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Thursday 05th of October 2017
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Morning Africa |
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5 OCT 15 :: Putin is a GeoPolitical GrandMaster @TheStarKenya Law & Politics |
Putin has been on the back-foot big time. The body language between
President Obama and Putin is also another avenue worthy of study.
Obama has a barely concealed, evidently visceral dislike of Putin. You
see this in the frozen handshakes and a number of other interactions.
Let us return to UNGA, where Putin set out his stall and I quote: ‘’I
cannot help asking those who have caused the situation, do you realise
now what you’ve done?’’
With hundreds of thousands of refugees entering Europe, his question
was a sharp one. Within 24 hours of delivering that speech, Russia
instructed that the US should vacate Syrian Air Space. This message
was not delivered to Ashton Carter by his Russian counterpart Shoigu.
It was delivered to the US Embassy in Baghdad. And pretty soon after
that message was delivered, Russia began its intervention on the side
of President Bashar Assad of Syria.
You could hear the squealing start immediately from Ankara to Riyadh,
from the GCC to Washington. All these capitals have assets on the
ground in Syria, and what is clear is that Russia is not making a
distinction between IS or the ‘’moderate opposition fighting Assad’’
[which really means ‘’our’’ terrorists].
Lavrov said: “If it looks like a terrorist, if it acts like a
terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist, if it fights like a
terrorist, it’s a terrorist, right?”
Putin fancies himself the fly-catcher and syria the fly-trap. The
speed of execution confirms that Russia is once again a geopolitical
actor that will have to be considered. It is a breath-taking rebound.
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Puigdemont says Catalan government to apply referendum result Law & Politics |
Catalan President Carles Puigdemont said the regional government will
soon apply the results of its makeshift referendum, though stopped
short of saying how or when he would trigger the process to leave
Spain.
Speaking in a televised statement on Wednesday night, Puigdemont
reiterated an offer for mediated talks. King Felipe VI on Tuesday
joined Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in condemning the vote, causing
outrage among many Catalans. The European Union has backed Madrid in
the biggest constitutional crisis since the 1970s.
“We will show our best face in coming days when our institutions apply
the results of the referendum,” Puigdemont said.
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Catalonia to South Sudan: A world of separatist movements Law & Politics |
Only roughly 40 percent of Catalans voted in their region's
independence referendum on Sunday, but a whopping 90 percent of those
who showed up at the polls were in favor of seceding from Spain. It
remains unclear how things will proceed from here: Catalan leaders say
they will declare independence in a "matter of days," while the
Spanish government in Madrid continues to reject the referendum's
result.
Though Catalonia is the most prominent example of the search for
self-determination at the moment, many other regions across the world
have pushed for independence in recent years. Some were successful,
others weren't – but even for those who won the struggle, independence
didn't necessarily lead to a happy ending.
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Devotees at Dhanushkodi beach, on the tip of an island in India. Law & Politics |
Devotees at Dhanushkodi beach, on the tip of an island in India. In
the Ramayana, a central epic of Hinduism, Lord Rama crosses a bridge
from here to rescue his wife, Sita, from the demon king Ravana in Sri
Lanka.
DHANUSHKODI, India — At dawn, a procession of buses sped past coconut
huts, past fishermen unfurling nets and through the ghost town of
Dhanushkodi — leveled in a powerful hurricane in 1964 — before
stopping at a stretch of beach where, according to Hindu mythology, an
ancient bridge once stood.
As day broke, barrel-chested businessmen filed into the ocean,
reciting mantras. Hindu priests, clad in white, dropped to their knees
to lead funereal ceremonies for families who had lost an uncle, a
father. A cluster of teenagers wandered over the dunes.
For centuries, pilgrims from the Indian cities of Chennai, Mumbai and
Patna, and a few from London, have traveled to the tip of a thumbnail
island in southern India. It is here that the Ramayana, a central epic
for Hindus, says Lord Rama crossed a bridge called Rama Setu to rescue
his wife Sita from the demon king Ravana in modern Sri Lanka, a
contemporary distance of about 20 miles.
$XIV up 41% since the August low @TheStalwart
@TheStalwart 10h
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Three US Army Special Operations Commandos Killed in Niger Africa |
U.S. officials said three U.S. Army special operations commandos were
killed Wednesday and two others were wounded when they came under fire
in southwest Niger.
The officials said the two wounded were taken to Niamey, the capital,
and are in stable condition. The officials were not authorized to
discuss the incident publicly so spoke on condition of anonymity.
The officials said the commandos, who were Green Berets, were likely
attacked by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb militants.
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US expected to end sanctions on Sudan FT Africa |
US president Donald Trump is expected to revoke longstanding sanctions
on Sudan ahead of an October 12 deadline after the north African
country ended ties with North Korea, according to people briefed on
the matter.
The Trump administration had delayed a decision in July over whether
to lift sanctions permanently on Sudan amid a dearth of Africa
appointments in key US departments and fears of a public backlash over
going soft on the country, whose president is accused of genocide.
