Ivanka Trump plans visit to Ethiopia, Ivory Coast to promote women initiative
President Donald Trump daughter and White House adviser, Ivanka will visit Ethiopia and Ivory Coast over four days this month, the VoA has said.
“The White House said Wednesday that her schedule includes a women’s economic empowerment summit in Ivory Coast as well as site visits and meetings with political leaders, executives and female entrepreneurs in both countries.
Accompanying her will be Mark Green, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. On parts of the trip, they will be joined David Bohigian, acting president of the Overseas Private Investment Corp., and Kristalina Georgieva, interim president of the World Bank Group”, the report said.
OPIC provides loans, loan guarantees and political risk insurance, funding projects that stretch across continents and industries.
It will be Ivanka Trump’s first visit to Africa since the White House undertook the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative in February. In a statement to The Associated Press, she said she was “excited to travel to Africa” to advance the effort.
The initiative involves the State Department, the National Security Council and other U.S. agencies. It aims to coordinate current programs and develop new ones to assist women in job training, financial support, legal or regulatory reforms and other areas.
Ivanka Trump says the goal is to economically empower 50 million women in developing countries by 2025.
Money for the effort will come through USAID, which initially set up a $50 million fund using dollars already budgeted. The president’s 2020 budget proposal requests $100 million for the initiative, which will also be supported by programs across the government as well as private investment. The White House spending plan would cut overall funding for diplomacy and development.
Ivanka Trump has made women’s economic empowerment a centerpiece of her White House portfolio. She has made a number of international trips, with a focus on these issues, including to Japan and India. Her travel to Africa follows a five-day tour that first lady Melania Trump made there last year, with a focus on child welfare.
Like the first lady, Ivanka Trump’s efforts could be complicated by the president, who was criticized last year after his private comments about “s—hole countries” in Africa and other regions were leaked to journalists. (VoA)
The US accuses 7,000 Ghanaians of abusing the terms of their visas. Credit/BBC
US restricts Visa for Ghanaians over 7000 deportees
For refusing to accept the 7000 ‘Ghanaians‘ marked for deportation by the United States government over several immigration infractions, the United States of America has imposed visa restrictions on Ghana.
Last year, the Ghanaian authorities said they had delayed the process so they could vet the deportees and confirm their nationalities. Ghana had also raised concerns about their inhumane treatment by US officials.
However, as the standoff persists, the US embassy in Accra will limit the awarding of visas to certain applicants, such as the domestic staff of diplomats posted to America. And the sanctions could be expanded to include other categories if the issue was not resolved, US officials warned, the BBC reported.
Last year, Ghana had questioned the deportees’ nationality and treatment.
The US accuses the 7,000 deportees of being guilty of immigration offences, including abusing the terms of their visas
“Ghana has failed to live up to its obligations under international law to accept the return of its nationals ordered removed from the United States,” US Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen said on a statement on Thursday.
There were reports that some deportees were handcuffed and forced aboard a plane to Ghana but the US denied the reports, Ghana’s Citi Newsroom reports.
From Monday 4 February, no visas would be issued to domestic employees of Ghanaian diplomats in the US, the statement from the US embassy in Ghana said.
But a lack of adjudication of a visa application did not mean a visa denial, it just meant it would remain pending until the restrictions were lifted, the embassy said.
US accuses China, Russia of underhand dealings in Africa
Government of the United States of America (USA) has accused China and Russia of using “opaque” and “corrupt” deals in their relations with African countries.
This is coming at the heels of fast China and Russia influence in Africa.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton said the two nations were “deliberately and aggressively” attempting to gain an economic advantage over the US on the continent.
He said the Trump administration’s new strategy for Africa would focus on trade and countering terrorism.
Shortly before embarking on his first official visit to Africa, former U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. is committed to building on a “strong foundation of U.S.-Africa relations” and accused China of “encouraging dependency” in its approach to Africa.
Tillerson said the U.S. was “eager” to lower barriers to trade and investment in Africa, whose largest trading partner by far is China. He added that the U.S. approach of “incentivizing good governance” contrasts sharply to China’s, “which encourages dependency, using opaque contracts, predatory loan practices and corrupt deals that mire nations in debt and undercut their sovereignty.”
“Our country’s security and economic prosperity are linked with Africa’s like never before,” the top U.S. diplomat said before an audience at George Mason University just outside of Washington. The trip comes two months after President Donald Trump triggered a wave of controversy when he reportedly referred to African nations as “shithole countries” during an Oval Office meeting on immigration with a bipartisan group of senators.
