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Category: Africa

  • MIL-OSI Russia: IMF Reaches Staff-Level Agreement with Cameroon on the Third Review of Resilience and Sustainability Facility and Eighth Reviews of Extended Credit Facility and Extended Fund Facility

    Source: IMF – News in Russian

    July 7, 2025

    End-of-Mission press releases include statements of IMF staff teams that convey preliminary findings after a visit to a country. The views expressed in this statement are those of the IMF staff and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF’s Executive Board. Based on the preliminary findings of this mission, staff will prepare a report that, subject to management approval, will be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for discussion and decision.

    • The IMF and the Cameroonian authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on the eighth reviews of the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF), and the third review of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
    • Cameroon’s economy picked up slightly with real growth estimated at 3.5 percent in 2024, up from 3.2 percent in 2023. Inflation is trending down but remains elevated with an average inflation of 4.5 percent in 2024.
    • Program performance was mixed. Higher-than-expected current spending led to a slippage on the fiscal deficit target at end 2024, requiring corrective measures. The authorities have made progress on a broad structural agenda. They are encouraged to sustain efforts to restructure SONARA, complete key infrastructure projects, and strengthen the financial sector.

    Washington, DC: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) team, led by
    Ms. Cemile Sancak, Mission Chief for Cameroon, visited Yaoundé from April 30 to May 8 and held subsequent meetings to discuss progress on reforms and the authorities’ policy priorities in the context of the eighth review of their four-year economic program supported by the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) and the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangements, and the third review of the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF). The ECF/EFF arrangements were approved by the IMF Executive Board for a total amount of SDR 483 million (US$689.5 million) in July 2021 (see press release 21/237). An extension of these arrangements of 12 months was approved in December 2023 to allow more time to implement the policies and reforms, and access was augmented by SDR 110.4 million (US$147.6 million) (see press release 23/469). The 18-month RSF was approved by the Executive Board in January 2024 in the amount of SDR 138 million (US$183.4 million) (see press release 24/30).

    At the conclusion of the discussions, Ms. Sancak issued the following statement:

    “The IMF and the Cameroonian authorities have reached a staff-level agreement on the eighth reviews of the ECF/EFF arrangements, and the third review of the RSF arrangement. The agreement is subject to approval by the IMF Executive Board. Completion of the review would enable disbursement under the ECF-EFF arrangements of SDR 55.2 million (US$75.9 million) and disbursement under the RSF arrangement of SDR 51.7 million (US$71.1 million).

    “Cameroon’s economy expanded by 3.5 percent in 2024, up from 3.2 percent growth in 2024. Inflation remains in decline with a twelve-month average inflation of 4.5 percent in 2024, down from 7.5 percent in 2023.

    “The 2024 fiscal outturn was weaker than expected with a non-oil primary deficit of 2.4 percent of GDP, exceeding the target of 2 percent of GDP. An overrun on current expenditures led to an accumulation of new payment arrears and reduced space for pro-growth investment expenditure. The authorities will revise the 2025 budget to take into consideration the 2024 outturn and announce supporting measures to address the source of the fiscal slippage and assure a net reduction of payment arrears over 2025.       

    “The economic outlook remains favorable assuming fiscal discipline over the coming electoral period and continued reform implementation. Nevertheless, downside risks have increased, notably with heightened global economic uncertainty. The growth forecast for 2025 has been marked down slightly to 3.8 percent amidst weakening global demand and tighter financing conditions. With the implementation of corrective measures, the authorities expect to resume fiscal consolidation and target a non-oil primary deficit of 1.4 percent in 2025. Over the medium-term, economic growth is forecast to reach 4.5 percent and inflation to slow gradually toward the regional convergence criterion of 3 percent.

    “The authorities have made progress on a broad structural reform agenda. Over the course of their Fund-supported program, some 40 structural benchmarks will have been implemented, aligning with the objectives set out under the national development strategy (SND30). Going forward, it will be important to advance the restructuring of SONARA, sustain efforts to complete key infrastructure projects, and strengthen the financial sector by addressing persistent weaknesses and fully implementing the national financial inclusion strategy and the financial sector development strategy.  

    “Under the RSF, Cameroon has made substantial progress on its climate policy framework and enhanced readiness for climate adaptation and mitigation. The authorities have implemented most of the remaining four reform measures: the establishment of climate guidelines for evaluating investment projects, adoption of a national climate plan, and elaboration of a national strategy for disaster risk financing.

    “The IMF team met with the Prime Minister, Joseph Dion Ngute, the Minister of State, Secretary General of the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the Minister of Finance, Louis Paul Motaze, and other senior officials. The mission also met with representatives of development partners, the private sector, and civil society. The team wishes to thank the Cameroonian authorities for their excellent cooperation and for the open and constructive dialogue.”

    IMF Communications Department
    MEDIA RELATIONS

    PRESS OFFICER: Wafa Amr

    Phone: +1 202 623-7100Email: MEDIA@IMF.org

    https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2025/07/07/pr-25241-cameroon-imf-reaches-agreement-on-the-3rd-rev-of-rsf-and-8th-rev-of-ecf-and-eff

    MIL OSI

    MIL OSI Russia News –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Kenya: Ambassador Guo Haiyan Attends Events of the 4th Edition Nairobi City Marathon

    Source: APO

    On July 6, Ambassador Ms. Guo Haiyan was invited to attend the related activities of the 4th Edition Nairobi City Marathon. Accompanied with PS for Sports Mr. Elijah Mwangi, President of the Kenya Athletics and officials from UNEP, she signaled the start of the race and presented awards to the winners.

    First held in 2022, the Nairobi City Marathon has attracted over 17,000 runners from more than 70 countries and regions, including about 300 Chinese, with its main course on the Nairobi Expressway, a key project of the “Belt and Road Initiative” built by a Chinese company. 

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Kenya.

    Media files

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    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: South Sudan: Margret takes the helm in the battle for women’s rights, inspiring both change and others

    Source: APO


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    Margret Ceasar is not just a 60-year-old mother of six but also stands at the forefront of the women’s rights movement in South Sudan’s capital Juba.

    As the leader of a local development association, she has taken on the immense challenge of giving other women knowledge about the roles and the protection they are entitled to have in their communities.

    “Like so many of us, I lost my husband in the violence that took place across the country in 2016. It was a devastating time, with families being torn apart, women becoming widows, young girls suffering from unspeakable acts,” Margret recalls. “To make matters worse, survivors were often not aware of their human and legal rights.”

    As a result, Margret decided to step up her efforts to assist the most vulnerable – often women and girls – and became the Chairperson of the Women’s Association in Juba County. Through various trainings and studies, she turned into an influential human rights activist, dedicated to making a difference for her people.

    “Mobilizing women politically is essential if we want to unlock leadership opportunities,” she concludes.

    Ms. Ceasar shared her story and rich experience at a grassroots forum organized by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), targeting more than 40 members of the Women’s Association in Juba. They gathered to learn more about their rights and roles in peacebuilding and governance, hoping to become more able to contribute to a more inclusive and resilient society.

    “Workshops like this help people, both women and men, to examine and re-evaluate gender biases and become equal partners in decision-making at all levels of governance,” said Gladys Jambi, an UNMISS Associate Gender Affairs Officer.

    In her role, Margret works tirelessly for justice for survivors of gender-based violence.

    “The best way to help them is to inform them about their rights, and to have constructive talks with their spouses,” she believes.

    Over the years, she has contributed to the resolution of numerous cases, not least by encouraging open discussions about domestic violence and its dire consequences.

    Fueled by passionate determination, Margret wants to be heard and influence others beyond her county by forming strategic alliances with other women’s affairs associations and offices.

    “The road ahead is long, but since I believe in the cause and take pride in helping other women grow their confidence and abilities, I’m fearless in my pursuit.”

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: West Africa terror: why attacks on military bases are rising – and four ways to respond

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Olayinka Ajala, Associate professor in Politics and International Relations, Leeds Beckett University

    More than 40 Malian soldiers were killed and one of the country’s military bases was taken over in early June 2025 in a major attack by an al-Qaeda linked group, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), on the town of Boulikessi.

    The same group launched an attack on the historic city of Timbuktu. The Malian army claimed it repelled the Timbuktu attack and killed 14 terrorists.

    Terrorist groups have attacked Boulikessi in large numbers before. In October 2019, 25 Malian soldiers were killed. The target was a G5 Sahel force military camp.

    Timbuktu has been in the sights of terrorist groups since 2012. JNIM laid siege to the city for several months in 2023. Timbuktu has a major airport and a key military base.

    In neighbouring Burkina Faso, there have been running battles in recent months between the military and terrorist groups. About 40% of the country is under the control of groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Military bases in the country have also been targeted.

    Mali and Burkina Faso are under military rule. Insecurity, especially increasing terrorist attacks, were key reasons the military juntas gave for seizing power in both countries.

    I have been researching terrorism and the formation of insurgent groups in west Africa and the Sahel for over a decade. What I am observing is that the terrorist groups are becoming more daring and constantly changing tactics, with increased attacks on military camps across the region.

    Military camps are attacked to lower the morale of the soldiers and steal ammunition. It also sends a message to locals that military forces are incapable of protecting civilians.

    I believe there are four main reasons for an increase in large scale attacks on military bases in the region:

    • the loss of the US drone base in Niger, which has made surveillance difficult

    • an increase in human rights abuses carried out in the name of counter terrorism

    • a lack of a coordinated approach to counter terrorism

    • constant changes of tactics by the terrorists.

    Identifying and addressing these issues are important to counter the trend.

    Why are the attacks increasing?

    First is the loss of the US drone base in Agadez, Republic of Niger, in 2024 after the military seized power in the country.

    I was initially sceptical when the drone base was commissioned in 2019. But it has in fact acted as a deterrent to terrorist groups.

    Terrorist organisations operating in the Sahel knew they were being watched by drones operating from the base. They were aware surveillance information was shared with member states. The loss of the base has reduced reconnaissance and surveillance activities in the region.

    Second, an increase in human rights abuse in the fight against terrorism in the region is dividing communities and increasing recruitment into terrorist groups. A report by Human Rights Watch in May 2025 accused the Burkina Faso military and allied militias of killing more than 130 civilians during counter-terrorism operations.

    The report argued that members of the Fulani ethnic group were targeted in the operations because they were perceived to have relationships with terrorist groups. Terrorist groups are known to use such incidents to win the hearts and minds of local populations.

    Third, the lack of a coordinated approach to counter terrorism in the region is reversing the gains made in the last decade. Major developments have included the dissolving of the G5 Sahel. This grouping was created in 2014 to enhance security coordination between members. The members were Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Niger. The organisation launched joint counter-terrorism missions across member states but was dissolved in December 2023 after Niger and Burkina Faso withdrew.

    The weakening of the Multinational Joint Task Force due to the military coup in Niger and the countries’ strategic repositioning is undermining counter-terrorism initiatives. Task force members were Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin.

    The mandate of the task force is to combat Boko Haram and other terrorist groups operating around the Lake Chad basin. After its establishment in 2015 the task force achieved significant progress. In January 2025, Niger suspended its membership, putting the fight against terrorism in the region in jeopardy.

    Fourth, terrorist groups in the region are becoming more sophisticated in their approach. In April 2025, JNIM terrorists were suspected of launching a suicide drone attack on Togolese military positions.

    For its part, the military in the Sahelian countries are struggling to adapt to the terrorists’ new tactics. In the last few years, there has been a proliferation of drones in Africa by states and non-state actors.

    Halting the trend

    To combat the increasing attacks by terrorist groups, especially large-scale attacks on military positions, four immediate steps are necessary.

    First, nation states need to invest in surveillance capabilities. The loss of the drone base in Niger means Sahelian states must urgently find new ways of gathering and sharing intelligence. The topography of the region, which is mainly flat, with scattered vegetation, is an advantage as reconnaissance drones can easily detect suspicious movements, terrorist camps and travel routes.

    There is also a need to regulate the use of drones in the region to prevent use by non-state actors.

    In addition, countries fighting terrorism must find a way to improve the relationship between the military (and allied militias) and people affected by terrorism. My latest publication on the issue shows that vigilante groups engaged by the military forces are sometimes complicit in human rights abuse.

    Training on human rights is essential for military forces and allied militias.

    Terrorism funding avenues must be identified and blocked. Large scale terrorist attacks involve planning, training and resources. Funding from illegal mining, trafficking and kidnapping must be identified and eradicated. This will also include intelligence sharing between nation states.

    Finally, the Sahelian countries must find a mechanism to work with the Economic Community of West African States.

    As the numbers and intensity of terrorist activities are increasing across the Sahel, immediate action is necessary to combat this trend.

    – West Africa terror: why attacks on military bases are rising – and four ways to respond
    – https://theconversation.com/west-africa-terror-why-attacks-on-military-bases-are-rising-and-four-ways-to-respond-258622

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Samora Machel’s vision for Mozambique didn’t survive: what has taken its place?

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Luca Bussotti, Professor at the PhD Course in Peace, Democracy, Social Movements and Human Development, Universidade Técnica de Moçambique (UDM)

    Samora Moisés Machel, the first president of independent Mozambique, was born in 1933 in Gaza province, in the south of the country. He died in an unexplained plane crash on 19 October 1986, in Mbuzini, South Africa.

    Authoritarian and popular, humble and arrogant, visionary and tactical. All these words have been used to describe Machel. Despite these contradictions, there was one quality that everyone recognised in him: his charisma. At the time this gift wasn’t lacking in many political leaders of emerging countries, especially those of Marxist-Leninist inspiration. Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro above all.

    Their common faith went beyond any personal or family interest. It was a faith for the progress of humanity, for the liberation of oppressed peoples from the colonial yoke, from the chains of capitalism and from traditional values and practices considered regressive.

