Today the Egyptian army has tightened security in Cairo and in other cities in response to calls from the Muslim Brotherhood for marches from 28 mosques after Friday prayers. It has been reported that security forces closed off entrances and roads leading to Cairo's Tahrir Square with armoured personnel carriers and barbed wire. In the meantime, protests have started across the country. The Muslim Brotherhood announced these protests after hundreds of people were killed in police action that ended two sit-ins in Cairo that began after the army deposed President Mohamed Morsi on July 3. The Muslim Brotherhood has called the day "Friday of rage". This was the same title that was given on January 28, 2011, during the 18-day revolt against Hosni Mubarak's rule. There are fears of renewed clashes after authorities have said the police are entitled to use live ammunition to protect themselves and key state institutions from attack.
Deze dag vol politiek, cultuur, workshops en debatten zal dit jaar plaatsvinden op 2 november in het Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen (KIT) in Amsterdam. De dag zal geopend worden door Minister Lilianne Ploumen van Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, gevolgd door een groot scala aan nationale en internationale sprekers. Mis het niet!
Inschrijving is nog niet geopend, maar je kunt de datum alvast in je agenda zetten! Blijf op de hoogte van nieuws over de Afrikadag via deze website en onze facebookpagina!
We zien er naar uit je te verwelkomen op 2 november.
De Britse bank Barclays heeft in maart verkondigd de rekeningen van 250 money transfer bedrijven in Afrika en Azië te sluiten. Deze money service businesses (MSBs) bieden internationale geldoverdrachtdiensten aan, en worden door de Afrikaanse en Aziatische diaspora gebruikt om geld te sturen naar familie in hun land van herkomst, ook wel remittances genoemd. Aangezien een groot deel van de Somalische bevolking afhankelijk is van deze remittances, zou het sluiten van de MSBs erg negatieve gevolgen kunnen hebben.
Afgelopen weekend organiseerden wij de jaarlijkse Leadership Academy in Armenië. Voor de 5e keer op rij, reisden trainers van de FMS, VVD en CDA naar Armenië om een uitgebreide training te geven aan jongeren uit 7 verschillende partijen, zowel regering als oppositie.
Voormalig minister van Financiën Soumaila Cissé tweette laat gisteravond dat hij vertrok van het huis van Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, “ toekomstig president van Mali, om hem te feliciteren met zijn overwinning. God zegene Mali.” Hoewel de officiële resultaten nog niet binnen zijn, is het duidelijk dat Keita de tweede ronde van de presidentiële verkiezingen heeft gewonnen.
Millions of Zimbabweans took to the polls yesterday to cast their votes in the country’s presidential elections. Unlike the elections in 2008, voting passed peacefully and without major incidents. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC is again hoping to unseat President Robert Mugabe of ZANU-PF, though a ZANU-PF source has told Reuters that it is again 89-year old Robert Mugabe that has won the elections, while the MDC calls the elections rigged.
Despite ousting the Finance Minister Mlađan Dinkić and his United Regions of Serbia (URS) from the ruling coalition, no early elections will be held in Serbia. According to the main opposition Democratic Party (DS), that has called for early elections, the government reshuffle is a farce through which the government tries to distract attention from its catastrophic results.
On July 29, Tunisian Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh has called for early elections, in order to cease the unrest after the murder of legislator Mohamed Brahmi on July 25. The elections are to be held on December 17. The Tunisian opposition had been calling for the resignation of the Islamist led government, stating that the murder of Brahmi signaled the governments inefficiency of protecting its citizens. The social democratic party Ettakatol, one of the ruling Troika coalition partners, has joined opposition forces in calls for a ‘government of national unity’, that would replace the current government.
On July 24 the Egyptian First Deput Prime Minister and Minister of Defence General Abdel Fatah al-Sissi called on Egyptians for mass rallies on Friday Juli 26, to support the military efforts towards confronting terrorism and violence and to show support of what’s happening in the country. “Egyptians must take to the streets on Friday to give me the mandate to face violence and terrorism,” Sisi said.
The speech followed a deadly bombing of a security headquarter in the city Mansoura, in which one died and 27 officers and civilians were injured.
On 24 July dozens of hooligans and anti-gay-demonstrators shouted ‘kill the gays’ at the first ever gay pride parade in Montenegro coastal town of Budva. Eggs, stones and bottles where hurdled at around 40 participants in the parade mostly arriving in a police escorted bus from the capital Podgorica.
