FinPol Digest

  A Nation’s Shield Against Chaos The Eastern African nation  Somalia relies on the National Army to battle against the continuing terrorist organization Al-Shabaab . The Somalian military force has fought for twenty years to bring back state government while keeping African and worldwide violence from spreading further. Through international backing the SNA developed from its divided status into a symbol of longitudinal strength encompassing 32,000 personnel made up of 19,000 active service members. The ongoing fight in Mogadishu requires international support to secure global stability due to terrorist dangers which threaten Africa as well as other continents. The Somali National Army conducted its major offensive after 2022 by retaking more than 200 settlements from the Al-Shabaab in Hiraan and Galmudug regions of central Somalia. The counterterrorism operations primarily depend on both Danab Brigade troops trained by the US (2,000 personnel strength) and Gorgor Battalions ...

 The head of Sudan's Democratic Unionist Party, Muhammad Othman Al-Mirghani, returned to the country on Monday after spending ten years in exile living in Cairo. Thousands of his supporters welcomed him at Khartoum Airport. A spokesman for the party, Omar Khalafallah, said that Al-Mirghani's return compliments a number of files and tasks, including the Sudanese initiative launched in March to resolve the political crisis. He added that the party's vision is based on making amendments to the constitutional document signed in 2019 and producing a new constitution to restore the transitional period. The spokesman noted that Al-Mirghani has worked with the Federal Parties Unit to bridge the gaps between the federal parties and unite them. Al-Mirghani left Sudan in 2010, following disagreements within his party, and went to London, where he stayed for a short while before leaving for Cairo and settling there. He managed his party's affairs from the Egyptian capital and enter...

Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is set to arrive in Egypt's Red Sea city of Sharm El-Sheikh on Monday to participate in the 2nd Green Middle East Summit. The Summit is held in tandem with UN climate conference COP27 , which opened in Sharm El-Sheikh on Sunday. A statement by the Saudi Royal Court said bin Salman had left for Sharm El-Sheikh to take part in the Summit, which will be attended by Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, along with a host of world leaders. The Summit is intended to lay out a roadmap for regional climate action, assessing the consequences of climate change and presenting solutions. The first edition of the Green Middle East Summit was held in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, in October 2021. Notably, these initiatives aim to plant 50 billion trees in the region and reduce carbon emissions by more than 10 percent.

 A Tunisian judicial official revealed that the Italian authorities refused to return the Tunisian child, Linda, to Tunisia. He also pointed out that the Tunisian judiciary had decided to ban her family from travelling to Italy, while a lawyer talked about the formation of a "human rights commission" to pressure the Italian authorities to return Linda to Tunisia. A week ago, Linda (4 years old) arrived alone on the Italian island of Lampedusa via a secret immigration boat, following which the Italian authorities put her in a shelter in Palermo. At the same time, the Tunisian authorities detained her family, which was unable to join the boat. Farid Ben Jeha, the spokesman of the Courts of Monastir and Mahdia, confirmed that the Italian authorities assigned a lawyer and accused him of refusing to return the child, Linda, stressing that "the representative of the protection of children will appear on Friday before the Italian judiciary to prove that the judicial authoritie...

 Egypt has voted in favor of a UN resolution condemning Russia's move to annex the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia. The resolution says that instead these regions are temporarily occupied by Russia as an act of aggression. The UN yesterday passed a resolution calling on countries not to recognize the four regions of Ukraine which Russia has claimed and demanded that Moscow reverse its "attempted illegal annexation." One hundred and forty-three member states voted in favor, five voted against, and 35 countries abstained. Russia, Syria, Belarus, Korea, and Nicaragua all voted against it whilst most countries abstaining were African states as well as China and India. Russia initially called for the 193-member body to conduct a secret ballot on the move, but the General Assembly decided it would hold a public vote. Moscow held referendums to annex the four partially occupied regions in Ukraine, but the move was denounced by Ukraine and its al...

