Newscast - Africa

The Enugu State House of Assembly has passed the anti-open grazing bill into law.
The law was passed after the acceptance of the report of the public hearing by the joint committee of the House.
Speaker of the assembly, Hon Edward Ubosi, thanked its sponsors, noting that the people of the state have been clamouring for the law for a long time.
He expressed optimism that the state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi would not waste time in accenting to the law, especially giving its relevance to the people.
Ubosi insisted that the law was not intended to witch-hunt anybody or group but for the good of the people of the state and others that live in the state.

The Federal Government says it allocated N6trn to the Niger Delta Development Commission between 2001 and 2019.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami says It is on record that between 2001 and 2019, the Federal Government allocated the total sum of approximately N6 trillion to the Niger Delta Development Commission.
He says the figure is an indication that the Federal Government has allocated a good amount of funds to the development of Nigeria’s oil-bearing region.
He, however, expressed concern over uncompleted and some unverified projects in the Niger Delta despite the allocations.

Qatar’s foreign minister has warned that isolating the Taliban could lead to further instability and urged countries to engage with the movement to address security and socioeconomic concerns in Afghanistan.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani says they believe that without engagement they cannot reach real progress on the security front or on the socioeconomic front adding that recognising the Taliban as the government was not a priority.
The Qatari foreign minister also warned against any rise of terrorism after the US withdrawal and called for an inclusive government.

The United Kingdom has opened talks with the Taliban to secure safe passage out of Afghanistan for its citizens and Afghans who have worked for the British government.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s special representative for Afghan transition, Simon Gass, flew to Doha, Qatar, to meet Taliban representatives.
Gass is meeting with senior Taliban representatives to underline the importance of safe passage out of Afghanistan for British nationals, and those Afghans who have worked with us over the past twenty years.

President Joe Biden says exit from Afghanistan was the best decision for America.
He spoke after the United Nations warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan, underscoring the daunting challenges that the victorious Taliban face as they transform from insurgent group to governing power.
Biden argued that the only choice in Afghanistan was leaving or escalating.
He says no nation has ever done anything like it in all of history; only the United States had the capacity and the will and the ability to do it.

Energy experts in South Africa have expressed shock at the government’s announcement that it wants to install a new nuclear capacity to solve its power problems.
The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy says that it planned to put out the tender by March next year.
Prof Anton Eberhard of the Power Futures Lab at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business says that a new nuclear procurement would be a wasteful and costly diversion.
He added that the country should instead focus on implementing its electricity supply plan, which prioritises generating 33 GW of power mostly from solar and wind by 2030.

The UN Security Council has renewed for a year sanctions imposed against targeted individuals and entities in Mali for obstructing the 2015 peace agreement.
The sanctions include a year-long travel ban and an asset freeze to last until 31 August next year.
Those targeted are accused of involvement in planning, implementing or perpetrating acts that violate international humanitarian law, including attacks on medical or humanitarian personnel.
The UN Security Council requested that the UN chief includes in his next report on Minusma an update on measures taken to ensure that sanctioned individuals did not benefit from any UN support in Mali.

The mission's head says forces from Ethiopia's Tigray region have looted the US government humanitarian agency's warehouses in the neighbouring Amhara state.
The head of USAID in Ethiopia told state television that Tigrayan fighters had emptied warehouses, taking food and other items also stole trucks.
He says they had caused a great deal of destruction in the villages they went to.
Last week, officials in Amhara accused Tigrayan forces of killing about 40 civilians and destroying schools, hospitals and other facilities.
The Tigray rebel forces have formed an alliance with a rebel group in the country's largest state of Oromia, threatening a far larger part of Ethiopia.

The national oil company’s Group Managing Director, Mallam Mele Kyari, says when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is fully commercialised in the next few months, the corporation will no longer render free service to the federal government.
Kyari noted that from then, all services rendered to the government by the NNPC limited or its subsidiaries will come at a cost to the government, including the remittance of federation crude account funds to the planned upstream commission.
He stated that the NNPC was on course towards its final incorporation, explaining that it will no longer have access to government funding, but would survive based on its internal resilience and efficiency.

The United Nations says Nigeria is not the only country facing myriad human rights challenges.
The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Edward Kallon says like other countries, Nigeria faces myriad human rights challenges.
Kallon says they aim to reach a common understanding between the Government, human rights partners, civil society, and the UN on human rights priorities in Nigeria.
Kalli says Nigeria has ratified the nine core UN human rights treaties, including other regional instruments. The Nigerian Constitution has elaborate provisions on the protection of human rights.