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Thursday 04th of July 2019 |
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The Swing by Kabir In Memoriam @bobcollymore. Africa |
Between the Poles of the Conscious and the Unconscious there has the Mind made a Swing. Thereon hang all Beings and all worlds, and that Swing never ceases it's Sway Millions of Beings are there The Sun and the Moon in their courses are there Millions of ages pass And The Swing goes on. All Swing! The Sky and the Earth and the Air and the Water
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"Don't forget the real business of war is buying and selling" Africa |
“Don’t forget the real business of war is buying and selling. The murdering and violence are self-policing, and can be entrusted to non-professionals. The mass nature of wartime death is useful in many ways. It serves as spectacle, as diversion from the real movements of the War. It provides raw material to be recorded into History, so that children may be taught History as sequences of violence, battle after battle, and be more prepared for the adult world. Best of all, mass death’s a stimulous to just ordinary folks, little fellows, to try grab a piece of that Pie while they’re still here to gobble it up. The true war is a celebration of markets,” Thomas Pynchon said.
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Law & Politics |
“I can see, on the horizon, unpronounced and unproclaimed images. I can sense the hypnotic qualities of things that to everyone else look unobtrusive, then excavate and articulate these collective dreams with some clarity.”
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U.A.E. Moves to Extricate Itself From Saudi-Led War in Yemen @WSJ Emerging Markets |
WASHINGTON—The United Arab Emirates is aiming to pull most of its forces out of the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, extricating itself from a four-year war that has provoked congressional opposition and has become a flashpoint with Iran in the region. In recent weeks, Abu Dhabi has begun pulling tanks and attack helicopters out of the country, according to Western officials. It also has withdrawn hundreds of soldiers from the Red Sea coast, including those close to the port city of Hodeidah.
Conclusions
One Houthi Drone Attack on DXB and it will crater the UAE
Frontier Markets
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Deadly air strike on Libya migrant centre sparks outrage @AFP Africa |
- Outrage and calls for an independent probe mounted Wednesday as 44 migrants were killed in an air strike on a detention centre in Libya that the UN said could constitute a war crime. UN chief Antonio Guterres denounced the "horrendous" attack and demanded an independent investigation as the Security Council said it would hold urgent talks about the situation in the country. Libya's internationally-recognised government and its arch-foe strongman Khalifa Haftar traded blame for the deadly assault, which the European Union called a "horrific" attack. Bodies were strewn on the floor of a hangar in the Tripoli suburb of Tajoura, mixed with the blood-soaked clothes of migrants, an AFP photographer said. "There were bodies, blood and pieces of flesh everywhere," a survivor, 26-year-old Al-Mahdi Hafyan from Morocco, told AFP from his hospital bed where he was being treated for a leg wound.
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Abandoned by the UAE, Sudan's Bashir was destined to fall @Reuters Africa |
In his 30 year rule, Sudan’s Omar Hassan al-Bashir survived coup attempts, rebellions and war. Insiders say it was his failure to read the politics of the region, and maintain one key alliance, that led to his downfall. KHARTOUM – On the night of April 10, Sudan’s feared spymaster, Salah Gosh, visited President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in his palace to reassure the leader that mass protests posed no threat to his rule. For four months, thousands of Sudanese had been taking to the streets. They were demanding democracy and an end to economic hardship. Gosh told his boss, one of the Arab world’s longest serving leaders, that a protest camp outside the Defence Ministry nearby would be contained or crushed, said four sources, one of whom was present at the meeting. His mind at ease, Bashir went to bed. When he woke, four hours later, it was to the realization that Gosh had betrayed him. His palace guards were gone, replaced by regular soldiers. His 30-year rule was at an end. A member of Bashir’s inner circle, one of a handful of people to speak with him in those final hours, said the president went to pray. “Army officers were waiting for him when he finished,” the insider told Reuters. They informed