    Machel’s enlightenment programme was as fascinating as it was difficult to achieve in Mozambique in the mid-1970s. Small farmers, with all their “traditional” beliefs, made up the majority of the population. It was a political battle for social justice as well as a cultural crusade.

    Machel’s speech on 25 June 1975, at the Machava Stadium in Maputo, proclaiming Mozambique’s independence from Portugal, highlighted the contradictions. The new head of state addressed the “workers”, who represented a small minority of the Mozambican people. At the same time, he called for freedom from colonial-capitalist oppression and the effective, total independence of the new country, already identifying its possible enemies: the unproductive and exploitative bourgeoisie.

    The task of nation-building

    Machel’s charisma recalled that of the proto-nationalist hero Gungunhana, who had tried to resist the Portuguese occupation at the end of the 19th century. Machel’s grandfather, Maguivelani, was related to the “terrible” Gungunhana, the last emperor of Gaza, who was defeated in 1895 by Mouzinho de Albuquerque after years of struggle. He was deported to Portugal, where he died in 1906.

    Paradoxically, the anti-traditionalist Machel was the descendant of a great traditional chief. This heritage played a role in shaping his personality and political action.

    Machel’s main task was to build a nation that only existed because of political unification under the Portuguese. The initial choices, embedded in the Cold War atmosphere, forced the nationalist Machel to opt for a rapprochement with the Soviet Union. Mozambique formally adopted a Marxist-Leninist doctrine at its Third Congress in 1977.

    That approach meant political intolerance and the repression of “dissidents”, as well as the marginalisation of certain ethnic groups, above all the Amakhuwa people, who did not sympathise with Machel’s party, Frelimo.

    The forces opposed to the Marxist-Leninist solution expected democratic elections to be held after the proclamation of independence from Portugal. But this opportunity never came. Portugal handed over power to Frelimo (Lusaka Accords, 1974), ignoring the existence of other political groups.

    The treatment of leaders who opposed Frelimo’s vision was harsh. On their return from abroad, many were imprisoned in concentration camps in the north of the country.

    They included the resistance leader Joana Simeão, along with others such as Uria Simango, former vice-president of Frelimo, his wife, Celina Simango, and Lázaro Kavandame, the former Makonde leader who left Frelimo because he didn’t agree with its political line.

    They were put on arbitrary trial and executed. The dates and the method of execution are still officially unknown, despite the former president Joaquim Chissano’s public apology, in 2014, for these deaths.

    About a year after independence, an armed opposition, Renamo, was formed. It was financed first by Ian Smith’s Southern Rhodesian government, and then by the South African apartheid regime.

    Renamo, contrary to Machel’s expectations, had a solid popular base in central and northern Mozambique, especially among peasant populations who had expressed opposition to the policies of collectivisation and cooperation imposed by the Marxist-Leninist government.

    And it was war which led Machel to a controversial agreement with the South African apartheid enemy. The Nkomati Accords, signed in 1984, provided for the end of Mozambique’s logistical support to the exiled African National Congress in Mozambique and South Africa’s military and financial support to Renamo.

    This agreement did not bring peace. On the contrary, the war intensified, as the South African regime continued to finance Renamo.

    Machel died in 1986, with the war still raging, unable to see the end of a conflict that had devastated Mozambique and which defeated the socialist principles.

    The General Peace Accords between the Mozambican government, represented by the president, Chissano, and Renamo, represented by its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, were only signed in Rome in 1992.

    End of an era

    Machel took the first, important steps towards a rapprochement with the west, as demonstrated by his visit to Ronald Reagan in Washington in September 1985.

    It can be said that with his death the First Mozambican Republic ended, with all its positive and negative elements. The dream of building a fair Mozambique with an equitable distribution of national wealth came to an end.

    Machel had worked hard to ensure that health, education, transport, water and energy were distributed equally among Mozambicans. A poor but fair welfare state was born. But it was quickly dismantled in the years following his death. The Mozambican state had very few resources to devote to the welfare state. The rest was done by the rapid abandonment of an ideology, the socialist ideology, which by then the Frelimo elite no longer believed in.

    In addition, international financial institutions entered the country, with the notorious structural adjustment policies, as early as 1987.

    Corruption, which Machel sought to combat with various measures, and which he addressed at many of his rallies, spread across the country and all its institutions. The Frelimo political elite soon became the richest slice of the nation.

    Several observers began to speak of a kleptocracy. The country suffered from continuous corruption scandals. One of the biggest became known as “hidden debt,” in which the political elite, including one of ex-president Armando Guebuza’s sons and former intelligence chief, Gregório Leão, were convicted of a scheme that cost the public treasury more than US$2 billion.

    However, the main defeat was the fall of an inapplicable socialism.

    The adoption of a capitalist, liberal and democratic model, at least formally, put an end to the arbitrary violations of human rights as in the age of the socialist state, such as “Operation Production” of 1983. The programme aimed to move “unproductive” people living in cities to the countryside to promote agricultural production.

    In reality, it turned into arbitrary detentions and displacement of entire families, increasing the systematic violation of human rights by the state.

    At the same time, the end of socialism meant democratic openness. Since the 1990 constitution, Mozambique has had as its fundamental principles respect for civil and political freedoms based on the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights. Still, socio-economic rights have been denied as a result of the dismantling of the welfare state.

    How he’s remembered

    Today, many people miss Machel’s rule. Those who were close to him, such as José Óscar Monteiro, the former interior minister, recall him as an ethical statesman, intolerant of corruption and abuses against “his” people. So do some of the international media.

    Others, since the 1980s, such as Amnesty International, have denounced the serious violations of the most basic human rights by the Mozambican government and its leader.

    What remains of Machel today is above all his ethical teaching. He died poor, committed to the cause of his nation, leaving his heirs moral prestige.

    It is curious that his figure is associated, even in musical compositions by contemporary rappers from Mozambique, with his historical enemy, Dhlakama, who died in 2018.

    This popular tribute is proof of the distance between the country’s current ruling class and a “people” who are looking to the charismatic figure of Venâncio Mondlane, the so-called “people’s president”. But that’s another story that won’t fit here.

    – Samora Machel’s vision for Mozambique didn’t survive: what has taken its place?
    – https://theconversation.com/samora-machels-vision-for-mozambique-didnt-survive-what-has-taken-its-place-260110

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Alcohol and colonialism: the curious story of the Bulawayo beer gardens

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Maurice Hutton, Research Associate, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester

    Kontuthu Ziyathunqa – Smoke Rising – was what they used to call Bulawayo when the city was the industrial powerhouse of Zimbabwe. Now, many of its factories lie dormant or derelict. The daily torrent of workers flowing eastward at dawn, and back out to the high-density western suburbs at dusk, has diminished to a trickle.

    But there is an intriguing industrial-era institution that lives on in most of the older western suburbs (formerly called townships). It is the municipal beer hall or beer garden, built in the colonial days for the racially segregated African worker communities. There are dozens of these halls and garden complexes, still serving customers and emitting muffled sounds of merriment to this day.

    Read more: Mbare Art Space: a colonial beer hall in Zimbabwe has become a vibrant arts centre

    Like other urban areas in Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe), Bulawayo was informally segregated from its inception, and more formally segregated after the second world war. Under British rule (1893-1965) and then independent white minority rule (1965-1980), municipal drinking amenities were built in the townships to maintain control of African drinking and sociality. At the same time, they raised much-needed revenue for township welfare and recreational services.

    Read more: Zimbabwe’s economy crashed – so how do citizens still cling to myths of urban and economic success?

    I researched the history of these beer halls and gardens as part of my PhD project on the development of the segregated African townships in late colonial Bulawayo. As my historical account shows, they played a key role in the contested township development process.

    From beer halls to beer gardens

    Bulawayo’s oldest and most famous beer hall, MaKhumalo, also known as Big Bhawa, was built more than a century ago. It still stands at the heart of the historic Makokoba neighbourhood. It’s enormous, but austere, and in the early days it was oppressively managed. Drinkers would describe feeling like prisoners there.

    The more picturesque beer gardens began to emerge in the 1950s, reflecting the developmental idealism of Hugh Ashton. The Lesotho-born anthropologist was educated at the Universities of Oxford, London and Cape Town, and took up the new directorship of African administration in Bulawayo in 1949.

    Beer gardens emerged in the 1950s. Bulawayo Housing and Amenities Department

    He was tuned into new anthropological ideas about social change, as well as developmental ideas spreading through postwar colonial administrations – about “stabilising” and “detribalising” African workers to create a more passive and productive urban working class. He saw a reformed municipal beer system as a key tool for achieving these goals.

    Ashton wanted to make the beer system more legitimate and the venues more community-building. He proposed constructing beer garden complexes with trees, rocks, games facilities, food stalls and events like “traditional dancing”. So the atmosphere would be convivial and respectable, but also controllable, enticing all classes and boosting profits to fund better social services. As we shall see, this strategy was full of contradictions…

    Industrial beer brewing

    A colonial beer advert. Masiyepambili

    MaKhumalo, MaMkhwananzi, MaNdlovu, MaSilela. These beer garden names, emblazoned on the beer dispensaries that stick up above the ramparts of each garden complex, referenced the role that women traditionally played in beer brewing in southern Africa. This helped authenticate the council’s “home brew”.

    But the reality was that the beer was now produced in a massive industrial brewery managed by a Polish man. It was piped down from steel tanks at the tops of the dispensary buildings into the plastic mugs of thirsty punters at small bar windows below. (It was also sold in plastic calabashes and cardboard cartons.)

    Masiyepambili

    And the beer garden bureaucracy, which offered a rare opportunity for African men to attain higher-grade public sector jobs, became increasingly complex and strictly audited.

    As the townships rapidly expanded, with beer gardens dotted about them, sales of the council’s “traditional” beer – the quality of which Ashton and his staff obsessed over – went up and up.

    Extensive beer advertising in the council’s free magazine mixed symbols of tradition (beer as food) with symbols of modern middle-classness.

    Beer monopoly system

    The system’s success relied on the Bulawayo council having a monopoly on the sale of so-called “native beer”. This traditional brew is typically made by malting, mashing, boiling and then fermenting sorghum, millet or maize grains. Racialised Rhodesian liquor laws restricted African access to “European” beers, wines and spirits.

    So, the beer hall or garden was the only public venue where Africans could legally drink (apart from a tiny elite, for whom a few exclusive “cocktail lounges” were built). The council cracked down harshly on “liquor offences” like home brewing.

    This beer monopoly system was quite prevalent in southern and eastern Africa, though rarely at the scale to which it grew in Bulawayo. Nearly everywhere, the system caused resentment among African townspeople, and so it became politically charged.

    Beer delivery lorry at Esiqonweni. Maurice Hutton

    In several colonies, beer halls became sites of protest, or were boycotted (most famously in South Africa). And they usually faced stiff competition from illicit drinking dens known as shebeens.

    In Bulawayo, the more the city council “improved” its beer system after the Second World War, the more contradictory the system became. It actively encouraged mass consumption of “traditional” beer, so that funds could be raised for “modern” health, housing and welfare services in the townships. Ashton himself was painfully aware of the contradictions.

    In his guest introduction to a 1974 ethnographic monograph on Bulawayo’s beer gardens, he wrote:

    The ambivalence of my position is obvious. How can one maintain a healthy community and a healthy profit at one and the same time? I can almost hear the critical reader questioning my morality and even my sanity. And why not? I have often done so myself.

    Many citizen groups – both African and European – questioned the system too. They called it illogical, if not immoral; even some government ministers said it had gone too far. And when some beer gardens were constructed close to European residential areas, to cater for African domestic workers, many Europeans reacted with fear and fury.

    As Zimbabweans’ struggle for independence took off in the 1960s, African residents increasingly associated the beer halls and gardens with state neglect, repression, or pacification. They periodically boycotted or vandalised them. Nevertheless, with few alternative options, attendance rates remained high: MaKhumalo recorded 50,000 visitors on one Sunday in 1970.

    After independence

    After Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, the township beer gardens remained in municipal hands. They continued to be popular, even though racial desegregation had finally given township residents access to other social spaces across the city.

    The colonial-era municipal beers continued to be produced, with Ngwebu (“The Royal Brew”) becoming a patriotic beverage for the Ndebele – the city’s majority ethnic group.

    Beer dispensary valves at Umhambi. Maurice Hutton

    But with the deindustrialisation of Bulawayo since the late 1990s, tens of thousands of blue collar workers have moved to greener pastures, mostly South Africa. The old drinking rhythm of the city’s workforce has changed, and for the young, the beer gardens hold little allure. Increasingly, they have been leased out to private individuals to run.

    Read more: Beer, politics and identity – the chequered history behind Namibian brewing success

    Nevertheless, there is always a daily trickle of regulars to the beer gardens, where mugs and calabashes are passed around among friends or burial society members. Some punters play darts or pool. And there are always some who sit alone, ruminating – perhaps in the company of ghosts from the past.

    The beer gardens of Bulawayo embody the moral and practical contradictions of late colonial development – and the ways in which such systems and infrastructures may live on, but change meaning, in the post-colony.

    – Alcohol and colonialism: the curious story of the Bulawayo beer gardens
    – https://theconversation.com/alcohol-and-colonialism-the-curious-story-of-the-bulawayo-beer-gardens-256511

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: West Africa terror: why attacks on military bases are rising – and four ways to respond

    Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Olayinka Ajala, Associate professor in Politics and International Relations, Leeds Beckett University

    More than 40 Malian soldiers were killed and one of the country’s military bases was taken over in early June 2025 in a major attack by an al-Qaeda linked group, Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), on the town of Boulikessi.

