A forum on “Grid Connection Gearing up Sustainable Africa” was held in Addis Ababa on May 14. The forum proposed to governments in Africa and across the world, international organizations, energy and power enterprises, financial and research institutions to jointly promote the development of clean energy and the construction of power grid interconnection in Africa, promote energy transformation and build African Energy Interconnection and Global Energy Interconnection, so as to provide clean and sustained energy support for economic and social development in the world.
Kuang Weilin, Ambassador of Mission of China to the African Union (AU), Seleshi Bekele, Minister of Water Irrigation and Electricity, Ethiopia, Bruno Kapandji Kalala, Minister of Agency for the Development and Promotion of Grand Inga (ADPI-RDC) and Mohamed Mousa Omran, First Undersecretary of Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy, Egypt, attended the forum and made keynote speeches.
The forum was organized by Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO). In-depth discussions and consensuses were made on the topics of clean energy development in Africa, power grid interconnection and the Belt and Road cooperation among the representatives from the AU, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), ADPI-RDC, Association of Power Utilities of Africa (APUA) and other international organizations; power departments and enterprises in Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan, Nigeria, etc.; as well as China Three Gorges International Corporation (CTGIC), POWERCHINA International Group Limited, State Grid International Development Co., Ltd. (SGID), China Electric Power Equipment and Technology CO., Ltd. (CET) and other Chinese enterprises in power sector.
African, Chinese experts discuss clean energy development and power interconnection in Africa
US Embassy warns of scams – There are no fees to enter the Embassy or American spaces
The US Embassy has been alerted to reports of scams, where unsuspecting residents are offered access to the Embassy compound for visa interviews, or to visit American Spaces. The Embassy wishes to reiterate that no such fees are required.
The Embassy’s American Spaces Program offers free public access to facilities that include state of the art technology, research materials, space for public engagement, and opportunities to experience American Culture. There are locations in Bahir Dar, Dire Dawa, Jimma, and Addis Ababa at the National Archive and Library Agency as well as the U.S. Embassy itself. There are no fees to enter these spaces or use their services.
For Consular Services, such as visa interviews, the only fees are those that are published on travel.state.gov, which cover the cost of the application process. There are no additional fees to enter the Embassy compound for an appointment. Official fees for consular services may only be paid at Bank of Abyssinia locations or directly at the cashier window within the Consular Section.
The Embassy is investigating these claims and reminds all Ethiopians to communicate directly with the Embassy if anyone request fees to facilitate Embassy services. Up to date information about U.S. Embassy services is available directly through the official Embassy website at et.usembassy.gov.
Angolan diplomats fired for attending Jerusalem Embassy Event
Angolan envoy to Israel, Manuel Augusto Jao Diogo Fortunato, was one of two Angolan diplomats who were fired this week for attending a gala dinner hosted by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to celebrate the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
Two senior Angolan diplomats were fired this week for attending a gala dinner hosted by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs to celebrate the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem.
Manuel Augusto Jao Diogo Fortunato – a senior adviser and the number 2 figure in the Angolan Embassy in Tel Aviv – attended the 13 May event with the approval of Angola’s Director for African, Middle East and Regional Organizations, Joaquim do Espírito Santo.
Angolan media reports that on Monday, Angola’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Manuel Augusto, fired Fortunato and Santo for “failing to comply with procedures and harming Angola’s good reputation.”
Fortunato was one of twelve envoys from African countries to participate in the event. Other African countries that indicated they would attend were: Rwanda, South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nigeria denied that its representative attended the gala dinner.
Those African nations that did attend were heavily criticised for betraying Africa’s legacy of anti-colonialism and undermining the Palestinian liberation struggle.
“Kenneth Kaunda would be quite disappointed,” wrote Nigerian trade unionist and human rights activist, Owei Lakemfa, referring to Zambia’s presence. “Tanzania would make Mwalimu Julius Nyerere turn in his grave that his heirs would be clinking glasses and smiling sheepishly while Israel massacred Palestinians,” he continued.
“We are very disappointed at African countries which had celebrated the declaration of Jerusalem as the official capital city of Israel by the USA. That is the highest form of betrayal because us as Africans should know that colonialism and imperialism have no place in humanity,” Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, Julius Malema, told South African media.
The Political Economy of the Youth Bulge
An age pyramid or age picture diagram, which is also called population pyramid is a graphical illustration that shows the distribution of various age groups in a population, typically that of a country or region of the world, which forms the shape of a pyramid when the population is growing. It is also used in ecology to determine the overall age distribution of a population; an indication of the reproductive capabilities and likelihood of the continuation of a species.
