Africa Business Radio

Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso has declared a state of emergency as the country grapples with a surge in drug-related violence, and ordered the police and military onto the streets.Lasso says in the streets of Ecuador there is only one enemy which is drug trafficking adding that in recent years Ecuador has gone from being a drug trafficking country to one that also consumes drugs.Earlier on Monday, Lasso named a new defence minister as the country reels from a substantial prisons crisis.

The State Department has announced that the top United States envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad is stepping down less than two months after the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban takeover of the country.Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement says Khalilzad will be replaced by his deputy, Tom West noting that West will work closely with the US embassy, which is now based in Doha, on US interests in Afghanistan.A person familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity that Khalilzad submitted his resignation on Friday.

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has linked food aid from abroad with diplomatic pressure on the country.He says Ethiopia needs to stop receiving assistance to avoid that pressure.He says Ethiopia's problem is wheat aid. With wheat, aid comes diseases. With wheat aid come many things, many consequences. If we stop it, many of the problems will be solved.Ethiopia, which is among major aid recipient countries, is facing increasing pressure from some Western governments over the conflict in its northern Tigray region, where millions are at risk of starvation.

The Ethiopian government says recent attacks by the Ethiopian rebel group, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front have claimed the lives of at least 30 civilians.The government says the TPLF targeted areas in Amhara and Afar regional states, which both border Tigray, in unwarranted attacks against innocent civilians.TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda says civilians were targeted but the federal government denies launching an attack.The TPLF, which regards itself as the legitimate authority in Tigray, has not responded to the allegations.

Ugandan police say the country will not heighten its terror-alert threat level despite recent travel advisories by the UK and French embassies warning their citizens of a likely attack.Police spokesperson Fred Enanga says that the threat levels would not be raised until security teams have more tangible information.He says the government has also contacted the British and French embassies to find out what specific information they had.Uganda's police say that counter-terror teams have thwarted several plots, both foreign and domestic, since the twin bombings in the capital, Kampala, on 11 July 2010.

The Vietnamese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Luong Quoc Thinh, has urged Vietnamese businesses to embrace the newly-registered Nigeria-Vietnam Economic, Trade and Cultural Association and make it a reliable platform for trade and investment promotions in both countries.The envoy says it would help promote trade and cultural exchanges between both countries.Thinh also urged Vietnamese businessmen and women to embrace the association and make it a reliable platform for trade and investment promotions in both countries.

The United Nations has delisted the Civilian Joint Task Force involved in the ongoing war on insurgency in the Northeast for recruiting and using children in the war on terror.The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund has described the UN decision as a step forward for child protection.The CJTF, after many allegations of engaging children in their activities, was made to enter an agreement with UNICEF a few years back to disengage them.The UNICEF says the delisting of the Civilian Joint Task Force from the United Nations Secretary-General’s report on Children and Armed Conflict as one of the armed groups recruiting and using children in north-east Nigeria was one step forward for child protection.

Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, disclosed that the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control had issued a revised protocol for in-bound travellers to reflect the United Kingdom’s decision to ease restrictions on fully vaccinated travellers from Nigeria, which took effect from October 11.He says proactive measures were being taken by the government to curb the spread of COVID-19 and reduce the effect on the health system.Ehanire says in line with the recent directive that with effect from December 1, all federal government employees must show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or present a negative COVID-19 PCR test result done within 72 hours before gaining access to their offices, it was envisaged that there would be increased demand for COVID-19 vaccine.

The Lagos State Judicial Panel on restitution for victims of SARS-related abuses and other matters has held its valedictory sitting after 131 proceedings.The Chairman of the panel, Justice Doris Okuwobi, announced the award of N148.2 million to 23 deserving petitioners.Justice Okuwobi also revealed that the panel has concluded its investigations into the shooting at the Lekki tollgate – one of the venues of the #EndSARS protests in Lagos.She, however, stated that the panel was working on its report which would be submitted to the state government which was expected to declare the report publicly.The panel assured petitioners that its recommendations would include compensation to victims of the Lekki tollgate incident if any was identified.

The United States Government is not only fighting terrorism within its territory but also extending a helping hand to Nigeria in a new move to address global terrorism.The US Deputy National Security Advisor, Jon Finer, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, says there are plans for other areas of collaboration, tackling terrorism is a common priority for both countries.The US official says the Joe Biden administration underscores the importance of mutual collaboration in areas of climate change, COVID-19, as well as tackling insurgency in the country. Onyeama said the Nigerian government had a fruitful engagement – that bordered on cooperation on the coronavirus disease – with the United States.

