But I do think that there are a lot of tensions and questions remaining around what the effects will be of his return to go to Ivory Coast.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

………………………………………………………………

Zambia’s founding president, Kenneth Kaunda, dies aged 97

LUSAKA, June 17 (Reuters) – Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia’s founding president who led his country for 27 years and championed Africa’s struggles against apartheid and HIV/AIDS, has died at the age of 97.

“KK”, as he was popularly known, was being treated for pneumonia at the Maina Soko Medical Centre, a military hospital in Lusaka.

“On behalf of the entire nation and on my own behalf, I pray that the entire Kaunda family is comforted as we mourn our first president and true African icon,” President Edgar Lungu said in a message on his Facebook page.

Authorities declared 21 days of mourning for the liberation hero who ruled from 1964, after the southern African nation won its independence from Britain, until 1991.

Although Zambia’s copper-based economy fared badly under his long stewardship, Kaunda will be remembered more for his role as an anti-colonial fighter who stood up to white minority-ruled South Africa.

He shared a loss experienced by countless families in Africa when his son Masuzyo died of AIDS in 1986, and he began a personal crusade against the disease.

“This is the biggest challenge for Africa. We must fight AIDS and we must do so now,” he told Reuters in 2002.

“We fought colonialism. We must now use the same zeal to fight AIDS, which threatens to wipe out Africa.”

As leader of the first country in the region to break with its European colonists, Kaunda worked hard to drag other former colonies along in Zambia’s wake towards majority rule.

In 1991, he was forced to hold the first multi-party elections for 23 years, which he lost to long-time foe, trade unionist Frederick Chiluba.

Though he was widely admired as a warm and emotional man, the voters judged he had overstayed his welcome in office and mismanaged the economy.

THE UNEXPECTED ONE

Kenneth David Kaunda was born on April 28, 1924, the youngest of eight children of a Church of Scotland minister at Lubwa mission in the remote north of the country.

Known also by his African name of “Buchizya” – the unexpected one – he did menial jobs to earn school fees after his father’s death. He worked as a teacher and a mine welfare officer and entered politics in 1949 as a founder member of the Northern Rhodesian African National Congress.

In his early days of anti-colonial agitation, he cycled from village to village preaching majority rule.

A 1963 landslide victory for UNIP, which had broken away from the ANC five years earlier, led to Kaunda becoming prime minister of Northern Rhodesia. At independence in 1964, he became president of the new Zambia.

By the time he lost power, Kaunda’s popularity had slumped and hardship gripped most of his 11 million people as the price of copper, the country’s main export, plummeted.

After 27 years of lecturing fellow Africans on how to build an independent nation, he was confronted by misery in his own backyard and anger among his usually easy-going people.

A June 1990 doubling in the price of maize meal, the staple food for most Zambians, sparked a three-day riot in which 27 people were killed, 150 injured and hundreds arrested as the army moved in.

The same month, an army lieutenant forced his way into a state radio studio and announced that Kaunda had been overthrown, sending people rushing into the streets of Lusaka cheering.

The coup turned out to be a fiction and the lieutenant was arrested, but the public reaction had shown how low Kaunda’s popularity had sunk.

WEEP IN PUBLIC

Kaunda was not ashamed to weep in public and had a unique speaking style, emphasising key thoughts by repeating whole sentences, his trademark white handkerchief in his left hand.

He espoused an ideology of “humanism” mixing Christian ethics, traditional African values and socialistic principles.

In foreign affairs, Kaunda was a high-profile figure among the seven southern African states which led the fight against apartheid, andhe let Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) make a home-in-exile in Lusaka during the three decades it was banned in South Africa.

Kaunda also played a major role in Mozambique’s independence talks in 1975, Zimbabwe’s in 1980 and Namibia’s in 1990.

Despite accusations of corruption against his UNIP party, he won credit for bending with the winds of political change and preferring peaceful transition to violent confrontation.

He was philosophical about his defeat in 1991. Urging unity and peace, he said in a broadcast: “Those who go into opposition are still an active catalyst for good government, indeed an integral part of good government.”

In 1996, Kaunda tried to make a political comeback, but he was blocked when Chiluba forced through constitutional amendments which declared the former “Father of the Nation” a foreigner because his parents came from Malawi.

He was arrested in December 1997 and charged with treason following a coup attempt by junior army officers two months earlier. He was detained in a maximum security prison but later placed under house arrest until the state dropped the charges.

After his son and political heir Wezi Kaunda was murdered in October 1999, Kaunda announced his withdrawal from domestic politics to concentrate on halting the spread of AIDS through his Kenneth Kaunda Children of Africa Foundation.

Apart from Masuzyo and Wezi, Kaunda and his wife Betty had six other children – four boys and two girls.

In his later years he led a quiet life, mostly staying at home and only occasionally appearing at state functions.

In a rare public appearance in September 2019, at the age of 95, he spoke out strongly against a wave of attacks in South Africa against foreigners from other African countries.

“Our brothers and sisters in South Africa should remember that these same people they are treating with cruelty are the same people who were comrades in arms in fighting the brutal apartheid regime,” Kaunda said.

Reporting by Chris Mfula; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Alison Williams

………………………………………………………………