June 16 uprising: how a massacre in South Africa led to Africa’s boycott of the 1976 Olympics

June 16 uprising: how a massacre in South Africa led to Africa’s boycott of the 1976 Olympics

By Nicolas Bancel, Université de Lausanne As the world prepares for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, can we maintain faith in the nonpolitical ethos of the event? The Montreal Olympics Games in 1976 stands out, among others, as a clear instance of the games being used for political ends. In 1976 Montreal became only the second French-speaking city to host the event since […]

June 14, 2024 36

World

Macron urges French to make ‘right choice’ in poll gamble

By Alice Hackman and Stuart Williams President Emmanuel Macron said Monday he was confident the French would make the "right choice" in snap elections he called after the far right crushed his centrist alliance in Sunday's EU ballot. His surprise move came after mainstream centrist parties kept an overall majority in the European Parliament in Sunday's poll, but the far right notched up a string of […]

June 10, 2024 12

World

Russia FM in Guinea amid Africa influence boost

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived on Monday in Guinea, his ministry said, the first trip by Moscow's top diplomat to the West African country since 2013. Russia, which has seen its relations with the West plummet after it sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, has sought to boost its influence in Africa in recent years. Russia's foreign ministry announced the visit on the Telegram social media […]

June 3, 2024 9

Namibia

Government Applauds Removal of Cuba from U.S Terrorism Cooperation List

Government has welcomed the United States Department of State's decision to remove Cuba from the list of countries not fully cooperating against terrorism. Penda Naanda, Executive Director at the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, expressed concern over Cuba's continued placement on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list.

May 23, 2024 21

Africa

US troops to leave Niger

The United States and Niger have agreed that American troops will leave the country "no later" than 15 September, they announced in a joint statement on Sunday. According to the BBC, the two countries "reached a disengagement agreement to effect the withdrawal of U.S. forces, which has already begun". The US has relied on Niger as its primary base for monitoring regional jihadist activity.

May 20, 2024 35

World

Arab leaders meet for Middle East peace talks

Leaders of the 22-member Arab League are hoping to agree how to end the conflict between Hamas and Israel, at a summit in Bahrain on Thursday. Confidence is high that a meaningful plan, with all members in agreement, will be the outcome.

May 16, 2024 129

Business / Economics

Namibia-China economic partnership, and performative relationship strengthens

Namibia and China have maintained a positive relationship over the years, the two sides have developed a strong economic and political partnership, with China emerging as Namibia's largest source of foreign investment and second-largest trading partner. We asked International relations expert from South Africa, Brooks Spector for opinion on the matter.

May 16, 2024 31

World

Israel’s invasion of Rafah will not eliminate Hamas or end the war. So, what is Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan?

By Ian Parmeter, Australian National University The Gaza war has now entered its eighth month and a resolution to the conflict still seems far off. Israel claims to have killed 13,000 Hamas militants so far. If that figure is correct, one can assume the number of wounded or incapacitated militants is at least twice or maybe three times that number. Prior to the war breaking out, […]

May 15, 2024 22

World

Hungary opposes EU sanctions on Russian LNG

European Union Ambassadors Wednesday are discussing sanctions that would target Russia's liquified natural gas sector for the first time. But the move has received pushback from Hungary which remains reliant on Russian LNG.

May 9, 2024 48