The Federal Government has filed an amended seven-count against the detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.The lawmaker representing Anambra North senatorial district in the National Assembly, Senator Ifeanyi Uba, has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja.The lawmaker is seeking an order to be allowed to visit Kanu who is in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).The lawmaker stated that there has been serious agitation aimed at pressing home his release and this has degenerated into a proclamation of sit-at-home orders in the region, a situation which he said was crippling the economy of the South East.

Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has called for an immediate airlift of unused COVID jabs to countries in the global south.Brown, an adviser to the World Health Organization is pressing the leaders of Canada, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States to hold an emergency summit to agree on the airlift ahead of the G20 meeting later this month.He says an airlift of 240 million doses this month could save 100,000 lives.He says It would be the first part of a plan to transfer a billion vaccine doses from rich countries to lower-income countries over several months.

China’s economy grew at the slowest pace in a year in the three months that ended in September, buffeted by power shortages, supply bottlenecks and sporadic outbreaks of COVID-19, increasing pressure on policymakers amid rising concern about the health of the property sector.Data released on Monday showed gross domestic product grew 4.9 per cent in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier, the slowest since the third quarter of 2020. National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Fu Linghui says they must note that current international environment uncertainties are mounting and the domestic economic recovery is still unstable and uneven.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva says Global finance officials are worried about rising inflation pressures but there it is little fear that it will become a runaway train.Georgieva says they are in a more somewhat more uncertain space.She says, however, in advanced economies policymakers have the tools to deal with inflation so there is no significant concern that this would be a runaway train.And major emerging markets like Russia and Mexico already have raised interest rates showing that in these places their policymakers are sufficiently concerned already to take action.

The Eswatini government shut down the internet for two hours as pro-democracy protests intensified.Swaziland Solidarity Network spokesperson Lucky Lukhele slammed the government's action while describing King Mswati III as barbaric.Mr Lukhele told Nation Africa that as the Swaziland Solidarity Network, they wish to condemn the network shutdown by the king of course led by his firstborn daughter as the Communication and ICT in Swaziland.

Union leaders have angrily reacted to the Zimbabwean government's announcement that workers who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 will no longer be allowed at work and will not be paid. Zimbabwe's secretary for information, Ndabaningi Nick Mangwana, says that all civil servants who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 will not be allowed to work come Monday.Takavafira Zhou, president of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe, says Zimbabweans were shunning vaccinations for several reasons that the government must first understand, from religious reasons to lack of knowledge about COVID-19 vaccines to lack of trust in the imported Chinese SINOVAC and SINOPHARM vaccines.

A Cambridge University college has announced that it is to hand back a sculpture that was originally seized by British troops from the Kingdom of Benin in present-day Nigeria.The current king or Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, welcomed the move and says it gave hope that others would expedite the return of artworks.Germany and France have pledged to hand over hundreds of the Benin Bronzes which also include ivory carvings.

Egypt will bar unvaccinated public service workers from entering government buildings from mid next month.A cabinet notice says workers would have to be vaccinated or take a weekly Covid test to be allowed into government buildings from 15 November.The cabinet also allowed the opening up of bathrooms in mosques from Wednesday. The bathrooms were closed in March last year as part of measures to contain the spread of coronavirus.The government has also allocated a billion Egyptian pounds to address the pandemic.

The environmental campaign group Greenpeace has welcomed a decision by the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo to audit all forestry concessions in the country and suspend some already seen as questionable or illegal.President Félix Tshisekedi has ordered an audit of some potentially corrupt concessions - including one for an area of more than 1.4 million hectares following pressure from environmental groups, including Greenpeace.Some of the world's largest carbon emitters are set to pay DR Congo hundreds of millions of dollars to protect the forest however due to corruption and poor governance there are fears it is vulnerable to expanding agriculture and illegal logging.

Former Director of Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Sani Usman, says that hardcore elements should face justice as part of efforts to curtail banditry activities in some parts of the country.Usman frowned at the idea of granting amnesty to bandits.He says that many public assets have been destroyed by both terrorists and bandits in Monguno, Baga, as well as several lives, were lost, thereby leaving many people as orphans.The retired general called for a system that will distinguish between those bandits that committed heinous crimes from those that were coerced into seeking repentance.