    The same group launched an attack on the historic city of Timbuktu. The Malian army claimed it repelled the Timbuktu attack and killed 14 terrorists.

    Terrorist groups have attacked Boulikessi in large numbers before. In October 2019, 25 Malian soldiers were killed. The target was a G5 Sahel force military camp.

    Timbuktu has been in the sights of terrorist groups since 2012. JNIM laid siege to the city for several months in 2023. Timbuktu has a major airport and a key military base.

    In neighbouring Burkina Faso, there have been running battles in recent months between the military and terrorist groups. About 40% of the country is under the control of groups linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State. Military bases in the country have also been targeted.

    Mali and Burkina Faso are under military rule. Insecurity, especially increasing terrorist attacks, were key reasons the military juntas gave for seizing power in both countries.

    I have been researching terrorism and the formation of insurgent groups in west Africa and the Sahel for over a decade. What I am observing is that the terrorist groups are becoming more daring and constantly changing tactics, with increased attacks on military camps across the region.

    Military camps are attacked to lower the morale of the soldiers and steal ammunition. It also sends a message to locals that military forces are incapable of protecting civilians.

    I believe there are four main reasons for an increase in large scale attacks on military bases in the region:

    • the loss of the US drone base in Niger, which has made surveillance difficult

    • an increase in human rights abuses carried out in the name of counter terrorism

    • a lack of a coordinated approach to counter terrorism

    • constant changes of tactics by the terrorists.

    Identifying and addressing these issues are important to counter the trend.

    Why are the attacks increasing?

    First is the loss of the US drone base in Agadez, Republic of Niger, in 2024 after the military seized power in the country.

    I was initially sceptical when the drone base was commissioned in 2019. But it has in fact acted as a deterrent to terrorist groups.

    Terrorist organisations operating in the Sahel knew they were being watched by drones operating from the base. They were aware surveillance information was shared with member states. The loss of the base has reduced reconnaissance and surveillance activities in the region.

    Second, an increase in human rights abuse in the fight against terrorism in the region is dividing communities and increasing recruitment into terrorist groups. A report by Human Rights Watch in May 2025 accused the Burkina Faso military and allied militias of killing more than 130 civilians during counter-terrorism operations.

    The report argued that members of the Fulani ethnic group were targeted in the operations because they were perceived to have relationships with terrorist groups. Terrorist groups are known to use such incidents to win the hearts and minds of local populations.

    Third, the lack of a coordinated approach to counter terrorism in the region is reversing the gains made in the last decade. Major developments have included the dissolving of the G5 Sahel. This grouping was created in 2014 to enhance security coordination between members. The members were Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Niger. The organisation launched joint counter-terrorism missions across member states but was dissolved in December 2023 after Niger and Burkina Faso withdrew.

    The weakening of the Multinational Joint Task Force due to the military coup in Niger and the countries’ strategic repositioning is undermining counter-terrorism initiatives. Task force members were Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin.

    The mandate of the task force is to combat Boko Haram and other terrorist groups operating around the Lake Chad basin. After its establishment in 2015 the task force achieved significant progress. In January 2025, Niger suspended its membership, putting the fight against terrorism in the region in jeopardy.

    Fourth, terrorist groups in the region are becoming more sophisticated in their approach. In April 2025, JNIM terrorists were suspected of launching a suicide drone attack on Togolese military positions.

    For its part, the military in the Sahelian countries are struggling to adapt to the terrorists’ new tactics. In the last few years, there has been a proliferation of drones in Africa by states and non-state actors.

    Halting the trend

    To combat the increasing attacks by terrorist groups, especially large-scale attacks on military positions, four immediate steps are necessary.

    First, nation states need to invest in surveillance capabilities. The loss of the drone base in Niger means Sahelian states must urgently find new ways of gathering and sharing intelligence. The topography of the region, which is mainly flat, with scattered vegetation, is an advantage as reconnaissance drones can easily detect suspicious movements, terrorist camps and travel routes.

    There is also a need to regulate the use of drones in the region to prevent use by non-state actors.

    In addition, countries fighting terrorism must find a way to improve the relationship between the military (and allied militias) and people affected by terrorism. My latest publication on the issue shows that vigilante groups engaged by the military forces are sometimes complicit in human rights abuse.

    Training on human rights is essential for military forces and allied militias.

    Terrorism funding avenues must be identified and blocked. Large scale terrorist attacks involve planning, training and resources. Funding from illegal mining, trafficking and kidnapping must be identified and eradicated. This will also include intelligence sharing between nation states.

    Finally, the Sahelian countries must find a mechanism to work with the Economic Community of West African States.

    As the numbers and intensity of terrorist activities are increasing across the Sahel, immediate action is necessary to combat this trend.

    Olayinka Ajala does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. West Africa terror: why attacks on military bases are rising – and four ways to respond – https://theconversation.com/west-africa-terror-why-attacks-on-military-bases-are-rising-and-four-ways-to-respond-258622

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Samora Machel’s vision for Mozambique didn’t survive: what has taken its place?

    Source: The Conversation – Africa (2) – By Luca Bussotti, Professor at the PhD Course in Peace, Democracy, Social Movements and Human Development, Universidade Técnica de Moçambique (UDM)

    Samora Moisés Machel, the first president of independent Mozambique, was born in 1933 in Gaza province, in the south of the country. He died in an unexplained plane crash on 19 October 1986, in Mbuzini, South Africa.

    Authoritarian and popular, humble and arrogant, visionary and tactical. All these words have been used to describe Machel. Despite these contradictions, there was one quality that everyone recognised in him: his charisma. At the time this gift wasn’t lacking in many political leaders of emerging countries, especially those of Marxist-Leninist inspiration. Cuba’s revolutionary leader Fidel Castro above all.

    Their common faith went beyond any personal or family interest. It was a faith for the progress of humanity, for the liberation of oppressed peoples from the colonial yoke, from the chains of capitalism and from traditional values and practices considered regressive.

    Machel’s enlightenment programme was as fascinating as it was difficult to achieve in Mozambique in the mid-1970s. Small farmers, with all their “traditional” beliefs, made up the majority of the population. It was a political battle for social justice as well as a cultural crusade.

    Machel’s speech on 25 June 1975, at the Machava Stadium in Maputo, proclaiming Mozambique’s independence from Portugal, highlighted the contradictions. The new head of state addressed the “workers”, who represented a small minority of the Mozambican people. At the same time, he called for freedom from colonial-capitalist oppression and the effective, total independence of the new country, already identifying its possible enemies: the unproductive and exploitative bourgeoisie.

    The task of nation-building

    Machel’s charisma recalled that of the proto-nationalist hero Gungunhana, who had tried to resist the Portuguese occupation at the end of the 19th century. Machel’s grandfather, Maguivelani, was related to the “terrible” Gungunhana, the last emperor of Gaza, who was defeated in 1895 by Mouzinho de Albuquerque after years of struggle. He was deported to Portugal, where he died in 1906.

    Paradoxically, the anti-traditionalist Machel was the descendant of a great traditional chief. This heritage played a role in shaping his personality and political action.

    Machel’s main task was to build a nation that only existed because of political unification under the Portuguese. The initial choices, embedded in the Cold War atmosphere, forced the nationalist Machel to opt for a rapprochement with the Soviet Union. Mozambique formally adopted a Marxist-Leninist doctrine at its Third Congress in 1977.

    That approach meant political intolerance and the repression of “dissidents”, as well as the marginalisation of certain ethnic groups, above all the Amakhuwa people, who did not sympathise with Machel’s party, Frelimo.

    The forces opposed to the Marxist-Leninist solution expected democratic elections to be held after the proclamation of independence from Portugal. But this opportunity never came. Portugal handed over power to Frelimo (Lusaka Accords, 1974), ignoring the existence of other political groups.

    The treatment of leaders who opposed Frelimo’s vision was harsh. On their return from abroad, many were imprisoned in concentration camps in the north of the country.

    They included the resistance leader Joana Simeão, along with others such as Uria Simango, former vice-president of Frelimo, his wife, Celina Simango, and Lázaro Kavandame, the former Makonde leader who left Frelimo because he didn’t agree with its political line.

    They were put on arbitrary trial and executed. The dates and the method of execution are still officially unknown, despite the former president Joaquim Chissano’s public apology, in 2014, for these deaths.

    About a year after independence, an armed opposition, Renamo, was formed. It was financed first by Ian Smith’s Southern Rhodesian government, and then by the South African apartheid regime.

    Renamo, contrary to Machel’s expectations, had a solid popular base in central and northern Mozambique, especially among peasant populations who had expressed opposition to the policies of collectivisation and cooperation imposed by the Marxist-Leninist government.

    And it was war which led Machel to a controversial agreement with the South African apartheid enemy. The Nkomati Accords, signed in 1984, provided for the end of Mozambique’s logistical support to the exiled African National Congress in Mozambique and South Africa’s military and financial support to Renamo.

    This agreement did not bring peace. On the contrary, the war intensified, as the South African regime continued to finance Renamo.

    Machel died in 1986, with the war still raging, unable to see the end of a conflict that had devastated Mozambique and which defeated the socialist principles.

    The General Peace Accords between the Mozambican government, represented by the president, Chissano, and Renamo, represented by its leader, Afonso Dhlakama, were only signed in Rome in 1992.

    End of an era

    Machel took the first, important steps towards a rapprochement with the west, as demonstrated by his visit to Ronald Reagan in Washington in September 1985.

    It can be said that with his death the First Mozambican Republic ended, with all its positive and negative elements. The dream of building a fair Mozambique with an equitable distribution of national wealth came to an end.

    Machel had worked hard to ensure that health, education, transport, water and energy were distributed equally among Mozambicans. A poor but fair welfare state was born. But it was quickly dismantled in the years following his death. The Mozambican state had very few resources to devote to the welfare state. The rest was done by the rapid abandonment of an ideology, the socialist ideology, which by then the Frelimo elite no longer believed in.

    In addition, international financial institutions entered the country, with the notorious structural adjustment policies, as early as 1987.

    Corruption, which Machel sought to combat with various measures, and which he addressed at many of his rallies, spread across the country and all its institutions. The Frelimo political elite soon became the richest slice of the nation.

    Several observers began to speak of a kleptocracy. The country suffered from continuous corruption scandals. One of the biggest became known as “hidden debt,” in which the political elite, including one of ex-president Armando Guebuza’s sons and former intelligence chief, Gregório Leão, were convicted of a scheme that cost the public treasury more than US$2 billion.

    However, the main defeat was the fall of an inapplicable socialism.

    The adoption of a capitalist, liberal and democratic model, at least formally, put an end to the arbitrary violations of human rights as in the age of the socialist state, such as “Operation Production” of 1983. The programme aimed to move “unproductive” people living in cities to the countryside to promote agricultural production.

    In reality, it turned into arbitrary detentions and displacement of entire families, increasing the systematic violation of human rights by the state.

    At the same time, the end of socialism meant democratic openness. Since the 1990 constitution, Mozambique has had as its fundamental principles respect for civil and political freedoms based on the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights. Still, socio-economic rights have been denied as a result of the dismantling of the welfare state.

    How he’s remembered

    Today, many people miss Machel’s rule. Those who were close to him, such as José Óscar Monteiro, the former interior minister, recall him as an ethical statesman, intolerant of corruption and abuses against “his” people. So do some of the international media.

    Others, since the 1980s, such as Amnesty International, have denounced the serious violations of the most basic human rights by the Mozambican government and its leader.

    What remains of Machel today is above all his ethical teaching. He died poor, committed to the cause of his nation, leaving his heirs moral prestige.

    It is curious that his figure is associated, even in musical compositions by contemporary rappers from Mozambique, with his historical enemy, Dhlakama, who died in 2018.

    This popular tribute is proof of the distance between the country’s current ruling class and a “people” who are looking to the charismatic figure of Venâncio Mondlane, the so-called “people’s president”. But that’s another story that won’t fit here.

    Luca Bussotti does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Samora Machel’s vision for Mozambique didn’t survive: what has taken its place? – https://theconversation.com/samora-machels-vision-for-mozambique-didnt-survive-what-has-taken-its-place-260110

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Alcohol and colonialism: the curious story of the Bulawayo beer gardens

    Source: The Conversation – Africa – By Maurice Hutton, Research Associate, School of Environment, Education and Development, University of Manchester

    Kontuthu Ziyathunqa – Smoke Rising – was what they used to call Bulawayo when the city was the industrial powerhouse of Zimbabwe. Now, many of its factories lie dormant or derelict. The daily torrent of workers flowing eastward at dawn, and back out to the high-density western suburbs at dusk, has diminished to a trickle.

    But there is an intriguing industrial-era institution that lives on in most of the older western suburbs (formerly called townships). It is the municipal beer hall or beer garden, built in the colonial days for the racially segregated African worker communities. There are dozens of these halls and garden complexes, still serving customers and emitting muffled sounds of merriment to this day.



    Read more:
    Mbare Art Space: a colonial beer hall in Zimbabwe has become a vibrant arts centre

    Like other urban areas in Rhodesia (colonial Zimbabwe), Bulawayo was informally segregated from its inception, and more formally segregated after the second world war. Under British rule (1893-1965) and then independent white minority rule (1965-1980), municipal drinking amenities were built in the townships to maintain control of African drinking and sociality. At the same time, they raised much-needed revenue for township welfare and recreational services.



    Read more:
    Zimbabwe’s economy crashed – so how do citizens still cling to myths of urban and economic success?

    I researched the history of these beer halls and gardens as part of my PhD project on the development of the segregated African townships in late colonial Bulawayo. As my historical account shows, they played a key role in the contested township development process.

