UK is cutting aid... to fund defence spending

 

Charities are appalled by UK's cut to aid budget... to fund defence spending

Humanitarian charities said they were "stunned" and "appalled" by Britain's decision to cut its international aid budget to boost defence spending, warning it would damage UK influence and have a devastating impact on those they support.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday he would increase Britain's annual defence spending to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2027, with a target to hit 3 percent at a later date, a move he said was needed to provide Ukraine and Europe with support in a "new era".

To fund the move, Britain will cut its aid budget from 0.5 percent of gross national income, to 0.3 percent.

David Miliband, a former foreign secretary from the governing Labour Party and now head of the International Rescue Committee charity, said the move was "a blow to Britain's proud reputation as a global humanitarian and development leader".

Britain is the fifth largest international aid donor, giving over 19 billion dollars in 2023, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The United States tops the ranking, followed by Germany, European Union institutions and Japan.

Later, this week Starmer will meet US President Donald Trump, whose advisor Elon Musk has boasted of gutting Washington's own foreign aid agency by "feeding USAID into the wood chipper".

Nick Dearden, director of campaign group Global Justice Now, thinks that "to appease Trump, he will cut aid to its lowest level in a generation. It is a day of shame for Britain."

United Nations children's agency Unicef said the British aid cut would "undoubtedly risk lives". Oxfam accused Starmer of "bending to populist pressures".

Changing course

Britain used to devote 0.7 percent of its gross national income to overseas development before it was cut by the previous Conservative government to 0.5 percent in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Starmer's government had pledged to restore the aid budget back to 0.7 percent before it sharply changed course.

"This is a short-sighted and appalling move," said Romilly Greenhill, CEO of London-based Bond, a network for humanitarian organisations. "Slashing the already diminished UK aid budget to fund an uplift in defence is a reckless decision."

ActionAid described it as a political choice that could have devastating consequences for people affected by humanitarian crisis, such as in Gaza, the Democratic Republic of Congo and even Ukraine.

But Starmer's announcement on aid was met with little immediate political criticism in the House of Commons.

Sarah Champion, Labour lawmaker and chair of the International Development Select Committee, was a rare voice opposing the move, saying aid spending could prevent wars.

"Aid vs defence isn't a realistic narrative for keeping the world safe," she said.

 (Reuters)

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Read my work on this issues in South Africa here:

South Africa faces HIV crisis as Trump’s aid freeze halts treatment and research

All about DRC here:

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan arrives in DRC amid escalating eastern conflict

There:

DRC president suggests unity government to respond to the crisis in the east

And there:

Rwandan-backed M23 gains in eastern DRC spark UN warnings and regional fears

More on Kenya soon.

DRC: Increasing diplomatic pressure on Rwanda

 

Diplomatic pressure on Rwanda is increasing. 

The Rwandan ambassador in Brussels was summoned by the services of the head of European diplomacy, while until now the Europeans had not yet shown their unity on the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

The M23 has captured the two largest cities in eastern Congo and stoked fears of a wider war.

And at the UN, the Security Council is calling on Rwanda to withdraw its troops from the DRC.

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Meanwhile, in Africa, the chiefs of Staff of the East Africa Community (EAC), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union call for the creation of a hybrid force to secure territories under M23 occupation in the DRC. 

A new meeting of the two regional organisations is scheduled for Monday 24 February, in Dar es Salaam.

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Finally, the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday imposed sanctions on a Rwandan government minister and a senior member of an armed group for their alleged role in the conflict in the eastern DRC.

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Fore more on the previous weeks and the context, check my newsletter:

Why the war in eastern DR Congo matters

As the global leaders look at the future of Ukraine from DC to Paris and Johannesburg, the two-decade old country at the heart of Africa gets neglected... Is this fair in today's world?

Melissa Chemam

Feb 21, 2025

Newsletter: February's new post, on the DR Congo

Details below

Why the war in eastern DR Congo matters

As the global leaders look at the future of Ukraine from DC to Paris and Johannesburg, the two-decade old country at the heart of Africa gets neglected... Is this fair in today's world?

