DRULAP

Civics Groups Slam ‘Rigid’ Kimberley Process as Russia Emerges Unscathed

Activists in Botswana have slammed the Kimberley Process, which is intended to prevent diamonds from financing wars, after meetings this week failed to censure Russia.

The European Union (EU) and allies sought to expand the definition of conflict diamonds to include top supplier Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

A push to get Russian diamonds censured during a week-long meeting in the resort town of Kasane came up empty.

The EU, Ukraine and the United States had wanted the Kimberley Process inter-sessional meeting to broaden the definition of conflict diamonds in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

Russian is the world’s largest producer of diamonds.

Speaking at the closing meeting Friday, Kimberley Process Chairperson Jacob Thamage said the efforts of the EU and its allies failed to go through due to lack of consensus.

“You will recall that when we started on Monday afternoon, it took quite an ordinate amount of time to reach consensus on the agenda as initially we had the EU proposing an inclusion of an agenda item around which there was no consensus,” Thamage said. “Ideas and proposals were tabled for inclusion on the agenda. For instance, those who supported the EU’s initial proposal, with a modified proposal that spoke to preventing diamonds from fueling conflict.”

World Diamond Council Chairperson Edward Asscher says there is a need for reforms, particularly with the definition of conflict diamonds.

“This year, throughout our engagement with many government participants here in Kasane, there seems to be strong support for further reforms, including that of the conflict diamond definition,” Asscher said. “We joined an inter-session hosted by the civil society coalition and we were pleased to have been able to conduct an open and honest dialogue about the reform of the KP. We would like to see this dialogue continued within the KP.”

Asscher says he still has confidence and belief in the Kimberley Process despite recent criticism the diamond trade body is losing relevance.

However, Hans Merket, a member of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, was disappointed with the outcome of the Botswana meeting.

“The consensus system makes it too easy for a small minority to hold everyone hostage,” Merket said. “The consensus model is being used to veto any progress. The world is bypassing the Kimberley Process.”

Merket adds it is disappointing that discussions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were blocked.

“We had somewhat expected a discussion on whether Russian diamonds must be seen as conflict diamonds with the invasion of Ukraine,” Merket said. “That discussion was blocked. We were prepared that veto power will be used to avoid KP to address that. What is worse is that we could not have a discussion on what the KP’s general weakness are and how the KP falls short in breaking the link between diamonds and violent conflict.”

The world’s leading diamond producers, drawn from 85 countries, will return to Botswana in November for plenary discussions.
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‘Total Bloodbath’: Witnesses Describe Ethiopia Ethnic Attack

The heavily armed men appeared around the small farming village in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, frightening residents already on edge after recent clashes between government troops and rebels.

“The militants assured us that they will not touch us. They said they are not after us,” resident Nur Hussein Abdi told The Associated Press. “But in reality, they were surrounding our whole village for a deadly massacre. What happened the next day was a total bloodbath.”

Abdi escaped by hiding on a rooftop, a horrified witness to one of the worst mass killings in Ethiopia in recent years. Hundreds of people, mostly ethnic Amhara, were slaughtered in and around the Tole village June 18 in the latest explosion of ethnic violence in Africa’s second most populous nation.

Multiple witnesses told the AP they are still discovering bodies, with some put in mass graves containing scores of people. The Amhara Association of America said it has confirmed 503 civilians killed. Ethiopian authorities have not released figures. One witness, Mohammed Kemal, said he has witnessed 430 bodies buried, and others are still exposed and decomposing.

Kemal begged Ethiopia’s government to relocate the survivors, saying the armed men had threatened to return.

“They killed infants, children, women and the elderly,” resident Ahmed Kasim said. The Amhara Association of America said the dead include a 100-year-old and a one-month-old baby, and some people were killed in a mosque where they had tried to hide.

Residents and Oromia regional officials have blamed the Oromo Liberation Army, an armed group that Ethiopia’s government has declared a terrorist organization. An OLA spokesman denied it, alleging that federal troops and regional militia attacked the villagers for their perceived support of the OLA as they retreated from an OLA offensive.

Again, Ethiopians are left wondering why the federal government failed to protect them from the violent side of the country’s ethnic tensions — and why ethnic minorities in a federal system based on identity are left so vulnerable.

Teddy Afro, Ethiopia’s much celebrated pop star, released two songs this week highlighting the crisis that has worsened in the past four years and dedicating his songs to civilians who have lost their lives.

“It’s never an option to keep quiet when a mountain of death comes in front of me,” one of his lyrics says.

On Friday, thousands of students at Gondar University in the neighboring Amhara region protested the killings and demanded justice.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, has said security forces have launched a military operation against the OLA, but many Ethiopians appear skeptical after seeing the deadly cycle play out in the past.

The president of the Oromia region, Shimelis Abdisa, on Thursday acknowledged that it will be difficult to arrange security in every location but said the current operation “will cripple the enemy’s ability to move from place to place.”

Ethnic Amhara are Ethiopia’s second-largest ethnic group but have found themselves under attack in some areas where they are in the minority. Several dozen were killed in attacks in the Benishangul Gumuz and Oromia regions over the past three years alone.

“Ethnic Amharas who live outside of their region do not have legal and political representation, which results in no protection,” said Muluken Tesfaw, a community activist who tracks abuses against the Amhara. “There were even speeches by Oromia region government officials that seek to reduce Amharic-speaking people.”

“An anti-Amhara narrative has been spreading for over 50 years now,” said Belete Molla, chairman of the opposition NaMA party. “The Amhara living in Oromia and Benishangul are hence being targeted.” He also accused some members of the Oromia region’s ruling party of “working for or sympathizing with the Oromo Liberation Army.”

The latest mass killings brought international alarm. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, has urged Ethiopian authorities to hold “prompt, impartial and through” investigations. The U.S. State Department called on Ethiopians to “reject violence and pursue peace.”

Ethiopia continues to struggle with ethnic tensions in several parts of the country and a deadly conflict in the northern Tigray region that has severely affected the once rapidly growing economy, but the prime minister is adamant that better days are ahead.

“There is no doubt that Ethiopia is on the path of prosperity,” he declared in a parliament address this month.

But Ethiopians who escaped the latest attack seek answers.

