I’m happy to retire and become a journalist – Kagame

 President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has said he is looking forward to retiring and handing over power after 23 years in office.

Speaking at a joint press briefing with his Kenyan counterpart, William Ruto in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, Mr Kagame said a succession plan was being actively discussed by the ruling party, terming his retirement an “inevitability”.

Mr Kagame said he was not necessarily interested in choosing his successor but rather creating an environment that would give rise to people who can lead.

“We have been having this discussion within our [ruling] party since 2010 but circumstances, challenges and history of Rwanda tend to dictate certain things,” he said.

He said his retirement is an issue that has to be discussed “sooner or later”.

“I’m sure one day I may join journalism in my old age. I’m looking forward to that,” Mr Kagame said.

His comments come days after the country’s ruling party, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF-Inkotanyi), elected its first woman vice-chairperson.

President Kagame retained the chairmanship position. He has led the party since 1998.

This was not the first time Mr Kagame has talked about retirement. In December 2022, he said he had no problem becoming an ordinary senior citizen.

Mr Kagame has been president of the East African nation since 2000. A controversial referendum in 2015 removed a two-term constitutional limit for presidents.

The president last year told a French TV channel he would stand for president again at the next election in 2024.

Source: BBC

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France’s Macron visits China seeking breakthrough in Ukraine war

French president is expected to push Chinese counterpart Xi not to side with Russia while shoring up economic ties.

Taipei, Taiwan –French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are set to arrive in China on Wednesday for a three-day state visit that will see them meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Macron will be accompanied by a delegation of more than 50 CEOs and meet with the French business community, but all eyes will be on how he and von der Leyen discuss the war in Ukraine with the Chinese leadership.

“The primary issue that Macron and von der Leyen will probably want to push on is to help get some support from China in dealing with Russia and to help advance on that front,” Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an associate research fellow at Sweden’s Institute for Security and Development Policy, told Al Jazeera.

“Realistically, I don’t think we can expect much, but I think clearly everyone agrees that that’s the priority.”

China is officially neutral on the war but has propped up Russia economically and diplomatically in the face of Western sanctions. Xi also has the ear of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he shares a close friendship spanning more than a decade. In March, the duo signed a Sino-Russian strategic partnership during Xi’s state visit to Moscow.

At the G20 summit in November, Macron called for China to play a “greater mediation role” in the war but Beijing has yet to advance its role beyond issuing a 12-point peace plan that has received a lukewarm response in Kyiv and Western capitals.

Macron’s trip is his first to China since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in early 2020, when Beijing effectively shut its borders to travel. The French leader last visited the country in 2019.

His trip follows one made by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in November but it has already taken a different tone.

Scholz’s trip was widely criticised in Europe as too conciliatory towards Beijing, with the German leader’s efforts to shore up the country’s business interests taking precedence over pushing China to join the negotiating table over Ukraine.

This time, however, Xi can expect pushback.

Macron and United States President Joe Biden agreed in a telephone call ahead of the French leader’s trip to engage China to hasten the end of the war in Ukraine, the Elysee Palace said on Wednesday.

“The two leaders have mentioned their joint willingness to engage China to accelerate the end of the war in Ukraine and take part in building sustainable peace in the region,” Macron’s office said in a statement.

During a speech in Brussels last week, von der Leyen publicly criticised Beijing’s “no limits” ties with Moscow in the face of an “atrocious and illegal invasion of Ukraine”.

“Any peace plan which would in effect consolidate Russian annexations is simply not a viable plan. We have to be frank on this point,” von der Leyen said, while also taking aim at China’s increasingly assertive posture on the South China Sea, the Chinese-Indian border and Taiwan.

“How China continues to interact with Putin’s war will be a determining factor for EU-China relations going forward,” she said.

Beijing said it was “disappointed” by her speech, according to its European Union ambassador Fu Cong.

Against such a tense backdrop, Macron is expected to ask China to not supply Russia with weapons. Beijing is not known to have supplied weaponry to Russia despite requests from Moscow, although US officials have warned of the possibility.

Macron’s trip is not likely to produce a watershed moment but his diplomacy could produce wins down the road for European security, said Matthieu Duchâtel, the director of international studies at France’s Institut Montaigne.

“It’s really about moving it a little bit in a positive direction and not bearing the unrealistic expectation that China can mediate,” Duchâtel told Al Jazeera, describing the European view of China as being a “swing state” in the Ukraine war.

If China were to supply Russia with weapons, it could tip the scales in Moscow’s favour as the war drags on, Duchâtel said, while the opposite would be true if Beijing were to lean towards Ukraine.

