Tag: Africa

Pressure Mounts on China to Offer Debt Relief to Poor Countries Facing Default

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WASHINGTON — China, under growing pressure from top international policymakers, appeared to indicate this week that it is ready to make concessions that would unlock a global effort to restructure hundreds of billions of dollars of debt owed by poor countries. China has lent more than $500 billion to developing countries through its lending program, making it one of the world’s largest creditors. Many of those countries, including several in Africa, have struggled economically in the wake of the pandemic and face the possibility of defaulting on their debt payments.…

US State Department Unveils 2022 Annual Human Rights Report

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State Department —  Russia’s armed forces have committed “numerous war crimes and other atrocities” since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, said a U.S. Department of State report that documents human rights practices around the world. “There were credible reports of summary execution, torture, rape, indiscriminate attacks, and attacks deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure by Russia’s forces in Ukraine, all of which constitute war crimes,” the State Department said in its 2022 annual human rights report, released Monday. The annual report also underscored cases…

Armed men kill nine Chinese nationals in Central African Republic

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China’s embassy in the Central African Republic has urged its citizens to avoid travelling outside the capital, Bangui, after nine Chinese nationals were killed in an attack by militants at a goldmine outside the city. The embassy said in a statement on Sunday there had been many “vicious” security incidents against workers of foreign mining enterprises in the area, and Chinese citizens still outside Bangui were requested to evacuate immediately. As well as the nine dead, two more people were injured in the attack at the mine run by the…

Gunmen Kill 9 Chinese at Mine in Central African Republic

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BANGUI, Central African Republic —  Gunmen stormed a Chinese-operated gold mining site that had recently been launched in Central African Republic, killing nine Chinese nationals and wounding two others Sunday, authorities said. However, the rebel coalition initially blamed by some for the attack put out a statement later in the day. Without providing evidence, it accused Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group of being behind the violence. The attack early Sunday came just days after gunmen kidnapped three Chinese nationals in the country’s west near the border with Cameroon, prompting…

Russia Sanctions a Boon for Chinese Arms Sales to Africa?

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Johannesburg —  Russia has long been the biggest exporter of arms to sub-Saharan Africa, but a new study indicates Western sanctions are making it harder for Moscow to sell weapons, opening the door for more Chinese-made arms. Even before the Ukraine war, China had increased its sales of weapons to sub-Saharan Africa, exporting almost three times as many arms to the region between 2017 and 2020 as the United States, according to a report this month by the Atlantic Council. The lion’s share went to just five African countries where…

China’s ‘Digital Silk Road’ in Africa Raises Questions 

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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA —  A group of U.S. lawmakers recently drafted a resolution criticizing South Africa’s government for its close relations with Beijing, including its use of Chinese technology, and called on President Joe Biden to review American’s relationship with Pretoria. The resolution was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives as South Africa conducted naval exercises with China and Russia in February. There are U.S. concerns about the surveillance risks of Chinese telecommunications, but some analysts say it falls on each government to responsibly use technologies, and China is…

Crises Eroding Human Rights Around World, UN’s Türk Says

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GENEVA —  The United Nations’ top human rights official says the proliferation of crises brought on by conflict, climate change, poverty and discrimination are eroding people’s fundamental rights and freedoms and threatening the stability of nations worldwide. In a brisk overview of recent human rights developments around the globe, Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, told delegates attending the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday that “one quarter of humanity is living today in places affected by violent conflict, and it is the civilians who suffer the…

Education Part of China’s Belt and Road Push in Africa

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Under President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, China has been spreading its global influence through the building of major infrastructure like railways, ports and bridges. But another key part of the BRI involves something much less tangible – spreading Chinese language and values as well as the Communist Party’s ideology. Kate Bartlett reports from Cape Town, South Africa. Videographers: Gianluigi Guercia and Rajabu Hassan. Contributor: Charles Kombe VOA

What Joint Drills With South African, Russian Navies Mean for China  

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Johannesburg —  South Africa is under fire for hosting joint naval exercises with Russia during the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, with critics saying it will be a propaganda victory for Moscow. But what does the third participant in the drills, China, have to gain from the tripartite exercises taking place this week? Some analysts told VOA that, in China’s case, Exercise Mosi II, off South Africa’s east coast, is less about a real exchange of military prowess and more about important political and diplomatic optics. “China has…

US, China Compete for Africa’s Rare Earth Minerals

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Johannesburg —  South Africa hosted the world’s biggest mining investment conference this week, with industry experts in attendance saying the U.S. and China are in a race for the critical minerals — such as cobalt and lithium — that will likely power the projected transition to clean energy. African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo have some of the largest deposits of these resources, but China currently dominates the supply chain as well as their refinement and the U.S. wants to reduce its reliance on the Asian giant. In…