Nur Hussein said he and other Tole villagers had called nearby officials about the appearance of the armed men shortly before the violence exploded. “Their response was muted. They said there were no specific threats to respond to. But look at what unfolded,” he said. “God willing, we will get past this, but it is a scar that will live with us forever.”
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Somalia Parliament Approves New Prime Minister

Members of Somalia’s Parliament have approved the appointment of Hamza Abdi Barre as the new prime minister.

More than 200 members of Parliament, who were present at a session held Saturday in Mogadishu, unanimously backed Barre, who also is member of the lower house of Parliament.

After the vote, Barre told VOA in an exclusive interview he would form “an effective government to deal with the current situation.”

“I will form a government that would advance the key priorities of my new government, including security, drought response, reconciliation, and development,” Barre said.

“I thank the respected lawmakers for giving me the confidence, a confidence, I know comes with a burden and challenges, a confidence that makes me both happy and a little bit worried about its extent and the huge expectations.”

International humanitarian organizations and the Somalia’s special presidential envoy for drought and climate, Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame, continue to warn that Somalia faces a climate emergency and a famine.

“Our people are facing a severe drought as a result of an unprecedented fourth failed rainy season with catastrophic hunger, and we extremely fear that the situation may turn into a deadly famine, therefore my government will give the priority in dealing with drought response,” Barre said.

Somalia politics often include disputes between presidents and prime ministers, which is the product of a complex constitution intended to encourage power sharing, which forces an elected president to handpick a prime minister from a rival clan and then hand over certain powers to that unelected post.

In the past, such disagreements often have paralyzed governments, leading to the eventual ouster of prime ministers by lawmakers.

Unlike previous prime ministers, though, Barre is a close friend of the current president and served as secretary-general of the president’s Peace and Development Party from 2011 to 2017.

Barre says this time around, if any political differences arise between him and the president it will not escalate into tension.

“It is the human nature. We can differ on a political issue, but I assure for Somalis that we will find a mechanism that we can solve our differences without political tension.” Barre said. “I assure you that the president will effectively work together for the betterment of the Somali people.”

Barre, 48, was elected to Parliament for the first time in December. Previously, he was the chair of the Jubaland regional electoral commission.

He was nominated June 15 as prime minister by the newly elected president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

One of the biggest challenges facing his government is the al-Qaida-aligned Islamist group al-Shabab, which still controls large areas of rural southern and central Somalia, continuing to carry out suicide attacks and assassinations in the main cities, including the capital, Mogadishu.

Falastin Iman contributed to this story.
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29 Kidnapped Wedding Guests Freed in Nigeria

Twenty-nine people kidnapped by gunmen two weeks ago as they returned from a wedding in northwest Nigeria have been freed, relatives told AFP on Friday.

The victims, all mobile phone traders, were returning to the Zamfara state capital, Gusau, after attending the wedding of a colleague when one of their vehicles broke down late on June 11.

“Twenty-nine of our members kidnapped two weeks ago were released on Thursday after we paid 20 million naira ($50,000) to their captors,” said Kabiru Garba Mukhtar, the head of the Zamfara mobile traders’ union.

The day after the kidnapping, Mukhtar told AFP that 30 guests at the wedding had been kidnapped while 20 others managed to escape.

In fact, 29 people were kidnapped and all were released, he said. “Their release followed intense negotiations with the bandits who had initially demanded 145 million naira” for the hostages, said Mustapha Halifa, another union official.

After their release, the victims were taken to a hospital to be treated for illnesses contracted because of the “difficult conditions” of their captivity, Halifa said.

Heavily armed criminal gangs known locally as bandits are rampant in northwest and central Nigeria, attacking villages and carrying out mass kidnappings for ransom despite military operations to combat them.

Gunmen on Wednesday kidnapped 22 farmers from their fields on the outskirts of Nigeria’s capital Abuja, the latest in a long line of kidnappings in Africa’s most populous country.

The gangs operate for financial reasons with no ideological motive.

But possible alliances with jihadi groups who have waged an insurgency in the northeast for 13 years have raised concerns.
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Ukraine Appeals for African Support on War With Russia and Food Crisis

Ukraine’s foreign minister says Kyiv is ready to export much-needed grain to Africa as soon as Russia lifts its Black Sea blockade. In a U.S.-arranged online briefing to journalists Thursday, he blamed Russia for the global food crisis affecting millions of Africans and called for more African support against Moscow.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymtro Kuleba said his country and Africa need each other to overcome the global food crisis, which he blamed on Russia’s aggression.

“We want to export our agricultural products to you as badly as you want to receive them,” Kuleba said, “and there is only one reason why both ends of this supply chain – which is us and you – cannot benefit from these exports. It’s the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports as a result of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine.”

Ukraine is a major supplier of wheat, corn and sunflower oil to African countries and, since Russia’s invasion began in February, Africa has faced food and cooking oil shortages that have left an estimated 400 million people on the continent food insecure.

While drought and conflict have also played a role in the food crisis, Kaleba focused on the actions of Russia. He said Russian forces have taken 400,000 tons of grain crops from Ukraine.

“Russians also steal agricultural equipment from Ukrainian farmers – tractors, combine harvesters, and other tools in Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv and Sumy regions of Ukraine,” he said.

“Russian forces have riddled Ukrainian fields with mines to prevent farmers from cultivating their crops for years. According to the recent preliminary estimate, about 13 percent of Ukrainian territory has been contaminated by Russian mines and other explosive remnants. This creates threats of a multiyear global food crisis.”

Fred Munene, an agronomist and farmer in Kenya, said Africa, for now, should fight to get the food stuck in Ukraine out and invest in its farm economy to be food secure.

“The short term is getting the food that is already produced,” Munene said. “In the long term, look for other suppliers or industries in Africa that will supply fertilizers and other farm inputs because that’s the biggest challenge.”

Kuleba said Africa can play a role in ending the conflict between the two neighbors.

“African states have a crucial role in this, and many already work together with us to achieve it,” Kuleba said. “African capitals matter and they do influence Russia’s position.”

However, African countries on the U.N. Security Council have been reluctant to pressure Russia based on historical ties to Moscow and current geopolitical concerns.

Hassan Khannenje, head of the Horn Institute for Strategic Studies, said that Africa’s say in the conflict is limited.