Macron will need to play a careful game, said Antoine Bondaz, a researcher at the French think tank, La Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique. A poorly worded statement could unintentionally signal support for Beijing’s position and score a win for the Chinese Communist Party, he said, instead of impressing on China the dangers the war poses to European security.

One point of cooperation, however, could be the issue of nuclear weapons, Bondaz added.

France, like China, is a nuclear power but the country does not take part in NATO nuclear exercises. Both also oppose the sharing of nuclear technology, said Bondaz, which means France is in a “legitimate” position to “ask China for an official reaction to Russia’s announcement of its intention to deploy nuclear weapons in Belarus, and to try to prevent such a deployment.”

Whether Macron can achieve these goals will depend on whether China fears further sanctions from the EU and the risk of deepening “transatlantic coordination” between Europe and the US on issues like Ukraine, he added.

Some analysts believe Xi could try to drive a wedge between the US and Europe, the latter of which has traditionally adopted a less hawkish approach to bilateral relations.

Despite being a founding member of NATO, France is not part of US-led security blocks like AUKUS – made up of Australia, the United Kingdom and the US – and the QUAD – featuring Australia, India, Japan and the US – both of which are widely seen as aimed at countering China.

Still, EU-China relations have deteriorated sharply in recent years.

Apart from disputes over China’s claims in the South China Sea and crackdowns in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, Beijing’s attempts to punish EU member states like Lithuania for engaging with Taiwan and tit-for-tat sanctions on European parliamentarians have not gone over well. In 2021, the 27-country bloc put a significant trade and investment deal with China on ice amid growing tensions between the sides.

Macron and von der Leyen’s trip could be a first step towards improving those ties, said Ferenczy, the associate research fellow at the Institute for Security and Development Policy.

“Bilateral ties have been deteriorating, and I think there’s also an effort from Beijing to rebuild relations,” Ferenczy said, adding that EU leaders understand they have “actual leverage over China and that we need to speak more from that position”.

“China wants to continue cooperation and business, trade relations with the EU.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

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US flies nuclear-capable bombers as tensions soar with N Korea

 The South Korean and US militaries expand joint exercises in response to Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threats.

The United States has flown nuclear-capable B-52 bombers to the Korean Peninsula in a show of strength against North Korea as concerns grow that Pyongyang might conduct a nuclear test.

The long-range bombers took part in joint aerial drills with US and South Korean fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said. Wednesday’s deployment was the first of US B-52 bombers to the peninsula in a month.

The drills “show the strong resolve of the [South] Korea-US alliance and its perfect readiness to respond to any provocation by North Korea swiftly and overwhelmingly”, Lieutenant General Park Ha-sik, commander of the South Korean air force operation command, said in a statement.

The South Korean and US militaries have been expanding their combined military drills in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

Last month, the allies conducted their biggest field exercises in five years as well as computer simulations for command post training. The US also sent the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier for naval training with South Korea last week and US-South Korea-Japan anti-submarine drills this week.

North Korea sees such military exercises as provocations that show its rivals’ intention of attacking the country. A day after the last flight by a B-52 bomber to the peninsula on March 6, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, warned that her country was ready to take “quick, overwhelming action” against the US and South Korea.

North Korea has since test-launched a series of nuclear-capable weapons designed to attack South Korea and the US. They have included the Hwasong-17, the North’s longest-range intercontinental ballistic missile; a nuclear-capable underwater drone that is under development; and cruise missiles fired from a submarine.

Last week, North Korea unveiled a new battlefield nuclear warhead to fit on short-range weapons targeting South Korea. That touched off speculation that it may want to carry out its first nuclear test since 2017 because its previous two nuclear test detonations happened after it disclosed other new warheads. If conducted, it would be the North’s seventh nuclear weapons test.

Whether North Korea has functioning nuclear-armed missiles remains a subject of debate. Some experts say a new nuclear detonation would be aimed at testing a miniaturized warhead for short-range missiles because the country’s recent weapons tests have focused more on weapons that place key military installations in South Korea, including US military bases there, within striking distance.

Kim Jong Un has said North Korea won’t return to denuclearisation talks with the US unless Washington drops hostile polices towards the North, an apparent reference to its joint military drills with South Korea and US-led international economic sanctions. Some observers say North Korea’s leader wants to use his growing weapons arsenal to pressure Washington to accept it as a nuclear power and lift the sanctions.

On Friday, the chief nuclear envoys of South Korea, the United States, and Japan are to meet in Seoul to discuss how to respond to North Korea’s recent weapons tests, according to Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

During a policy meeting on Wednesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said security cooperation among Seoul, Washington and Tokyo is crucial in dealing with North Korean nuclear threats and other challenges. He said South Korea must bolster its missile defence and ability to carry out preemptive and retaliatory attacks.

