Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam won’t seek second term

 Hong Kong’s leader Carrie Lam announced she would not seek a second term in office after a controversial tenure that has seen many of the territory’s civil freedoms eroded.

As chief executive, Ms Lam oversaw a turbulent period where massive pro-democracy protests led to greater Chinese control in Hong Kong.

Ms Lam, 64, was Beijing’s handpicked choice entering office in 2017.

On Monday, she told reporters Beijing had been receptive to her decision.

She also revealed she had informed China about her desire to not seek a second term a year ago, despite refusing in recent times to answer questions about her political future.

Ms Lam said she was stepping back and prioritising her family.

“There’s only one consideration and that is family… They think it’s time for me to go home,” she said.

Hong Kong’s Chief Secretary John Lee is tipped to be the favoured replacement for Ms Lam.

The city’s leaders are selected by a small committee of 1,500 members who are nearly all pro-Beijing loyalists. They’re due to select the new chief executive next month.

Local media outlets reported that Mr Lee, the second-highest ranking official, was due to present his candidacy for the leadership position this week.

Mr Lee, a former police officer, was also a leading security official during the 2019 protests. He was elevated to the leadership ranks last year, in a sign, analysts said, of Beijing’s intention to focus on security in Hong Kong.

A bureaucrat with decades of experience, Ms Lam was Hong Kong’s first female leader who soon became one of the city’s most divisive leaders. She sparked months of protests in 2019 after proposing a law to allow extraditions to mainland China.

The mass protests led to China imposing a series of policies to “restore security” and tighten control over Hong Kong and its residents.

The most prominent of these was a major national security law that criminalized most forms of political protest and dissent, and reduced the city’s autonomy.

The US imposed sanctions on Ms Lam, and 10 other Hong Kong officials, after the law came into effect.

Ms Lam had promoted the widely-criticized law saying it was not all “doom and gloom”.

“Compared with the national security laws of other countries, it is a rather mild law,” she has said. “Its scope is not as broad as that in other countries and even China.”

However since its passage in 2020, Hong Kong has seen a succession of democracy activists, former lawmakers and media figures arrested and jailed. Many others have fled abroad.

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Hungary’s PM criticizes Zelensky as he wins vote

 Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has won a fourth term by a landslide in the country’s general election, near-complete results show.

His right-wing Fidesz party had 53.1% of votes with 98% counted, preliminary results show.

The opposition alliance led by Peter Marki-Zay was far behind with 35%.

In his victory speech, Mr. Orban criticised Brussels bureaucrats and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling them “opponents”.

Mr. Zelensky has repeatedly criticised Mr Orban’s ban on the transfer of arms to Ukraine, with which it shares a border. However, Mr Orban – who has close ties with Moscow – has condemned the Russian invasion, and taken in half a million refugees since the war began in February.

“We never had so many opponents,” he said cited by AFP. “Brussels bureaucrats… the international mainstream media, and the Ukrainian president.”

Mr. Orban added that his “huge victory” could be seen “from the Moon, but certainly from Brussels as well”.

When officially confirmed by Hungary’s electoral commission, the victory will be Fidesz’s fourth successive win since 2010. The National Election Office said Fidesz would have 135 seats, a two-thirds majority, and the opposition alliance would have 56 seats – again, based on preliminary results.

Mr. Orban, 58, has had a fraught relationship with the EU, which considers that Fidesz has undermined Hungary’s democratic institutions.

In his 12 years in power, Mr. Orban has rewritten the constitution, filled the top courts with his appointees, and changed the electoral system to his advantage.

During campaigning, the opposition’s catch-phrase was “Orban or Europe”.

Their candidate Peter Marki-Zay argued that Hungary should join Poland, the UK and others in supplying arms to Ukraine. And if called upon, and only within a Nato framework, should even consider sending troops.The opposition complained that Fidesz had isolated Hungary from the European mainstream, and from consensual democracy, fairness and decency.

You could almost hear the collective thud of EU hearts sinking last night.

A self-styled illiberal democrat, Hungary’s leader has repeatedly clashed with Brussels over rule of law issues such press freedom and migration.

They’ve fallen out over Moscow too. Mr. Orban is famed for his warm relations with Vladimir Putin. He signed up to Western sanctions – but refuses to supply Ukraine with weapons. He’s the only EU leader to openly criticize President Zelensky.

Hungary is becoming increasingly isolated in the EU and Nato – but Mr. Orban knows neither institution is keen to ostracise him. They want a show of Western unity to display to Russia.

His new term in office means he’ll remain an unpredictable thorn in their side.

More than 200 international observers monitored the election in Hungary, along with thousands of volunteers from across the political spectrum.