“They do not have the leverage outside diplomatic engagement and are trying to appeal to both parties to see the need to unblock the wheat supply which Africa relies on heavily on,” Khannenje said.

Senegalese President and African Union Chairperson Macky Sall is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in coming days but no firm date has been set.
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UN Chief Says World Faces ‘Real Risk’ of Multiple Famines This Year

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told an international conference on food security Friday that the world is facing the “real risk” of multiple famines this year and that 2023 could be even worse.

“The war in Ukraine has compounded problems that have been brewing for years: climate disruption; the COVID-19 pandemic; the deeply unequal recovery,” Guterres said by video message to the Uniting for Global Food Security ministerial conference in Berlin.

He said rising fuel and fertilizer prices are dramatically affecting the world’s farmers.

“All harvests will be hit, including rice and corn – affecting billions of people across Asia, Africa and the Americas,” Guterres said. “This year’s food access issues could become next year’s global food shortage.”

He warned that no country would be immune to the social and economic fallout.

Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine has led to availability and supply chain disruptions. The United Nations says more than 36 countries get half or more of their grain supply from the Black Sea region.

In addition to destroying and stealing some Ukrainian grain, Russia’s military has blockaded the country’s key southern port of Odesa, preventing more than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain from being exported. The Kremlin has also held back some of its own grain and fertilizer production from global markets, claiming Western sanctions are obstructing their export.

“Nothing – nothing — is preventing food and fertilizer from leaving Russia,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said of the sanctions. “And only one country is blocking food and fertilizer from leaving Ukraine and that is Russia.”

Japan’s foreign minister noted that Russia’s own statistics show its wheat exports had doubled this May over last year.

“Despite this, Russia is spreading disinformation to the contrary,” Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

Ending the blockade

Guterres has been conducting intense, private diplomacy with Russia and Ukraine, as well as Turkey, which could soon host grain talks between the warring parties, and key actors the United States and European Union. His goal is a package deal that would let Ukraine export its grain, not only by land but also through the Black Sea, and would bring Russian food and fertilizer to world markets.

Getting the port of Odesa open and safely functioning again is a top priority.

“We have got to get the port of Odesa open right now,” World Food Program chief David Beasley told the conference. “Failure to do so is a declaration of war on global food security — it is that simple.”

The grain in the silos must be exported before it begins to rot. It also needs to be moved to make way for the next grain harvest that will begin in September.

In the meantime, neighbor Romania has been stepping up to help Kyiv get its grain out.

“We are receiving Ukrainian grain by road, rail, sea and the Danube River,” Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu told the meeting. “Since the start of the invasion, the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta, which is the largest port on the Black Sea, has become the main gateway for Ukrainian grain shipments to the outside world.”

He said Romania is working to make Constanta a European food hub and increase its processing capacity. In 2021, he said more than 25 million tons of grain were exported through Constanta.

The African continent has been badly hit by the impacts of the grain and fertilizer shortages, as many of those nations receive large quantities of these imports from the Black Sea region.

“My country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, it had to lift value added tax on basic foods, had to subsidize products such as fuel, in order to avoid uprisings as a consequence of the general price increases,” said Minister of Planning Christian Mwando Nsimba Kabulo. “Of course, this has enormous consequences for the national budget of my country, and it makes the efforts for greater resilience more difficult.”

“There is a straight line between the actions in the war in Ukraine and the suffering we see in the [global] South,” U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said.

Action and announcements of assistance for the most vulnerable nations are expected in the coming days, as members of the world’s largest economies meet in Germany for the G-7 summit.
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Commonwealth Countries Meet to Cement Relations

Leaders of 54 countries in the British Commonwealth are meeting in Rwanda to discuss trade, food security, health issues, and climate change. The summit comes as Britain and Rwanda are facing criticism on a controversial migrant deal.

Commonwealth member states are meeting for the first time in four years to discuss ways to strengthen relations and tackle global problems ranging from health care and conflict to climate change and food security.

Speaking in Rwanda’s capital of Kigali and representing Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s Prince Charles said such a political union is still needed to overcome the world’s challenges.

“I treasure the friendships we have built over these past 70 years and look forward to their deepening in the years ahead,” Charles said. “As we build back from the pandemic that has devastated so many lives, as we respond to climate change and biodiversity loss that threatens our very existence and as we see lives destroyed by the unattenuated aggression of violent forces, such friendships are more important than ever.”

Rwanda is the newest country in the 54-member Commonwealth, and host of this year’s meeting.

The East African nation’s president, Paul Kagame, said his country became a member of the union to benefit from its unity and development.

“Everything we do, including joining the Commonwealth in 2009, is aimed at making sure that our people are connected, included and forward looking,” Kagame said. “We are delighted that through CHOGM you have the opportunity to know us and we aim to repay that trust with many years of continued friendship.”

Gabon and Togo are also set to join the Commonwealth. The West African nations will be the latest countries to become members of the union that have no ties to Britain.

The head of the Horn Institute for Strategic Studies, Hassan Khannenje, says Britain wants to strengthen the union after leaving the European Union in 2016.

“It’s one way for Britain after Brexit to reestablish a relationship with the Commonwealth, but also it signals the kind of interest Britain has acquired, especially in Rwanda’s role within the Commonwealth as a new member in trying to strengthen the Commonwealth relationship, especially in the wake of Brexit that has affected UK’s standing in the world in ways may affect it economically,” Khannenje said.

In April, Britain and Rwanda reached an agreement that allows the UK to send asylum seekers to Kigali, a deal that has been sharply criticized by human rights defenders.

However, speakers made no mention of the deal or the controversy surrounding it.

The union discussed how to mitigate the effect of climate change in the member states.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said some countries are facing existential threats from global warming.

“No one understands better than our Commonwealth friends in the Caribbean, the Pacific, the Indian Ocean who can see the incoming tides surging ever higher up their beaches, threatening to inundate their villages and towns and in time the entire land mass of some island states,” he said. “For them the baleful effects of climate change aren’t vague or theoretical but already happening before their eyes.”