Bolton warned the US would no longer fund “unproductive” peacekeeping efforts.
“Under our new approach, every decision we make, every policy we pursue, and every dollar of aid we spend will further US priorities in the region,” he said in a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington.
He accused China of using “bribes, opaque agreements and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands”.
He highlighted China’s influence in Djibouti, which he said was not only having a direct impact on the US’s military base there but could soon shift the balance of trading power in the region towards the east.
Russia, he said, was seeking to increase its influence in Africa by advancing “its political and economic relationships with little regard for the rule of law or accountable and transparent governance”.
He said Russia was continuing to “sell arms and energy in exchange for votes in the United Nations” and extracting “natural resources from the region for its own benefit”.
The BBC’s Anne Soy says Mr Bolton’s speech could cause disquiet among Africans already concerned that their continent is being used as a platform to advance the agenda of global players.
The US strategy may be viewed by some Africans through the same lens the Trump administration is using to assess China and Russia’s intentions in Africa, she notes (DAN with BBC reports)
Rashida Tlaib(R) and Ilhan Omar(L) became the first Middle Eastern women to be elected to Congress during the US mid-terms. . Photo : RR
First Muslim women winning seats in US Congress are Africans
The two women made history as incoming election results showed that the pair had been chosen to represent Michigan’s 13th district and Minnesota’s 5th district respectively. They also become the first Muslim women to be elected to Congress.
Democratic candidate Rashida Tlaib is a Palestinian-American whose parents hail from Beit Ur Al-Fauqa, west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem. Her family moved to Detroit, where Tlaib was born and raised.
Ilhan Omar, a member of the Democrat-affiliated “Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party” (DFL) also joined Tlaib as the first female Middle Eastern Congress member. Omar was born in Somali capital Mogadishu, where she lived until the early 1990s when her family was forced to flee the country’s civil war. She spent four years living in a refugee camp in Kenya until her family moved to the USA. Speaking shortly after the results came through, Omar told a packed hall:
I stand before you tonight as your Congresswoman elect with many firsts behind my name – the first woman of colour to represent our state in Congress, the first woman to wear a hijab to represent our state, the first refugee ever elected to Congress and one of the first Muslim women to be elected to Congress.
Both women ran unopposed in their districts after winning this summer’s Democratic primaries and the Republican Party failed to put forward candidates. They were also vocal in their support for each another, with Tlaib writing to Omar on Twitter in August that: “I can’t wait to walk onto the floor of United States Congress hand in hand with you. So incredibly proud of you.”
The US embassy in Nigeria says that the authorities should investigate the deaths of protesters from a Shia Muslim sect during clashes with security forces earlier this week.
United States wants probe of Shiites deaths in Nigeria
The latest clash between Nigeria’s armed security forces and Shiites in Abuja left no fewer than 45 shia members dead and many more wounded. In the past 34 months when leader the pro-Iran Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) had been in detention, its members have been demanding for his release. This has been the cause of multiple clashes with government forces, including the ones that happened over the last four days in Abuja.
The US embassy in Nigeria says that the authorities should investigate the deaths of protesters from a Shia Muslim sect during clashes with security forces earlier this week.
It wants the authorities to “take appropriate action to hold accountable those responsible for violations of Nigerian law”.
The army admits that three people were killed in clashes in Abuja on Monday, but the IMN says that dozens died.
On Wednesday, rights group Amnesty International said that 45 IMN supporters died over two days of clashes.
The army, which fired live rounds on Monday at the protesters, said the deaths came after the demonstrators tried to overrun a checkpoint.
Amnesty said: “Video footage and eyewitness testimonies consistently show that the Nigerian military dispersed peaceful gatherings by firing live ammunition without warning, in clear violation of Nigerian and international law.”
A procession of Shiites movement into the Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory on Sunday turned bloody when they met military resistance. Nigerian news sources said the military opened fire on the unarmed civilians to disperse them, an act that left scores wounded and about five members of the Shiite Islamic sect killed.
Shiites Sunday clash with the military happened in Zuba, Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), a gateway into the Abuja city. According to eyewitness accounts, a cortège of Shiite members was marching from Suleja, Niger State, to Abuja when they clashed with soldiers.
The group, in their hundreds, were protesting the continued detention of their spiritual leader, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, who has been held by the Department of State Services (DSS) since December 2015.
