Japan looks to compete with China in Africa via TICAD ’08

 Johannesburg — Japan is the latest country to try to increase engagement with Africa in the face of China’s massive influence on the continent and amid perceived threats to the international order.

There has been a flurry of visits to the continent by top officials this year, including Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and European diplomats. The visits from Western leaders have been seen by many analysts as an attempt to counter Beijing’s clout, and to some extent, Russian influence.

Last month, Japan also sought to provide African countries with an alternative to Chinese lending and investment, pledging to spend $30 billion on the continent and stressing a focus on training African professionals, food production and green growth.

The pledge was made during the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) held in Tunisia.

In his remarks at the event, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida criticized Moscow and took an apparent swipe at China.

“It is true that a series of contradictions of the global economy, such as inequality and environmental problems, are concentrated in Africa at this moment. In addition, we need to urgently deal with issues such as the food crisis caused by Russian aggression against Ukraine and unfair and opaque development finance,” he said.

Paul Nantulya, a research associate at the Washington-based Africa Center for Strategic Affairs who has participated in two TICAD conferences, said the reference to “opaque” development finance was “definitely a rebuke to China,” which has been accused of practicing “debt trap diplomacy” — lending heavily to countries that can’t repay in order to gain political leverage.

During TICAD, Japan also announced that some $1 billion would go toward support for African countries’ debt restructuring and promised that Japan “aspires to be a ‘partner growing together with Africa.'”

While there’s increasing consensus among economists that the debt-trap accusations don’t stand up, it’s still a common criticism leveled by the West and its partners and enrages Beijing. Numerous articles in Chinese state media have slammed Kishida’s remarks as a smear campaign and said Japan’s investment pledge had “selfish intentions.”

State publication Global Times said while China does not have a problem with other countries offering aid to African nations, “what China opposes is the vicious attempt by Western countries, including the U.S. and Japan, to discredit China, asking African countries to be “wary” of China at every turn.”

“African countries have their own judgment and do not need the West to teach them what to do,” the Global Times quoted Yang Xiyu, researcher at the China Institute of International Studies, as saying.

The amount Japan pledged at TICAD this year was less than China’s pledge of $40 billion at last year’s Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Senegal.

Story by Kate Bartiett

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Cameroon: Separatist movement gets new leader

 Cape Town — Chris Anu, a long-time spokesperson for Cameroon’s self-declared Republic of Ambazonia, said that he was elected president of the separatist movement on September 10, 2022. His election comes at a time when the movement appears to be losing support among southern Cameroonians, due to allegations of infighting, corruption and human rights abuses.

In an interview with VOA’s James Butty, Anu said that the movement will take the fight to the territories of the Republic of Cameroon (French speaking part of the country). He promised to also review the movement’s much-criticised policy of closing schools.

“We want the citizens of the Republic of Cameroon to feel the pain that Ambazonians have felt for the past six years,” he said. Anu lives in exile in Houston, Texas.

According to Dieudonné Essomba, a statistician and economist: “Anglophones will no longer return to the unitary state. In a post widely circulated on social media, he said that it is no longer worth spending resources unnecessarily. Anglophones came to Cameroon in 1961 with their state. Ahidjo [ Ahmadou Babatoura Ahidjo was the first president of Cameroon]  suppressed this to create national unity. It was a big mistake. It was rather necessary to widen the federation, so as to maintain the specificity of the Anglophones in a generalised federalisation. Each English-speaking federated state having its own autonomy, we would have avoided the risk of a generalised demand for autonomy from the entire community.”

In the meantime, the conflict keeps escalating with the death last week of soldiers a in a rocket attack on their convoy in Manyemen Koupé-Manengouba sub division in the south west region.

Since the end of 2017, authorities have reported dozens of deaths and attacks on soldiers and police by separatists. Other observers point to a heavier toll. The number of deaths among civilians and separatists is still difficult to establish.

Story by Michael Tantoh

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Putin’s hope for China’s approval dashed by Xi’s “questions and concerns”

 What has been billed as a precursor to Chinese president Xi Jinping’s approval of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, even if tacit, turned out to be a questions and answer session with Putin at the receiving end.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was rather compelled to praise China’s “balanced position” on the Ukraine war, in what appeared to be a veiled admission of their diverging views over the protracted military assault.

Putin made the comments when meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in person for the first time since the invasion at a regional summit in Uzbekistan, days after Russia suffered a series of major military setbacks in Ukraine.

China has so far refused to outright condemn Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine while stepping up economic assistance to its neighbor, boosting bilateral trade to record levels in a boon to Russian business amid Western sanctions.

Nevertheless, China has also refused to publicly support Russia in the area of statements. This meeting rather indicates that those public statements of support would not be coming any time soon.

DNT News, Hong Mong.