During the meeting the Commonwealth provided $38 million to help the countries most affected by the changing climate.
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Cameroon Deploys Hundreds of Troops to Protect 40,000 People Displaced by Boko Haram

Cameron has deployed hundreds of troops along its border with Nigeria after attacks by Boko Haram militants forced more than 40,000 villagers over the past two months to flee the area. Cameroon’s defense minister is visiting the border to assess the security situation and assure villagers that it is safe to return home.

Cameroon’s military reports that Boko Haram incursions in Mayo Tsanaga, an administrative unit on its northern border with Nigeria, have increased drastically since April.

Each day, armed members of the Nigerian terror group cross over to Cameroon, attack villages and steal cattle and food, the military reports.

Cameroon’s defense minister, Joseph Beti Assomo, said Thursday President Paul Biya asked him to lead a delegation of top military officials to the border. Assomo, whose delegation was in Mokollo district where Mayo Tsanaga is located, says several hundred troops have been deployed to protect civilians and their goods.

He said that self-protection groups must cooperate with the army.

Assomo says all militias must henceforth be registered and controlled by local government officials and Cameroon military. He says militia group members should be people of unquestionable integrity. Assomo says government troops and local officials note that militias have been infiltrated by Boko Haram terrorists and adds that the military will energetically fight terrorists and bring back civilians trapped along the border with Nigeria.

Ousman Aliou is from Duvan, a village on the border with Nigeria. He says except for a few elderly persons, almost everybody has escaped from Duvan. He spoke via a messaging app from Mokollo.

“Duvan has got 10,000 population and when I went there last week, I saw only 15 people in Duvan,” Aliou said. “So, I am asking Mr. Minister to do something for us please. Come and help us. Our people are sleeping on the mountain.”

In May, villagers along Cameroon’s northern border with Chad and Nigeria organized daily protests in front of government offices demanding the military protect them.

Vohod Deguime is mayor of the Mokollo district. He says if the military had responded more quickly to the villagers’ plea, civilians would have been spared from fleeing their homes.

He says the situation is getting worse as the days go by. He says several dozen villages have been destroyed over three weeks by Boko Haram, and food and cattle stolen. Deguime says more than 30,000 of the 40,000 Cameroonians who have escaped from their villages are hiding in bushes on the border with Nigeria.

Deguime said some of the fleeing villagers are finding refuge in host communities in safer border localities.

Local media reports that Cameroon recently withdrew some of its troops from the northern border with Nigeria and Chad and redeployed them to fight separatist rebels in the west of the country. Cameroon’s military dismiss the claims and say troops are always on standby to defend civilians when the need arises.

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Ethiopia’s Struggling Displaced People Face Dilemma: Stay or Go Home?

Internally displaced persons in Ethiopia’s Afar region have been leaving camps because of lack of food and shelter. The U.N. has warned that returning home may not prove any better and it’s seeking more international aid. Halima Athumani reports from Semera, Ethiopia. Camera: Yidnkeachew Lemma.
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Ukraine Tops Agenda at China’s BRICS Summit

Ukraine: It was a word barely mentioned but often alluded to as the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — collectively known as BRICS — gave their opening remarks at a virtual summit Thursday hosted by Beijing.

In his address, Chinese President Xi Jinping said the group’s purpose was to “make the world a more stable place” and “speak out for equity and justice.” He then appeared to take aim at the West, though the U.S. was never referred to by name.

“We must abandon cold war mentality and bloc confrontation and oppose unilateral sanctions and the abuse of sanctions,” the president of the world’s second-largest economy said in apparent reference to U.S. and European Union sanctions against Moscow.

Of the BRICS member states — emerging economies that position themselves as an alternative to the U.S.-led liberal world order — only Brazil voted against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations earlier this year. China, India and South Africa all abstained from condemning the invasion.

Xi’s remarks Wednesday at the BRICS business forum ahead of the main summit were even less equivocal.

“We in the international community should reject zero-sum games and jointly oppose hegemony and power politics,” he said.

Avoid ‘spillovers’

“Major developed countries should adopt responsible economic policies and avoid negative policy spillovers that may take a heavy toll on developing countries. It has been proved time and again that sanctions are a boomerang and a double-edged sword,” he added.

Unlike the others, Xi did refer directly to Ukraine, saying: “The combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine crisis has resulted in disruptions to global industrial and supply chains … and emerging markets and developing countries bear the brunt.”

For his part, Russia leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday thanked Xi and “all our Chinese friends” and took aim at the “selfish actions of certain states” that he said had thrown the global economy into a crisis, referring to sanctions against his government.

Countries in the global South have been hard hit by food insecurity and rising oil prices caused by the Ukraine crisis, and Putin noted that Russia could “count on the support of many Asian, African and Latin American states striving to pursue an independent policy.”

On Wednesday at the business forum, Putin said Russia was actively “redirecting its trade flows” and increasing oil deliveries to India and China. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said that instead of closing itself off in the face of disrupted supply chains, Brazil would be seeking to “deepen our economic integration.”

South Africa, one of the democracies in BRICS, has been widely criticized for taking a neutral stance on the Ukraine conflict. At the Thursday summit, President Cyril Ramaphosa was less strident than other leaders.

“In line with our foreign policy principles, South Africa continues to call for dialogue and negotiation toward a peaceful resolution of conflicts around the world,” he said.

Different views

Later, a joint declaration by the group was vague, underscoring the different countries’ divergent views on the matter.

“We have discussed the situation in Ukraine and recall our national positions as expressed at the appropriate fora, namely the UNSC [U.N. Security Council] and UNGA [U.N. General Assembly]. We support talks between Russia and Ukraine” the statement said, adding that BRICS supported U.N. humanitarian assistance to the region.

Not all the talks focused on the Ukraine crisis, however, with leaders, including Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also stressing the need to enhance international cooperation in the fight against COVID-19.

On this matter, Ramaphosa took aim at the West for not adhering to “the principles of solidarity and cooperation when it comes to equitable access to vaccines.”

“We call on developed economies, international agencies and philanthropists that procure vaccines to purchase from manufacturers in developing economies, including in Africa,” he said.

Despite aiming to present a united front against the U.S. and its allies, BRICS member states also have disagreements among themselves, though those do not necessarily stop their cooperation. Bolsonaro has previously made anti-China statements, while India has challenged Beijing on its disputed Ladakh border.