Melissa Chemam

Feb 21, 2025

Raphael Barontini exhibition @ Palais de Tokyo, Paris

The @raphaelbarontini show @palaisdetokyo 🌟:

« Quelque part dans la nuit, le peuple danse »

21 février - 11 mai 2025

Selected images

 

DRC: update on a potential UN resolution and on fighting

 

Congolese Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayi Kwamba Wagner addressed the members of the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

"This Council observes, this Council condemns, but this Council does not act," she said.

She criticised the lack of a clear resolution to end the violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

And she also called for "the adoption of sanctions against Rwandan political and military leaders involved in this aggression, an embargo on natural resource exports from Rwanda, as well as an end to the fighting and the withdrawal of Rwandan troops."

Blaming Rwanda as the aggressor

"The Rwanda is preparing an open-air massacre with a brutality reminiscent of the darkest hours of our history. On 26 January, I had warned. Today, these words have become reality. In just 48 hours, more than 4,000 people have died in Goma. This is what happens when a terrorist group takes control of a city and imposes its criminal administration under the watch of this Council. Enough excuses, enough cultural relativism used as a pretext for inaction with tragic consequences. The time for endless compromises is over. It is time to act."

The members of the Security Council acknowledged the urgency of the situation and once again condemned the actions of the M23 rebels and Rwanda’s involvement. 

The French ambassador mentioned a draft resolution currently under discussion.

But for now, no text appears to have sufficient support to be put to a vote or adopted.

M23 moves forward

Meanwhile, M23 rebel advance causes panic in Congolese border town Uvira. 

Volleys of gunfire rang out in Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern border town of Uvira on Wednesday, local sources told news agency Reuters, as clashes broke out among allied forces amid the advance of Rwanda-backed rebels. 

Residents and officials described scenes of looting, bodies lying in the street, and government soldiers commandeering boats to flee across Lake Tanganyika. 

The local prison was also emptied, they said. The M23 rebels have been moving south towards Uvira, which shares a lake border with Burundi, since they seized the provincial capital Bukavu over the weekend - the heaviest loss for Congo since the fall of the region's largest city Goma in late January.

Over 500 Congolese police officers fled across the border to Burundi, where they were disarmed, a security source, a diplomatic source and a local official said. The interior ministers of Burundi and Congo did not respond to requests for comment.

Burundi is also having to deal with the largest movement of refugees in 25 years, people fleeing the escalating conflict in the DR Congo, the United Nations refugee agency said.

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For more on the context, my two podcast episode:

Spotlight on Africa

18/02/2025

The crisis in the DRC and the African Union response

 

Spotlight on Africa

08/01/2025

DRC takes on Apple: can conflict mineral mining be stopped?

 

Ukraine's war, three years on

 

Too many conflicts...

I'm juggling between Sudan, the DRC, Palestine, and now Ukraine... Newsroom's short of staff...

Here are a few elements on Ukraine, as the sad anniversary of the start of the war, in 2022, nears.

France's Macron, UK's Starmer to visit

Washington amid Ukraine talks, US official says

 Feb 19 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will visit Washington next week, amid other meetings aimed at bringing an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, US national security advisor Mike Waltz said on Wednesday.

Asked about the chances of reaching a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, Waltz told Fox News in an interview: "We're engaging on all sides, and then the next step is we're going to put technical teams forward to start talking more details."

The EU launches new sanctions package on Russia

EU envoys have agreed on a series of bans on Russian imports in a new sanctions package, as heads of states prepare to meet again in Paris to discuss the future of European security and of the war in Ukraine.

EU envoys agreed on a 16th package of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, EU diplomats said, including a ban on primary aluminium imports, sales of gaming consoles and the listing of 73 shadow fleet vessels.

The package, which largely sticks to the European Commission's proposal, is expected to be adopted by EU foreign ministers on Monday to mark the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The EU is clamping down even harder on circumvention by targeting more vessels in Putin’s shadow fleet and imposing new import and export bans," Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media.

"We are committed to keep up the pressure on the Kremlin," she added.

More talks

The French president contacted the American conservative leader on the phone before Monday’s mini-summit in Paris.

Emmanuel Macron still hopes to convince US President Donald Trump that nothing can be negotiated without the Ukrainians and that the Europeans must be able to "put forward their own solutions."