SOURCE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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America Is Going To Hell’ – Donald Trump Tells The World

 Donald Trump told the world that America “is going to hell” in a defiant speech from the ballroom of his Mar-a-Lago resort following his arrest in Manhattan, capping a day of high drama that put the former president centre stage as he plots a return to the White House.

In a choreographed rally-style appearance, Mr Trump said the case against him was “an insult to our country” and insisted he had not committed any crime just hours after being charged over alleged hush money for affairs paid to a porn star, glamour model and former doorman.

Despite being warned earlier about his rhetoric in court in New York, Mr Trump lashed out at the judge overseeing his criminal case, calling him the “real criminal”.

The 76-year-old had arrived in his “Trump Force One” private jet after he pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a New York court, a moment that plunged the US into uncharted territory and threatens to overshadow the 2024 presidential race.

At his beachfront mansion in southern Florida, against a backdrop of two American flags, he told an audience of several hundred supporters: “I never thought anything like this could happen in America.

“The only crime that I’ve committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it. It’s an insult to our country.”

In a speech revisiting many of his favoured claims about his political rivals, he suggested he lost the 2020 vote unfairly “because our country is going to hell”.

Mr Trump went on to rail against the judge who oversaw his arraignment, Justice Juan Merchan, calling him “a Trump-hating judge”.

The attack came despite Mr Trump being specifically warned about his use of inflammatory rhetoric in court.

Mr Trump had earlier faced a total of 34 felony charges of falsifying business records and pleaded not guilty to all of them during a 45-minute hearing.

Prosecutors said Mr Trump had “orchestrated a ‘catch and kill’ scheme” to “purchase negative information” about himself, and then “went to great lengths to hide this conduct”.

They alleged that payments included $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about Mr Trump fathering a child out of wedlock.

The indictment related to a “conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election” and also involved a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, prosecutors said.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

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South Africa revokes state of disaster over power

 The South African government has decided to revoke a national state of disaster that it declared in February to address the electricity crisis.

The state of disaster meant it could use emergency procurement procedures with fewer bureaucratic delays in a bid to end severe power cuts.

There had been concern that this would open the door to further corruption in the state-owned power company, Eskom. It has been mired in scandals and is more than $20bn (£16bn) in debt.

South Africa’s Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has also reversed a decision to exempt Eskom from declaring all of its expenditure. The opposition had said the policy was an acceptance of corruption in the power sector.

Source: BBC

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Chinese bank approved to finance Nigeria rail project

 Nigeria’s Senate has approved the China Development Bank as the new financier for a rail project, which is set to cost close to a billion dollars.

Another Chinese lender had been due to fund the line between Kaduna and Kano – the largest city in the north – but it pulled out in 2020.

When President Muhammadu Buhari came to power eight years ago, he prioritised upgrading the country’s poor transport network and power supply.

However, funding has been a major constraint.

Parliament has approved several billion dollars worth of loans from Chinese and other international lenders but funds have yet to materialise.

When president-elect Bola Tinubu takes over in May, he will inherit a raft of challenges including double-digit inflation and widespread insecurity.

Source: BBC

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Israeli police attack worshippers in Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque

Israeli forces fire stun grenades and arrest worshippers from inside the mosque, drawing condemnation from the Palestinians.

Israeli police have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and arrested worshippers in a violent raid at dawn on Wednesday, according to witnesses.

Palestinian witnesses said the Israeli forces used excessive force firing stun grenades and tear gas causing suffocation injuries to the worshippers.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported injuries but did not elaborate on how many people were hurt. It said in a statement that Israeli forces were preventing its medics from reaching Al-Aqsa.

“I was sitting on a chair reciting (Qur’an),” an elderly woman told the Reuters news agency while sitting outside the mosque, struggling to catch her breath. “They hurled stun grenades, one of them hit my chest,” she said as she began to cry.

Israeli police said in a statement that they were forced to enter the compound after “masked agitators” locked themselves inside the mosque with fireworks, sticks and stones.

“When the police entered, stones were thrown at them and fireworks were fired from inside the mosque by a large group of agitators,” the statement said, adding that a police officer was wounded in the leg.

Tension has already been high in occupied East Jerusalem and West Bank for months. There are fears of further violence as important religious festivals – the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and the Jewish Passover – converge.

Palestinians pray as Israeli security forces take positions at the Al-Aqsa compound

Palestinian groups condemned the latest attacks on worshippers, which they described as a crime.

