India-Africa News and Discussion

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 28 Feb 2023 11:55

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... -in-africa.

Macron pledges to reduce French military presence in Africa
President’s comments come ahead trip to continent as Paris seeks to counter growing Chinese and Russian influence

The guardian can barely hide it's glee...!

uddu · Post by **uddu** » 28 Feb 2023 15:22

The Europeans are meddling in Nigerian election heavily. They lost as APC won with a huge margin. Now as usual the Europeans are calling it Undemocratic.

EU had warned of violence

The E.U is now going to unleash violence on Nigeria

g.sarkar · Post by **g.sarkar** » 26 Mar 2023 00:58

https://sundayguardianlive.com/world/ch ... turns-sour
China’s omnipresence in Kenya turns sour
Antonia Filmer, March 18, 2023
Many Kenyan businesses feel that Chinese owned companies receive preferential treatment and are able to operate with fewer regulations and lower costs, disadvantaging their local equivalents.
The recent protests in Nairobi against the superstore China Square have highlighted Kenya’s dichotomy between dependency and foreign investment. China Square is a giant Chinese goods supermarket in the Unicity Mall owned by the University of Kenya.It was opened at the end of January and reportedly its takings even on a bad day were US$77,000. Hundreds of local tradesman and retailers who were selling similarly sourced Chinese products accused China Square of stealing their business through an unfair advantage, they held a protest resulting in China Square being temporarily closed.
Cabinet Secretary for Trade Moses Kuria suggested that China Square and Chinese investment hadmade unhealthy competition for entrepreneurs and small scale traders. Many Kenyan businesses feel that Chinese owned companies receive preferential treatment and are able to operate with fewer regulations and lower costs, disadvantaging their local equivalents.
The Chinese Embassy in Kenya issued a statement hoping for practical cooperation from the Kenyan government.
MrCheng Lei, the proprietor of China Square appeared before the Kenyan Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Trade, Industry and Cooperatives to explain China Square’s business model. He assured the Committee that China Square was transparent in its dealings and had no intention of harming local businesses. He said he believed in healthy competition for the benefit of all business stakeholders and called on co-existence with other businesses; China Square was reopened after a week of closure.
This is the latest episode in an anti-China series. Many Kenyans feel exploited by China’s dominance in their lives. Hitherto China has invested deeply in Kenyan infrastructure, roads, railways, airports, bridges and ports, now manufacturing and supply chains are becoming an issue and the Kenya administration is wary not to look like it is picky about where investment comes from. China accounted for 20.5% of Kenya imports in 2021-22; machinery, equipment, iron and steel were among the growth products. China is an important partner to Kenya as Kenya exports everything from titanium ores to avocados.
China sees Kenya as leading the opportunities in east Africa. Kenya could become a manufacturing and assembly hub for all sorts of Chinese products that could then be exported across Africa; there is also a synergy between Kenya and China in solar power production.
Kenya is the biggest economy in east Africa but like the rest of the world Kenyans are suffering the cost of living. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, Kenya has recorded the highest cost of living since 2017. Global inflation, the war in Ukraine, the dreadful drought and the aftermath of Covid have all played their part; recently National Treasury Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo said, China accounts for 67% of Kenya’s Sh1.21 billion bilateral debts, bilateral debt accounts for 26% of all Kenya debt.
.....
Gautam

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 23 Apr 2023 20:43

Is anyone following the events in Sudan?
First, there was a coup in Khartoum in 2019 Ref 1.
Now there is a counter-coup that is plunging Sudan into civil war Ref 2
Next, we have a foreigner's safety issue.
From the US, Europe, West Asia, and India.
Fascinating that so many foreigners were in Sudan.
Now KSA, Ethiopia, and Djibouti have come together to give safe passage to foreigners.
Ref 3 CSIS backgrounder shows US has a deep involvement in Sudan
Otherwise, why have a country-specific tool kit?
Note RSF is there even before the counter-coup.
Soon there will be refugees.

We do not know the background of the coup yet.

Some ref:
1) https://www.cfr.org/blog/sudans-coup-one-year-later
2) https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/17/africa/s ... index.html

3) CSIS Backgrounder: https://www.csis.org/analysis/us-toolki ... coup-sudan

ricky_v · Post by **ricky_v** » 25 Apr 2023 11:12

well sir, there are certain pockets that consist of news junkies who follow every fuss and fukery globally, some points as i understand from the conflict:

the players:
1) rsf - the rebel army, formally called as the militia or in polite terms the paramilitary, was formed by the then united sudan government to harass the southern sudanese and to claim the non-state actor defense, trained by russia / wagner on the request of the sudan government, the us government has stated rsf to be the legitimate representative of the people of sudan and has told the sudanese government to make this happen

2) saf - the national army, team representing the will of the government in power, supported by wagner, egypt, saudia

3) libyan national army - headed by the rightly titled warlord, haftar who has seized power in many parts of libya and by some accounts in the northern areas of chad; in a happy coincidence, he is also a naturalised us citizen and is looking to become the libyan president

4) ethiopia - chances of refugee fallout, ethiopia has 2 presssing issues at the moment that brings it to odds with neighbouring countires:

a) the tigray conflict - still ongoing...many people have forgotten

b) the building of a dam that egyptians and sudanese fear will throttle the flow of the nile into these lower riparian areas

