The world at aglance NEWS 72November2019 THE WEEKSochi,
Russia
Russiawoos
Africa:The
leadersof
43 African
nations
attendedthe
inaugural
“Russia-Africasummit”intheBlackSea
resortofSochilastweek–partofan
intensivedrivebyMoscowtowinfriends,
signnewbusinessdealsandre-establish
Russia’sSoviet-eraroleasageopolitical
powerbrokeronthecontinent.Russia’s
tradewithAfricaiscurrently$20bnayear,
justatenthofChina’sAfricatrade,but
PresidentPutin(picturedwithEgypt’s
PresidentSisi)aimstodoublethatwithin
thenextfiveyears.Russiaisalreadythe
continent’sbiggestarmssupplier.Beirut
PMquits:Lebanon’sPM,SaadHariri,
stooddownonTuesday,followingtwo
weeksofprotestscallingforpolitical
change.Asmanyasamillionpeopleare
thoughttohavetakentothestreetsto
demandnotjustHariri’sresignation,but
alsothatofthegovernorofthecentral
bankandHassanNasrallah,theleader
ofHezbollah,theShiapoliticalpartythat
isamemberofthecoa litiongovernment
andiswidelyseenasaproxyofIran.
“Ihavereachedadeadend,”saidHariri:
Lebanonneedsthe“positiveshock”of
freshleadershiptocopewiththecrisis.
Theprotestsweresparkedbyataxon
WhatsApp,amongotherrevenue-raising
measureswhichhavenowbeendumped.
HoursbeforeHaririquit,aHezbollah
mobattackedtheprotestersinBeirutwith
pipesandsticks.
AddisAbaba
Interethnicriots:
Afewweeksago
Ethiopia’s prime
minister, Abiy
Ahmed,wonthe
NobelPeacePrize
for haltingthe
decades-long conflict with Eritreaandfor
releasing political prisoners. But lastweek,
stre et protests against hisgovernment
turned violent, andhave now morphed
into interethnicclashesinwhich 67 people
have been killed. The protestswere
spearheadedbyJawar Mohammed,
the founderofamedia networkand a
high-profileally-turned-criticof thePM
–who claims thepolice have been
instructed to arrestand possiblyeven kill
him.Jawar, who is thoughttohavebeen
mountingachallengeto Abiyinnext
year’s election,claimsthat despitethe
PM’s rhetoric, Ethiopia is already sliding
back towardsauthoritarianism.Pyongyang
Chroniclackoffood:
NearlyhalfofNorth
Korea’spopulation is
undernourished,according
toaninvestigation bythe
UN specialrapporteuron
humanrightsin North
Korea. TomásOjea
Quintana,anArgentinian
lawyer,saysthatsome
140, 000 childrensuffer
fromlack offood; that
30,000 “facean increased
risk ofdeath”; andthathe
hadseennoimprovement
during thelast threeyears.
North Korea, his
investigation said, was
“violatingitshuman
rights obligations”.Karbala,Iraq
Protesterskilled:Iraqisecurityforces
openedfireonanti-governmentprotesters
encampedintheIraqicityofKarbalaon
Tuesday,killingatleast 1 8peopleand
woundingseveralhundred.Itwasoneof
thedeadliestsingleincidentsinarenewed
upsurgeofcivilianprotestthatkicked
offlastFriday.Thousandsofprotesters
clashedwiththeIraqisecurityforces
andIran-backedmilitiasindemonstrations
thatstartedinBaghdadandthenspread
acrosstheShia-majoritysouth.The
explosionofanger,againstagovernment
heldresponsibleforrisingpoverty,
unemploymentandcorruption,hasbeen
metwithanuncompromisinglybrutal
responsefromthesecurityforces.Atleast
90 peoplehavebeenkilledintheprotests,
toaddtothe 150 whowerekilledinthe
firstwaveatthestartofOctober.Hong Kong
Economicslowdown:Fivemonths of
anti-government protestshave tipped
Hong Kongintorecession,and it will be
“extremely difficult” tosteer theeconomy
back towardspositivegrowth, according
to theterritory’sfinancialsecretary, Paul
Chan.There was anearly50%dropin
thenumberof tourists in October,and
retailers havealso been badly hit.Inthe
latestround of violent protests, demon-
stratorsset firetoshops andhurle dpetrol
bom bs at police.Last week,the Hong
Kong governmentscrappedthe extradition
billthatsparked thecurren tunrest.Feni, Bangladesh
Deathpenalty:In
acase that has
rockedBangladesh,
the headof a
small-town
religious school
(madrasa)has been
sentencedtodeath
for ordering the
murder ofone
of his students,
19-year-oldNusrat
Jahan Rafi.BackinMarch,Nusrathad
reported him for touching her inappro-
priately: soon after,she waslured onto the
roof ofthe madrasa,dousedin kerosene
and set onfire. Sh ediedfourdays later.
The conspiratorstried to passitoff as
suicide.Fifteen otherswho tookpart in
the attack, includingfello wstudentsfrom
the madrasa, two teachers and two
politiciansfrom theruling AwamiLeague,
have also beensentenced to death.