    From beer halls to beer gardens

    Bulawayo’s oldest and most famous beer hall, MaKhumalo, also known as Big Bhawa, was built more than a century ago. It still stands at the heart of the historic Makokoba neighbourhood. It’s enormous, but austere, and in the early days it was oppressively managed. Drinkers would describe feeling like prisoners there.

    The more picturesque beer gardens began to emerge in the 1950s, reflecting the developmental idealism of Hugh Ashton. The Lesotho-born anthropologist was educated at the Universities of Oxford, London and Cape Town, and took up the new directorship of African administration in Bulawayo in 1949.

    He was tuned into new anthropological ideas about social change, as well as developmental ideas spreading through postwar colonial administrations – about “stabilising” and “detribalising” African workers to create a more passive and productive urban working class. He saw a reformed municipal beer system as a key tool for achieving these goals.

    Ashton wanted to make the beer system more legitimate and the venues more community-building. He proposed constructing beer garden complexes with trees, rocks, games facilities, food stalls and events like “traditional dancing”. So the atmosphere would be convivial and respectable, but also controllable, enticing all classes and boosting profits to fund better social services. As we shall see, this strategy was full of contradictions…

    Industrial beer brewing

    MaKhumalo, MaMkhwananzi, MaNdlovu, MaSilela. These beer garden names, emblazoned on the beer dispensaries that stick up above the ramparts of each garden complex, referenced the role that women traditionally played in beer brewing in southern Africa. This helped authenticate the council’s “home brew”.

    But the reality was that the beer was now produced in a massive industrial brewery managed by a Polish man. It was piped down from steel tanks at the tops of the dispensary buildings into the plastic mugs of thirsty punters at small bar windows below. (It was also sold in plastic calabashes and cardboard cartons.)

    And the beer garden bureaucracy, which offered a rare opportunity for African men to attain higher-grade public sector jobs, became increasingly complex and strictly audited.

    As the townships rapidly expanded, with beer gardens dotted about them, sales of the council’s “traditional” beer – the quality of which Ashton and his staff obsessed over – went up and up.

    Extensive beer advertising in the council’s free magazine mixed symbols of tradition (beer as food) with symbols of modern middle-classness.

    Beer monopoly system

    The system’s success relied on the Bulawayo council having a monopoly on the sale of so-called “native beer”. This traditional brew is typically made by malting, mashing, boiling and then fermenting sorghum, millet or maize grains. Racialised Rhodesian liquor laws restricted African access to “European” beers, wines and spirits.

    So, the beer hall or garden was the only public venue where Africans could legally drink (apart from a tiny elite, for whom a few exclusive “cocktail lounges” were built). The council cracked down harshly on “liquor offences” like home brewing.

    This beer monopoly system was quite prevalent in southern and eastern Africa, though rarely at the scale to which it grew in Bulawayo. Nearly everywhere, the system caused resentment among African townspeople, and so it became politically charged.

    In several colonies, beer halls became sites of protest, or were boycotted (most famously in South Africa). And they usually faced stiff competition from illicit drinking dens known as shebeens.

    In Bulawayo, the more the city council “improved” its beer system after the Second World War, the more contradictory the system became. It actively encouraged mass consumption of “traditional” beer, so that funds could be raised for “modern” health, housing and welfare services in the townships. Ashton himself was painfully aware of the contradictions.

    In his guest introduction to a 1974 ethnographic monograph on Bulawayo’s beer gardens, he wrote:

    The ambivalence of my position is obvious. How can one maintain a healthy community and a healthy profit at one and the same time? I can almost hear the critical reader questioning my morality and even my sanity. And why not? I have often done so myself.

    Many citizen groups – both African and European – questioned the system too. They called it illogical, if not immoral; even some government ministers said it had gone too far. And when some beer gardens were constructed close to European residential areas, to cater for African domestic workers, many Europeans reacted with fear and fury.

    As Zimbabweans’ struggle for independence took off in the 1960s, African residents increasingly associated the beer halls and gardens with state neglect, repression, or pacification. They periodically boycotted or vandalised them. Nevertheless, with few alternative options, attendance rates remained high: MaKhumalo recorded 50,000 visitors on one Sunday in 1970.

    After independence

    After Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, the township beer gardens remained in municipal hands. They continued to be popular, even though racial desegregation had finally given township residents access to other social spaces across the city.

    The colonial-era municipal beers continued to be produced, with Ngwebu (“The Royal Brew”) becoming a patriotic beverage for the Ndebele – the city’s majority ethnic group.

    But with the deindustrialisation of Bulawayo since the late 1990s, tens of thousands of blue collar workers have moved to greener pastures, mostly South Africa. The old drinking rhythm of the city’s workforce has changed, and for the young, the beer gardens hold little allure. Increasingly, they have been leased out to private individuals to run.



    Read more:
    Beer, politics and identity – the chequered history behind Namibian brewing success

    Nevertheless, there is always a daily trickle of regulars to the beer gardens, where mugs and calabashes are passed around among friends or burial society members. Some punters play darts or pool. And there are always some who sit alone, ruminating – perhaps in the company of ghosts from the past.

    The beer gardens of Bulawayo embody the moral and practical contradictions of late colonial development – and the ways in which such systems and infrastructures may live on, but change meaning, in the post-colony.

    Maurice Hutton received funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the University of Edinburgh’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences to conduct the research on which this article is based.

    – ref. Alcohol and colonialism: the curious story of the Bulawayo beer gardens – https://theconversation.com/alcohol-and-colonialism-the-curious-story-of-the-bulawayo-beer-gardens-256511

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  • MIL-OSI Video: President Cyril Ramaphosa wrap interview at the XVII BRICS Summit in Rio deJaneiro.

    Source: Republic of South Africa (video statements)

    President Cyril Ramaphosa wrap interview at the XVII BRICS Summit in Rio deJaneiro.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtU1J1I8OKI

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  • MIL-OSI Africa: Police Commissioner commends sentencing in Magaqa case 

    Source: Government of South Africa

    Monday, July 7, 2025

    The National Police Commissioner of the South African Police Service (SAPS), General Fannie Masemola has commended the efforts of the investigating team in securing a 25-year imprisonment sentence imposed on hitman Sibusiso Ncengwa for the murder of Sindiso Magaqa in July 2017. 

    The SAPS Political Killings Task Team took over the case in July 2018 after their formation. Within a month, the first hitman, Ncengwa was arrested in August 2018 by the team. Six others were later arrested in December of the same year.

    This as the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday found Ngcengwa guilty on 11 counts with the breakdown as follows: 
    •    Count 1: Conspiracy to commit murder-25years
    •    Count 2: Murder -25 years
    •    Count  3: Attempted murder- 5 Years
    •    Count 4: Attempted murder- 5 years
    •    Count 5: Attempted murder-5years
    •    Count 6: Malicious damage to property – 3years
    •    Count 7: Malicious damage to property- 3 years
    •    Count 8: Malicious damage to property-3 years
    •    Count 9: Unlawful possession of a fully automatic firearm- 5years
    •    Count 10: unlawful Possession of firearms – 5 years.
    •    Count 11: unlawful possession of ammunition- 1year
    •    Count: 1,3 to 11 will run concurrently with Count 2 which is 25 years. 

    “Three other accused are still in custody with the third declared mentally unfit to stand trial. 

    “The third accused is in a mental institution. The trial of the two who are fit to stand trial is expected to be heard between 19 September 2025 to 21 October 2025 in the Pietermaritzburg High Court,” the police said. – SAnews.gov.za

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  • MIL-OSI Africa: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) clinic sees nearly triple rise in malnutrition admissions in northern Nigeria

    Source: APO


    .

    • In-patient admissions at IRC clinics increased sharply: from 241 in March to 672 in May, a 178% rise.
    • Approximately 4.6 million people in the northern BAY states (Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe) are projected to experience acute food insecurity between June and September.
    • Over 600,000 children under five are at immediate risk of severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form of malnutrition.
    • Children with severe acute malnutrition are 11 times more likely to die than healthy children.

    The IRC is alarmed by rising numbers of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition admitted to IRC clinics across the northeast and northwest of Nigeria. Malnutrition rates are expected to intensify as the lean season sets in amidst growing insecurity, increased climate shocks like severe flooding, and aid cuts. 

    During the lean season, between harvesting periods, children face a high risk of complications like malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea, and respiratory infections. Rainfall leads to water contamination and cholera outbreaks, while wet conditions increase mosquito breeding and disease spread. 

    Babatunde Ojei, Country Director, IRC Nigeria, said:

    “It’s heartbreaking to see the needs of children growing while the support to reach them is shrinking. Rising insecurity and violence is cutting off communities, leaving the most vulnerable, especially children, without the care they desperately need.”

    Fewer implementing partners are active as donor reluctance, driven by insecurity, limited access, and global aid cuts, continues to restrict funding. While admissions are slightly lower this year compared to last – 763 children were admitted in May 2024 – this reduction in cases reflects reduced access and coverage rather than an improved situation. Activities have been scaled down within community outreach services, limiting screening and resulting in fewer identified cases. The IRC handed over one inpatient treatment site for children with severe acute malnutrition with complications to the government following funding cuts.

    Aid cuts disproportionately impact countries caught at the intersection of conflict and climate crises. Increasingly frequent seasonal flooding is expected to worsen the already critical crisis of severe acute malnutrition in children by destroying food stocks, disrupting agricultural activities, and displacing families: all leading to heightened food insecurity and more cases of acute malnutrition. Last year’s devastating floods triggered a sharp rise in malnutrition, with adult malnutrition also emerging as a serious concern, including widespread cases of stomach ulcers linked to hunger.

    In Nigeria, the IRC is tackling acute malnutrition with teams working across 7 hospitals and 65 community facilities. In 2024, more than 133,000 children under the age of 5 received treatment for acute malnutrition from our teams.

    The IRC is leading innovation on simplified approaches to treating acute malnutrition, and ensuring more children receive life-saving treatment with the same resources.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Rescue Committee (IRC) .

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  • MIL-OSI Africa: Kenya: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)-China South-South Cooperation High-level Meeting Held in Nairobi

    Source: APO


    .

    On July 4, the high-level meeting of the FAO-China South-South Cooperation Project was held at the Kenyan Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. Attendees included Mr. Jiang Wensheng, Vice Minister of China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Ms. Tipo, FAO Representative in Kenya ad interim; Dr. Ronoh, Principal Secretary of Kenya’s State Department for Agricultural Development; and Ms. Guo Haiyan, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya. The meeting focused on deepening agricultural South-South cooperation, enhancing food security, addressing climate change, and promoting rural development.

    China has been supporting Kenya for integrated fall armyworm control and low-carbon tea value chain through the FAO SSC/SSTC framework with promising results. The three parties expressed their commitment to further cooperation in promoting Chinese technologies and experience in developing countries to enhance agricultural productivity, facilitate poverty reduction and rural development, and address climate change. The Kenyan side welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in agricultural sector in Kenya and hopes that China provide trade facilitation for Kenyan agricultural exports to its vast market.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Republic of Kenya.

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  • MIL-OSI Submissions: Nations are increasingly ‘playing the field’ when it comes to US and China – a new book explains explains why ‘active nonalignment’ is on the march

    Source: The Conversation – Global Perspectives – By Jorge Heine, Outgoing Interim Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future, Boston University

    Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, center, flanked by India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaks at the summit of Group of 20 leading economies in Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 19, 2024. Mauro Pimentel/AFP via Getty Images

    In 2020, as Latin American countries were contending with the triple challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global economic shock and U.S. policy under the first Trump administration, Jorge Heine, research professor at Boston University and a former Chilean ambassador, in association with two colleagues, Carlos Fortin and Carlos Ominami, put forward the notion of “active nonalignment.”


    Polity Books

    Five years on, the foreign policy approach is more relevant than ever, with trends including the rise of the Global South and the fragmentation of the global order, encouraging countries around the world to reassess their relationships with both the United States and China.

    It led Heine, along with Fortin and Ominami, to follow up on their original arguments in a new book, “The Non-Aligned World,” published in June 2025.

    The Conversation spoke with Heine on what is behind the push toward active nonalignment, and where it may lead.

    For those not familiar, what is active nonalignment?

    Active nonalignment is a foreign policy approach in which countries put their own interests front and center and refuse to take sides in the great power rivalry between the U.S. and China.

    It takes its cue from the Non-Aligned Movement of the 1950s and 1960s but updates it to the realities of the 21st century. Today’s rising Global South is very different from the “Third World” that made up the Non-Aligned Movement. Countries like India, Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia have greater economic heft and wherewithal. They thus have more options than in the past.

    They can pick and choose policies in accordance with what is in their national interests. And because there is competition between Washington and Beijing to win over such countries’ hearts and minds, those looking to promote a nonaligned agenda have greater leverage.

    Traditional international relations literature suggests that in relations between nations, you can either “balance,” meaning take a strong position against another power, or “bandwagon” – that is, go along with the wishes of that power. The notion was that weaker states couldn’t balance against the Great Powers because they don’t have the military power to do so, so they had to bandwagon.

    What we are saying is that there is an intermediate approach: hedging. Countries can hedge their bets or equivocate by playing one power off the other. So, on some issues you side with the U.S., and others you side with China.

    Thus, the grand strategy of active nonalignment is “playing the field,” or in other words, searching for opportunities among what is available in the international environment. This means being constantly on the lookout for potential advantages and available resources – in short, being active, rather than passive or reactive.

    So active nonalignment is not so much a movement as it is a doctrine.

    Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, right, and Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser attend the first Conference of Non-Aligned Countries in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in September 1961.
    Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

    It’s been five years since you first came up with the idea of active nonalignment. Why did you think it was time to revisit it now?