5) eritrea - ethiopia's bff in the region, actively fomenting the tigray conflict

6) egypt and saudia - the saf, sudan's national government are strongly backed by egypt and saudia across the border

7) the western world - the global war on terror is still underway in somalia, a little discussed fact, we certainly never see any opeds to that effect, also a pertinent recent information

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo ... -93-148-3/

reason for the conflict:
1) official reason - coup by the rsf

2) power play - shadow boxing between the us and russia, saf / (wagner) russia + egypt, saudia v/s rsf / (f&df)

wildcards - libya or its rogue militia operating near those regions

turkey - close contact with the libyan "government"

3) motive of the freedom and democracy forces - who can say, truly?, certainly the region is not resource rich (oil, gold, rare earths) nor is there any extreme heavy infrastructure development and spending by the chinese in most of those regions for the fdf to resort to inviting themselves in that region and reaping a fresh area of the region's granary classes

ricky_v · Post by **ricky_v** » 26 Apr 2023 09:28

a sequence of dates

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 27 Apr 2023 05:26

ricky_v wrote: 3) motive of the freedom and democracy forces - who can say, truly?...

Sudan is on the red sea. It is of geopolitical importance - maybe not as important as Bosporus or Gulf or Djibouti-Yemen but still important. Same with Somalia - the horn of Africa extends into the red sea.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 27 Apr 2023 18:07

After Ukraine, the next battle ground between the west and the east is taking shape in Africa. The west would very much like it to be India, but for the moment a strong Hindu nationalist govt is not letting it happen. They have to be content with creating ethno-religious disturbances onlee, but they will keep trying.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 27 Apr 2023 21:55

Here is some information on Sudan. MSM won't go into any of this.

chanakyaa · Post by **chanakyaa** » 28 Apr 2023 08:21

Sudan is on the red sea. It is of geopolitical importance - maybe not as important as Bosporus or Gulf or Djibouti-Yemen but still important. Same with Somalia - the horn of Africa extends into the red sea.

Definitely a lot of interest in recent times

Turkey and Sudan

In 2017, on his visit to the country, Erdoğan was accompanied by a delegation of 200 businesses men and military officials; he signed 21 agreements, including a $650 million, 99-year lease of Suakin Island (south if port of Sudan)

(2023)
Sudan military finishes review of Russian Red Sea base deal

MeshaVishwas · Post by **MeshaVishwas** » 28 Apr 2023 14:34

Light weapons were fired on our C-130 evacuation plane, which was going to Wadi Sayidna for the mission of evacuating our citizens who were stuck in Sudan, where the clashes continued. Our plane landed safely. Although there are no injuries in our personnel, necessary controls are also carried out on our aircraft.

- Turkish Defence Ministry on Twitter(Google translate version)

Images credit to Twitter user @mahmouedgamal44

Great job by the VayuSena in a tough operation

A daring rescue!

8th batch of 121 Indians arrived at Jeddah by IAF C 130 J from Wadi Seidna,Sudan.This evacuation was more complex as the location is in vicinity of Khartoum.

Family members of our Embassy Officials were also part of this group.

Warm welcome.

#OperationKaveri

MEA MoS on Twitter

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 28 Apr 2023 14:56

Apparently some 16,000 US nationals in Sudan were told to fend for themselves. The power of your passport is not determined only by how many countries offer you visa free entry.

Manish_P · Post by **Manish_P** » 28 Apr 2023 15:34

Cyrano wrote:Apparently some 16,000 US nationals in Sudan were told to fend for themselves. The power of your passport is not determined only by how many countries offer you visa free entry.

Wonder how many of them know/are aware about Victoria Nuland. I doubt even 1% do.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 28 Apr 2023 16:01

Oh I'm sure a lot of them do, the predatory businessmen as well as soul harvesting NGOs. I find it hard to accept that Americans are totally unaware of what their govt does, especially the expats who make tons of blood money.

Manish_P · Post by **Manish_P** » 28 Apr 2023 16:06

^ hmm. On second thoughts i agree. They wouldn't have gone to Sudan to see the sights.

MeshaVishwas · Post by **MeshaVishwas** » 28 Apr 2023 18:12

Regarding this post:
Turns out that the Herc had to be abandoned at the said airbase!

#BREAKING: RSF (Rapid Support Forces) rebels opened fire at this C-130E Hercules transport aircraft of #Turkish Air Force which was involved in the evacuation operation of #Sudan. The aircraft with 70-01610 s/n from 222 Filo is now left in Wadi Sayyidna. The air base which is in North of #Khartoum is still under control of Sudanese Armed Forces.

- Iranian journo @BabakTaghvaee1

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 28 Apr 2023 22:10

ricky_v Thanks for keeping an eye.

Any insight on bio-labs in Sudan from the beginning?
WHO is worried about the loss of materials.

yensoy · Post by **yensoy** » 28 Apr 2023 22:47

Manish_P wrote:^ hmm. On second thoughts i agree. They wouldn't have gone to Sudan to see the sights.

A lot would be Sudanese origin Americans; probably 90% of them.

