AFC Asian Cup 2023: Will India, the ‘sleeping giant’ of football, wake up?
Mumbai, India – For decades, India has lived with the label of being the “sleeping giant” of football. With a population of 1.4 billion, highest in the world, there is a prevailing sentiment that India is underrepresented in international football. Compared to its dominance in cricket, the country lags far behind in football and is yet to qualify for a FIFA World Cup. While former FIFA president Sepp Blatter optimistically declared in 2012 that the “sleeping giant is starting to wake up,” the reality in 2024 paints a different picture. Currently placed 102nd in the FIFA rankings and not even among the top 10 sides in Asia, India is still in the midst of its football awakening and struggling to emerge from its slumber, experts argue. “India is not a giant in football because they haven’t done anything on the international front for years,” Stephen Constantine, former head coach of the Indian men’s football team, told Al Jazeera. Indian football basked in glory in the 1950s and 1960s, clinching gold at the 1951 and 1962 Asian Games and securing a commendable fourth-place finish at the 1956 Summer Olympics. However, since that illustrious period, India’s performance on the continental stage has been lacklustre, with the team failing to progress past the group stage at the Asian Cup in 1984, 2011 and 2019. During their last campaign in 2019, the team raised fans’ expectations with a 4-1 win over Thailand in the opening game, but losses against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain meant India missed qualifying for the next round once again. Now under coach Igor Stimac, India faces a tricky campaign at the Asian Cup, where the men in blue are grouped with teams ranked above them: Australia, Syria and Uzbekistan. The team’s fearless approach under Stimac has impressed fans, but the coach sparked controversy in November when he said “I don’t consider the Asian Cup as such an important tournament”. Constantine, who took charge of India in 2002-05 and 2015-19, was surprised at Stimac’s remarks. “It’s the biggest tournament that India is going to play. What is more important than that?” Constantine said. Two sleeps away.. 🇮🇳#AsianCup2023 🏆 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/190vDWk52z — Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) January 11, 2024 ‘Damage limitation against Australia’ India’s 26-member squad for the Asian Cup is led by the country’s highest goal-scorer, Sunil Chhetri, and includes the same core group of players that Stimac has worked with since taking over. All squad members play for clubs in the Indian Super League (ISL), the country’s top division. Pradhyum Reddy, an Indian football coach, expects fans to have high hopes for Stimac’s side at the Asian Cup, but says the road to results will not be easy. India’s campaign opener is against Australia, which reached the round of 16 at the Qatar World Cup 2022 before being knocked out by eventual champions Argentina. “Australia are seasoned opponents who have got their core group playing in Europe,” Reddy told Al Jazeera. “But the difference is that under Stimac, India plays on the front foot, so players will try and press Australia and make life difficult for them – maybe even cause them a few problems, but I don’t think we will get any joy out of that game. “It should be about damage limitation against Australia. Don’t lose by more than what the others did,” added Reddy. Former India player Darren Caldeira believes his country’s best chance of earning points will be against 91st-ranked Syria, as Uzbekistan (ranked 68th) could present tougher challenges. “No one is talking too much about Uzbekistan, but they are a rising powerhouse in central Asia,” Caldeira told Al Jazeera. “They have some really good players, especially, Abdukodir Khusanov,” he added, referring to the 19-year-old Uzbek defender who plays for Ligue 1 club Lens in France. (Al Jazeera) The gulf is getting bigger In the lead-up to the Asian Cup, India won three tournaments in 2023, including the SAFF Championship in July, which featured eight teams from South Asia. Apart from Kyrgyzstan, all opponents that India faced across the three tournaments are ranked below it. This highlights India’s tendency to play against weaker-ranked opponents – a longstanding concern in Indian football. “We need to play more games against better-ranked nations,” said former midfielder Caldeira, who is now the director of football at top-tier Indian club Bengaluru FC. “Maybe there has been an apprehension in the past, fearing the result, but for us to improve we must take risks and challenge ourselves against quality opponents,” he added. Reddy, CEO of third-tier Indian club