    The notion of active nonalignment came up during the first Trump administration and in the context of a Latin America hit by the triple-whammy of U.S. pressure, a pandemic and the ensuing recession – which in Latin America translated into the biggest economic downturn in 120 years, a 6.6% drop of regional gross domestic product in 2020.

    ANA was intended as a guide for Latin American countries to navigate those difficult moments, and it led us to the publication of a symposium volume with contributions by six former Latin American foreign ministers in November 2021, in which we elaborated on the concept.

    Three months later, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the reaction to it by many countries in Asia and Africa, nonalignment was back with a vengeance.

    Countries like India, Pakistan, South Africa and Indonesia, among others, took positions that were at odds with the West on Ukraine. Many of them, though not all, condemned Russian aggression but also wanted no part in the West’s sanctions on Moscow. These sanctions were seen as unwarranted and as an expression of Western double standards – no sanctions were applied on the U.S. for invading Iraq, of course.

    And then there were the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the resulting war in the Gaza Strip. Countries across the Global South strongly condemned the Hamas attacks, but the West’s response to the subsequent deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians brought home the notion of double standards when it came to international human rights.

    Why weren’t Palestinians deserving of the same compassion as Ukrainians? For many in the Global South, that question hit very hard – the idea that “human rights are limited to Europeans and people who looked like them did not go down well.”

    Thus, South Africa brought a case against Israel in the International Court of Justice alleging genocide, and Brazil spearheaded ceasefire efforts at the United Nations.

    A third development is the expansion of the BRICS bloc of economies from its original five members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – to 10 members. Although China and Russia are not members of the Global South, those other founding members are, and the BRICS group has promoted key issues on the Global South’s agenda. The addition of countries such as Egypt and Ethiopia has meant that BRICS has increasingly taken on the guise of the Global South forum. Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a leading proponent of BRICS, is keen on advancing this Global South agenda.

    All three of these developments have made active nonalignment more relevant than ever before.

    How are China and the US responding to active nonalignment – or are they?

    I’ll give you two examples: Angola and Argentina.

    In Angola, the African country that has received most Chinese cooperation to the tune of US$45 billion, you now have the U.S. financing what is known as the Lobito Corridor – a railway line that stretches from the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Angola’s Atlantic coast.

    Ten years ago, the notion that the U.S. would be financing railway projects in southern Africa would have been considered unfathomable. Yet it has happened. Why? Because China has built significant railway lines in countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia, and the U.S. realized that it was being left behind.

    For the longest time, the U.S. would condemn such Chinese-financed infrastructure projects via the “Belt and Road Initiative” as nothing but “debt-trap diplomacy” designed to saddle developing nations with “white elephants” nobody needed. But a couple of years ago, that tune changed: The U.S. and Europe realized that there is a big infrastructure deficit in Asia, Africa and Latin America that China was stepping in to reduce – and the West was nowhere to be seen in this critical area.

    In short, the West changed it approach – and countries like Angola are now able to play the U.S. off against China for its own national interests.

    Then take Argentina. In 2023, Javier Milei was elected president on a strong anti-China platform. He said his government would have nothing to do with Beijing. But just two years later, Milei announced in an Economist interview that he is a great admirer of Beijing.

    Why? Because Argentina has a very significant foreign debt, and Milei knew that a continued anti-China stance would mean a credit line from Beijing would likely not be renewed. The Argentinian president was under pressure from the International Monetary Fund and Washington to let the credit line with China lapse, but Milei refused to do so and managed to hold his own, playing both sides against the middle.

    Milei is a populist conservative; Brazil’s Lula a leftist. So is active nonalignment immune to ideological differences?

    Absolutely. When people ask me what the difference is between traditional nonalignment and active nonalignment, one of the most obvious things is that the latter is nonideological – it can be used by people of the right, left and center. It is a guide to action, a compass to navigate the waters of a highly troubled world, and can be used by governments of very different ideological hues.

    Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentina President Javier Milei at the 66th Summit of leaders of the Mercosur trading bloc in Buenos Aires on July 3, 2025.
    Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images

    The book talks a lot about the fragmentation of the rules-based order. Where do you see this heading?

    There is little doubt that the liberal international order that framed world politics from 1945 to 2016 has come to an end. Some of its bedrock principles, like multilateralism, free trade and respect for international law and existing international treaties, have been severely undermined.

    We are now in a transitional stage. The notion of the West as a geopolitical entity, as we knew it, has ceased to exist. We now have the extraordinary situation where illiberal forces in Hungary, Germany and Poland, among other places, are being supported by those in power in both Washington and Moscow.

    And this decline of the West has not come about because of any economic issue – the U.S. still represents around 25% of global GDP, much as it did in 1970 – but because of the breakdown of the trans-Atlantic alliance.

    So we are moving toward a very different type of world order – and one in which the Global South has the opportunity to have much more of a role, especially if it deploys active nonalignment.

    How have events since Trump’s inauguration played into your argument?

    The notion of active nonalignment was triggered by the first Trump administration’s pressure on Latin American countries. I would argue that the measures undertaken in Trump’s second administration – the tariffs imposed on 90 countries around the world; the U.S. leaving the Paris climate agreement, the World Health Organization and the U.N. Human Rights Council; and other “America First” policies – have only underscored the validity of active nonalignment as a foreign policy approach.

    The pressures on countries across the Global South are very strong, and there is a temptation to give in to Trump and align with U.S. Yet, all indications are that simply giving in to Trump’s demands isn’t a recipe for success. Those countries that have gone down the route of giving in to Trump’s demands only see more demands after that. Countries need a different approach – and that can be found in active nonalignment.

    Jorge Heine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. Nations are increasingly ‘playing the field’ when it comes to US and China – a new book explains explains why ‘active nonalignment’ is on the march – https://theconversation.com/nations-are-increasingly-playing-the-field-when-it-comes-to-us-and-china-a-new-book-explains-explains-why-active-nonalignment-is-on-the-march-260234

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety Visits Latin America to launch UN Global Road Safety Campaign  

    Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

    The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, Jean Todt, will visit Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Colombia and Brazil (23-27 June), to launch the UN global campaign #MakeASafetyStatement, in partnership with JCDecaux. During his visit, he will meet with key government officials, representatives of the international community, private and public sector leaders, and representatives of civil society to promote road safety initiatives and advocate for enhanced measures. 

    This mission aligns with the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, which aims to halve road fatalities by 2030. It follows the adoption of a new UN resolution on road safety at the 4th Global Ministerial Conference on Road Safety in Marrakech, Morocco, earlier this year (18-19February). 

    A Silent Pandemic

    Road traffic crashes claimed more than 145,000 lives across the Americas in 2021, according to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), representing 12% of global road fatalities that year. Road crashes remain the leading cause of death for children and young people aged 5 to 29 years old globally imposing a significant social and economic burden. According to the World Bank, the cost of road crashes represents between 3% and 6% of GDP in the region.   

    Across the Americas, deaths on the road have registered a 9.37% drop in the decade to 2021. The region’s progress is above the 5% global drop in deaths in the period but is nowhere near fast enough to meet the global goal of halving road deaths by 2030.  

    Latin America is one of the most urbanized regions in the world, making road safety a crucial component of city development strategies. This underscores the urgent need to rethink mobility and invest in road safety. 

    Solutions exist 

    The good news is that solutions exist. Strengthening law enforcement, investing in education and public transport, enhancing road infrastructure and vehicle safety, developing bicycle lanes and pedestrian pathways — especially around schools —and improving post-crash care are all part of a safe and efficient mobility system. Additionally, mobilizing political leadership is crucial to increase funding and action.  

    A 2019 report commissioned by Bloomberg Philanthropies revealed that more than 25,000 lives could be saved and over 170,000 serious injuries prevented by 2030 if United Nations (UN) vehicle safety regulations were applied by four key countries in the region—Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Brazil. 

    “Every year we lose 1.19 million lives on the world’s roads, this is equivalent to the entire population of cities like Monterrey (Mexico), Guatemala or Campinas (Brazil). This is madness, because we know how to stop this carnage. With this campaign we call for urgent action to ensure safe roads for all, everywhere on the continent,” said Jean Todt, UN Special Envoy for Road Safety.   

    Jean-Charles Decaux, Co-CEO of JCDecaux said: “At JCDecaux, we are committed to improving the quality of life for people wherever they live, work and travel, offering innovative, sustainable street furniture and services that meet cities and citizens’ expectations. This is the core of our mission and that is why we are proud to partner with the United Nations and Jean Todt, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Road Safety, to display this road safety campaign across our global media network. Following its successful rollout in over 50 countries since September 2023, the campaign’s launch in Latin America marks a key milestone, amplifying local road safety efforts and reinforcing public awareness. With our powerful and service-driven media, we are able to relay these vital prevention messages in high-impact locations, promote safe behaviour, and engage all our stakeholders around this major cause. The campaign’s positive tone, supported by international celebrities, helps inspire a new vision for public space: one that is safer, more inclusive, and more harmonious for all.” 

    #MakeASafetyStatement campaign  

    The global #MakeASafetyStatement campaign aims to promote road safety and create secure, inclusive, and sustainable streets worldwide. 

    Celebrities fronting the campaign in Latin America include football icon Ousmane Dembélé, F1 driver Charles Leclerc, tennis legend Novak Djokovic, singer and musician Kylie Minogue, motorcycle racer Marc Marquez, supermodel Naomi Campbell, and actors Patrick Dempsey and Michael Fassbender.  

    Thanks to the support of the International Olympic Committee, Latin American 2024 Olympic champions such as Juan-Manuel Celaya (Mexico, silver medal, diving), Adriana Ruano (Guatemala, gold medal, shooting women’s trap), Atheyna Bylon (Panama, silver medal, boxing), Angel Barajas (Colombia, silver medal, gymnastics), Rebecca Andrade (Brazil, gold medal, artistic gymnastics) have joined the initiative. 

    National focus 

    Mexico 

    In Mexico, 15 to 16,000 people die each year in road accidents.  This puts the fatality rate at 12.4 per 100,000 inhabitants, below the average for the Americas, and for countries such as the USA, Colombia or Brazil, but above Chile or Argentina.  The economic cost of road accidents is estimated at approximately 1.4% of GDP. 

    One third of all road deaths in Mexico are among pedestrians and motorcyclists, so protecting these vulnerable road users should be an urgent priority. It should be noted, however, that road crash statistics are very incomplete. 

    The National Law of Mobility and Road Safety of 2022 called for the adoption of the life-saving ‘safe systems’ approach that makes safety priority in all road-related policies and planning and is laid out in the Global Plan for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. An exemplary amendment to Mexico’s constitution underpinned the law, making ‘mobility under the conditions of safety, accessibility, efficiency, sustainability, quality, inclusion and equality,’ a universal right for all Mexicans.  

    Although the law mandated the use of certified helmets at the federal level, most Mexican states have not yet legislated mandatory use, resulting in low compliance rates. 

    Guatemala 

    Road crashes remain a significant public health issue in Guatemala, with some 2,352 deaths registered in 2024 on the country’s roads. This brings the death rate at 12.6 per 100,000 population, as per WHO estimates.  

    Motorcycles are involved in half of the crashes and riders represent some 60% of the victims.  Road crashes happen predominantly in urban areas and among vulnerable road users. 

    In the recent period, Guatemala has made some progress in addressing road safety, both through institutional strengthening and the improvement of monitoring systems, legislative response, and intersectoral coordination. 

    Guatemala is currently a party to only 1 of the 7 core UN Road Safety legals instruments and legislation on pedestrian protection and child restraint systems remains fragmented. Helmet use is mandatory, but technical standards are not fully aligned with international best practices (e.g., UN-certified helmet standards ECE 22.05). Enforcement also remains a key challenge.  

    Guatemala currently participates in a project of the UN Road Safety Fund (UN RSF) Safe School Zones, which supports infrastructure improvements and awareness campaigns to protect children around schools. 

    Panama 

    Panama achieved a 45% reduction in road fatalities between 2016 and 2021, from 440 to 243 deaths. Its rate of 7.3 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants is the fourth lowest on the continent.  

    However, it records a very high level of people with serious injuries after a crash, with about 21 cases per death.   

    Panama is currently implementing 2 projects under the UN Road Safety Fund: Safe School Zones, aimed at reducing child fatalities near schools, and Strengthening Road Safety Legislation, aiming at aligning national laws with global best practices. Two legislative improvements are currently under discussion, on pedestrian protection and child restraints. 

    Colombia 

    Some 8,146 people died on Colombia’s in 2022, a 24% increase compared to the average from 2017 to 2019, driven by the rise in the number of motorcycles (+ over 100%)  and cars (+58%) registered between 2010 and 2022Motorcyclists represented 60% of the victims, and pedestrians 21%. The death rate is at 16 per 100,000 population (WHO), for an economic toll estimated at some 3% of GDP. 

    In recent years, through ANSV (Agencia Nacional de Seguridad Vial), the government has worked with cities such as Bogotá, Medellín, and Cali to implement urban safety plans, including developing public transport (express buses and cable cars); upgrading pedestrian infrastructure; developing safer intersections and introducing speed control zones. 

    The new Road Safety strategy (2022-2031) adopted in 2022 officially adopted the Safe System approach. 

    Colombia implements three projects financed by the UNRS, focusing on: institutional strengthening and better crash data systems; Safe and Sustainable Urban Mobility Planning; and an Awareness Campaign for Road Safety and Behavior Change addressing National media and school-based outreach initiatives. 

    Brazil 

    In Brazil, the mortality rate is 15.7 per 100,000 inhabitants.  Pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists—compose around 61% of all crash fatalities. The notable rise in motorcycle-related deaths observed over recent years calls for accrued efforts to enforce the use of proper helmets – aligned with UN regulations (e.g., ECE-22.05). 