On Wednesday, ahead of the BRICS summit, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with India’s ambassador to China, Pradeep Kumar Rawat. In the ministry’s summary of the meeting, Beijing stated the two countries should continue to look for “solutions through dialogue and consultation” on the “boundary issue” and that “common interests between China and India far outweigh the differences.”

BRICS expansion

Additionally, China has supported the expansion of BRICS to include other countries. “Bringing in fresh blood will inject new vitality into BRICS cooperation and increase the representativeness and influence of BRICS,” said Xi in his remarks at the summit.

China’s Wang said that “to strengthen the solidarity and cooperation between emerging markets and developing countries,” for the first time, officials and foreign ministers of Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, and Thailand, described as BRICS Plus countries, were invited to a May virtual meeting of BRICS foreign ministers.

The BRICS joint statement declared the countries were in favor of further discussions about expanding bloc membership but “stressed the need to clarify” the details of the process.
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Ethiopia’s Struggling IDPs Face Dilemma: Stay or Return Home?

Internally displaced persons in northern Ethiopia’s Afar region have been leaving some camps due to lack of food and shelter. The U.N., warning that returning home may not prove any better, is calling for more international support.

Many people were forced to flee their homes because of fighting between Tigray regional forces and federal troops and their allies. Others fled record drought that has decimated livestock herds and left millions of Ethiopians hungry.

Myra Muhammed, a mother of three, walked 400 kilometers in January to reach a camp in Dubti, northern Ethiopia, only to find it overcrowded with 30,000 IDPs. The camp doesn’t have enough food or shelter, leaving Muhammed debating whether to return home, though she and her family lack support there, too.

Muhammed is not alone.

Afar disaster officials say at least 8,000 internally displaced persons returned home in June because of shortages and the closure of one camp.

The U.N.’s refugee agency says since March, 12,000 IDPs in the region have returned home.

Idris Muhammad Abdullah, a local IDP leader at the Dubti site, said resources are scarce and show up in bits. There are times when aid is available to 400 or 500 households, he said, and other times to none, which creates conflicts.

Russia’s war on Ukraine has taken global attention away from Ethiopia and driven up the cost of food aid.

The U.N.’s humanitarian affairs office in Ethiopia says it needs $3 billion to meet IDP needs, and those who return home may be worse off.

Michel Saad, head of the U.N. Office For the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for Ethiopia, explained: “(I)f they return somewhere where there’s no health center, there are no schools, no access to water, water is not running. No electricity, no banking system, no telecommunication. I mean, obviously the situation is remaining very difficult.”

Meanwhile, IDPs in the camps wait in the scorching heat for help — rationed first to the most vulnerable.

Asia Hussein, a displaced mother of six, received food, but not enough. “But what shall we do?” she asked.

At the moment, Ethiopians displaced by war and drought have no good options.
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South Africa Releases Damning Report Into Zuma-Era Graft

South Africa’s Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has released a final and damning report after a long-running inquiry into influence-peddling and corruption during former President Jacob Zuma’s nine years in office. It recommends several high-ranking officials face investigation and prosecution.

Acting Chief Justice Zondo late Wednesday gave the final report on the plunder of state resources under Zuma to his former deputy and successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The latest installment of the five-part report focused on alleged wrongdoing by the state security agency and at the public broadcaster and other state-owned enterprises.

It said Zuma’s former spy chief should be prosecuted for graft and targeting the president’s foes.

It also found that Zuma’s son, Duduzane, acted as a conduit between the wealthy Gupta family — business friends of Zuma’s whose influence over the president was said to amount to state capture.

The report said Duduzane should also be investigated.

Ramaphosa said the inquiry had presented evidence of abuse of power and praised the whistleblowers and journalists who helped uncover it.

“State capture was an assault on our democracy and violated the rights of every man, woman and child in this country,” he said.

Previous parts of the report recommended Zuma be further investigated with a view towards prosecution and that the Guptas and several ministers face prosecution.

Two of the Gupta brothers were arrested in Dubai this month and are facing extradition to South Africa.

The inquiry ran for almost four years, with South Africans watching the daily televised hearings shocked by repeated witness testimony on corruption at the highest levels of government.

Zondo spoke of some of the challenges the commission had faced while probing the graft.

“A few members of the legal team that I know went through situations when their security needed to be beefed up because of the work that they do, that they did, in the commission,” he said.

Ramaphosa said the inquiry was vital to ensuring the survival of South Africa’s democracy.

“The report is far more than a record of widespread corruption, fraud and abuse; it is also an instrument through which the country can work to ensure that such events are never allowed to happen again,” he said.

But the report was also critical of Ramaphosa as Zuma’s deputy for failing to do more against “state capture.”

It was also highly critical of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.

Independent political analyst Ralph Mathekga praised the inquiry for surviving political attempts to interfere with the process.

“The major finding actually here is that the ANC dropped the ball, the ANC-led government, the state capture inquiry speaks about major lapses in governance,” he said. “President Jacob Zuma comes out as the chief suspect.”

Zuma, who was forced to step down in 2018, is already facing trial on multiple counts of corruption in a separate case. He’s denied all wrongdoing.

Spokesman for the Jacob Zuma Foundation Mzwanele Jimmy Manyi told VOA the report was “a lot of hogwash.”

Ramaphosa has four months to make his recommendations to parliament on what action must be taken. South Africans will be waiting to see what arrests and prosecutions might follow.
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Cameroon Woos Potential Disapora Investors, But Faces Distrust of Government

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has for the first time sent a delegation to Europe to try to encourage well-off Cameroonians living there to invest back home. But members of Cameroon’s diaspora say undemocratic practices and corruption in Biya’s government put off investors.

Government officials say a delegation led by Youth Affairs and Civic Education Minister Mounouna Foutsou was dispatched to Germany this week to ask Cameroonians there to invest in their country of origin.

Foutsou said his wish is for all Cameroonians in the diaspora to put aside their differences and help develop Cameroon.

“The head of state reiterated his call to the Cameroonian diaspora to come and build Cameroon. We seize this opportunity to come and exchange with the whole Cameroonian diaspora here in Europe so that we can present the different opportunities offered by the president of the republic and his government so that the Cameroonian diaspora can come back and participate in the development of the nation,” said Foutsou.