 Goringhaicona Khoena Council, a Khoi traditional group in Cape Town, Africa is opposing the development of the Amazon headquarters here. If the court entertains their plea, the American giant has plans of moving out of Cape Town for good.  The community believes their land to be sacred and therefore does not want it to be used for construction purposes. Construction is already underway for Amazon’s 4bil rand (RM1.10bil, US$262mil, €231mil) African HQ.  The property developers, the Liesbeek Leisure Property Trust had promised to build a heritage, cultural, and media center that will be operated by indigenous groups. This was somewhat favored by several Khoisan groups too. But the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council and a neighborhood association have asked the Western Cape High Court to halt construction. As a result, Amazon has now indicated to the developer that if the delay is permitted by the court, they will pull out of the project itself. The nea...

 Elections this year in African countries will decide a lot of things for the region as well as its bond with the rest of the world.  Africa is known to possess a lot of resources but lacks when it comes to transformations of these resources and making them available or useful to its people in a way that they can actually be benefited. This is exactly what the topic of these elections will most likely be. The election meant for this year will be unlike any other region as the continent witnessed all things negative from coups to conflicts to infighting and derailments of democratic processes. The whole scenario currently taking place in the country has taken things way back to the starting time.  Libya, Somalia , Mali, Guinea, and Chad are all tentatively scheduled to hold elections, and coincidentally all these nations are also the ones where the elections have already been postponed due to one or the other reason.  There are other countries that are experiencing s...

 On Monday, commodity handlers could finally keep their calm as oil prices were closed down on a steady note despite the Covid-19 scare.  Bigger relief came from Libya and Kazakhstan as they saw some disruptions in the regional affairs which could have further led to inflaming the oil prices. The two issues combined, the way the prices startled at a steady note were a big relief to the agents. As per reports, the Brent crude oil fell 13 cents, or 0.2%, to $81.62 a barrel while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 17 cents, or 0.2%, at $78.73 a barrel. The two sides saw a rise of 50 cents when the session started earlier. Addressing the stability, Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch said, “The tailwind lent to oil prices by supply concerns should therefore abate, which suggests that prices will fall this week.” Libya’s role is equally important here as the protest in Kazakhstan disrupted train lines essentially leading to affecting the production at the coun...

 Egypt has seen an upward trend in its population and the president has now stressed catering to that population by taking the budget to $1trn.  President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi confirmed that it will need to work with its budget and bring it to the trillion group to suit the growing population of Egypt . Only then it is possible for the country to cater to the required and most official services for them.  On Tuesday, the president was addressing the audience at the “Upper Egypt Week” where he was talking about the new ammonia nitrate, a urea plant in Kima, Aswan, in addition to the development project of Aswan Railway Station.  He also asserted that Egypt has been moving towards establishing a new state and it will do it by focusing on the state's performance with citizens and reflecting it on the people’s success ratio.  The country is also developing many complexes including the Kima complex which is reportedly cost at EGP 11.6bn. He further explained that the...

Tigray faced the worst humanitarian crisis after war broke out in Ethiopia's Tigray region on 4 November 2020. As per reports by various human rights organizations, thousands of civilians were killed in the battle. Before the conflict, the Tigray area had 47 medical and healthcare facilities, 224 wellness habitats, 712 health posts and 269 ambulances. Assaults on frontline workers and healthcare facilities are sadly an everyday issue in the war. However, the size and rate of the annihilation of Tigray's healthcare system are extreme.  Ethiopian and Eritrean armies have carried out a progression of crimes in Tigray. There are claims that there's been annihilation and plundering of accessible food supplies, and farming has become impossible. Most health facilities were plundered by ground armies and afterwards demolished or transformed into military barracks. This shows the systematic nature of the attack. A broad survey of international organizations and human rights group...

Back in the 18th century when colonialism was losing its ground in Europe , it found fertile soil in Africa. The colonial era was known for the death penalty being given to those who tried to raise their voice. Now years later, thanks to rigorous efforts by human rights organizations and activists, capital punishment is slowly dwindling from across the continent. But still, a lot needs to be done, many countries still have the death penalty practice in their statute books due to the strong withholding of their colonial legacy.  In July, Sierra Leone became the 23rd country from Africa to abolish capital punishment from its constitutional books.  During the peak of colonialism in Africa, the death penalty was the most common form of punishment after imprisonment. The practice is said to be deeply embedded in the formation of the continent’s decree. During the 1890s, which were the formative years of Africa, capital punishment was introduced in the continent’s Belgian Congo and...