    Road safety remains a key challenges with the economic toll of road crashes estimated at some 5% of GDP.  This is one powerful reason to rethink mobility and invest in road safety. 

    The adoption of the National Road Safety Plan (2019–2028) , aiming for a 50% reduction in fatalities by 2028, marks a strong direction, and laws exist on helmet usage, child restraints, speed, drink & drug driving, mobile phone ban, etc. However, enforcement gaps remain—especially in speed and seatbelt compliance among rear passengers.   

    Mandatory inspections of vehicles exist, but several modern safety requirements (ABS, Electronic Stability Control, pedestrian protection, etc.) have not yet been made mandatory.   

    The UN RSF Project Improving Crash Prevention on Federal Highways in Brazil develops an interoperable system for road data collection and analysis, enabling effective countermeasures. 

    Photo credit: JCDecaux

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI Analysis: Turbulent research landscape imperils US brain gain − and ultimately American prosperity

    Source: The Conversation – USA – By Marc Zimmer, Professor of Chemistry, Connecticut College

    International students have been a big part of American STEM. Rick Friedman/AFP via Getty Images

    Despite representing only 4% of the world’s population, the United States accounts for over half of science Nobel Prizes awarded since 2000, hosts seven of The Times Higher Education Top 10 science universities, and incubates firms such as Alphabet (Google), Meta and Pfizer that turn federally funded discoveries into billion-dollar markets.

    The domestic STEM talent pool alone cannot sustain this research output. The U.S. is reliant on a steady and strong influx of foreign scientists – a brain gain. In 2021, foreign-born people constituted 43% of doctorate-level scientists and engineers in the U.S. They make up a significant share of America’s elite researchers: Since 2000, 37 of the 104 U.S. Nobel laureates in the hard sciences, more than a third, were born outside the country.

    China, the U.S.’s largest competitor in science, technology, engineering and math endeavors, has a population that is 4.1 times larger than that of the U.S. and so has a larger pool of homegrown talent. Each year, three times as many Chinese citizens (77,000) are awarded STEM Ph.D.s as American citizens (23,000).

    To remain preeminent, the U.S. will need to keep attracting exceptional foreign graduate students, budding entrepreneurs and established scientific leaders.

    Funding and visa policies could flip gain to drain

    This scientific brain gain is being threatened by the Trump administration, which is using federal research funding, scholarships and fellowships as leverage against universities, freezing billions of dollars in grants and contracts to force compliance with its ideological agenda. Its ad hoc approach has been described by higher education leaders as “unprecedented and deeply disturbing,” and a Reagan-appointed judge ruled that 400 National Institutes of Health grants be reinstated because their terminations were “bereft of reasoning, virtually in their entirety.”

    Experts caution that these moves not only risk immediate harm to scientific progress and academic freedom but also erode the public’s trust in science and education, with long-term implications for the nation’s prosperity and security.

    Citing national security concerns, the White House has also targeted visas for Harvard University’s international students and instructed embassies worldwide to halt visa interviews for all international students, citing national security and alleged institutional misconduct. Against a backdrop of court injunctions and legal appeals, the government continues its heightened “national-security” vetting, so thousands of international scholars remain in limbo.

    These measures, combined with travel bans, intensified scrutiny and revocations of existing visas, have disrupted research collaborations and threaten the nation’s continued status as a global leader in science and innovation.

    What US misses with fewer foreign scientists

    The U.S. research brain gain starts with the 281,000 foreign STEM graduate students and 38,000 foreign STEM postdoctoral scholars who annually come to the U.S. I am one of them. After earning my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in South Africa, I left in 1986 to avoid the apartheid‑era military service, completed my chemistry doctorate and postdoc in the U.S., and joined the United States’ brain gain. It’s an opportunity today’s visa climate might have denied me.

    Some other countries are eager to scoop up STEM talent that is unwelcome or unfunded in the U.S.
    Clement Mahoudeau/AFP via Getty Images

    Incentives for the best and brightest foreign science students to come to the U.S. are diminishing at the same time its competitors are increasing their efforts to attract the strongest STEM researchers. For instance, the University of Hong Kong is courting stranded Harvard students with dedicated scholarships, housing and credit-transfer help. A French university program, Safe Place for Science, drew so many American job applicants that it had to shut the portal early. And a Portuguese institute reports a tenfold surge in inquiries from U.S.-based junior faculty.

    Immigrants import new ways of thinking to their research labs. They come from other cultures and have learned their science in different educational systems, which place different emphases on rote learning, historical understanding and interdisciplinary research. They often bring an alternative perspective that a homogeneous scientific community cannot match.

    Immigrants also help move discoveries from the lab to the marketplace. Foreign-born inventors file patents at a higher per‑capita rate than their domestic peers and are 80% more likely to launch a company. Such firms create roughly 50% more jobs than enterprises founded by native-born entrepreneurs and pay wages that are, on average, one percentage point higher.

    The economic stakes are high. Growth models suggest that scientific advances now account for a majority of productivity gains in high‑income countries.

    L. Rafael Reif, the former president of MIT, called international talent the “oxygen” of U.S. innovation; restricting visas chokes that supply. Ongoing cuts and uncertainties in federal funding and visa policy now jeopardize America’s scientific leadership and with it the nation’s long‑term economic growth.

    Marc Zimmer received funding from NIH and NSF.

    – ref. Turbulent research landscape imperils US brain gain − and ultimately American prosperity – https://theconversation.com/turbulent-research-landscape-imperils-us-brain-gain-and-ultimately-american-prosperity-258537

    MIL OSI Analysis –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Imports made up 17% of U.S. energy supply in 2024, the lowest share in nearly 40 years

    Source: US Energy Information Administration

    In-brief analysis

    July 7, 2025

    In 2024, the United States imported about 17% of its domestic energy supply, half of the record share set in 2006 and the lowest share since 1985, according to our Monthly Energy Review. The decline in imports’ share of supply in the previous two decades is attributable to both an increase in domestic energy production and a decrease in energy imports since 2006.

    U.S. energy supply comes from three sources: domestic energy production, energy imports from other countries, and any energy brought out of storage.

    In 2024, for the third consecutive year, the United States remained a net exporter of energy, producing a record amount that continues to exceed consumption. Individually, U.S. natural gas, crude oil, natural gas plant liquids (NGPLs), biofuels, solar, and wind each set domestic production records in 2024.

    In our Monthly Energy Review, we convert different measurements for different sources of energy to one common unit of heat, called a British thermal unit. We use British thermal units to compare different types of energy that are not usually directly comparable, such as barrels of crude oil and cubic feet of natural gas. Appendix A of our Monthly Energy Review shows the conversion factors that we use for each energy source.

    U.S. total energy imports were about 22 quadrillion British thermal units in 2024 and have been relatively flat since 2021. Crude oil and refined petroleum product imports combined accounted for 84% of U.S. total energy imports in 2024, with natural gas accounting for most of the remainder at 15%.

    Between 2006 and 2024, U.S. imports of crude oil and petroleum products fell 39%, from about 14 million barrels per day (b/d) to 8 million b/d. All of the decrease occurred in the Gulf Coast region, home to large shares of domestic production and consumption, and the East Coast region, home to a large share of domestic consumption. However, during the same period, imports of crude oil and petroleum products increased in all other regions: the Midwest, Mountain, and West Coast.

    In 2006, OPEC countries, including Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Iraq, in aggregate accounted for the largest share of U.S. crude oil and petroleum imports. Since then, imports from OPEC countries decreased 77% while imports from Canada nearly doubled. Total crude oil and petroleum imports from Canada to the United States exceeded those from OPEC for the first time in 2014 and have every year since. Following the recent expansion of Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline, U.S. imports of crude oil from Canada reached record highs in 2024. Nearly all crude oil used by U.S. refineries in the Midwest and Mountain regions comes from Canada.

    Principal contributor: Mickey Francis

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Submissions: What schools can learn from skate culture

    Source: The Conversation – UK – By Sander Hölsgens, Assistant Professor, Leiden Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University

    Dean Drobot/Shutterstock

    At a school in Malmö, Sweden, skateboarding is on the curriculum. John Dahlquist, vice principal of Bryggeriets High School, teaches skate classes and brings lessons from skateboarding into other subjects. By encouraging teenagers to have fun together through skating and beyond, he notices that they want to attend school. Writing in a recent book I co-edited on skateboarding and teaching, Dahlquist notes that he even sees students longing to be back in the classroom after the weekend.

    Skateboarding is creative, requiring ingenuity in adapting to new environments. It’s collaborative and social: skaters cheer each other on when they try to learn something new, acknowledging that everyone operates at a different level and faces a distinct challenge.

    When skateboarding is done well, individual growth takes place among a community of care and mutual support. And it requires a willingness to fail. There’s no way to master a trick without trying and failing, over and over again.

    My colleagues and I have researched the value of a skateboarding philosophy in schools, and how teachers can bring it into their classrooms.

    Get your news from actual experts, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter to receive all The Conversation UK’s latest coverage of news and research, from politics and business to the arts and sciences.

    Take Dahlquist’s teaching in Malmö. He notes that interweaving skate classes with other subjects has multiple noteworthy effects. The physical activity of skateboarding improves levels of concentration. Some students even say that they’d never been successful in any other learning environment. Elsewhere, they’d be unable to focus on the task at hand.

    What’s more, a skateboarding mindset – being prepared to learn difficult tricks in unfamiliar settings – equipped students with the capacity to master other kinds of new skills.

    Able to fail

    The process of overcoming the anxiety to fail is crucial. Skaters cannot be afraid to fall if they want to learn new tricks. The motivation to learn through repeated efforts helps skaters in other areas of life, too. Skaters at Bryggeriet aren’t worried as much about failing grades, precisely because they see it as an opportunity to learn and move forward.

    As Dahlquist says, “At the end of my classes, I usually have to throw my students out of the classroom. A lot of them beg for three more tries: ‘I’ve got this, just give me three more tries. I promise I will learn.‘”

    This mindset decreases grades as education’s cornerstone and, by extension, enhances students’ mental health. My colleague Esther Sayers, who conducted fieldwork at Bryggeriets, found another effect. Teachers help students to develop the skills to get motivated, to reach a point of feeling inspired – or what skaters call “stoke”.

    Skateboarding fosters a non-competitive learning culture.
    PeopleImages.com – Yuri A

    Bryggeriets High School isn’t the only place where skateboarding is helping teach people how to learn. Reaching beyond its historical status as a self-regulated street culture, skateboarding now plays an important role in building engaged learning communities across the globe. Berlin-based skate organisation Skateistan hosts skate classes, gives young people access to education and offers funds for young and upcoming community leaders.

    Concrete Jungle Foundation co-builds skateparks with young people in Peru, Morocco and Jamaica, in order to exchange knowledge and drive local ownership and apprenticeship. Similarly, the New York-based Harold Hunter Foundation runs skate workshops that also provide mentoring and career guidance.

    Colleagues Arianna Gil and Jessica Forsyth have studied working class black and Latin American skate crews, run by genderdiverse community organisers. They found that skate crews such as Brujas and Gang Corp mobilise skaters according to the “for us, by us” spirit.

    Challenging institutional models of authority, these skate crews develop services based on the hopes and aspirations of their communities – ranging from teach-ins to recreational programmes. This includes a talk on the history and meaning of hoodies, and modules on the power of storytelling and the danger of propaganda. The crux, here, is to learn about stuff you encounter in your daily lives.

    Skaters who experience poverty and oppression create their own ecosystem for learning from one another, from being out of an educational system that is organised in a top-down way. This means creating a grassroots school model where skate crews choose what and how they want to learn. Rather than grades and degrees, education here is structured around the process of learning from your peers – with the idea of passing on this knowledge in the near future.

    The effects of this approach are threefold. First, it centers mentorship and apprenticeship, resulting in intergenerational knowledge exchange. Second, skateboarding’s DIY spirit can help overcome access barriers. By embracing grassroots teaching practices and formats, education can be tailored to the specific needs and desires of a community, rather than following standardised learning objectives.

    Third, rather than focusing on memorising facts or learning for grades, this new ecosystem is structured around problem-based learning. Presented with worldly problems such as human rights violations and hostile architecture, skaters learn not just how to analyse their surroundings, but also how to cope with and engage oppressive societal structures.

    As formal education faces incremental budget cuts and deepened governmental influence, skateboarding shows us new ways to organise our learning spaces. Schools and teachers can engage their students by integrating aspects of a learning culture that decentres evaluations and assessments and celebrates attempts, rather than just successes.

    Sander Hölsgens received a ‘starting grant’ from OCW, The Netherlands. He is affiliated with Pushing Boarders, a platform tracing the social impact of skateboarding worldwide.

    – ref. What schools can learn from skate culture – https://theconversation.com/what-schools-can-learn-from-skate-culture-255239

    MIL OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Challenges in the Basic Education and Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centres Must Not Become a Phenomenon, Education Committee Chair

    Source: APO


    .

    The Select Committee on Education, Sciences and the Creative Industries has called for coordination of resources in order to maximise the impact Early Childhood Development (ECD) have in society.

    The Chairperson of the committee, Mr Makhi Feni, said the ECD centres are an empowerment tool whose role and importance should never be forsaken.

    “It is really concerning to the committee that we read of challenges besieging the ECD sector when we had just transferred the function to the Department of Basic Education (DBE) Surely, our portfolio will not and must not fail our children, as there was a reason to migrate the function to education.”

    “This is a function that requires everyone and any help with regards to the welfare and foundation phase education of our children. We are building a nation; and our actions include budget allocated for this specific function must support that,” emphasised Mr Feni.

    Weekend reports indicated that several ECD centres, and some attached to schools, struggled with basic necessities like water, sanitation and food items especially in the rural Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.