Lisa · Post by **Lisa** » 29 Apr 2023 00:12

ramana wrote:Is anyone following the events in Sudan?

These are Bad people, Very, Very Bad people. They have been involved in one on the bloodiest events on this planet since the end of the second world war. For the greater part all this has been brushed under the carpet as the murderers are of a certain faith. Just to put into perspective,

First civil war killed between 500,000–1 million

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Sudanese_Civil_War

Second civil war killed between 1–2.5 million

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Sudanese_Civil_War

Subsequent fighting in and around Dufur 300,000 dead

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Darfur

ie a bottom estimate of 1.8 million to a top estimate of 3.8 million. IDPs and refugee numbers are another matter. Other than the mortality around the Great Lakes, there is no other theatre in the world that has seen numbers like this since 1945 and I live in a world that is convulsed with a war in Ukraine! Ask those who can cry a river for Ukraine how many times they have EVER discussed these matters and you will be met with complete and utter SILENCE.

In essence what is happening now, is IMHO, sheer power play. The army would like to impose its authority and its recently hired killers have other ideas. The Janjaweed have transformed themselves into a newly relabelled and more slick sounding Rapid Support Force (RSF) but in essence remain nothing short of butchers whose deeds have gone unpunished for a long time.

I deary hope they all rot in hell and I sincerely wish the same for the Sudanese army.

Many years ago I wrote a comment in a newspaper called the Asian Age in response to a so called journalist called seema mustapha (name in small case on purpose) who was on a state sponsored trip to Sudan. In her articles she spoke eloquently of how young children were playing under the trees and that their giggles filling the air, etc ie supporting the Sudanese government's narrative of normalcy. Normalcy, when by then, some 100,000+ had died and mustapha was flagrantly denying this fact!

My letter,

Unbelievable. For a journalist who has so much to say of the sufferance
of the Palestinians it has taken 2 days for the word Dafur to enter your
vocabulary in your writings from Sudan. Let me give you a hand as you
seem so unfamiliar with the situation.

The UN earlier this year said more than two million of the estimated
six million population of Dafur had fled their homes and are in refuge
camps both in and outside Sudan. There are few estimates that put the
number of dead at less than 180,000. Let me give you some more numbers.
The total number of dead in all of Sudan's conflicts in the last 30
years is even at a conservative estimate, put at 2,500,000.

It is self-evident that there seems to be some lack of understanding on
your part of the scale of what is being said here, so let me make the
comparison easier for you to understand. The total population of the
Gaza Strip is approximately 1,500,000. May I enquire by what maths are
the Israeli killings Genocide and these not?

For the comment that you have recanted that this is "internal strife
brought about by poor development and acute poverty", is by any
description gauling and in defiance of the ground realities if not an
insult to the suffering of these innocent people.

You have as is obvious from your article not quite understood who or
what the Janjaweed are. Not so much as one word of what these Arab
Militia have done and are still doing to another Muslim population that
is entirely Black. Pure and simple racial profiling and targeting that
involves the killing of tens of thousands of Black male citizens of
Dafur, the burning of their villages and food stores and the systematic
raping of their women and children. Why no discussion of this in your
story or do I understand that you are unfamiliar with these facts.

You seen very apt at suggesting that India is making a great mistake
when it fails to raise the profile of the plight of the Palestinians,
and yet in all your writings there is not so much as one word as to how
and why India should confront Sudan in these matters. Why so?

Its a taint that runs through out your articles, that you seem to have a
problem criticising Muslim countries for the sufferance that they heap
upon both their people and others but no shortage of complaints for non
Muslim countries that may be guilty of similar misadventures. This last
article of yours is nothing short of a travesty for the sufferance and
misery that the Islamic government of Sudan has put its innocent
citizens through and continues to do to this date.

2 days later the comments section of the newspaper was disabled and my note thus deleted. The world remains ignorant!

again,

"I deary hope they (the Janjaweed) all rot in hell and I sincerely wish the same for the Sudanese army."

Corrected grammar

Cain Marko · Post by **Cain Marko** » 29 Apr 2023 01:45

Lisa wrote:
ramana wrote:Is anyone following the events in Sudan?
Snip.....
.....
Snip
"I deary hope they (the Janjaweed) all rot in hell and I sincerely wish the same for the Sudanese army."

Bravo Lisa ji! Just brilliant!

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 01 May 2023 11:25

seema mustafa was normalizing violence by her co-religionists.
It's a wonder how she got into Asian Age.

Manish_P · Post by **Manish_P** » 01 May 2023 15:17

ramana wrote:seema mustafa was normalizing violence by her co-religionists.
It's a wonder how she got into Asian Age.