“Sources said the Army shot and killed five members of the sect during the clash, which occurred at the Dan Kogi checkpoint at Zuba”, The Guardian newspaper reported.
There have been a number of clashes between the Nigerian army and the Shia Muslims since 2015 when their leader, El-Zakzaky was seriously wounded by the soldiers and subsequent detention.
What are Civil Society Groups saying?
There have been a number of calls for release of the Shiites leader. But the Nigerian government has refused to heed them. A human rights advocacy group, Access to Justice on the Nigerian government to obey a federal court’s decision declaring Mr. El-Zakzaky’s continued detention as illegal and unconstitutional.
“The government had no legitimate reasons to detain El-Zakzaky in the first place and ought to have released him immediately the court decision was announced but it has not yet done so,” said Joseph Otteh, Director, Access to Justice.
“Any further delay in releasing El-Zakzaky will represent a direct and serious affront to the rule of law, a hardening of dictatorship behaviour in a democratic government and a dangerous abuse of power.”
El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, have been in detention since a violent clash between his Shiite sect and the Nigerian Army in Kaduna in 2015.
More than 300 members of the sect and one soldier died in the violence which began after the sect members allegedly blocked the passage of the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.
An Abuja Division of the Federal High Court had ordered the release of Mr. El-Zakzaky, despite the submission by the State Security Service that the Shiite leader was kept in protective custody of the SSS.
“The arrest and detention of El-Zakzaky was completely absurd in the first place,” said Mr. Otteh, adding that while over 259 members of the sect had been charged to court for the murder of one soldier, no soldier had been charged for the killing of over 348 IMN members.
“It is a major vilification of Nigeria’s constitutional democracy that those who ordered and perpetrated the attacks that resulted in these killings are still in office and exercising state authority till this time.
“It is also regrettable that the federal government could not be bothered to investigate the atrocities committed against the IMN group by its military forces.
“On the contrary, the government proceeded to detain and imprison El-Zakzaky and his spouse since December 2015, without charge.
“This irony beggars belief and greatly diminishes any claims of this government to respect for the rule of law and protection of human rights.”
The group also called on the government to investigate the report by Amnesty International showing how the Nigerian army is engaging in summary and extrajudicial executions of members of the Indigenous People of Biafra.
“The Buhari government is steadily emboldening a climate of impunity in governance and strengthening the hands of those who unleash brutal force against protesters,” Mr. Otteh said.
“We urge the Buhari administration to walk back this culture of impunity and lawlessness that is hardening in its security institutions, bring those who have whimsically killed innocent Nigerians to justice, and show more respect for the rights of the people who have voted it into power.”
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The BBC has reported that suspected explosive devices were sent to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former US President Barack Obama, according to US Secret Service has said.
The platform says this comes two days after a bomb was found at the home of liberal philanthropist and financier George Soros in the suburbs of New York City.
“The devices were discovered by technicians who screen mail sent to the former US officials.
The Time Warner building in New York was also evacuated due to a package.
CNN, which is located in the Time Warner building, reported that it evacuated its newsroom over a suspicious package”, said BBC.
According to a statement from the US Secret Service, the first package was addressed to Mrs Clinton and was recovered late on 23 October.
“Early this morning, October 24, 2018, a second package addressed to the residence of Former President Barack Obama was intercepted by Secret Service personnel in Washington, DC,” the statement adds.
“Both packages were intercepted prior to being delivered to their intended location. The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.”
A US official told the Associated Press that a “functional explosive device” was found during a screening of mail sent to the home of Mr and Mrs Clinton in Chappaqua, New York.
A spokeswoman for Mr Obama declined to comment on the incident, and referred reporters to the Secret Service statement.
The suspected explosive devices come two days after a confirmed pipe bomb was discovered in a mailbox at the home of Mr Soros.
Mr Soros has become a frequent target for criticism by right-wing groups due to his support for liberal causes.
Officials “proactively detonated” the device, and determined that it contained explosive powder and “had the components of a bomb”.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders condemned the “attempted violent attacks” against the public figures.
“These terrorising acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.
“The United States Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are investigating and will take all appropriate actions to protect anyone threatened by these cowards,” she said.
Melania Trump to tour Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and Egypt from Tuesday
First lady of the United States of America, Melania Trump is heading for Africa on her ‘first big solo international trip’ in which she intends to cover all parts of the continent.
Washington said she aims to make child well-being the focus of a five-day, four-country tour.