Bashir that Sudan’s High Security Committee, made up of the defence minister and the heads of the army, intelligence and police, was removing him from power, having concluded he’d lost control of the country. He was taken to Khartoum’s Kobar jail, where he’d imprisoned thousands of political opponents during his rule. There he remains. It was a remarkably smooth putsch against a man who had seen off rebellions and attempted coups, survived U.S. sanctions and evaded arrest by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and war crimes in Darfur. They described how Bashir mishandled one key relationship - with the United Arab Emirates. Oil-rich UAE had previously pumped billions of dollars into Sudan’s coffers. Bashir had served UAE interests in Yemen, where the Emirates and Saudi Arabia are waging a proxy war against Iran. But at the end of 2018, as Sudan’s economy imploded and protesters took to the streets, Bashir found himself without this powerful, and wealthy, friend. Relations between Bashir and the UAE were still warm in February 2017, when Bashir visited Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi. Some 14,000 Sudanese troops were fighting in Yemen as part of a Saudi and UAE-led military coalition against Iranian-aligned rebels. The prince, known among diplomats as MbZ, was now hoping for Bashir’s cooperation in another regard - cracking down on Islamists - said a senior official in the Sudanese government who was briefed on the meeting by Bashir. In broadcast remarks during the meeting, MbZ thanked the Sudanese leader for sending his troops to support the UAE and Saudi Arabia in Yemen. “I want to say a word of truth about the president. When the going got tough and things got worse, Sudan supported the Arab alliance without asking for anything in return,” said MbZ, sitting alongside Bashir. Billions of dollars from the UAE flowed to Sudan after the Abu Dhabi talks. The UAE state news agency reported that in the year to March 2018, the UAE channeled a total $7.6 billion in the form of support to Sudan’s central bank, in private investments and investments through the Abu Dhabi Fund For Development. In March 2018, Sudan and Qatar announced plans for a $4 billion agreement to jointly develop the Red Sea port of Suakin off Sudan’s coast. Bashir had chosen not to throw his support behind the UAE and Saudi Arabia in the dispute. In December 2018, the UAE halted fuel supplies to Sudan, three Sudanese officials said, unhappy that Bashir wasn’t meeting his end of the bargain to squeeze out Islamists. “The Emirates and Saudi decided not to support Bashir financially because he refused to get rid of the Islamists and would not give in to pressure to support Saudi Arabia and the Emirates against Qatar,” said Habani. “They would not accept that Sudan would not take sides.” Increasingly desperate for money, Bashir travelled to Qatar later the same month for talks with the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. According to the member of Bashir’s inner circle, the emir had offered Bashir a billion dollar lifeline. But Bashir returned home empty handed, the source said, after the emir revealed he was under pressure from “certain parties” to change his mind. The emir didn’t specify who these parties were. When protesters set up camp outside the Defence Ministry, not far from Bashir’s residence, on April 6, Gosh’s National Intelligence and Security Service did nothing to stop them. “That’s when we realized the army was taking over,” said Habani, the senior member of Bashir’s National Congress Party. Gosh reached out to top officials including the defence minister, the army chief of staff and the police chief. They agreed it was time to end Bashir’s rule. A source close to Gosh said each of the men realized “Bashir was finished.” A spokesman for the Transitional Military Council that now rules Sudan confirmed that Gosh took a lead role. On June 3, Hemedti’s soldiers crushed the sit-in outside the Defence Ministry, opening fire on protesters. Opposition medics say over 100 people were killed. Sudanese authorities put the number at 62. Then the soldiers set about clearing away the placards and banners, emblazoned with the slogans, “We don’t want to be like Egypt” and “United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia stop interfering in Sudan.”
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And now we have two visions of the Future Africa |
And now we have two visions of the Future. One Vision played out on our screens, the Protestors could have been our Wives, our Children, our Daughters and Sons. The Other Vision is that of MBS, MBZ and Al-Sisi and its red in tooth and claw. Vladimir and Xi backed the Gulf and America is below the radar.