Asian Age - Founded by M J Akbar. Ex-congress, Ex-BrookingsInstitution, Ex-MeToo..

krithivas · Post by **krithivas** » 24 May 2023 02:24

Looks like global pharmaceutical is going after Indian exports. In all certainity it was contaminated somewhere in the supply chain and the blame falls on India (which already has a negative cleanliness narrative). If was contaminated, It should have also manifested within India?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/in ... 54ed&ei=10

ricky_v · Post by **ricky_v** » 27 May 2023 12:02

not india related, @ramana sir, there was some initial discourse about presence of biolabs in the sudan, nothing concrete has emerged at this stage, couple of months down the line to conclusively prove or disprove

a very thorough analysis on chadian mercenaries, talk about living up to your country's name

https://warontherocks.com/2023/05/tempt ... stability/

Two years ago, Mahamat Mahadi Ali, better known as “Mahadi,” the rebel leader of the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, led a 600-mile incursion across the Sahara into Chadian territory from his oasis in southern Libya. Close to a thousand of his fighters braved the Sahara’s scorching sands with weapons and vehicles obtained as soldiers of fortune in Libya before their fateful encounter with the Chadian army. The battle that followed was as fierce as it was costly: hundreds of men died on both sides, including five Chadian generals and longstanding Chadian President Idriss Déby, who had personally joined the battlefield to rally his troops. After 10 grueling days of sporadic fighting and despite the loss of its chief commander, the Chadian military eventually repelled the assault. But the message to everyone watching was resoundingly clear: Chadian rebels were a force to be reckoned with, and they knew how to exploit regional instability to their advantage.

The war that broke out in Sudan on April 15 served as a stark embodiment of this. The ongoing power struggle has seen the Sudanese army, under the command of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who is also the head of Sudan’s Transitional Military Council, fight his deputy, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemeti, who leads the Rapid Support Forces. The disagreement primarily revolves around the integration and leadership structure of the Rapid Support Forces within the army, a challenge rooted in former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s (ultimately failed) strategy of fragmenting security forces to prevent any potential overthrow.

The Rapid Support Forces originated as a counter-insurgency militia in Darfur and grew out of the predominantly Arab Janjaweed militia, accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in the region since the early 2000s. Over time, the paramilitary group grew to become Bashir’s praetorian guard. When Bashir left power, the army and Rapid Support Forces formed a partnership to control the country, but disagreements arose due to Hemeti’s increasing influence. The crisis deepened after a coup in October 2021 and ensuing attempts at negotiating civilian rule. The conflict has now spread across the country, causing a humanitarian crisis and destabilizing the region, with no end in sight.

A fascinating yet often overlooked player straddles the borders of all three countries and the dynamics that bind them: Chadian rebels based in Libya. Throughout their history, these fighters have profited from the refuge and resources offered by instability in the Sahel to further their goals and launch attacks against the Chadian government, initially from war-torn Darfur and later from post-Qaddafi Libya. Now, as a result of the conflict in Sudan, these groups, especially the Front for Change and Concord in Chad, may shift their base from Libya to Darfur,

Today, Chadian fighters in the Sahel are primarily composed of veterans from the 2005–2010 Chadian rebellion, a turbulent period of armed rebellion and civil unrest in Chad sparked by widespread dissatisfaction with President Idriss Déby’s rule. They also include ex-Chadian army officers and new recruits from Chad and southern Libya who engage in violence in three main ways: as politically motivated rebels against the Chadian government, as members of apolitical armed groups involved in mercenary work or illicit activities, or as paid soldiers of fortune within existing Libyan armed structures. The boundaries between these groups are fluid, with many fighters switching groups based on living conditions and fund distribution within the groups. Their roles can also change, often alternating between combat, smuggling, banditry, and gold mining as a means to self-finance. The fluctuating roles, regular casualties, and ongoing recruitment make it challenging to accurately quantify the number of Chadian fighters. However, multiple sources suggest it to be under 7,000 men, mostly in southern Libya but also scattered across Niger, Chad, and Sudan.

The vehicles and weapons used in the attack were accumulated through years of mercenary work in Libya. Based in Jufra, in central Libya, Mahadi’s rebels fought alongside the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, a military faction led by warlord Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar, during his campaign on Tripoli between 2019 and 2020. This affiliation allowed the rebel group to gain training and armament, as well as communication lines — and, potentially, support — from forces affiliated with Haftar. These forces include the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-backed private military company known not only for its operations in Ukraine but also for spearheading Russia’s covert military expansion in Africa, which also had a presence in Jufra. They also include the United Arab Emirates, which has been very active in the war in Libya and supplied armaments to the Jufra military airbase under the control of Mahadi’s forces. A plane belonging to the notorious Blackwater private military company was also spotted in the Chadian rebel-controlled airbase. Blackwater is led by Erik Prince, a prominent supporter of Donald Trump who orchestrated an unsuccessful $80 million military operation for Haftar in Libya.

Since their offensive two years ago, Mahadi and his rebel forces have managed to rearm and regroup into a force of approximately 800–900 fighters, according to sources within the rebellion. A portion of the Chadian fighters are fresh recruits drawn from the region’s goldfields. As many as 150,000 young Chadian men have emigrated from across Chad to the Libyan border in search of gold amid a gold rush that started over a decade ago, fueled by soaring gold prices.

In 2010, Chad and Sudan struck a peace deal that created a joint border force to eliminate rebels from the area. Both countries also agreed to stop funding rebels fighting each other’s governments, which meant that Chadian rebel groups lost their safe haven and funding streams in Sudan. Conveniently, the 2011 Libyan revolution broke out the following year, and the ensuing war in Libya offered these groups opportunities to fight as mercenaries in that conflict. Over the past decade, Chadian rebel groups have made Libya their new home.