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New law boosts female inheritance rights in Nigeria

 A new measure has been signed into law in southern Nigeria’s Rivers state that bolsters the right of women to inherit property.

Despite a Supreme Court ruling, many cultures and families in the country still do not allow women to receive an inheritance. Men tend to receive the wealth as a way to keep property within the family.

This is because it is generally believed that when a woman marries, she no longer belongs to her father’s family but her husband’s family.

However, the custom leaves many women impoverished.

The Rivers state law makes it clear that women have the right to inherit and they cannot be prevented from going to court to challenge the family.

On signing the bill, Governor Nyesom Wike encouraged women to claim what is theirs and said they should not be afraid of being threatened by their family.

He also asked why women were deprived from sharing the family inheritance when they are often the most useful members of society.

“I don’t know why it’s a taboo; because you’re a girl, because this is a woman, you’re not entitled to inherit what belongs to your father,” he said.

“It is not you who decides whether you will have a girl or you’ll have a boy, it is God.”

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Queen’s lying-in-state: China blocked from Westminster Hall

 A Chinese government delegation has been banned from attending the lying-in-state of Queen Elizabeth II, according to parliamentary sources.

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is understood to have refused a request for access over Chinese sanctions against five MPs and two peers.

Queen Elizabeth will lie in state in Westminster Hall until she is buried on Monday.

China says it is still considering whether to attend the funeral.

A high-ranking official from Beijing had been expected to be amongst the guests, but a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said earlier on Friday that no decision had been made.

The spokeswoman, Mao Ning, said they had not seen reports about the Westminster Hall ban, which first emerged on the Politico website.

But she added: “As a host, the UK is certainly familiar with diplomatic protocols and proper manners of receiving guests.”

The House of Commons Speaker’s office told the BBC it did not comment on security matters.

Downing Street declined to comment, with a spokesperson saying “admission to Parliament is a matter for Parliament”.

Last year, China imposed travel bans and asset freezes on nine Britons – including seven parliamentarians – for accusing Beijing of mistreating Uighur Muslims.

That led to China’s ambassador to the UK being banned from Parliament – a move which has now been extended to a delegation that wanted to pay their respects at Queen Elizabeth’s lying-in-state.

UK-China relations are already strained and this ban is unlikely to help.

The Queen’s coffin is currently lying in state in Westminster Hall, part of the parliamentary estate, before Monday’s state funeral at nearby Westminster Abbey.

The funeral will be one of the biggest diplomatic events of recent years, with some 500 heads of state and foreign dignitaries expected to attend, including US President Joe Biden.

A Downing Street spokesman said it was a convention that countries with which the UK has diplomatic relations should be invited to state funerals.

Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Myanmar, Russia and Belarus have not been invited – whilst Iran, North Korea and Nicaragua have been asked to only send a senior diplomat.

China’s President Xi Jinping is on the guest list but is not thought likely to attend.

Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith is among UK parliamentarians to be sanctioned by China

According to the parliamentary rule book Erskine May, control of Westminster Hall is shared between the Lord Great Chamberlain – who is appointed by the monarch – and the speakers of both the Commons and the Lords.

There is no specific mention regarding control of access for an occasion such as a lying-in-state, but when it comes to “invitations to foreign dignitaries to address both Houses in Westminster Hall” these are “ordinarily” issued by the agreement of all three.

Last September, Sir Lindsay and House of Lords Speaker Lord McFall told China’s ambassador to the UK he could not come to Parliament because of Beijing’s sanctions.

At the time, that ban was criticised by the Chinese government as “despicable and cowardly”.

On Thursday, the group of seven MPs and peers, including former Tory ministers Iain Duncan Smith and Tim Loughton, urged the Foreign Secretary to withdraw an invitation to President Xi of China to attend the Queen’s funeral.

In a letter, they said it would be “wholly inappropriate” for the Chinese government to be represented, given its human rights record.

Several Western countries have imposed sanctions on officials in China following rights abuse allegations against the mostly Muslim Uighur minority group.

China has detained Uighurs at camps in the north-west region of Xinjiang, where allegations of torture, forced labour and sexual abuse have emerged.

It has denied the allegations of abuse, claiming the camps are “re-education” facilities used to combat terrorism.

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Rwanda scraps tuition for public primary schools

 The Ministry of Education has on September 14, announced a new harmonized structure of tuition fees in pre-primary, primary, and secondary levels of education for public, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and government-aided schools.

Starting with the academic year 2022-2023, parents will no longer pay school fees for students in pre-primary and primary, however, they will contribute Rwf975 for school feeding programme.

Whereas parents will pay Rwf19,500 for day-scholar students in public and government-aided secondary schools, and Rwf85,000 for students in boarding schools.

For instance, according to a statement from Lycee de Kigali that entailed school fees of the first term of 2022-2023 academic year, a day scholar student in A’level will now pay Rwf19,500 instead of Rwf86,000 they had stipulated and Rwf85,000 instead of Rwf128,000 for boarding students.