“Departing on Monday, she opens her first-ever visit to Africa on Tuesday in Ghana in the West, followed by stops in Malawi in the South, Kenya in the East and Egypt in the Northeast”. VOA said.
President Donald Trump has spoken of the continent in impolite and even vulgar terms.That leaves the first lady with some fence-mending duties.
“She’s got some heavy lifting to do on this trip and it’s a little bit unfair because that’s not what a first lady’s trip should be about,” said Judd Devermont, the Africa program director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. First ladies usually practice a softer form of diplomacy, showing interest in a host nation’s schools, hospitals and arts programs, and avoiding thornier issues.
Joshua Meservey, a senior Africa policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, countered by noting the “positive engagements” the president has had with some African heads of state, including President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, who met with Trump at the White House in late August. Trump also met last week in New York with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt.
Meservey also noted that the U.S. spends considerable amounts on public health and development initiatives in Malawi, which is among the world’s least-developed countries.
“I think the U.S.-Africa relationship is much bigger than the president’s comments, and it’s been going on for decades and decades,” he said. “Frankly, I suspect the vast majority of average Africans have not heard of any of those dust-ups. It’s very much an elite preoccupation.”
“Africans are, generally speaking, very gracious hosts” who will “roll out the red carpet and do their absolute best to be hospitable,” Meservey said.
Days before the first lady was to board a U.S. government airplane for the flight across the Atlantic, Trump declared at the United Nations that he and his wife “love Africa.”
Mrs. Trump’s five days on the continent will feature a mix of visits to hospitals, schools and shelters as she focuses on the well-being of children.
Child welfare is a top issue for Mrs. Trump, the mother of a 12-year-old son. She focuses on the issue in the United States through an initiative she launched this year named “Be Best.” This week’s trip will mark her first extended period promoting the program and its goals abroad, separate from an event she held during a stop in London with the president in July.
A former fashion model born in Slovenia and now a naturalized U.S. citizen, the 48-year-old Mrs. Trump has traveled extensively with the president, including to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy, Brussels, France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom. She was in Finland for the president’s July summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin but did not go to Singapore for Trump’s June meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Her only other international foray was brief: a September 2017 day trip to Toronto to join Britain’s Prince Harry at a military athletic competition.
Often seen as a reluctant first lady — she did not fully move into the White House until nearly six months after Trump took office, due to her son’s schooling in New York — Mrs. Trump has kept a low profile in comparison to her immediate predecessors. She was sidelined for several weeks following kidney surgery in May.
Immediate predecessors Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama all made multiple trips abroad without their spouses during their administration’s two terms. Such travel has become expected of first ladies, and a similar excursion was viewed as a next step in Mrs. Trump’s evolution in one of the world’s most scrutinized roles.
Former first ladies Clinton, Bush and Obama also made repeat solo trips to Africa.
“The first lady, when she travels to a foreign country, can carry the flag and there’s a great deal she could do to engender good feeling about the United States and I hope she can do that,” Myra Gutin, who studies first ladies at Rider University in New Jersey, said of Mrs. Trump.
President Trump raised ire across Africa earlier this year after his private complaint about the continent’s “s—hole countries” was leaked to journalists.
He later offered a partial denial in public but privately defended his remarks, The Associated Press reported in January. He also didn’t deny the comment when he was asked about it while hosting Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at the White House in April.
The president further roiled South Africa when he recently claimed on Twitter that the country is seizing farms and that high numbers of farmers are being killed. He pushed “send” on the tweet after watching a Fox News segment about land issues in South Africa. While killings of farmers have been taking place for more than 20 years and are widely seen as part of South Africa’s high crime rate, experts say white farmers have not been the target. Nor are there signs of widespread killings, they said. (DAN with VOA report)
President Uhuru Kenyatta is billed to meet with Trump on Monday
How will Trump see Kenyatta after meeting? Buhari is ‘lifeless’
Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari pushed to have a bilateral meeting with the United States President, Donald Trump last April. He succeeded. But Trump has a very appalling impression of the President of the most populous country in Africa. To Trump, Buhari is ‘lifeless’ and we warned his staff against arranging a meet with such ‘lifeless’ people in the future.
Kenya’s President, Uhuru Kenyatta, leader of East Africa’s biggest economy has been scheduled to meet Trump, Monday, on official matters. But the question is, how will Trump feel Kenyatta? May be a little more lively or worse than Buhari.
Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta will meet US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office for 20 minutes before going into an expanded bilateral meeting in the Cabinet Room with their delegations.
The US is the largest source of tourists to Kenya and the country hopes direct flights from Nairobi to New York from October will boost arrivals.
Kenya is the 85th largest supplier of goods imported into the US and trade between the two countries is worth $1.5bn (£1.17bn) , according to America’s Department of Commerce.
Kenya also wants to secure financing for a new $4.5bn highway from the port city of Mombasa to the capital Nairobi.
Kenya is seen as a strategic partner to the US in the fight against terror in the East and Horn of Africa and both countries have troops in Somalia.
Strengthening security cooperation will be on the agenda when the two leaders meet in Washington DC.
President Kenyatta will also meet UK Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday in Nairobi after she visits South Africa and Nigeria.
The BBC reports the US President to have told his aides he never again wanted to meet someone so lifeless as Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari, 75, following their meeting at the White House in April, three unnamed sources have told the UK-based Financial Times newspaper.
Mr Buhari was the first leader from sub-Saharan Africa to be invited by Mr Trump to the White House, suggesting that the US president saw Nigeria – a leading oil producer which is battling militant Islamists – as a key ally.
Trump lead US delegation for a summit with North Korea recently
New love for North Korea and US: Kim describes Trump as “extraordinary”
North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-Un, has written a note to U.S. President Donald Trump, describing the American leader as “energetic and extraordinary”.
Mr Trump, in a tweet acknowledging the letter, described it as “a very nice note” adding, “great progress being made’’.
“A very nice note from Chairman Kim of North Korea. Great progress being made!’’ Trump tweeted.
In the letter, dated July 6, Kim recalled the historic meeting between the two leaders in Singapore on June 12, saying it was the start of a meaningful journey.
Mr Kim said: “The significant first meeting with Your Excellency and the joint statement that we signed together in Singapore 24 days ago was indeed the start of a meaningful journey.
“I deeply appreciate the energetic and extraordinary efforts made by Your Excellency Mr President for the improvement of relations between the two countries and the faithful implementation of the joint statement.
“I firmly believe that the strong will, sincere efforts and unique approach of myself and Your Excellency Mr President aimed at opening up a new future between the DPRK and the U.S. will surely come to fruition.
“Wishing that the invariable trust and confidence in Your Excellency Mr President will be further strengthened in the future process of taking practical actions.
“I extend my conviction that the epochal progress in promoting the DPRK-U.S. relations will bring our next meeting forward’’.
There were reports that North Korea had, rather than dismantled its nuclear programme, satellite images showed that it was actually upgrading its nuclear facilities.
Following the reports, Mr Trump had, however, expressed “confidence” that Mr Kim would honour the contract they signed in Singapore.
Mr Trump, on Monday, tweeted: “I have confidence that Kim Jong Un will honour the contract we signed &, even more importantly, our handshake.
“We agreed to the denuclearisation of North Korea.
“China, on the other hand, maybe exerting negative pressure on a deal because of our posture on Chinese Trade-Hope Not!’’ (NAN)
Ivanka, daughter of United States President, Donald Trump and her husband will attend the opening ceremony.
US Jerusalem embassy set for opening tomorrow, Palestinians plan bloody protest in Gaza
Senior White House advisers, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, Sunday arrived in Israel ahead of the opening of the new US embassy in Jerusalem on Monday.
Ivanka, daughter of United States President, Donald Trump and her husband will attend the opening ceremony. But Mr Trump himself will not be there, the BBC has said.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan will be there in person, alongside Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
A small interim embassy will open inside the existing US consulate building in Jerusalem on Monday, while a larger site will be found later when the rest of the embassy moves from Tel Aviv. President Trump is expected to address attendees at Monday’s event via video link.
Meanwhile Israel’s military will be bracing for thousands of Palestinian protesters to try to break through the Gaza border fence. But Israel’s security forces said that they are preparing for Palestinian protests against the embassy’s inauguration.
Trump’s decision to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem late last year angered Palestinians and polarized the world, but however brought to an end decades of US neutrality on the issue.
The plan was brought forward to coincide with the state of Israel’s 70th anniversary.
Israel regards Jerusalem as its “eternal and undivided” capital while the Palestinians claim East Jerusalem – occupied by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war – as the capital of a future state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Christian community said the embassy move was a reason for celebration.
On the other hand, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has described it as the “slap of the century”.
The delegation met Israel’s prime minister on Sunday afternoon, according to the local press.
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