Foutsou said the government will offer tax exemptions of up to 40 percent for diaspora investments in Cameroon, and loans of up to $10,000 with no interest rates for diaspora youths who return to invest in agriculture and livestock.

Kennedy Tumenta is a Cameroonian investor who lives in Germany. He said many in the diaspora find it hard to trust promises made by their government.

He said corruption, high taxes and a lack of confidence in President Biya, who has been in power for 40 years, scare investors.

“Freedom is restricted and they are afraid to move around in Cameroon and do their businesses and speak freely. Most diasporans believe that there is widespread corruption when it concerns opening businesses in the country or the Northwest-Southwest crisis is not being taken into consideration seriously by the government in place. It makes them frustrated and the only way to express this frustration is either to withdraw their investments in the country or attacking the head of state,” said Tumenta.

Separatists have been fighting to carve out an independent English-speaking state in mainly French-speaking Cameroon, since 2016. The U.N. says 3,300 people have died in the fighting.

Some disgruntled Cameroonians in the diaspora have become hostile to the government, and at least seven Cameroonian embassies have been attacked or ransacked since January 2020.

Felix Mbayu is a top official with Cameroon’s Ministry of External Relations. He said Cameroonians taking part in such protests are hurting the country’s image.

“Those who left Cameroon unhappy and have not been able to make it there are those who would speak ill of Cameroon. Those who left Cameroon to better their lot in life and have made it there are those who come back to invest in Cameroon. That is why you see medical doctors who have built hospitals, built clinics, who bring back home medical supplies. You don’t see them in the idle marches abroad. In fact, when you talk ill of your own home, you tarnish your own image,” said Mbayu.

An estimated five million Cameroonians live abroad. The government says the largest diaspora population is in Nigeria where about two million live.

There are also high concentrations in Belgium, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States.
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Rwanda Hosts Showcase Commonwealth Summit, Dimmed by Rights Concerns

Rwanda is preparing to welcome leaders of 54 nations for a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting Friday in the capital, Kigali.

The Commonwealth was formed in 1931 as the British Empire began to break up and nations claimed their independence. Its stated aim is working toward shared goals of prosperity, democracy and peace. Rwanda and four other countries are not former British colonies.

This week’s summit, which has been postponed twice since 2020 owing to the coronavirus pandemic, is being overshadowed by concerns over human rights abuses in Rwanda and Britain’s plans to send asylum seekers to the African state for processing there.

“The Rwandan government has been very keen to have (the meeting) in person so it can showcase the country and showcase the capital,” says Professor Philip Murphy, the director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London.

Rwanda President Paul Kagame “wants the kind of kudos of being attached to an organization that claims that it’s values-based, it claims that it supports human rights, democracy and the rule of law… And clearly he’s a very controversial figure. Rwanda’s human rights record is questionable and controversial.”

Rwanda denies the government commits human rights abuses. Supporters of Kagame say hosting the Commonwealth meeting is another milestone in the country’s rapid development since the 1994 genocide, in which around 800,000 people were killed.

Human rights

Civil society groups in Rwanda complain of a lack of media and political freedom.

Rwandan journalist Eleneus Akanga fled the country in 2007 after the government closed his newspaper. “My crime was reporting the truth. I had written a story, or I sought to write a story about journalists that were being beaten by unknown people. And it turned out that these journalists thought that the government was beating them up using state agents. I found out later that they were going to charge me with espionage.”

Akanga then fled to Britain and was granted political asylum in 2007.

Asylum deal

Earlier this year, Britain signed a deal with the Rwandan government to send back asylum seekers arriving on its shores for processing in Rwanda. The first flight was due to depart last week but was blocked minutes before take-off by the European Court of Human Rights.

Critics say the policy breaches refugee law. The British government says the policy is legal and will deter migrants.

“When people come here illegally, when they break the law, it is important that we make that distinction. That is what we are doing with our Rwanda policy,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told reporters June 18.

British ties

Britain has forged close ties with Rwanda since the latter joined the Commonwealth in 2009, says Murphy.

“Kagame has got strong links with the British Conservative party. He’s got a lot of supporters there. So I think that this asylum deal probably developed on the back of that special Commonwealth relationship,” Murphy said.

Exiled journalist Eleneus Akanga says the policy is contradictory.

“It is astonishing when you see the British government, which has given people like myself asylum, now being the same government that is out there telling us that somehow, Rwanda has transformed so much so that it is a country they are willing to send the most vulnerable asylum seekers that there could be to, because they believe the situation has changed. And we know it hasn’t,” Akanga told VOA.

Overshadowed

The Commonwealth meeting will be overshadowed by the dispute over Britain’s asylum policy, says Commonwealth analyst Murphy.

“In a way it’s focused international attention on Rwanda’s human rights record,” he told VOA. “Since the 1990s the Commonwealth has tried to reinvent itself as an organization that’s united more by common values than by common history. The problem is it hasn’t been very good at policing those values.”
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Malawi President Strips VP’s Power After Corruption Allegations

Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera has suspended the powers of Vice President Saulos Chilima after the country’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) accused Chilima of accepting kickbacks in return for government contracts.

The bureau’s findings come a month after Britain’s National Crime Agency showed that Chilima was on the list of Malawi government officials receiving kickbacks from British-Malawian businessman Zuneth Abdul Rashid Sattar.

Sattar was arrested in Britain last year for allegedly providing bribes to Malawi government officials to win contracts from Malawi’s police service, defense force and immigration department. Sattar denies the accusations.

In a televised address Tuesday, President Chakwera suspended the powers of Chilima, fired Malawi Police Service Inspector General George Kainja and suspended two other officials. He said the four are among 13 government officials the ACB found to have received money from Sattar between 2017 and 2021.

However, Chakwera said he could not fire or formally suspend Chilima because he has no constitutional authority to do so.

“The best I can do for now, which is what I have decided to do, is to withhold from his office any delegated duties while waiting for the bureau to substantiate its allegations against him,” Chakawera said, “and to make known its course of action in relation to such.”

The ACB investigation said 53 public officers and 31 individuals from the private sector, civic groups and the legal community also received money from Sattar between March and October last year.

Michael Kaiyatsa, executive director for the Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation, said findings confirm how deeply corruption is entrenched in Malawi.