    Mr Feni said the committee would love to receive an update briefing on empirical and manifest challenges since the migration of the function to the DBE.

    “We do not want a system that breaks our children and their early educators either through budget constraints or infrastructure. We call on the minister and the provincial MECs to prioritise the work around ECD centres. These are areas where our children spend the longest time without parental supervision and outside their homes.”

    The committee also noted the challenges around payment of student teachers and tutors in Quintile One schools. Mr Feni said the committee accepted the fiscal constrained environment the DBE operated in. “But we do not want the challenges to become a phenomenon; the DBE must attend to this matter urgently wherever it is manifest.”

    “Salaries of teachers are a no-go area for cuts and hiccups. These are meagre salaries, it is not as if these teachers are paid millions.”

    Mr Feni said the committee’s interest was a functional system where all parents see value and trust that their children will turn out responsible and accountable young adults whose skills will be relevant to a 21st Century economy.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Desert to Power: Independent power production in Sahel takes decisive step forward at fifth ministerial meeting

    Source: APO

    On 30 June 2025 in Ouagadougou, representatives from six member countries of the Desert to Power Initiative (https://apo-opa.co/3GlwfrL) approved key strategic documents to boost independent power production in the Sahel, at the fifth ministerial meeting of the project, spearheaded by the African Development Bank (www.AfDB.org).

    This crucial meeting provided an opportunity to take stock of progress made in implementing the Desert to Power Initiative, and to approve two key strategic documents: the Joint Protocol for Independent Power Producers (IPP) and the Strategy for the Promotion of Green Mini-Grids.  

    The IPP Joint Protocol, developed in close collaboration with the Desert to Power Taskforce and the African Legal Support Facility (ALSF), establishes standardised principles and documents to facilitate the development of large-scale solar power plants under public-private partnerships (PPPs). The aim of the mini-grid strategy is to determine a framework to accelerate implementation and encourage participation. 

    The meeting was chaired by Yacouba Zabré Gouba, Burkina Faso’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries, and attended by the energy ministers of Djibouti, Niger and Chad, as well as representatives of their counterparts from Mali and Mauritania. 

    The ministers welcomed the project’s significant progress, particularly the implementation of over 15 projects, the first few of which are already operational. They also stressed the importance of capacity-building efforts.  

    Discussions continued at a technical workshop on financial modelling, aimed at strengthening financial analysis tools for the viability of Sahelian national utilities. There was active participation by the general managers and financial directors of the national utilities at this meeting. 

    Thanking the African Development Bank for supporting participating countries through the Desert to Power Initiative, Gouba said the meeting had given them a fresh start. “We must double our efforts and work in synergy to achieve the set objectives,” he declared. 

    Dr. Kevin Kariuki, Vice President for f Electricity, Energy, Climate and Green Growth at the African Development Bank, congratulated the ministers, observing that the validated Common Protocol constitutes an important lever for accelerating the development of privately financed solar projects for the benefit of the Sahelian people.  

    He also called on countries to take advantage of Mission 300 (https://apo-opa.co/3TVVxzJ), a bold effort between the African Development Bank and the World Bank that seeks to provide electricity access to an additional 300 million people in Africa by 2030.   

    “Mission 300 is a movement based on coordinated action, committed political leadership, and focused delivery from which we cannot afford to leave any country, ”Kariuki said. 

    On the sidelines of the gathering, participants visited the Gonsin photovoltaic power plant, located to the northwest of Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou. The 42 MWp plant, built as part of the Desert to Power Initiative, boasts a 10-megawatt storage system, providing a clear illustration of the tangible results and impact of the Initiative in Burkina Faso. 

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

    Media contact: 
    Communication and External Relations Department, 
    media@afdb.org

    Media files

    .

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: President El-Sisi Receives President of Somalia Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Al-Alamain City

    Source: APO


    .

    Today in Al-Alamain City, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Dr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

    Spokesman for the Presidency Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy said the two Presidents held a closed bilateral session of talks, followed by an expanded meeting attended by the two countries’ delegations. The talks focused on ways to foster closer bilateral relations as well as developments in the region and the continent.

    Concluding their meeting, the two Presidents held a joint press conference.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Small Businesses Embrace Social— But Could be Missing a Trick in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

    Source: APO


    .

    According to the GoDaddy (www.GoDaddy.com) 2025 Global Entrepreneurship Survey, nearly half of small businesses in now primarily operate online, using websites, marketplaces, or social media to sell. This shows a clear shift as entrepreneurs embrace digital channels to reach customers, grow sales, and stay competitive in today’s market.

    Social Media: A Key Tool with Real Challenges

    Social media plays a major role in how small businesses operate and grow. 80% of entrepreneurs say it’s important to their sales strategy, and half (50%) say it’s very important. It has also become the top place to learn about running a business: 59% turn to social media for insights, ahead of traditional educational resources like books and blogs (40%), and artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT (37%).

    But while the value is clear, so are the challenges. When it comes to managing their social media presence, many entrepreneurs struggle with content. 37% say it’s hard to come up with engaging ideas for posts, and another 33% don’t have enough time to create and post regularly. Even when content is shared, converting engagement into sales remains difficult—51% say they have trouble converting followers into customers, and 54% can’t reach the right audience.

    “At GoDaddy, we realize how much potential entrepreneurs have—and we also understand how hard it is to turn online effort into real growth,” said Selina Bieber, Vice President of International Markets at GoDaddy. “That’s why we’re focused on giving them smart, easy tools like Show in Bio (https://apo-opa.co/4lzcLPc) that can help turn social engagement into actual sales, without adding more work.”

    These hurdles show that while social media is essential, it’s not easy. Entrepreneurs need smarter tools and support to turn digital activity into real business growth.

    The Rise of Digital-First Small Businesses

    Running a business today means going beyond a physical store. While 31% of small businesses still work mainly from a physical location, the online world is catching up with 19% now run their business primarily through their own website. Another 28% operate mostly on social media.

    Sales channels also reflect this shift. Though 36% sell in person, 18% use online stores or marketplaces, and another 31% sell directly through social media.

    This mix of physical and digital approaches shows that small businesses are finding new ways to meet customers—whether in-store, online, or on social media. The ability to combine different methods indicates a significant evolution in business’ ability to adapt to customers’ needs and preferences.

    The Need for Smarter Tools and AI Support

    As entrepreneurs go digital, many know exactly what would help them sell on social. More than half (59%) say they need better ways to reach the right audience, almost half (48%) want simpler tools for creating and posting content, and over a third (39%) want insights into what is working and is not, highlighting a clear demand for practical, time-saving solutions.

    The Opportunity Ahead

    As more small businesses move online, the need for effective tools and support continues to grow. GoDaddy is committed to helping entrepreneurs succeed with easy-to-use solutions like Show in Bio (https://apo-opa.co/4lzcLPc), GoDaddy Studio (https://apo-opa.co/3GwhNgA), and GoDaddy Airo® (https://apo-opa.co/3TrhKFF) all designed to simplify digital marketing and turn engagement into real results.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of GoDaddy.

    About GoDaddy:
    GoDaddy helps millions of entrepreneurs globally start and scale their businesses. People come to GoDaddy to name their idea, build a website and logo, sell their products and services, and accept payments. GoDaddy Airo®, the company’s AI-powered experience, makes growing a small business faster and easier by helping them to get their idea online in minutes, drive traffic and boost sales. GoDaddy’s expert guides are available 24/7 to provide assistance. To learn more about the company, visit www.GoDaddy.com.

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: C20 initiative makes progress ahead of G20 Summit

    Source: Government of South Africa

    Chairperson of the Civil 20 (C20) Thulani Tshefuta says from December 2024 to date, they have managed to register more than 1 900 organisations that participate in C20 structures and processes.

    “These organisations are drawn from South Africa, the African continent and the rest of the world,” Tshefuta said at a media briefing in Pretoria on Monday.

    The briefing was held to update media on the state of readiness to deliver the C20 Policy Pack ahead of the Group of 20 (G20) Summit in November 2025.

    The global C20 initiative serves as a vital platform for civil society engagement with the G20. Established in 2013, C20 advocates for the inclusion of diverse voices in shaping the decisions that affect communities worldwide.

    C20 South Africa is led by a network of national apex organisations that represent a broad range of sectors and activism including youth, women, the disabled, civics, cooperatives, the informal sector, traditional leaders, faith-based organisations, coalitions and campaigns, social movements, NPO/NGO networks and Issue-based formations

    Tshefuta said C20 South Africa convened a successful Mid-Term Policy Dialogue on 22 – 24 June 2025 in Sandton and was attended by more than 300 delegates in person, while an additional 1 800 delegates attended virtually in South Africa, Africa and other G20 countries.

    “The outcomes of our deliberations and policy proposals were presented to the G20 Mid-Term Sherpa Meeting that was held on 25 – 27 June 2025 in Sun City,” Tshefuta said.

    He explained that C20 member organisations are apex organisations, national organisations, medium sized organisations, grassroots and community-based formations.

    “The substantive work of C20 is organised into six clusters and 14 working groups in line with government working groups.” 

    Tshefuta said the essence of the theme of the South African G20 Presidency — Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability — is about co-existence, collaborations and partnerships.

    “You cannot be in solidarity with yourself. You cannot be equal to yourself. Measures of sustainability outlive oneself. This further suggests that as social partners, we can play different but complementary roles.

    “The G20 Presidency of South Africa has committed to promote a people-centred, development-oriented G20 that fosters inclusive economic transformation rather than economic dominance by a few.” 

    Tshefuta said education and health are the two most important public services whose access to good quality services should never depend on social status, and level of income and affordability.

    “The governments and the social partners must foster better strategic policy alignment between the macro-economic policies, employment and labour market policies, sectoral economic policies and skills development policies.” 

    Tshifuta further said economic policies must be inclusive and job-rich.

    “Skills development policies must respond to the labour market demands. We recommend that the G20 Summit and outcome document must prioritise policies, programmes and budgets to promote massive Youth Employment.

    “Developing economies must be given space for debt relief and cancellation in order to redirect debt service costs towards productive economic activities,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Campaign to plant trees and help mitigate effects of climate change

    Source: Government of South Africa

    With the country bearing the brunt of climate change and the resultant devastation it causes in communities and economies, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment has launched the One Million Trees campaign.

    “We have witnessed fires, deadly heatwaves, heavy rains, floods, and prolonged droughts. These events underscore our shared vulnerability, but also our shared responsibility to act, to adapt, and to do so in a way that leaves no one behind. 

    “Tree planting is one of the mitigating factors that are recommended to slow down this environmental threat. It is for this reason that the department is pursuing the coordination and implementation of the National Greening Programme,” said Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Bernice Swarts.

    Speaking on Monday at the Pretoria National Botanical Garden, Swarts said to ensure that South Africans benefit from the National Greening Programme, President Cyril Ramaphosa directed that 10 million trees, comprised of 60 percent fruit and 40 percent indigenous, be planted in the country over a period of five years, ending in 2026. 

    The initiative, which links to goal 13 of Sustainable Development Goals, is a clarion call to South Africans from all walks of life to participate and contribute towards the greening of the country. 

    The Deputy Minister put forth a challenge to plant one million trees in a single day – on 24 September 2025 during Heritage Day – while celebrating Arbour Month. 

    “We are calling on all South Africans to join hands in greening our country. This is an all of society campaign which calls on collaboration by government departments, municipalities, civil society organisations, non-government organisations, corporates, students and learners, churches and the public at large to plant at least one million trees for the benefit of our country.

    “I have started conversations with different role players, and it came as a surprise when I saw the response. Some were asking “what can we assist with” – “how can we be part of this” – and so on. In no time, we had already amassed a lot of support – most have responded positively, though we are in the process of tallying commitments and pledges in this regard.”

     She said the greening programme was taking place at a time when the environment of the country and indeed the entire Africa was counting the cost of climate change, and drastic measures are urgently needed for a swift recovery. 

    “South Africa’s G20 Presidency’s Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group prioritisation of Land degradation, desertification and drought highlights their direct threat to economies, food security, and sustainable development. Planting trees helps to combat these phenomena.” – SAnews.gov.za

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Minister garners support for upcoming Water Summit 

    Source: Government of South Africa

    Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina has mobilised the Committee of Ministers to support the upcoming Africa Water Investment Summit that will be held in August.

    This as she concluded her participation in the 43rd Southern African Development Community (SADC) Joint Meeting of Committee of Ministers responsible for Energy and Water held in Harare, Zimbabwe.

    The meeting was held from 3 -4 July 2025.

    “During day two of the joint meeting, which focused mainly on water issues, Minister Majodina used the platform to mobilise the Committee of Ministers to support the upcoming Africa Water Investment Summit that will be co-hosted by South Africa and the African Union- Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AU-AIP) in the context of South Africa’s G20 Presidency, on 13- 15 August 2025,” said the Minister.

    According to the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), the summit seeks to mobilise financial investment for bankable water and sanitation infrastructure projects around the continent.

    The DWS said Africa faces a US$30 billion (around ±R528 billion) annual water investment gap and the summit will mobilise investments in climate-resilient water and sanitation projects, ensuring water security, economic growth, and sustainable development across the continent.

    “We think that from that summit, we will have a concrete plan. As a continent, we must start being serious and start ringfencing budgets to fund our water infrastructure as well as energy. No country, region nor continent can survive without putting water and electricity as the catalyst for economic growth,” said Majodina.

    This as the regional water sector is experiencing infrastructure challenges as a result of growing populations and lack of adequate infrastructure development due to financial investment gap.