New talks are taking place in Paris this Wednesday.

The talks were set to take place Wednesday afternoon, with most participants taking part by video link, according to the Elysee.

This progress on the latest EU sanctions comes after Trump's administration said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold more talks with Russia on ending the war in Ukraine.

This came after an initial meeting that excluded Kyiv, a departure from Washington's previous approach that rallied US allies to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

Podcast episode on the DRC / M23 conflict

 

New podcast episode: 

Spotlight on Africa

The crisis in the DRC and the African Union response

 

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As fighting continues in South Kivu between M23 rebels and Congolese forces in the eastern regions bordering Rwanda, uncertainty surrounding the future of the Democratic Republic of Congo grows. This week, we discuss how the African Union can assist with a International Crisis Group expert and address humanitarian risks with a UNICEF worker.

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Listen online here: https://www.rfi.fr/en/podcasts/spotlight-on-africa/20250218-the-crisis-in-the-drc-and-the-african-union-response

Or from Apple Podcast from there: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-crisis-in-the-drc-and-the-african-union-response/id1241972991?i=1000693449821

Updates from wartime Europe on Ukraine and the DRC

 

Working this weekend as the editor of our website.

Not nice to report on world wars when war rages so near here... 

Europe - Ukraine - US

Europe needs special Ukraine envoy to get meaningful peace role, Finland says after US rebuff

Europe needs a special envoy for Ukraine to ensure it gets a meaningful role in any peace process, two European leaders said on Sunday after the continent was ruled out as a partner in talks by US President Donald Trump's administration.

France and allies discuss holding informal Ukraine summit 

France is discussing with its allies holding an informal summit of European leaders to discuss Ukraine, a French presidency official said on Saturday evening. Four European diplomats said the meeting was likely to go ahead on Monday.

DRC conflict 

DRC: M23 rebels seen in centre of strategic city Bukavu 

Rwandan-backed M23 rebels were seen in the centre of eastern Congo's second-largest city, Bukavu, on Sunday, said a local official, a security source and five eyewitnesses.

DRC's president won't attend the AU summit, as M23 advances in South Kivu

Neither Rwandan President Paul Kagame nor his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi attended Friday's AU meeting.

African Union 

Djibouti's Mahmoud Ali Youssouf elected as AU commission chairman 

The Djiboutian presidency's spokesman has said that Djibouti's Mahmoud Ali Youssouf was elected Saturday as the chairman of the African Union's executive commission.

Nigerian villagers vs oil giant Shell

Villagers from Niger Delta take oil giant Shell to court in London over pollution

A hearing opened on Thursday at the High Court in London into allegations that the oil company Shell polluted large tracts of the Niger Delta, in Nigeria, particularly in the areas traditionally claimed by the Ogoni people.

The villagers, supported by Amnesty International Nigeria, say that decades of spills have damaged farms and waterways.

"The pollution created by the oil giant has caused immense damage to the local environment, depriving thousands of people of access to clean drinking water," said the NGO Amnesty International.

"Sabotage and its consequences are insignificant compared to the destruction caused by the company’s oil exploitation," Isa Sanusi, director of Amnesty International Nigeria, says.

"While we are trying to focus the debate on environmental damage, talking about sabotage is just a way to avoid taking responsibility," Sanusi added.

Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary SPDC claim that the spills in the region were caused by sabotage or illegal refining.

A Shell spokesperson said: "The litigation does little to address the real problem in the Niger Delta: oil spills due to theft, illegal refining and sabotage, which cause the most environmental damage."

Shell's lawyers said in papers submitted to the court that SPDC recognises it is obliged to compensate those harmed by oil spills even if SPDC is not at fault

They added that they would not offer compensation where spills had been caused by the malicious acts of third parties.

Ten year old battle

Ten years ago, residents from the Bille and Ogale communities in Nigeria claimed their livelihoods had been destroyed and homes damaged by hundreds of oil spills caused by Shell, according to Amnesty's report.

The pollution caused widespread devastation to the local environment, killing fish and plant life, leaving thousands of people without access to clean drinking water.

According to the UN, at least 7,000 oil spill incidents have occurred in the region since 1958.