Libya, however, has begun to lose its appeal for these fighters just as the conflict and chaos in Sudan have created the possibility for them to relocate their operations there. Chadian rebels have had reduced incentives to stay in Libya since the October 2020 Libyan cease-fire agreement, which ultimately lowered opportunities for mercenary work. One of the key features of the peace agreement was — in the words of the then-acting head of the UN mission in Libya — “the departure of all mercenaries and foreign fighters from Libyan territory, air, land, and seas.”

Darfur is also particularly attractive due to its proximity to Chad’s capital, N’Djamena — a two-day drive, compared to the five-day drive from Libya. This proximity could facilitate both potential incursions and access to lucrative illicit markets linking Libya, Chad, and Sudan, similar to those Chadian fighters have already exploited in Libya over the past decade. The region is a key transit hub for arms, drugs, fuel, and car smuggling, and El Radoom region in south Darfur is also an important producer of cannabis that is trafficked across the region. Darfur is also home to several important goldfields, which have already been exploited by the Wagner Group and the Rapid Support Forces. Chadian fighters could participate in these economies, either through direct involvement, protection, or by preying upon them, including through hijacking convoys or attacking traffickers. Arms smuggling along well-established corridors linking Sudan to Libya and Chad is especially expected to experience a boon with the intensification of the conflict. The porous nature of the Sahel’s borders means this will be felt not only in Sudan, Libya, and Chad, but also as far as Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria. These weapons could fall into the hands of violent extremists who are disputing territories in those countries as well.

now, there was talk about getting african union onboard with a brics style global system, the question is what would be the point? all global systems come with two sides, or should theoretically, enjoying power, yes, but also discharging duties which includes upholding and negotiating peace, pushing for development at all instances, what does the au as a whole bring to any new proposed global table that requires promoting jointsmanship?

krithivas · Post by **krithivas** » 13 Jun 2023 02:41

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/fo ... 064f&ei=29

Three sailors from Kerala, who returned home on Saturday on being released from Nigerian captivity, have told media persons that they were forced to drink toilet water, fell ill due to malarial fever and were to be hospitalised

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 25 Jun 2023 00:34

Please cover Modiji's visit to Egypt in this thread.

Thanks for your cooperation.
ramana

KL Dubey · Post by **KL Dubey** » 25 Jun 2023 21:38

ramana wrote:Please cover Modiji's visit to Egypt in this thread.

Thanks for your cooperation.
ramana

Details of the signed agreements are hard to find...will probably show up on some MEA site later..but this article seems to be substantive:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/Intern ... ight-Egypt

Biggest items:

Defense: possible Tejas sale to Egypt and production line setup there as a base for sales to other countries
Trade: Dedollarized trading mechanism for mutual exports in several sectors
Cooperation on global south initiative...Egypt is a key AU partner
I didn't see mention of the industrial park that was agreed upon when Al-Sisi visited India

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 26 Jun 2023 19:08

From Prasar Bharati Site:

> Prasar Bharati News Service - PBNS:
PM Modi becomes first Indian to receive the highest civilian award 'Order of the Nile’ in Egypt

The President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, H.E. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, conferred Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the ‘Order of the Nile’, the highest civilian award of Egypt. PM Modi is the first Indian to have received this honour in Egypt.
PM Modi thanked President Sisi for the honour on behalf of the people of India.

PM Modi also visited Al-Hakim Mosque in Cairo during his State Visit to Egypt. PM Modi also met the leaders of Bohra community, who are actively involved in the upkeep of this Fatimid era Shi'a Mosque and highlighted the strong people to people ties between India and Egypt.

The two leaders warmly recalled the State Visit of President Sisi as the Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations in January 2023, and welcomed the momentum it has imparted to bilateral relations. They agreed that the newly established ‘India Unit’ in the Egyptian Cabinet was a useful tool in steering bilateral collaborations.

Both leaders discussed ways to further deepen the partnership between the two countries, particularly in areas like trade and investment, information technology, defence and security, renewable energy, agriculture, health, culture and people-to-people ties.

PM Modi and President Sisi also discussed further cooperation in G-20, highlighting the issues of food and energy insecurity, climate change and the need for the Global South to have a concerted voice. The Prime Minister looked forward to welcoming President Sisi in New Delhi in September 2023 for the G20 Leaders Summit.

An agreement to elevate the bilateral relationship to a "Strategic Partnership" was also signed by the two leaders during the visit. Three MoUs in the fields of agriculture, archaeology & antiquities and competition law were also signed.

PM Modi also visited the Heliopolis Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery in Cairo during his State Visit to Egypt and paid homage to over 4300 valiant Indian soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Egypt and Aden during the 1st World War.

PM Modi met the Grand Mufti of Egypt, his Eminence Dr. Shawky Ibrahim Allam, on 24 June 2023 during his State Visit to Egypt. The Grand Mufti fondly recalled his recent visit to India, and highlighted the strong cultural and people to people relations between India and Egypt. The Grand Mufti also appreciated the Prime Minister’s leadership in fostering inclusivity and pluralism.

Discussions also focused on issues related to social and religious harmony in society and countering extremism and radicalization. The Prime Minister conveyed that India would set up a Centre of Excellence in IT at the Dar-al-Ifta under the Ministry of Social Justice of Egypt.