“If you look at a report as presented by the State President, almost all the key government institutions have been mentioned,” Kaiyatsa said. “You talk of Malawi Police Service, MDF [Malawi Defense Force], Financial Intelligence Authority, the Ministry of Justice and even the State House.”

Chilima’s press aide, Pilirani Phiri, said Chilima will comment on the matter at an opportune time.

The United Transformation Movement, which also is Chilima’s political party, said in a statement it is shocked by the development. The party said it is reserving further comment until the matter is concluded.

Kaiyatsa said Chilima should have explained himself.

“His silence is not helping matters,” Kaiyatsa said. “It is actually worsening people’s perception of him. The public trust is not there anymore until he speaks up and tells us what he thinks.”

In the meantime, some analysts are pushing for the immediate resignations of all those implicated in the ACB probe to pave the way for smooth investigations.
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Zimbabwe Teachers, Health Workers on Strike to Demand Payment in US Dollars

Zimbabwe’s teachers’ unions have joined the country’s health workers in a strike to demand they be paid in US dollars instead of local currency, which has sharply declined in value. Most of Zimbabwe’s government workers make the equivalent of about $55 a month, a tenth of what they once earned. Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, Zimbabwe. Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe
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Ethiopian Government Calls Tigray Fuel Shortage a ‘Myth’

Ethiopia is refuting reports of a fuel shortage in the embattled Tigray region.

A European Union official visited Tigray this week, and on Tuesday said a lack of fuel is preventing delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid. However, a spokeswoman for Ethiopia’s prime minister told VOA that the idea of a fuel shortage in Tigray is a myth.

European Union Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic said Tigrayans have suffered enough due to a continuous aid blockade.

He said at a news conference in Addis Ababa on Tuesday that the number of trucks bringing food to the regional capital, Mekelle, has almost reached the level necessary to cover the basic humanitarian needs of the people of Tigray.

However, he said the aid effort needs more fuel so that humanitarian workers can deliver assistance to all in need.

“There’s need to lift restrictions, especially on the provision of fuel. More fuel is needed because without it, even this food assistance that comes to Mekelle cannot reach rural areas where the needs are highest,” Lenarcic said. “So now we have a situation, where humanitarian houses in Mekelle are full, but the people out there in the countryside are still hungry.”

The conflict that began in November 2020 between the Ethiopian federal government and the rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front has forced thousands to the brink of famine and left millions more in need of food aid.

Lenarcic also urged Prime Minister Ahmed Abiy’s government to lift financial restrictions he said are hampering the provision of basic services, such as payment of salaries to humanitarian workers and hospital employees who have gone without pay for one year.

“I fail to see the military rationale being the blockade of electricity, banking services,” Lenarcic said. “On the contrary, we believe that these services should be restored without delay, because they are primarily destined to the civilian use, and the lack of these services aggravates the humanitarian situation in that region.”

However, the Ethiopia federal government denies any blockades, especially on fuel.

A spokeswoman for Abiy, Billene Seyoum, said data available indicates that last week alone, three fuel tankers carrying over 137,500 liters of fuel arrived in Mekelle.

Seyoum said that, in total, more than 920,000 liters of fuel have been sent to the region since April.

“So, the myth of fuel shortage is a TPLF hidden agenda to enhance mobility of its army in preparation for another round of conflict. Hence, there are no fuel sanctions and such claims need to be reviewed with clarity on the reality,” Seyoum said.

On its Twitter account, the Tigray External Affairs Office insists the level of aid being allowed into Tigray does not meet the region’s needs. It says between April and early June, just over 770,000 liters of fuel have been allowed into Tigray.

In a text message to VOA, TPLF spokesperson Getachaw Reda accused the Abiy government of misrepresenting facts. He said the fuel shortage in Tigray is as vicious as creating unnecessary checkpoints or other obstacles aimed at hindering humanitarian access.

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Ethiopia’s Drought Forces Afar Residents to Use Dirty Water

As Ethiopia reels from the worst drought in the Horn of Africa in decades, residents of the northern Afar region are being forced to use dirty river water. Officials and aid groups can only provide water trucks when possible, leaving locals with few options. Halima Athumani reports from Afar region, Ethiopia.
Camera: Yidnkeachew Lemma
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Ethiopia’s Drought Forcing Afar Region Residents to Use Dirty Water

A dirty stream stems from Ethiopia’s Awash River, a lifeline for locals and their main water source for bathing, washing, cooking, and drinking. Ethiopia is reeling from the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in 40 years, and the northern Afar region is no exception.

Clean water is a luxury many cannot afford, said Semera resident Aisha Ali.

“My children suffer from skin diseases and are always ill because the water we use is not clean,” she said. “Some children even die because of this unsafe water.”

Khadijah Hamidah lives next to the river and said her children also suffer from illnesses and disease because of the dirty water.

“This is the only choice we have. All our children and families use this water,” she said.

But it’s not just villagers who are struggling with a lack of clean water.

Dubti General Hospital, the only functional medical center in Afar, is overwhelmed with patients.

Its acting head, Dr. Yusuf Muhammad, said the hospital also is suffering from the clean water shortage.

“Sometimes, we may not get the water,” he said. “Sometimes, some of the elective surgery cases are stopped or postponed due to lack of water. Surgical site infections are there because there’s no adequate water. Patient attendants are using rainwater. There’s a nearby river. They are using river water. It is not safe.”

The Afar region’s water bureau says it is struggling to address the water shortage and that it tries to provide filters.

Fatuma Haissema, who works with the Afar Water and Energy office, said many boreholes have been dug, but that they couldn’t be utilized because of a shortage of fluoride.

“The fluoride level (in the boreholes) was below the WHO standard, and we were forced to close the wells,” she said. “The cost of filtering the water is high and beyond the capacity of our office.”

Relief comes when clean water is trucked in by aid groups and the regional government.

Fatuma Omar, a resident of Semera, said the locals are relieved they can get trucked water.

“Previously, we would buy water and carry it from the city center,” she said. “One jerrycan costs about 40 cents (20 birr). It was expensive and tiring. But now, we get clean water, so this is good for us.”