But senior officials from Sudan and the US have ironed out their
differences in a series of bilateral meetings, including over cutting
support for North Korea, according to three people briefed on the
matter.
The state department’s expected recommendation to permanently remove
sanctions is opposed by various human rights groups, whose efforts to
unite against the move may cause the administration to bring the
decision forward.
“We expect good news,” Ibrahim Ghandour, Sudan foreign minister, told
the Financial Times.
Sudan submitted a letter to the US showing that it had informed
Pyongyang it was cutting ties. It also passed on information about
bank accounts held by North Korean fronts, including names and
amounts, according to a person briefed on the letter.
“The Sudanese have been pulling out the stops and they were very
co-operative,” the person said.
John Sullivan, deputy secretary of state who is leading the drive to
shut down North Korea’s overseas operations, met Mr Ghandour in
Washington and New York last month.
Sudan, a largely Arab country ruled by an authoritarian Islamist
regime, was first labelled a state sponsor of terrorism in 1993, a
designation it still shares with Iran and Syria. At the time, it
hosted Osama bin Laden in Khartoum. Sudan expelled bin Laden at
America’s request in 1996, but remained subject to sanctions. More
recently it has worked with the US to stem the extremist threat in
Libya.
“Libya and what is going on there has been the source of many evils
and spillover from extremism can affect all the Sahel to the coast of
west Africa,” said Mr Ghandour. “Sudan has been working hard to
prevent such spillovers and side-effects of what is going on in
Libya.”
Conclusions
Been coming for a wile.
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'Go Kabila go': new effort to oust DR Congo president despite fear of violence Africa |
Opposition leaders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have
called for a new effort to oust President Joseph Kabila, who has yet
to set dates for elections in the vast central African state despite
his second term expiring nine months ago.
“The people are tired,” said Martin Fayulu, an opposition member of
parliament, as he called for a month-long campaign of civil
disobedience.
“They want elections and they want Kabila to go before the end of the
year. Even football crowds are now chanting ‘Go Kabila Go’,” said
Fayulu, who heads the Engagement for Citizenship and Development
party.
Other prominent opposition figures have also told their supporters
they should prepare for street protests and strikes in the coming
weeks to put pressure on DRC’s ruler, who has held power since 2001.
The end of Kabila’s mandate in December led to a crackdown on
protesters in Kinshasa and other big cities, resulting in at least 40
deaths.
“The government shut down protests in December. Its message is simple:
if you demonstrate, we will shoot you. And it has done that in the
past ... Fayulu is a brave man, but when was he last able to get more
than 500 people on to the streets? The opposition has not put a ding
in the Congolese government.”
Conclusions
Paul Virilio and the Street refers.
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Zimbabweans just don't trust the system, says c/bank governor Africa |
HARARE, October 4 (The Source) – Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ)
governor John Mangudya on Wednesday told a meeting of business leaders
that the country was generating sufficient foreign currency but was
suffering from lack of confidence in the financial system.
Mangudya said Zimbabwe had generated $4 billion in foreign currency
receipts between January and September. Two months back he said the
country had received $2,8 billion in foreign currency receipts in the
half year to June, admitting that it was no small change.
“There is a mismatch in the economy, there is a huge appetite for
forex but not all the demand is good. The other one is artificial
demand. Zimbabwe earns a lot of forex but the problem is how it is
being utilized if we were using it appropriately and efficiently
there would be no problem,” Mangudya said.
“Now some of it is going out the economy to import things that are
useless others keep it in their homes because they remember 2008 and
because of lack of confidence (in the system), the money does not
circulate efficiently also.”
The southern African nation’s financial system collapsed in 2008
following a bout of record breaking hyperinflation which rendered the
country’s currency worthless, forcing monetary authorities to dump the
local currency and adopt a multi currency system.
Some 9 years down the line, memories of 2008 still continue to haunt
Zimbabweans and confidence in the financial sector has never recovered
with most people opting to operate outside formal channels.
Zimbabwe has been experiencing a shortage of bank notes which
intensified in the last three months resulting in a shortage of fuel
and basic commodities. The recent shortages, which government claims
are artificial, have resulted in prices increases across the board as
people fearing a replay of 2008 stock up on food stuffs and fuel.
Mangudya called the shortages artificial and urged consumers to resist
the price increases. “The panic buying caused artificial demand and it
made people increase prices because they saw an opportunity to make
money they now need to be reasonable and reduce prices to where they
were….Just do not buy…we need to educate the consumers to resist if
you do not buy the cooking oil at $5 they will go out of business
overnight,” he said.
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President @MagufuliJP earns a salary of 9 million Tanzanian shillings ($4,000) per month Africa |
In a speech to local officials in the capital on Tuesday he also said
his government had slashed salaries of executives at state-owned
companies at 15 million Tanzanian shillings ($6,700) a month -- more
than his own.
“They can leave if they don’t want it,” he said. He said abuse of
public funds was “rampant” at state firms and that he had rejected
requests from some local officials to more than double their
allowances, saying he could not do so while many citizens lack access
to water, health care and electricity.