PM Modi interacted with Indian community members on 24 June 2023 in Cairo, during his State visit to Egypt. In his interaction with them, he lauded the community for their contribution towards strengthening India-Egypt ties. Over 300 members of the Indian diaspora, comprising students, professionals, and businesspersons, participated in the event.

Earlier, shortly after arriving in Cairo on a State Visit, Prime Minister Modi held a meeting on 24 June 2023 with the "India Unit” in the Egyptian Cabinet. This India Unit was set up earlier this year following the State Visit of President of Egypt, H.E. Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, to India as Chief Guest for Republic Day 2023. The India Unit is headed by the Prime Minister of Egypt H.E. Mustafa Madbouly, and comprises a number of ministers and senior officials.

PM Modi appreciated the setting up of the India Unit, which is carrying out a number of activities to foster India-Egypt relations. He also welcomed this ‘whole of the government approach’ to take forward bilateral relations with India, and shared India’s readiness to work closely with Egypt in various areas of mutual interest.

Between both countries, discussions took place on ways to strengthen cooperation in areas like trade and investment, renewable energy, green hydrogen, IT, digital payment platforms, pharma and people-to-people ties.

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 26 Jun 2023 19:43

From the Livemint site

https://www.livemint.com/news/india/why ... 74074.html

Why PM Modi's visit to 11th century Al-Hakim Mosque in Egypt is significant
25 Jun 2023

After the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has embarked on another state visit to Egypt. During his visit to Egypt, the PM is set to make a visit to Imam al-Hakim bi Amr Allah Mosque in Cairo today, June 25, amid several engagements to strengthen bilateral ties between both countries.

Al-Hakim bi Amr Allah is an 11th-century mosque that was repaired with the help of the Dawoodi Bohra community which is said to be a significant loyal vote base of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India. The mosque is an important cultural site for the Dawoodi Bohra community in Cairo.

PM Modi's visit to Imam al-Hakim bi Amr Allah Mosque, a 1,000-year-old mosque holds immense significance back in India, with a focus on the Dawoodi Muslim community. Notably, the Indian premiere has always credited the community for helping him govern the state of Gujarat'.

The Prime Minister will spend nearly half an hour at the Al-Hakim Mosque-- a historic and prominent mosque in Cairo named after Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah (985-1021), the 16th Fatimid caliph.

Dawoodi Bohra Muslim population in India
The Dawoodi Bohra Muslims are a sect of followers of Islam who adhere to the Fatimi Ismaili Tayyibi school of thought. This sect is known to have originated from Egypt later shifting to Yemen.

The Dawoodi Bohra Muslims settled in India in the 11th century. Notably, the seat of the sect was moved to Sidhpur (Patan district of Gujarat), India in the year 1539 from Yemen.

According to official data, the Bohra Muslims account for 5 lakh population in our country.

The Bohra Muslim community considers Surat in Gujarat their base, despite their presence in Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh as well.

Dawoodi Bohra Muslims-PM Modi connect
PM Modi has had a long-standing relationship with the Dawoodi Bohras, from when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

As Gujarat's chief minister in 2011, he invited the community to celebrate the 100th birthday of the then-religious head of the Dawoodi Bohra community, Syedna Burhanuddin.

After Burhanuddin's passing in 2014, PM Modi visited Mumbai to offer condolences to his son and successor, Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin.

In 2015, PM Modi visited Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, the current religious head of the community, with whom he has always shared a cordial relationship.

In 2016, Syedna called on the PM, who fondly reminisced about his relationship with four generations of Dawoodi Bohra religious heads.

Even during his visit to Bangladesh, PM Modi met with a delegation of Dawoodi Bohras.

In 2018, the Dawoodi Bohra community organized the Ashara Mubaraka, the Commemoration of the Martyrdom of Imam Hussain (SA), at Indore's Saifee mosque, which was attended by over lakh members of the community. The Prime Minister addressed the gathering during the event.

The community, too, has shown its unwavering support for the Prime Minister. They attended his overseas events in large numbers in 2014, including the Madison Square Garden gathering in New York and the Olympic Park Arena address in Sydney.

The mosque of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah is an important cultural site for the Dawoodi Bohra community in Cairo. The latest renovation project was the second such initiative undertaken by the Dawoodi Bohra community after the first renovation and restoration project that was completed nearly forty years ago.

sanman · Post by **sanman** » 02 Aug 2023 00:46

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 03 Aug 2023 20:48

We should cover the sub-sahra regime changes going on in Francophone Africa. The whole belt from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean is changing.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 04 Aug 2023 04:07

Here is a starter:

chanakyaa · Post by **chanakyaa** » 04 Aug 2023 07:36

As usual the Energy angle is a big deal

Five Major Pipeline Developments in Africa

East African Crude Oil Pipeline

Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano Natural Gas Pipeline

Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline

Niger-Benin Crude Oil Pipeline – 2024

Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline – 2045

And the immediate impact of situation in Niger and why EU is upset because someone rocked its boat.