The relief is only temporary, however, as the truck quickly runs dry, and people have to wait for the next one or are forced to risk using water from the river.
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Zambian Authorities Arrest Chinese Child Exploiter Who Fled Malawi

Authorities in Zambia said they have arrested a Chinese citizen accused of selling exploitative videos of Malawian children. Malawian authorities say they are working to have the man, Lu Ke, returned to Malawi, where rights campaigners say he should face justice.

Immigration officials in Malawi told VOA their counterparts in Zambia arrested Lu Ke on Monday in the eastern Chipata district.

“We got a report from our colleagues that he was found in a lodge in Chipata when he wanted to make some immigration formalities so that so he should be in line with Zambian laws,” said Pasqually Zulu, spokesperson for the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services in central Malawi.

Last week, Lu Ke fled Malawi, where police were searching for him after a BBC investigation found he was recording young villagers in central Malawi and making them say racist things about themselves in the Chinese language, Mandarin.

In one video children, some as young as 9 years old, are heard saying in Mandarin that they are a “black monster” and have a “low IQ.”

The BBC reported he was selling the videos at up to $70 apiece to a Chinese website. The kids performing in the videos were paid about a half dollar each.

The news sparked outrage in Malawi. On Tuesday, various rights organizations held street protests and presented a petition to the Chinese Embassy in the capital of Lilongwe.

In the petition, protesters asked the Chinese to compensate the children in the videos for being fooled to say words in a foreign language they could not understand.

Comfort Mankhwazi, president of the University of Malawi Child Rights Legal Clinic that led the protests, said she welcomes the arrest.

“This is one of the things we were hoping would happen,” Mankhwazi said. “And we are hoping that his arrest will lead to his prosecution in Malawian courts in which he will be tried for his action against our children, and indeed lead to him having to pay compensation.”

Zulu said the Malawi government is working with Zambian authorities to bring the suspect back to Malawi for criminal proceedings.

“Cooperation is so good with our colleagues in Zambia and our effort this time around is to get hold of him so that he should come to Malawi to answer charges against him,” Zulu said. “So we we are very, very hopeful the steps that we have taken so far will bear fruit.”

There were no official comments from Chinese authorities on the arrest of Lu Ke as of Tuesday. However, Chinese diplomat Wu Peng, who visited Malawi after the incident, said on Twitter last week that China does not tolerate racism.

Peng said China has been cracking down on unlawful online acts in recent years and that it will continue to crack down on such racial discrimination videos.
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Africa Won’t Give Ukraine What It’s Asking For, Analysts Say

Analysts say the African Union (AU) is unlikely to offer Ukraine much support against Russia despite a passionate address Monday by Ukraine’s president. Many African nations have historical ties to Russia and have refused to condemn its invasion of Ukraine.

In his speech to the African Union Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of holding Africa hostage by not allowing Ukrainian grain exports to reach the continent unless Western sanctions are lifted.

Zelenskyy, speaking via videolink, also reminded AU leaders about Africa’s history of being colonized and said the continent should never support any attempt by one nation to colonize another.

Abdi Rashid, chief Horn of Africa analyst for Sahan Research, a Nairobi-based research group, said that while many Africans have expressed support toward Russia because of the former Soviet Union’s backing of liberation movements against colonial powers and apartheid, Russia has changed.

“And I think Africans probably have not come to grips with the reality of modern Russia,” he said. “So, we need to modernize our views of Russia and understand that today’s Russia is essentially an imperial power, which is weakened and which wants to get back the kind of clout and supremacy it had.”

After the address, Moussa Fakit Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission, tweeted that the African Union “reiterates its position of the urgent need for dialogue to end the conflict [in Ukraine] to allow peace to return to the region and to restore global stability.”

Hassan Khannenje, director of the Horn International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the response by the African Union was short of what Zelenskyy expected.

Taking sides with Ukraine, Khannenje argues, would be seen very negatively by China, which has close relations with Moscow. He said Africa’s geopolitical calculations and relative power in the international system doesn’t allow it to make a decisive turn toward one of the two warring parties.

“Because remember, there’s a question of Taiwan, which of course, the West supports Taiwan,” he said. “And so, in an event of a conflict, if you’re going to side with Ukraine today, it’s going to send a message — that in situations of conflict with Taiwan you’re going to take the side of the West – [for] which China might decide to turn off the taps of investment for you, because you’re not a reliable partner.”

Even though African countries are struggling with high inflation and the effects of drought and lack of Ukrainian imports, China has made it clear it will provide support to the continent only if Africa pushes back against what Beijing calls Western interference in the war, especially the sanctions aimed at the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Observer Group Calls for Broader Definition of Conflict Diamonds Amid Russia-Ukraine War

Botswana’s Minister of Mineral Resources, Lefoko Moagi, says the meeting in the resort town of Kasane needs to candidly discuss issues affecting the diamond industry.

He says those include the Kimberley Process, a system that monitors the sale of “conflict diamonds” — diamonds used to fund armed groups and wars.

“I am hopeful that this inter-sessional meeting will implore you to delve into the rough diamonds related matters, engage and discuss even the most uncomfortable Kimberley Process issues with the sole objective of ensuring that the Kimberley Process remains fit for purpose in these evolving times, whilst maintaining the original mandate of this entity as espoused in the United Nations general resolution.”

Abu Brima is a member of the Kimberley Process Civil Society Coalition, a group which monitors the diamond body.

He tells VOA the Kimberley Process is losing its relevance and the Coalition made its position known at the meeting.

“All the principles, all the procedures will have to be revised, especially to create a proper agenda for reform, to reform those aspects that make KP an impediment to achieve its own agenda. The whole question of conflict diamonds will have to be opened up and broadened.”

Russia would have been on the agenda at the Botswana meeting only if there was a consensus from all the 85 participating countries.

But Brima says such an arrangement no longer serves its purpose and needs to be revisited.

“The consensus decision making process would veto power by any individual country that is not comfortable with any decision. That does not help KP to move forward. That needs to be changed.”

Despite the criticism, Minister Moagi says the Kimberley Process remains relevant to the global diamond trade.

“Through the KP, in spite of challenges and shortcomings, we continue to give our many stakeholders reasonable assurance that as an industry, we value peace and security. Moreover, we equally recognize the need to ensure that the rough diamond trade optimally contributes to sustainable development.”

Russia’s continued trade in the stones has come under global scrutiny with concerns diamond revenue could be funding the invasion of Ukraine.
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