The Nation Newspaper

Tag: conflicts

  • World Bank, AfDB: African conflicts may cut foreign investments

    World Bank, AfDB: African conflicts may cut foreign investments

    THE spate of bombings in Nigeria and Kenya is sparking concern that investors may begin to shy away from the continent unless the violence eases, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and World Bank have said.

    While Standard Chartered Plc Chief Executive Officer for Africa, Diana Layfield, said the violence won’t halt the bank’s expansion plans, industries, as tourism are already feeling the impact.

    Makhtar Diop, the World Bank’s Vice President for Africa Region, said at the African Development Bank’s yearly meeting in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.

    “Conflicts in Africa are having an impact on investment in some countries, particularly in the tourism sector. These events are slowing down economic growth, with infrastructure being destroyed and people being displaced,” Diop said in an interview during the AfDB meeting, at the weekend.

    Tourist arrivals in Kenya fell by almost a fifth last year as the country was hit by a series of bombings, including an assault by the Somali militant group al-Shabaab on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi that killed at least 67 people. Tourism is Kenya’s second-biggest source of foreign currency.

    About 90 people were killed in bombings in Abuja, on April 14 and May 1 that were claimed by Boko Haram, the Islamist group that kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls last month. Nairobi, was rocked by two attacks this month in which at least 15 people died.

    While retail investors factor in increased political risks, there seems to be no change in appetite from companies with long-term commitments in industries such as infrastructure, Alastair Herbertson, an investment specialist at Cape Town-based Investec Asset Management, said.

    Standard Chartered is planning to open 13 new branches in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia this year, Layfield said in an interview.

    “Our belief in the medium-term and long-term prospects of those economies isn’t diminished,” she said. “We still remain incredibly focused on growing our presence in both Nigeria and Kenya.”

    Companies looking to make their first commitments in Africa may be particularly sensitive to the violence, said Stuart Culverhouse, chief economist of Exotix Partners LLP in London, said on May 21.

    “For new investors that have never looked at Africa before, this probably just reinforces their prejudices,” Culverhouse said. “I think countries have to work so much harder to keep that international interest alive.”

    Lingering tensions and political instability “could affect investors’ willingness to undertake planned projects” in Africa, the AfDB said in its African Economic Outlook released last week.

    While the security problems in Nigeria and Kenya are still relatively contained, there’s concern they will spread, Andrew Alli, chief executive officer of Africa Finance Corp., said. “It’s extremely worrying, the levels of increasing violence on the continent,” Alli said.

  • Pope prays for end to conflicts in Nigeria, Syria, others

    Pope prays for end to conflicts in Nigeria, Syria, others

    Pope Francis, celebrating his first Christmas as Roman Catholic leader, yesterday called for dialogue to end all conflicts and wars.

    He said everyone should strive to be personal peacemakers. He prayed for a “favourable outcome” to the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, and called for dialogue to end the conflicts in Syria, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Iraq.

    Nigeria is battling the Boko Haram insurgency, which has ravaged parts of the Northeast.

    Speaking to tens of thousands of people from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the same spot where he emerged to the world as pope when he was elected on March 13, the Pope also made another appeal for the environment to be saved from “human greed and rapacity”.

    The leader of the 1.2 billion-member Church wove his first “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and world) message around the theme of peace. He called for “social harmony in South Sudan, where current tensions have already caused numerous victims and are threatening peaceful coexistence in that young state.”

    Thousands are believed to have died in violence divided along ethnic lines between the Nuer and Dinka tribes in the country, which seceded from Sudan in 2011 after decades of war.

    “Wars shatter and hurt so many lives!” he said, saying their most vulnerable victims were children, elderly, battered women and the sick.

    The thread running through the message was that individuals had a role in promoting peace, either with their neighbour or between nations. The message of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem was directed at “every man or woman who keeps watch through the night, who hopes for a better world, who cares for others while humbly seeking to do his or her duty,” he said.

    “God is peace: let us ask him to help us to be peacemakers each day, in our life, in our families, in our cities and nations, in the whole world,” he said.

    Pilgrims came from all over the world for Christmas at the Vatican and some said it was because they felt Pope Francis had brought a breath of fresh air to the Church.

    “(He) is bringing a new era into the Church, a Church that is focusing much more on the poor and that is more austere, more lively “ said Dolores Di Benedetto, who came from the pope’s homeland, Argentina, to attend Christmas eve Mass.

    Giacchino Sabello, an Italian, said he wanted to get a first-hand look at the new pope: “I thought it would be very nice to hear the words of this pope close up and to see how the people are overwhelmed by him.”

    The pope asked God to “look upon the many children who are kidnapped, wounded and killed in armed conflicts, and all those who are robbed of their childhood and forced to become soldiers.”

    He also called for a “dignified life” for migrants, praying tragedies such as one in which hundreds died in a shipwreck off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa are never repeated, and made a particular appeal against human trafficking, which he called a “crime against humanity”.

    Christians around the world yesterday celebrated Christmas, which marks the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem.

    It was the third successive year that the Syrian conflict had been a main focus of the Christmas speech, one of the addresses known as Urbi et Orbi.

    “Too many lives have been shattered in recent times by the conflict in Syria, fuelling hatred and vengeance,” said the 77-year-old pontiff.

    “Let us continue to ask the Lord to spare the beloved Syrian people further suffering.”

    On Tuesday evening thousands gathered in Bethlehem’s Manger Square for Christmas Eve celebrations.

    The Church of the Nativity sits on the spot where Jesus is believed to have been born.

    Correspondents said it was the biggest crowd to attend the event in years.

  • PDP’s size cause of conflicts, say Tukur, Dickson

    Bayelsa State Governor Seriake Dickson has said that crises in political parties are normal, especially in a big political party like the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Speaking at the party’s inauguration of a reconciliation committee which he chairs, Dickson said clashes in the ruling party were about conflict of interests and ambitions.

    These, he said, are normal and legitimate in political associations the world over, adding that his committee would fashion out the best approach aimed at bringing together the various factions thrown up by conflicting interests among members.

    Dickson, however, expressed concern over what he described as attempts by conflicting interests to denigrate or destroy institutions of the office of the president, the judiciary, the legislature, the military and the security agencies.

    The Bayelsa Governor noted that his 31- man committee has a daunting task of reconciling the various aggrieved persons and groups within the party, stressing that reports of past reconciliatory efforts by top party chieftains should be implemented.

    He cited the reports of the Alex Ekwueme and Chief Tony Anenih reconciliation committees as documents that should be implemented by the leadership of the party.

    He said: “A large platform like the PDP cannot be devoid of several tendencies, conflict of interests and all manners of crisis. But as democrats, we must evolve ways of appreciating them and resolving crisis within the party without stifling people.

    “We must play the game within the ambit of national interest and not denigrate or destroy our institutions whether it is the office of the President, judiciary, legislature, military and security services, professional bodies, media, traditional and religious instructions”.

    In his remarks during the inauguration, National Chairman Alhaji Bamanga Tukur noted that the size of the party was responsible for its numerous crises.

    He challenged the committee to focus attention on the states that are not under the control of the party.