Hugh Masakela said ''I want to be there when the People start to turn it around'' Sudan is a Masakela Pivot moment
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Lets start in Khartoum. The "zeitgeist" of the Revolution was as intoxicating as the Oudh that the Saudi Arabian Ambassador once gave me and I found myself semi delirious intoxicated on my own perfume. Africa |
The exquisite murals, the composition of the crowds, the element of Girl Power which spoke to hope and a Future. As I watched events unfold it felt like Sudan was a Portal into a whole new another Normal. David Pilling in the Financial Times captured the Essence by quoting William Wordsworth, who wrote of the French Revolution:
OH! pleasant exercise of hope and joy! For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood Upon our side, we who were strong in love! Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!-- Not in Utopia, subterranean fields, Or some secreted island, Heaven knows where! But in the very world, which is the world Of all of us,--the place where in the end We find our happiness, or not at all!
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Zimbabwe's Hail-Mary Pass to Ease Dollar Woes Works, For Now @economics @PaulWallace123 Africa |
Crisis-stricken Zimbabwe may have landed a raft of major monetary-policy reforms that were dubbed by one analyst as a “Hail-Mary pass.” Last week, the central bank banned the use of foreign currencies as legal tender, officially reintroduced the Zimbabwean dollar a decade after it was wiped out by hyperinflation, hiked overnight interest rates to 50% and removed a cap on banks’ foreign-exchange trading margins. While slammed by some businesses, the moves have succeeded in reducing the gap between the nation’s official and black-market exchange rates. The latter has strengthened to 9.50 per U.S. dollar from a record low of 12.90 last week, according to marketwatch.co.zw, a website run by financial analysts. Along with the central bank’s weakening of the interbank rate, the difference between the two is now the narrowest since at least early 2017. Some locals and businesses criticized the return of the Zimbabwe dollar, saying it could accelerate inflation that’s already at almost 100%. Costs haven’t climbed so far. Fast-food chain Simbisa Brands Ltd. reduced prices on Wednesday at some of its chicken and pizza outlets. “It looks like they caught the pass and they’re running with it,” said Kato Mukuru, head of frontier-markets research in Dubai for EFG-Hermes, the investment bank that described it as a Hail Mary. “But it’s still far from being a touchdown. The biggest problems could still be to come.” He’s skeptical because Zimbabwe has nowhere near enough foreign exchange to support the currency and pay for vital imports such as fuel and medicine, which are running low. Plus, he said, higher interest rates will hit consumer demand and may cause non-performing loans to spike. The government said it was drawing down part of a $500 million line from the African Export-Import Bank to supply the interbank market with dollars. But that won’t last long as it covers less than a month of imports, said Mukuru. It’s unclear whether Zimbabwe -- which wants a loan from the International Monetary Fund but needs to clear debt arrears before it’s eligible for one -- has other sources it can tap for hard currency.
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Nigeria to Sign African Free-Trade Pact at @_AfricanUnion Meeting in Niger Africa |
Nigeria will sign a continental free-trade deal at an extraordinary summit of the African Union this weekend, bringing the duty-free movement of goods in the region a step closer. The economy of Africa’s most-populous nation vies with South Africa to be the continent’s biggest and signing up clears a hurdle in the implementation of the African Continental Free-Trade Agreement. President Muhammadu Buhari last week received a report urging him to sign the deal from a committee set up to consider whether the country should join. Nigeria will sign the deal at the summit in Niger “after extensive domestic consultations, and is focused on taking advantage of ongoing negotiations to secure the necessary safeguards against smuggling, dumping and other risks or threats,” the nation’s Presidency said on Twitter. African intra-country trade is at about 15% of the total compared with 20% in Latin America and 58% in Asia, according to the African Export-Import Bank. This could more than double within the first decade after implementing the deal, the Cairo-based lender said in a report last year. After four years of talks, the mechanics of the agreement will be negotiated in phases and it should be fully operational by 2030. “We need to double the growth in Africa and I think this will certainly be one of the components to drive growth,” Hafez Ghanem, the vice president for Africa at the World Bank, said in an interview in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. “Having free trade and one common market will be one of the components.” The agreement came into force on paper in May. While Nigeria signing up will play a key part in the trade bloc reaching its potential, there are structural challenges, Aurelien Mali, vice president and sovereign analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, said in an emailed note. “Power generation and logistics infrastructure are weak in most countries in the trade area, both of which play a crucial role in supporting trade and manufacturing in Africa,” he said.
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