Turnout hit 68.69%, almost matching the record number of voters in the last national elections in 2018.

Mr Marki-Zay, the conservative opposition leader, conceded defeat late on Sunday evening.

“I will not hide my sadness and my disappointment,” he told supporters, accusing Fidesz of running a campaign of “hate and lies”.

He claimed the opposition had done “everything humanly possible” but that the campaign had been “an unequal fight” as anti-Fidesz politicians got so little showing in state media.

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Long queues as fuel crisis persists in Kenya

 A nation-wide fuel shortage continues to bite in Kenya, with major towns reporting long queues at the few filling stations that have the commodity.

There are conflicting reasons as to why the shortage is being experienced.

President Uhuru Kenyatta says it is due to the global crisis occasioned by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The national oil storage company – Kenya Pipeline – says there is enough stock and the regulator EPRA warning any company hoarding the oil with deregulation.

Analysts say delayed subsidies promised by the government to oil marketers to cushion consumers from the effects of the global crisis is causing the shortages

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Sudan’s Burhan threatens to expel UN mission head

 Sudan’s de facto leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan threatened Friday to expel UN special representative Volker Perthes over alleged “interference” in the country’s affairs.

Perthes, in an address Monday to the United Nations Security Council, said Sudan was heading towards “an economic and security collapse” unless its civilian-led transition, upended in last year’s military coup led by Burhan, was restored.

Perthes also warned of rising crime and lawlessness, killing of anti-coup protesters, violence against women “by members of the security forces” and increased targeting of activists.

Burhan warned Perthes “to stop overstepping the mandate of the UN mission and blatant interference in Sudanese affairs, as that would lead to his expulsion from the country”.

He also urged the UN and the African Union (AU) “to facilitate dialogue among Sudanese and avoid overstepping their mandate”, in a statement released by the armed forces.

On Thursday, the armed forces’ newspaper’s chief editor Ibrahim al-Houri, in an article, accused the UN Integrated Transition Assistance Mission Sudan headed by Perthes of “not adhering to the principle of neutrality”.

UNITAMS has rejected the charge but insisted it is “not neutral with regard to its commitment to protect human rights, freedoms and democracy”.

Regular mass protests have rocked Sudan since the coup, in the face of a violent crackdown by security forces that has so far killed 93 people, according to medics.

Perthes said UNITAMS along with the AU and regional bloc IGAD, have agreed on joint efforts to facilitate Sudanese-led talks.

The Friends of Sudan, a grouping which includes the United States, Britain and the European Union, have also thrown their weight behind latest efforts to facilitate dialogue.

The group has called for the restoration of the civilian-led transition that had followed the 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir as it “would pave the way to restore economic assistance and international debt relief”.

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Malawi axes tax on sanitary pads

 Malawians no longer have to pay tax on sanitary pads – as a 16.5% levy has been axed.

“In the spirit of promoting girl child education, government has listened to the contributions that came from various stakeholders and has consequently removed duty and excise tax on sanitary pads,” Finance Minister Sosten Gwengwe said earlier this week.

Girls who can’t afford sanitary pads often miss school during their periods.

The minister also announced that value added tax would no longer have to be paid on cooking oil and tap water in a bid to help Malawians with rising prices and access to drinking water.

The changes take effect from Friday 1 April.

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Angola suspends salaries of striking doctors

 Angola’s government has suspended the salaries of more than 5,000 doctors, describing their strike action as illegal.

The National Union of Angola Medical Doctors began an indefinite nationwide strike last week to press for better wages and working conditions.

The stoppage has paralysed public health services, although some medics are providing emergency services.

Doctors say that in addition to poor salaries, health facilities are woefully under-equipped with frequent shortages of supplies and medicines.

The strike is the second in four months. In December, medics took industrial action over the death of 20 children in a hospital in the capital, Luanda.

Doctors allege they died because of shortages of medicine and medical equipment.

Recent negotiations with the government broke down after the doctors rejected a 6% pay increase.

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SA Zuma riots targeted the economy – Ramaphosa

 South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has told an inquiry that riots and looting in two major provinces last July were a deliberate attempt to derail the economy.

At least 350 people died in the violence in little over a week in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng after former President Jacob Zuma was jailed for contempt of court.

Mr Zuma was sentenced over his refusal to testify before a corruption commission. His supporters were demanding his release.

President Ramaphosa told the inquiry by the South African Human Rights Commission that although the initial protests were presented as political grievance, they were in fact an attempt to undermine the country’s democracy.

The deadliest unrest since the end of apartheid cost the economy $3.3bn (£2.5bn).

Months later, no major arrests have been made. Mr Ramaphosa said investigations to find the suspected masterminds were still continuing.

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