Obama’s plain-speaking in Africa: Corruption, terror top agenda
Barack Obama has become the first US president to visit Kenya and Ethiopia, two of East Africa’s emerging economies. While there was plenty of buzz and excitement in Kenya …
Read MoreGlobal Indian News
Barack Obama has become the first US president to visit Kenya and Ethiopia, two of East Africa’s emerging economies. While there was plenty of buzz and excitement in Kenya …
Read MoreIn a series of suicide attacks in Nigeria and Cameroon, more than 50 people were estimated to have been killed, signaling a spurt in increasing extremism across a wide swathe of the continent.
Boko Haram is suspected to be behind these attacks. The terror canrage comes in the backdrop of Boko Haram releasing videos on the social networking site Twitter, where it claimed that they were not defeated and said, “We will be coming from where you never expected, stronger than before.”
Boko Haram is among prime drivers of terrorism in the region, which also include outfits like Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and al-Shabaab. Boko Haram deploys Wahabbi Islam for radical proselytization and is waging a war against what it calls “the evil secular government in Nigeria.” In an hour-long video released on August 24, Boko Haram’s emir, Abubakar Shekau, declared his intention to establish the world’s second Islamic “caliphate.”
It’s Africa time for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Energy, business, developmental assistance, Indian Ocean strategy and tourism promotion melded anew in a new configuration as the Indian leader held wide-ranging talks with Tanzania’s President Jakaya Mrisho Kikewete, the first head of state from the resurgent continent Mr Modi hosted since taking charge in May last year.
The outcomes of the talks in New Delhi, which included the signing of eight MoUs to expand engagements swaddling diverse areas, reflected the Modi government’s emerging Africa policy in a miniature. Expanding its developmental partnership with the East African state, India extended a line of credit for $ 268.35 million for a host of projects, including the extension of a pipeline project.
Reflecting the growing importance of the African continent in India’s energy security calculus, India offered its expertise to Tanzania in development of its emerging natural gas sector.
Read MoreWith months to go before the third India-Africa Forum Summit, New Delhi is putting its Africa diplomacy into high gear as it rolls out the red carpet for Tanzania’s President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete.
The Tanzanian leader, accompanied by a high-level delegation, including ministers and senior officials, will be in India on a five-day visit starting June 17.
Bolstering infrastructure through soft loans has been the overriding focus of India’s diplomatic outreach to the East African nation. The Indian government extended a Line of Credit (LOC) of US$ 40 million for supply of tractors and agricultural equipment in June 2009 and another LOC of US$ 36.56 million for supply of Ashok Leyland trucks to Tanzania. During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Tanzania in 2011, India unveiled another LOC of US$ 178.125 million for the development of water supply projects.
The 50,000-strong Indian community forms an enduring bridge between the two countries.
Read MoreUnderlining the need to eliminate a host of armed conflicts that most of the African states have been facing, African leaders have vowed to eradicate the scourge of war by …
Read MoreThe Nigerian presidential election on March 28 was nothing short of a historic turning point in the rather fragile democracy. An incumbent Nigerian President was voted out in a general …
Read MoreAl-Shabaab, a Somali militant group believed to be a part of the African terror syndicate comprising of groups such as the Al Qaeda in Maghreb (AQIM), Boko Haram and Ansaru …
Read MoreBarely a couple of years after the spectacular mall terror attack in the heart of Nairobi, Somalia-based al-Shabaab militants targeted a college campus in the Garissa town of North East …
Read MoreFormer military ruler Muhammadu Buhari became the first opposition candidate in Nigeria’s history to win a presidential election, making him the numero uno of Africa’s most populous nation and the …
Read MoreThe Narendra Modi government has flagged off its enhanced Africa diplomacy, which will be telescoped in India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s first bilateral visit to two key partners of New Delhi in the resurgent African continent – Tanzania and South Africa. The forthcoming African safari of Mrs Swaraj will cohere the trinity of India’s engagement with Africa that pivots around three Ts: Trade, Training and Technology.
The minister’s interactions with her counterparts in Dar es Salaam and Pretoria are going to focus primarily on stepping up bilateral relations across the spectrum, but will also involve some preliminary consultations on the evolving agenda of the third edition of the India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-III) in New Delhi later this year. This will be the Modi government’s first summit-level interaction with the leaders of African countries, and promises to be bigger and grander than the previous two summits in New Delhi and Addis Ababa.
The March 28-31 visit of Mrs Swaraj, which was formally announced by Syed Akbaruddin, the spokesperson of India’s external affairs ministry on March 20, will be watched closely in the continent as this will signal the Modi government’s desire to raise the bar for this vibrant multi-faceted relationship that some feel was not given enough attention during the first few months of the new Indian government.