Niger, Algeria and Nigeria Reach Milestone for Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline Project

At a cost of $13 billion, and with a length of 4,128 km, the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline will carry 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year from the city of Warri, an oil hub in southern Nigeria, through the Republic of the Niger, to Hassi R’Mel in Algeria, a town situated near one of the largest gas fields in the world, the Hassi R’Mel Gas Field. Upon completion, the pipeline will supply natural gas to European markets from Algeria’s Mediterranean coastline, while enabling Niger to monetize its own natural gas reserves, which are estimated at 34 billion cubic meters.

ricky_v · Post by **ricky_v** » 05 Aug 2023 09:18

qrd
>ECOWAS "will not divulge to the coup plotters when and where it will strike" https://archive.li/3ygv0
>Prighozin says the French are "robbers"
>CNN: "coup leader meets with Wagner-allied junta in Mali" https://archive.li/Gu35Q
>How workers protest go for Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt, Abuja and oda states for Nigeria BBC: https://archive.is/Qv7QB
>US preparing to evacuate US Embassy personnel from Niger https://archive.li/akrpn
>Nigerian military deny they have received orders to invade Niger https://archive.li/JCSGZ
>NigElec reports rolling blackouts in Niger's capital, Niamey, due to Nigeria (who supply 70%) cutting power https://archive.li/KB98A
>Riots in Senegal after Monday's arrest of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko
>Niger has reopened air and land borders with Algeria, Libya, Mali, Chad and Burkina Faso (but not Nigeria)
>France, Germany, Italy and Spain are evacuating their citizens
>Algerian defense officials meet with Shoigu who is ready to improve their combat capabilities
>Sierra Leone arrests 'several' senior military officers suspected of planning violence in the next two weeks https://archive.li/wYody
>Algerian Foreign Ministry statement condemns, and urges end to, 'coup'
>West African countries call on Niger coup leaders to reinstate former president, give 6th August deadline
>Niger coup: ‘Why I want Russia in and France out': BBC https://archive.li/UNdvF
>Mali, Burkina Faso warn foreign military intervention will be seen as a declaration of war on them

background

ricky_v · Post by **ricky_v** » 05 Aug 2023 09:37

fdf has been bigly mad at the putsch

btw, the publisher, semafor seems to be an interesting portal for geo happenings, on a cursory glance, have much more things to say than the usual msm

https://www.semafor.com/article/08/04/2 ... tary-force

A deadline is nearing after which West Africa’s regional bloc could use force to remove Niger’s ruling junta within days — despite thousands of people showing support for soldiers who overthrew the elected president.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) held an emergency meeting last weekend after which it said the putschists who overthrew Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 had a week to restore him to power or the 15-country body could “take all measures necessary to restore constitutional order” which “may include the use of force.”

The deadline will expire on Sunday. Meanwhile, the military juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso earlier this week said any military intervention against Niger is “tantamount to a declaration of war” against them.

Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal would also contribute troops in all likelihood, say analysts. “You’ll need to make sure this isn’t just an Anglophone operation, otherwise that’s complicating things,” said Alex Vines, director of the Africa program at the Chatham House think tank in London.
→ Who would pay for this? With many West African countries, including Ghana and Nigeria, contending with economic problems that have caused financial hardship for their citizens, funding a foreign conflict would be an unpopular move for most leaders.
Ecowas has not stated how any military operation would be funded but the West would be expected to help. “If they were going to get Western funding, the U.S. would be the most significant partner,” said Ben Hunter, Africa analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

But several challenges remain. The crowds that gathered in Niamey suggest Ecowas could be trying to force an unpopular president back on a politically energized population. “If they reinstate Bazoum he would be seen by his own people as a president who was only rescued by a foreign force and denounced as a French puppet,” Ulf Laessing, who heads the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German think-tank, told me.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/ ... -happened/

The coup in Niger is both a setback for democracy and a result of a lack of it, despite U.S. claims.

When U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Niger in March, he called the country a “model of democracy” — a symbol of how Washington has preferred to turn a blind eye to some of the Nigerien government’s more authoritarian practices and striking political and ethnic divisions. For the most part, the U.S. government has also failed to recognize that its military operations have contributed to the very instability it was ostensibly trying to forestall.

When it comes to Washington, however, this military takeover in what was portrayed as a stable partner in the region should serve as a wakeup call, begging the question: is U.S. security assistance really any “assistance” at all — or is it the opposite?

For over a decade, the U.S. government has treated Niger as a key security partner in its counterterrorism operations. Since 2012, it has spent $500 million to train and arm the Nigerien armed forces, and about 1,100 troops are stationed there, with many additional U.S. service members and contractors traveling in and out of the country on shorter missions. The U.S. built a massive $100 million drone base in Agadez in the northern part of the country, which runs surveillance operations throughout the broader region of the Sahara desert and the Sahel.

Of the handful of Western nations supporting military operations in Niger, Nigeriens reserved their most intense rancor for France, the former colonizer. Yet the scale of U.S. military operations in the country still served as a glaring reminder of inequality. Almost everyone I spoke with in Niger knew that the U.S. military was using drones locally for surveillance purposes. If the U.S. can see everything, I heard often, why aren’t they doing anything to help us?

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 05 Aug 2023 10:25

When the oppressed demand respect...