MINEDUC also indicated that when necessary and upon parents’ approval, a contribution for other school needs shall not exceed Rwf7,000.

“For schools that rent mattresses as bedding requirement, they are permitted to charge only new students Rwf9,000 once in three years for replacement purposes,” it added.

Valentine Uwamariya, Minister of Education, said the move to harmonize school fees across all public and government-aided school fees was made to have an equitable structure and support parents with limited means.

“There were no school fees guidelines set before. This caused some schools to charge more, others less, and in some cases, others demanded unnecessary contributions from parents,” she said.

She pointed at regular contributions to construct some school facilities, fences, and mattresses, among others, “which may be necessary for the school but not to be handled by parents.”

The changes, according to her, come after studies were conducted in different schools in light of the current cost of living. “We found that at most 60 percent of contributions requested from parents was spent on foodstuffs,” Uwamariya noted.

“There are certain cases where some schools used to charge fees less than these new directives, they are encouraged to keep it that way. However, they are warned against neglecting the quality of food or education they provide,” she added.

While announcing the fee structure, Uwamariya indicated that private schools will continue charging fees in accordance with inputs from parents’ general assembly.

The changes in the Rwandan education system come after the latest 88 percent salary increment for primary teachers with A2 and a 40 percent increase for secondary teachers.

This means a primary teacher will receive a net pay of Rwf108,488 up from Rwf57,639 while most of secondary teachers with degrees (A0) now receive Rwf246,384 up from Rwf176,189.

story by Alice Kagina

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Man tackled after rushing at Queen’s coffin at Westminster Hall

Police have arrested a man who attempted to grab at the Queen‘s coffin – in an incident which left mourners stunned.

Officers tackled the man to the floor during the jaw-dropping incident, which took place around 10pm at Westminster Hall on Friday.

It is believed the man pushed through a queue of mourners, among them a seven-year-old girl, rushed up to coffin and tried to lift the royal standard. He is then thought to have put his hands on the Queen’s casket.

The Queen has been lying in state at Westminster Hall since Wednesday, when her coffin was brought from Buckingham Palace to the historic venue to allow people to come and pay their respects.

Hundreds of thousands of respectful mourners are thought to have passed through the hall in the last two days, despite queues times stretching up to 24 hours.

But mourners were left visibly shocked during Friday night’s incident – which took place just hours after King Charles and his family held a vigil in honour of the Queen.

Alongside siblings Anne, Andrew and Edward, the newly crowned monarch stood guard beside his mother’s coffin.

Last night, one witness who saw the incident told MailOnline how a mourner ‘screamed’ when she saw the man running at the coffin.

The witness said: ‘We saw him (the man) in the queue from the beginning of the queue and throughout the day, he was by himself.

‘When we entered the room we were at the top of the stairs when we saw the incident. A lady screamed as it happened it was quite unnerving. Although he was detained and people kept calm and carried on.’

Another witness Tracey Holland, whose seven-year-old niece, Darcy, was pushed aside by the man as he rushed at the coffin, last night described the incident.

She said: ‘A person decided they were going to push my seven-year-old niece out the way, run up to the coffin, lift up the standard and try to do I don’t know what. She was grabbed out the way and the police had him within two seconds.

Ms Holland added: (It was) terrible, absolutely terrible, so disrespectful and unbelievable – and this poor little seven-year-old child, this is her lasting memory of the Queen.’

The Metropolitan Police last night confirmed that a man had been arrested on suspicion of a public order offence.

A video grab posted to Twitter shows the moment of the incident at Westminster Hall. Police officers are tackling the man, circled, as he lifts the Royal Standard off the Queen’s coffin

A spokesperson for the force said: ‘At 10pm on Friday 16 September officers from the Met’s Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command detained a man in Westminster Hall following a disturbance.

‘He was arrested for an offence under the Public Order Act and is currently in custody.’

A spokesperson for the the UK Parliament, said last night: ‘We’re aware of an incident in Westminster Hall, in which a member of the public moved out of the queue and towards the Catafalque.

‘They have now been removed from the Hall and the queue restarted.’

The Queen lying in state at Westminster Hall has been covered via a live stream on the BBC 24-hours a day since the coffin arrived at the venue on Wednesday.

But the cameras, which are delayed for around 30 seconds, quickly cut away from the coffin around 10pm on Friday, instead showing a moving image of the outside of the Palace of Westminster. The cameras did not turn back to the casket for around 15 minutes, at which point the Royal Standard appeared to have been moved.

One mourner who witnessed the incident, last night told The Sun: ‘It happened so fast. Someone got up to the coffin, grabbed the flag and pulled it upwards.

The mourner, who did not wish to be named, described members of the public ‘hysterically crying’ and ‘shaking’ after the incident.

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