In 2011, a study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) also highlighted the presence of benzene—a carcinogen—at nearly 900 times the WHO's recommended levels in contaminated water in Ogoni, in the west of the country.

"Shell repeatedly delayed the case arguing it had no legal responsibility for any of the pollution. The delay has had a devastating effect on people’s lives,"  said Sanusi.

Godwin Bebe Okpabi, leader of the Ogale community in the Niger Delta, told Reuters news agency that he was appealing to Shell's conscience to remediate the damage.

"As we speak, people are dying in Ogale, my community," he said. "It is sad that Shell will now want to take us through this very expensive, very troublesome trial, claiming one technicality or the other."

The month-long trial will determine issues of Nigerian law and whether SPDC can be held liable for oil spills caused by third-party interference, ahead of a further trial in 2026.

The case, parts of which began nearly a decade ago, has already been to the Britain's Supreme Court, which ruled in 2021 that the case should be heard in the English courts.

 

SA vs USA

 

New post on my newsletter:

South Africa resists the United States

What's behind the accusations coming from Trump and Musk against Pretoria

Melissa Chemam

Feb 13, 2025

>> Read on from here:

 South Africa resists the United States

Insight into the 'After The End' exhibition in Pompidou Centre-Metz

My new video for RFI:  

Post-colonial artists reimagine the future in new Pompidou exhibition in Metz • RFI English

After The End is an exhibition opening at the Pompidou Centre in Metz, showcasing artists from the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and other post-colonial regions.

Through their work, these artists from former colonies seek to present a fresh perspective on the world, offering new ways of imagining the future and inspiration for navigating today’s multiple crises.

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To read my article:

Post-colonial artists reimagine the future in new Pompidou exhibition in Metz

 

One of my favourite singers: 

Yasmine Hamdan - Hon هون 

(Official Music Video)

Video : written by Khalil & Yasmine Hamdan Directed by Khalil Music: Marc Collin, Yasmine Hamdan Lyrics : Yasmine Hamdan, Anas Alaili

Lyrics : Hon هون هون شو صاير هون انهيار وكوم حبّ يوم يوم ورا يوم بستجوب التلفون قتيل بغرفة النوم كلّ يوم پروڤة قتل هون مش قادرة إفصل خَلَص خلِص الحكي هون أرض صغيرة وجرح كبير ناس تضلّ وناس تغيب غيمة بوسط الصالون غيمة حزن معي هون هزّة بدَن وعالتّلفزيون خَلَص خلِص الحكي هون أرض صغيرة وجرح كبير ناس تضلّ ناس تضلّ وناس تغيب

Hon هون

What happened here? A collapse And a mountain of love Day after day I am questioning my phone There is a dead body in my bedroom Everyday they rehearse their killing I can’t dissociate Done What’s left to say A tiny land With a gaping wound Some people linger And some go absent Clouds in the living room Darkness sitting with me My body is shaking and the TV is on Done What’s left to say A tiny land With a gaping wound Some people linger And some go absent

DRC: peace talks on the way?

 

My latest for RFI:

DRC conflict

Regional leaders gather in Tanzania for high-stakes summit on DRC crisis

A joint summit between the East African Community and the Southern African Development Community will take place today and Saturday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Paul Kagame and Félix Tshisekedi, are both expected to attend.

Issued on: 07/02/2025 - 10:52 

Members of the M23 rebel group after clashes with the Armed Forces of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), in Goma, North Kivu province

in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 30 January 2025. © Arlette Bashizi / Reuters

By:Melissa Chemam with RFI

Both presidents were supposed to meet in December in Angola and sign a peace agreement, but the meeting was cancelled.

 Both parties blamed each other for failed talks as tensions escalated.

A source close to the Congolese presidency said: "From this summit, we expect an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional withdrawal of Rwandan troops and their auxiliaries, the reopening of Goma airport for humanitarian reasons, and the return of the city to the official administration."

Tina Salama, the spokesperson for Félix Tshisekedi, added, "We also expect severe sanctions against Rwanda." 

The situation is at a "pivotal moment" United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, adding that the conflict "risks engulfing the entire region" and urged the parties to work together for peace.

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Read on from here:

Regional leaders gather in Tanzania for high-stakes summit on DRC crisis