An excess in especially young adult male population is called youth bulge. Gunnar Heinsohn, a German sociologist and economist, argues that youth bulge or an excess in especially young adult male population predictably leads to social unrest, war and terrorism, as the “third and fourth sons” that find no prestigious positions in their existing societies rationalize their impetus to compete by religion or political ideology.
Heinsohn claims that most historical periods of social unrest lacking external triggers such as rapid climatic changes or other catastrophic changes of the environment can be readily explained as a result of a built-up youth bulge. Youth bulge can be seen as one factor among many in explaining social unrest and uprisings in society.
Youth bulge theory represents one of the most recently developed theories of war and social unrest, and has become highly influential on U.S. foreign policy as two major United States proponents of the theory, political scientists Jack Goldstone and Gary Fuller have acted as consultants to the United States government.
A recent data of the ILO indicated that between now and 2025, 600 million youth in the developing world will compete for just 200 million jobs. Much of this shortfall will occur in majority-Arab countries. Unemployed youths can easily turn into a risk to a nation’s and an entire region’s stability and security.
The median age in Yemen is 18.6 years, according to the CIA World Fact book. This means that, as of last year, almost half of the 26 million Yemenis were under 18 years of age. Yemen’s median age is 19 years below the United States median age and 23.3 years below that of the EU.
Yemen’s economy is small and under-developed. The country has depended for many years on dwindling oil reserves and was unable to provide enough educational opportunities or legitimate jobs for its young people. In addition, Yemen’s government has been weak for quite some time. As a result, the country has not been in a position to pursue suitable policies to address and mitigate the challenges associated with this stark demographic reality.
Now that a full-blown civil war has unfolded in Yemen and almost a dozen countries are currently participating in military operations in the country, it has become next to impossible to tackle the issue of the youth bulge in any meaningful fashion. Even before this recent turn of events, Yemeni children were at serious risk of enslavement and abduction for human trafficking, not just in Yemen itself, but also in neighboring Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Girls are kidnapped and forced into prostitution in Saudi Arabia’s hospitality and entertainment industry. Young boys are also at risk of being forced into domestic servitude or prostitution. They bear the additional risk of being forced to fight in Yemen’s national army, clan militias and terrorist groups that operate in the country.
The median age in Egypt is estimated at 25.1 years. That means half the country’s population of 87 million was born in 1989 or later. In contrast to their elders, those young Egyptians grew up during an extended period of peace following the 1978 Camp David Accords. The country’s armed forces also did not participate in any overseas military actions between the 1990-91 Gulf War and its 2014-15 intervention in Libya. However, the country’s army began major domestic deployments in 2011 during the Arab Spring, which continue to the present day.
Egypt’s economy has been stalling for some time. In part, this is due to the military’s long and deep involvement in the country’s business and investment affairs, choking market competition. Youth unemployment in Egypt which stood at 26.3% in 2010 rose by almost half to 39% in 2016, according to the World Bank.
The country’s large armed forces cannot indefinitely continue to absorb large cohorts of unemployed young men, as was the practice in the past. The government, after all, wants to escape its debt problems and grow the economy. For that to become a realistic prospect, the military will have to unwind itself from the economy and job market.
The years of civil war in Syria since 2011 and the extensive refugee populations displaced by it have made it difficult to reliably gauge Syrian population statistics. The median age of Syria’s 17 million people is estimated to be 23.3 years, according to the CIA World Fact book. The World Bank estimated Syria’s youth unemployment rate at 37% in 2016.
If and when the civil war ends, this issue along with other labor market problems is actually likely to worsen significantly. Not only will there be more people than jobs, but there will also likely be a mismatch between workers and required skills. The intensity and scale of Syria’s civil war have permanently altered the educational trajectories of many young people in the country.
While not a fully recognized state, Palestine, i.e., the Palestinian Arab populations of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, has a median population age of about 20 years, although exact data are hard to come by. In 2016, about four in 10 Palestinians were no more than 14 years old, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. Meanwhile, a further three in 10 were between 15 and 29 years old. This means that 70% of all Palestinians in the three areas of the country were born no earlier than 1985, just before the First Intifada.
Similar to Egypt, 38% of Palestinian youth were unable to find work as of 2013, according to the World Bank. Without a peaceful and permanent resolution to the Israel-Palestine territorial dispute, most of these young people are unlikely to be able to find civilian work. The wars have destroyed infrastructure and buildings, while the border restrictions with Israel prevent Palestinian workers from crossing easily to fill Israeli job openings.