Macron should simply shut up and stop shoving feet into his mouth

ricky_v · Post by **ricky_v** » 05 Aug 2023 10:46

the topic is not directly related to india, however in this ultra-pro-max connected world, every occurrence is related in some way or another to another geographical entity, maybe now that the powers have be have decided that africa was not beaten enough, but needs to be set aflame and relieved of their resources at cheap prices, mods can look towards setting up a dedicated thread to track such happenings, the geo thread is too broad, imo

https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/07/31/ni ... nvestment/

For a number of reasons, as with events in Niger last week, Western governments have watched this trend with alarm. For France, the replacement of friendly democratic governments has demonstrated the futility of seven decades of post-independence strategy on the continent like nothing else has. Since the era of Charles de Gaulle, French governments of every persuasion have hoped that by maintaining a passel of onetime African colonies tightly within the fold as its economic and diplomatic clients, Paris would reap the dividends of aggrandizement on the world stage along with preferential trade.

For the United States, always more traditionally a standoff power in the region, the vast Sahel in recent years has been seen as a convenient, and maybe even irreplaceable, base for the conduct of its global war against Islamic extremism. This has been conducted out of public view, through covert means as well as the use of drone warfare and sophisticated surveillance.

For many years now, Western policies have only paid lip service to seeing the Sahel in terms of its own immense problems instead of as a place to focus on the needs and priorities of the West itself.

Let us count the ways that the Sahel renders life tough on states. Starting with some vastly belated self-accountability would be helpful. For centuries, Europe helped drain this region of its people by fueling conflict to drum up volume in the slave trade, and the tendrils of unrest extended far beyond the continent’s coastal areas. In the late 19th century, Europe finally shifted its project in Africa from the trade in human beings to power plantation agriculture in the Americas to a focus on territorial control and colonization in Africa.

As it did so, it deliberately set about destroying the region’s own indigenous states and institutions, along with their traditions of self-governance and rule. Before colonization, the Sahel was peppered with states, including some with extraordinary historical pedigrees. Some people may feel inclined to regard this as ancient history, but they are wrong.

The best way to think about why this matters is to invoke the pithy remark of former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. He spoke of what he called the Pottery Barn rule—that if an outsider comes into a shop and breaks its delicate goods while fiddling around, they will somehow be billed for it. The West is still being billed, in effect, for its disastrous legacies in Africa.

Let us come closer to the present, though. Having decided it wanted to dominate Africa via colonial rule, the West worked hard to superimpose its political institutions on the new territories that fell under its control. I am inevitably compressing many details here, but by the time the independence era loomed, in the late 1950s and 1960s, Europe hoped to see Western-style presidents, prime ministers, legislatures, and courts on the continent, all functioning according to Western-style constitutions.

What they had neglected to invest in was Western-style education, or indeed education at all. As I wrote in my last column, by the time many African states were joining the United Nations, sub-Saharan Africa only had roughly 8,000 high school graduates. Most colonies had nothing resembling a college-educated elite. And, most pertinent to the present dramas of the Sahel, such paltry education as had been provided under European tutelage was almost entirely concentrated in coastal colonies such as Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Benin.

The Sahel was saddled in yet more terrible and lastingly exorbitant ways that few people understand or account for. As a result of the whims of the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, which apportioned nearly all of Africa’s territory to a variety of European colonists, most of the Sahel’s countries are landlocked and started out their national lives as sparsely inhabited lands with fragile and parched ecosystems.

For a nation, one can think of being landlocked as facing a permanent yet invisible tax on economic activity. Being parched means having a very limited upside in terms of agriculture, and agriculture is the most typical means that poor countries resort to in order to provide income for people and for national development.

First of all, Western pressure that co-opts African governments to service the needs of Europe and the United States is a grave mistake. African populations have long put up with the overthrow of civilian governments—and often enough even applauded such actions—because they saw their elected leaders as essentially obsessed with currying favor with the West in exchange for aid or protection instead of focusing first on their countries’ own grave and nearly intractable problems.

Much more regional integration seems like the best tool to help overcome the penalty of being landlocked. This will require much better infrastructure, which the West has played little role in recently, mostly ceding that sector to China. There is plenty of room for both. This is not all about hard structures, though. Reinvigorating regional institutions and agreements is needed to get the most out of new roads, rails, ports, and cables. Here again, Africans must take the lead.

In terms of the West’s history with Africa, almost none of these things have precedents. Many of the Sahel’s problems don’t, either. They are new in scope and intensity. Therefore, it is time for the old playbooks to be thrown out and for much more imagination and, yes, resources. For both Africa and for the West, failing this will mean simply failing.

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 10 Aug 2023 02:31

Africa has started to wake up, hope this time it lasts. India is never mentioned. This also I hope will change soon

Cyrano · Post by **Cyrano** » 10 Aug 2023 14:39

She should have brought some cookies like last time. But perhaps she thinks black people dont deserve cookies.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... -president

chetak · Post by **chetak** » 10 Aug 2023 16:08

Cyrano wrote: ↑10 Aug 2023 14:39 She should have brought some cookies like last time. But perhaps she thinks black people dont deserve cookies.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... -president

Cyrano ji,

this is why she didn't bring cookies.....

‘We don’t want your money, use it to sponsor a weight loss program for Victoria Nuland’: Niger’s military rulers tell USA

https://www.herald.co.zw/niger-army-reb ... c-mission/