Newscast - Africa

Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo has called for the cooperation of the international community including other global, regional bodies and financial institutions to concretize the efforts of the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States against unconstitutional changes of government and deter coup plotters.
Osinbajo says there is a lot of attention being paid to coups d’etat going on, especially in the West African sub-region.
He added that one of the critical things which have been discussed at various ECOWAS meetings is how to cooperate with the rest of the world, bodies such as the UN, EU and some of the Development Finance Institutions to give our sanctions more teeth.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has defended his use of emergency powers to end anti-government blockades and an occupation that paralysed downtown Ottawa for weeks, saying the measure was necessary to disperse the so-called Freedom Convoy.
Trudeau says after weeks of dangerous and unlawful activities … it became clear that local and provincial authorities needed more tools to restore order and keep people safe.
He says the Law enforcement agencies relied on it to set up secured areas in downtown Ottawa and at border crossings.
He says It prevented foreign money from continuing to fund illegal blockades and it’s making sure the borders remain open.

The United States announced financial sanctions against rebel territories in eastern Ukraine freshly recognized by Russia and warned that more was ready if necessary.
President Joe Biden will issue an executive order to prohibit new investment, trade, and financing by US persons to, from, or in the so-called DNR and LNR regions of Ukraine.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki says the order will provide authority to impose sanctions on any person determined to operate in those areas of Ukraine adding that the measures are separate from wider Western sanctions ready to go should Russia further invade Ukraine.

Former US President, Donald Trump, has launched his own social media platform, Truth social, to compete with Twitter and Facebook.
Trump decided to set up his own social media App and try to capture some of Twitter’s market share.
Trump’s new social media venture, Truth Social, was launched on Apple’s App Store yesterday potentially marking the return of the former president to social media.
The launch would restore Trump’s presence on social media, after he was banned from Twitter Inc, Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s YouTube.

Senegalese President Macky Sall urged Germany to keep its troops in Mali, amid uncertainty over their future in the fragile Sahel country after France announced a military withdrawal.
Germany has 1,170 soldiers deployed as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA.
German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht says she is sceptical about continued participation in the EU training mission and questioned whether Germany should remain committed to MINUSMA without French support.

Mali’s lawmakers approved a plan allowing the military government to rule for up to five years despite regional sanctions imposed on the country over delayed elections.
The army-dominated legislature also decided that the country’s interim president cannot stand for a future democratic election, as part of the same bill.
The Economic Community of West African States last month imposed a trade embargo and closed its borders with Mali.
The bloc has called the potential length of the transition unacceptable.

The United Kingdom has injected £10 million into Nigeria’s low carbon energy project. The concessional aid is aimed at reducing the risks, for pension and insurance funds to invest in energy access projects, and support Nigeria’s COP26 commitments.
UK’s Minister for Africa, Vicky Ford, and the Attorney General of the Federal and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, who was represented by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Umar.
The UK says it sets out the terms and understanding between her government and Nigeria to make the compensation payment.

President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to nations, institutions and bodies, both private and public, to return Nigeria’s artefacts in their possession.
He says they were repatriated from the University of Cambridge and University of Aberdeen, respectively, in the United Kingdom, after 125 years of their leaving the territory of present-day Nigeria.
The President vowed that the Federal Government will pursue the repatriation of Nigerian artefacts vigorously.
The president pledged that government would ensure that they are put to good and proper use on their return in museums and other facilities in conjunction with the royal families and kingdoms that lost these artefacts.

Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja has refused to order the Federal Government to release the detained Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, from the custody of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency.
The judge rather ordered that Kyari put the Federal Government on notice of the existence of the suit he instituted against it.
Kyari sought an order of the court to immediately release him and in the alternative, the suspended DCP, who is being held by the NDLEA over his alleged involvement in hard drug trafficking, asked the court to admit him to bail in liberal conditions.

Canada orders banks to help cut funding to protesters against COVID-19 mandates this week.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the rarely used Emergencies Act, imposing sweeping measures that require banks to freeze accounts linked to the protest without court orders, ask insurers to suspend coverage on vehicles used in blockades and bring crowdfunding platforms under terrorism financing oversight.
The Canadian Bankers Association says all financial institutions will need to diligently implement the required measures adding it would not affect the majority of customers.