“We warn the occupation against crossing red lines at holy sites, which will lead to a big explosion,” said Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Jordan, which acts as custodian of Jerusalem’s Christian and Muslim holy sites under a status quo arrangement in place since the 1967 war, condemned Israel’s “flagrant” storming of the compound.

Egypt’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, called for an immediate halt to Israel’s “blatant assault” on Al-Aqsa worshippers.

A Palestinian worshipper sweeps debris after a raid by Israeli police at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

Confrontations at Al-Aqsa, the third-holiest shrine in Islam and the most sacred site in Judaism – in which it is referred to as the Temple Mount – have sparked deadly cross-border wars between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas rulers in the past – the last being in 2021.

Hamas condemned the latest raid as “an unprecedented crime” and called on Palestinians in the West Bank “to go en masse to the Al-Aqsa mosque to defend it”.

After the violence at Al-Aqsa, several rockets were fired from northern Gaza towards Israel.

The Israeli army said five rockets were intercepted by the aerial defence system around the city of Sderot in southern Israel and that four others had fallen in uninhabited areas.

In Gaza, dozens of demonstrators took to the streets overnight, burning tyres.

“We swear to defend and protect the Al-Aqsa mosque,” the AFP news agency reported them as saying.

Palestinians see Al-Aqsa as one of the few national symbols over which they retain some element of control. They are, however, fearful of a slow encroachment by Jewish groups akin to what has happened at the Ibrahimi Mosque (Cave of the Patriarchs) in Hebron, where half of the mosque was turned into a synagogue after 1967.

Palestinians are also worried about far-right Israeli movements that want to demolish the Islamic structures in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and build a Jewish temple in their place.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Liberal wins Wisconsin Supreme Court race centred on abortion

 Election of Janet Protasiewicz gives liberals a majority on the court ahead of upcoming ruling on state abortion ban.

Voters in Wisconsin have elected Judge Janet Protasiewicz to the state Supreme Court, creating a liberal majority on the bench in a key swing state ahead of the 2024 United States presidential election.

Protasiewicz defeated conservative candidate Daniel Kelly in what New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice called the most expensive judicial election in US history. More than $42.3m had been spent as of Monday, according to a review by the website WisPolitics.com, far outstripping the previous record of $15.2m.

The Associated Press called the race in favour of Protasiewicz.

In a significant victory for abortion rights advocates, the result shifts the court to liberal control, after 15 years with a 4-3 conservative majority. That will likely affect several issues that have polarised Americans in other states, such as voting rights and partisan control over drawing legislative maps.

But it was abortion that dominated the campaign, with the court expected in the coming months to decide whether to uphold the state’s 1849 abortion ban.

That law took effect after the US Supreme Court’s decision last year to eliminate a nationwide right to abortion. The state’s Democratic attorney general, Josh Kaul, has challenged the statute’s validity in a lawsuit backed by Democratic Governor Tony Evers.

Protasiewicz put abortion at the centre of her campaign, saying in one advertisement that she supports “a woman’s freedom to make her own decision on abortion”. Kelly, meanwhile, won the endorsement of anti-abortion groups.

The election’s outcome also holds important implications for the political future of the battleground state. Just as it did in 2020, the court could issue crucial voting decisions before and after the 2024 presidential election, when Wisconsin is again poised to be a vital swing state.

In addition, the court may revisit the state’s congressional and legislative maps, which Republicans have drawn to maximise their political advantage.

While the election is technically nonpartisan, neither Protasiewicz nor Kelly made much effort to hide their ideological bent. The state Democratic and Republican parties poured resources into their favoured campaigns, and outside organisations spent millions of dollars supporting their preferred candidate, including anti- and pro-abortion rights groups.

Democrats asserted a Kelly victory could have endangered democracy itself in Wisconsin. They noted that a lawsuit from Republican Donald Trump challenging his presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 came within one vote of succeeding at the court.

Republicans portrayed Protasiewicz as soft on crime and said she would use the court to advance a liberal agenda, regardless of the law.

SOURCE: REUTERS

BREAKING… Trump arrested and arraigned before a NYC court

 Former United States president Donald Trump turned himself into a Lower Manhattan courthouse and was promptly arrested and arraigned before a judge to face criminal charges from the Manhattan District Attorney.

A Grand Jury last week indicted Trump on charges relating to hush money payments made to a porn star days before the 2016 in which he pulled a surprising victory over favorite Hillary Clinton.

District Attorney Alvin Braggs is expected to unveil what is expected to be over 30 charges before the court after which Trump will enter a plea to begin a court trial.

In an update, Donald Trump has pleaded “not guilty” to all 34 charges read against him.

DNT News with Correspondence reports from Isaac Essel, ATL, USA

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