    The AU-AIP Africa Water Investment Summit’s key objectives are to: 
    •    mobilise financial commitments towards Africa’s water investment needs; 
    •    advocate for improved access to finance for water and sanitation projects; 
    •     strengthen governance and accountability in the water sector; 
    •    showcase a pipeline of investment-ready projects to funders and investors; and 
    •    promote legal and regulatory reforms to enhance water investments. 
    The SADC Joint Meeting of Ministers is a critical platform for member states to engage on issues to enhance regional collaboration in the energy and water sectors.

    “Minister Majodina engaged with fellow Ministers from across the region on critical issues related to the management of shared water resources and transboundary programmes and projects that are led by the River Basin Organisations and Shared Water Institutions, and on the delivery of regional water projects aimed at improving water and sanitation services in the SADC member states; as well as the status of implementation of previous decisions taken during the 42nd joint meeting held in May last year.”

    South Africa shares transboundary water projects with its neighbouring countries including the Lesotho/Botswana water transfer; Beitbridge/Musina integrated water supply scheme; the Catuane Matutuine groundwater project in Maputo.

    Majodina attended the 43rd SADC Joint Meeting of Committee of Ministers responsible for Energy and Water with Minister of Electricity and Energy, Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa whose portfolio is part SADC Committee on Water and Energy.

    The SADC Ministers of Water and Energy Committee are a decision-making body that adopts decisions on regional policies and programmes that are implemented in the entire 16 SADC Member states, both at regional and national level, and Ministers responsible for energy and water direct the regional energy as well as water and sanitation agenda. -SAnews.gov.za
     

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • Wiaan Mulder hits fifth highest test score but turns down chance to go for Brian Lara’s record

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    South Africa’s stand-in captain Wiaan Mulder scored the fifth highest test score of 367 not out against Zimbabwe on Monday but then declared his side’s innings despite being only 34 runs away from the record for the most runs in a test innings.

    Mulder, leading the side for the first time as a depleted team take on their neighbours in a two-test series at Bulawayo’s Queens Sports Club, hit 53 boundaries (49 fours and four sixes) in his knock to see South Africa to 626-5 at lunch on the second day of the second test.

    With plenty of time still left in the test, it was expected he would bat into the second session to chase down Brian Lara’s 21-year-old record of 400 not out for the West Indies against England in Antigua but Mulder turned down the chance and declared at lunch, to put Zimbabwe into bat.

    The 27-year-old all-rounder had come in at No. 3 with South Africa on 24-2 after being put into bat on the opening day on Sunday and was 264 not out at the close as he rallied his side to finish the day on 465-4.

    He had a fortunate break when on 247 he was bowled, only for a no ball to be called as Tanaka Chivanga had overstepped.

    But the rest of Mulder’s impressive innings was chanceless as he brought up his 300 in Monday’s morning session, off 297 balls for the second fastest triple century in test cricket.

    He then passed Hashim Amla’s record test score for a South African of 311 not out against England at the Oval in 2012 and got to 350 in 324 balls before going to lunch 367 not out.

    It put him fifth in the all-time list, ahead of the likes of fellow triple centurions Gary Sobers and Donald Bradman, and behind Lara (400 not out and 375), Australian Matthew Hayden (380) and Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene, who hit 374 against South Africa in Colombo in 2006.

    -Reuters

  • MIL-OSI: Ormat Technologies, Inc. to Host Conference Call Announcing Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    RENO, Nev., July 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Ormat Technologies Inc. (NYSE: ORA) (the “Company” or “Ormat”), a leading geothermal and renewable energy company, today announced that it plans to publish its second quarter financial results in a press release that will be issued on Wednesday, August 6, 2025, after the market closes. In conjunction with this report, the Company has scheduled a conference call to discuss the results at 10:00 a.m. ET on Thursday, August 7, 2025.

    Participants within the United States and Canada, please dial 1-800-715-9871, approximately 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call. If you are calling from outside the United States or Canada, please dial +1-646-960-0440. The access code for the call is 3818407. Please request the “Ormat Technologies, Inc. call” when prompted by the conference call operator. The conference call will also be accompanied by a live webcast, accessed on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website.

    A replay will be available one hour after the end of the conference call. To access the replay within the United States and Canada, please dial 1-800-770-2030. From outside of the United States and Canada, please dial +1-647-362-9199. Please use the replay access code 3818407. The webcast will also be archived on the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website.

    ABOUT ORMAT TECHNOLOGIES

    With six decades of experience, Ormat Technologies, Inc. is a leading geothermal company, and the only vertically integrated company engaged in geothermal and recovered energy generation (“REG”), with robust plans to accelerate long-term growth in the energy storage market and to establish a leading position in the U.S. energy storage market. The Company owns, operates, designs, manufactures and sells geothermal and REG power plants primarily based on the Ormat Energy Converter – a power generation unit that converts low-, medium- and high-temperature heat into electricity. The Company has engineered, manufactured and constructed power plants, which it currently owns or has installed for utilities and developers worldwide, totaling approximately 3,400 MW of gross capacity. Ormat leveraged its core capabilities in the geothermal and REG industries and its global presence to expand the Company’s activity into energy storage services, solar Photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage plus Solar PV. Ormat’s current total generating portfolio is 1,558MW with a 1,268MW geothermal and solar generation portfolio that is spread globally in the U.S., Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia, Honduras, and Guadeloupe, and a 290MW energy storage portfolio that is located in the U.S.

    Ormat Technologies Contact:
    Smadar Lavi
    VP, Head of IR and ESG Planning & Reporting
    775-356-9029 (ext. 65726)
    slavi@ormat.com    		 Investor Relations Agency Contact:
    Joseph Caminiti or Josh Carroll
    Alpha IR Group
    312-445-2870
    ORA@alpha-ir.com

    The MIL Network –

  • Netanyahu to meet Trump at White House as Israel, Hamas discuss ceasefire

    Source: Government of India

    Source: Government of India (4)

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, while Israeli officials hold indirect talks with Hamas, aimed at a U.S.-brokered Gaza hostage-release and ceasefire deal.

    Trump said on Sunday there was a good chance such a deal could be reached this week. The right-wing Israeli leader said he believed his discussions with Trump would help advance talks underway in Qatar.

    It will be Netanyahu’s third White House visit since Trump returned to office in January, and follows Trump’s order last month for U.S. air strikes against Iran and a subsequent ceasefire halting the 12-day Israel-Iran war.

    Israel is hoping that its 12-day war with Iran will also pave the way for new diplomatic opportunities in the region.

    Avi Dichter, an Israeli minister and a member of Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said he expected Trump’s meeting with the Israeli leader would go beyond Gaza to include the possibility of normalising ties with Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia.

    “I think it will first of all be focused on a term we have often used but now has real meaning; a new Middle East,” he told Israel’s public broadcaster Kan on Monday.

    Ahead of the visit, Netanyahu told reporters he would thank Trump for the U.S. air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, and said Israeli negotiators were driving for a deal on Gaza in Doha, Qatar’s capital.

    Israel and Hamas were set to hold a second day of indirect talks in Qatar on Monday. An Israeli official described the atmosphere so far at the Gaza talks, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, as positive. Palestinian officials said that initial meetings on Sunday had ended inconclusively.

    A second Israeli official said the issue of humanitarian aid had been discussed in Qatar, without providing further details.

    The U.S.-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals from parts of Gaza and discussions on ending the war entirely. Hamas has long demanded a final end to the war before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would not agree to halt fighting until all hostages are free and Hamas dismantled.

    Trump told reporters on Friday it was good that Hamas said it had responded in “a positive spirit” to a U.S.-brokered 60-day Gaza ceasefire proposal, and noted that a deal could be reached this week.

    Some of Netanyahu’s hardline coalition partners oppose ending the fighting but, with Israelis having become increasingly weary of the 21-month-old war, his government is expected to back a ceasefire.

    A ceasefire at the start of this year ended in March, and talks to revive it have so far been fruitless. Meanwhile, Israel has intensified its military campaign in Gaza and sharply restricted food distribution.

    “God willing, a truce would take place,” Mohammed Al Sawalheh, a 30-year-old Palestinian displaced from Jabalia in northern Gaza, told Reuters on Sunday after an Israeli air strike overnight.

    “We cannot see a truce while people are dying. We want a truce that would stop this bloodshed.”

    The Gaza war erupted when Hamas attacked southern Israel in October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with 20 believed to be alive.

    Israel’s retaliatory war in Gaza has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health ministry. Most of Gaza’s population has been displaced by the war and nearly half a million people are facing famine within months, according to United Nations estimates.

    TRUMP LASHED OUT AT ISRAELI PROSECUTORS

    Trump has been strongly supportive of Netanyahu, even wading into domestic Israeli politics last month by lashing out at prosecutors over a corruption trial against the Israeli leader on bribery, fraud and breach-of-trust charges Netanyahu denies.

    Trump, who has faced his own legal troubles, argued last week that the judicial process would interfere with Netanyahu’s ability to conduct talks with Hamas and Iran.

    Trump said he expected to discuss Iran and its nuclear ambitions with Netanyahu, lauding the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites as a tremendous success. On Friday, he told reporters that he believed Tehran’s nuclear program had been set back permanently, although Iran could restart efforts elsewhere.

    Trump insisted on Friday that he would not allow Tehran to resume its nuclear program, and said Tehran wanted to meet with him. Iran has always denied seeking a nuclear weapon.

    (Reuters)

  • MIL-OSI Africa: World Food Programme (WFP) airdrops food to prevent catastrophe as hunger surges in conflict-hit parts of South Sudan

    Source: APO


    .

    The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) began airdropping emergency food assistance to thousands of families in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State, where surging conflict since March has forced families from their homes and pushed some communities to the brink of famine.

    These distributions mark WFP’s first access in over four months to deliver life-saving food and nutrition assistance to more than 40,000 people facing catastrophic hunger in the most remote parts of Nasir and Ulang counties, areas only accessible by air.

    “The link between conflict and hunger is tragically clear in South Sudan and we’ve seen this over the past few months in Upper Nile,” said Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP Country Director in South Sudan. “Without a major scale-up in assistance, the counties of Nasir and Ulang risk slipping into full-blown famine. We urgently need to get food to these families, and we are doing everything possible to reach those who need it most before the situation spirals.”

    More than one million people across Upper Nile are facing acute hunger, including over 32,000 people already experiencing Catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC5) – the highest level of food insecurity. This figure has tripled since armed conflict flared in March, triggering mass displacement, including across the border into Ethiopia where WFP is providing life-saving food aid to around 50,000 people who have fled from Upper Nile in search of food and safety.

    WFP aims to reach 470,000 people in Upper Nile and Northern Jonglei through the lean season – the hungriest time of year, which runs through August – but continued fighting and logistical constraints have hindered access and a comprehensive response. WFP has only been able to reach 300,000 people in Upper Nile so far this year. 

    The main river routes into the state must be reopened urgently in order to reach hungry families with sustained humanitarian support. These routes are the most cost-effective way to reach large swathes of Upper Nile and northern Jonglei states to deliver crucial assistance but have been blocked by active fighting since mid-April. WFP has 1,500MT of food ready to transport once river routes are operational again.

    “Where we have been able to consistently deliver, we’ve seen real progress,” McGroarty said. “In the first half of this year, we pushed back catastrophic hunger in areas of Jonglei State through regular deliveries of food assistance, and we can do the same in Upper Nile. But if we can’t get the food to people, hunger will deepen and famine is a real and present threat.”

    A global funding slowdown is worsening the already dire humanitarian situation in South Sudan. Nationwide, 7.7 million people – 57 percent of the population – are facing crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of hunger. An unprecedented 2.3 million children are at risk of malnutrition.

    Due to funding gaps, WFP has prioritized assistance with reduced rations for only the most vulnerable 2.5 million people—just 30 percent of those in acute need – to stretch limited resources. WFP urgently needs US$274 million to continue life-saving operations through December.

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Food Programme (WFP).

    MIL OSI Africa –

  • MIL-OSI Africa: Talks in Gogrial West reveal need for awareness-raising on right to protection

    Source: APO


    .

    Many residents of Gogrial West County are unaware of their fundamental right to be protected, often silently enduring violence, theft, or domestic abuse.

    Despite being a relatively peaceful part of Warrap State, people living here are sometimes subject to conflicts and their consequences, crime, risks related to climate change and, last but not least, the frequent incidents of domestic violence mostly suffered by women and girls. 

    “They, like everyone else, have the right to live safely and with dignity,” stated Bakhita Burke, Gender-Based Violence Coordinator at Women for Change, a women-led non-governmental organization, adding that a lack of tangible conflict is no guarantee of peace on the home front.

    “Behind closed doors, many women continue to suffer,” she said, remarking that recent months have seen a concerning increase of suicides related to physical abuse. 

    Ms. Burke and some other 50 invited guests, including political and community leaders, survivors of violence and other stakeholders, discussed a variety of topics, all related to advocacy for human rights, at a workshop in Kuajok facilitated by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). 

    Another such issue is cattle raiding and the profound distress this harmful and unlawful practice causes. Alongside gender-based violence, cattle theft emerged as another significant issue during discussions. Daniel Mangar, Executive Director for Gogrial West County, elaborated on the profound economic and emotional distress caused by these incidents.

    “These thefts may seem minor to outsiders, but they create fear, tensions and financial losses for anyone affected,” commented Mariang Martin Agoth, Executive Director of the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, highlighting the importance of partnerships.

    “Humanitarians step in precisely where government resources fall short, trying to make sure that displaced families and other vulnerable community members are not forgotten.” 

    Lucy Okello, a Protection, Transition & Reintegration Officer serving with UNMISS, reflected on the bigger picture and the people of South Sudan the peacekeeping mission is here to serve. 

    “Each statistic we discuss represents real families, facing real and severe hardship. Our talk today must be translated into actions tomorrow.”

    Distributed by APO Group on behalf of United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

    MIL OSI Africa –