By contrast Kenya’s president earns a monthly salary of around
$14,000. Jacob Zuma of South Africa is paid around $20,000 monthly,
following a salary increase by parliament in 2015.
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Critic of Rwandan president charged with insurrection: prosecutor's spokesman Africa |
Diane Shima Rwigara, a critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame barred
from challenging him in elections in August, has been charged with
inciting insurrection against the state and forgery, the public
prosecutor’s spokesman said on Wednesday.
Rwigara’s mother Adeline and sister Anne have also been charged with
incitement and “discrimination and sectarianism”, Faustin Nkusi told
Reuters, without giving details. He said the cases were filed in court
on Tuesday and awaited a trial date.
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Between December 2013 and April 2017 CBN's "claims on the federal government" went from 678 billion naira to 6.5 trillion naira ($1.8 billion to $17.3 billion)-an almost 10-fold rise. Africa |
Between December 2013 and April 2017 for instance, the CBN’s “claims
on the federal government” went from 678 billion naira to 6.5 trillion
naira ($1.8 billion to $17.3 billion)—an almost 10-fold rise. These
“claims” are made up of overdrafts, treasury bills, converted bonds
and other such lending. For the most part, the issue has remained an
obscure one that receives hardly any attention from local media.
But then, a couple of weeks ago, the CBN finally published the
personal statements of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members
from the July meeting [PDF] and suddenly the alarm bells started
ringing. The personal statement of Dr. Doyin Salami, a well-regarded
member of the MPC noted for his straight talking, said the CBN was
providing a “piggy-bank” service to the federal government.
Specifically, he said [page 38]:
Perhaps the most challenging of the present characteristics of the
economy in Nigeria is the adoption of a quantitative easing stance by
the management of the Central Bank. Monetary data shows a sharp rise
in the extent of CBN financing of the government deficit.
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Markit Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers' Index(PMI) fell to 40.9 from 42.0 in August Kenyan Economy |
The Markit Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers’ Index(PMI) fell to
40.9 from 42.0 in August, the lowest reading since the data series
began in January 2014 and well below the 50-point line separating
contractions in activity from expansions.
Kenya is due to hold a re-run of its presidential election on Oct. 26
after the Supreme Court voided President Uhuru Kenyatta’s win in an
August vote due to irregularities.
But opposition leader Raila Odinga has said he will boycott the new
poll unless some officials on the election board are replaced.
“For a fifth consecutive month, conditions in Kenya’s private sector
continued to deteriorate, which is reflective of the protracted
political impasse in the country,” Jibran
Qureishi, the economist for East Africa at Stanbic Bank, said in
comments accompanying the survey.
“Firms continue to bemoan the unavailability of access to credit,
which has been restrained as a consequence of the interest rate
capping law.”
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@MoodysInvSvc's places on review for downgrade the ratings of three Kenyan banks Kenyan Economy |
Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") has today placed on review for
downgrade the B1 global scale long-term local-currency deposit ratings
and the b1 baseline credit assessment (BCA) of three Kenyan banks: KCB
Bank Kenya Limited (KCB Bank), Equity Bank Kenya Limited (Equity
Bank), and Co-operative Bank of Kenya Limited (Co-op Bank). A full
list of the banks' ratings affected by today's rating action is at the
end of this press release.
Today's rating action is driven primarily by a potential weakening of
the Kenyan government's credit profile, in particular in the country's
fiscal strength and liquidity risk, as captured by Moody's recent
decision to place Kenya's B1 government ratings on review for
downgrade. The banks' sizable holdings of sovereign debt securities
inevitably link their creditworthiness to that of the national
government. To a lesser extent, today's rating action also captures
pressures on Kenya's macro profile, in light of the currently
challenging operating conditions, which are in turn weighing on the
banks' asset quality profiles. For further information, refer to the
sovereign press release "Moody's places Kenya's B1 rating on review
for downgrade"
Moody's Investors Service, ("Moody's") has today placed on review for
downgrade the B1 global scale long-term local-currency deposit ratings
and the b1 baseline credit assessment (BCA) of three Kenyan banks: KCB
Bank Kenya Limited (KCB Bank), Equity Bank Kenya Limited (Equity
Bank), and Co-operative Bank of Kenya Limited (Co-op Bank). A full
list of the banks' ratings affected by today's rating action is at the
end of this press release.
Today's rating action is driven primarily by a potential weakening of
the Kenyan government's credit profile, in particular in the country's
fiscal strength and liquidity risk, as captured by Moody's recent
decision to place Kenya's B1 government ratings on review for
downgrade. The banks' sizable holdings of sovereign debt securities
inevitably link their creditworthiness to that of the national
government. To a lesser extent, today's rating action also captures
pressures on Kenya's macro profile, in light of the currently
challenging operating conditions, which are in turn weighing on the
banks' asset quality profiles. For further information, refer to the
sovereign press release "Moody's places Kenya's B1 rating on review
for downgrade"
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