Dempo, said the team’s Asian Cup qualification and other achievements mask the issues plaguing the sport at home. “We’ve improved significantly in the last decade … But comparatively, I don’t think we’ve improved as much as other regional teams including Uzbekistan, Thailand and Vietnam,” Reddy said. “And certainly not as much as Japan or South Korea – the gulf has got bigger.” Japan is currently the top-ranked Asian side followed by Iran and South Korea in second and third respectively, while Australia and Saudi Arabia make up the top five. India is 18th on the list. Former India coach Constantine blamed India’s slow progress on a lack of player development. “When I came to India in 2002, I realised that there is talent but we weren’t looking for it in the right places. And when we did, we weren’t developing them. This is why India has not gone to the heights we imagined,” said Constantine, the current Pakistan coach. “At the moment, when you look at the big picture, we don’t dominate in the region. So, if you are not dominating in the region, how do you expect to dominate elsewhere?” (Al Jazeera) Poor quality of coaching at various levels, absence of a robust league and a lack of game time for players have hampered the progress of domestic football. Constantine, an UEFA Pro Licence holder and FIFA instructor, emphasised the impact of poor coaching on India’s
‘A country but not a country’: Taiwan prepares to vote in China’s shadow
Taipei, Taiwan – Taiwan’s more than 19 million eligible voters will cast their ballots on Saturday for the island’s next leaders and lawmakers amid domestic economic challenges and China’s continued threats against the self-ruled island. There are three candidates in the running for the top job: William Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s current vice president who represents the ruling Beijing-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP); New Taipei mayor Hou Yu-ih of the Beijing-friendly Kuomintang (KMT); and ex-Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je of the newer Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). Many in Taiwan face skyrocketing housing prices and stagnating wages, but beyond the economic issues that are key to elections everywhere, people on the island must also contend with a more existential question – that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants to take control of the island, by force if necessary. In the run-up to the polls, it has sent military aircraft and balloons around the island while its officials have urged voters to make the “right choice”. Brian Hioe, founding editor of Taiwan-focused magazine New Bloom, notes that while not the only factor, “the largest issue in Taiwanese presidential elections traditionally is the decision between independence and unification”. Protesters in Taiwan dress up to depict authoritarian China, which has tried to influence the outcome of Saturday’s election with military threats, diplomatic pressure, fake news and financial inducements [Ng Han Guan/AP Photo] Beijing insists Taiwan is part of China, but in recent years, the people of Taiwan, many of whom have grown up in one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies and known nothing else, have become increasingly assertive about their own sense of identity. According to National Chengchi University’s Election Study Center, 62.8 percent of people identified as Taiwanese as of June 2023, while 30.5 percent said they were both Taiwanese and Chinese, and only 2.5 percent identified as Chinese. ‘Our identity is being eradicated’ Aurora Chang, now 24, long questioned her identity and sense of belonging because “I knew that I was Taiwanese but also felt that I wasn’t solely just Taiwanese – but didn’t know what the other things were”. At the end of her first year as an undergraduate, however, she came to a decision. “Being Taiwanese was really a conscious choice that I made,” she told Al Jazeera, referring to her epiphany. “I wanted to connect more to my roots and to understand what it meant and to feel my connection with the land and my family and my history,” she said. “Our identity is actively being eradicated by a power much larger and much more international influence than us,” she added. According to Taiwan’s Central Election Commission, more than 30 percent of voters are aged between 20 and 39. Hioe, who is also a non-resident fellow at the University of Nottingham’s Taiwan studies programme, notes that “identity concerns are certainly part of what sets Taiwanese young people apart from other Asian youths – in that most youth do not face an existential threat to their national identity”. Chen Yi An, a 27-year-old medical worker from Taipei, is also proud to call herself Taiwanese. “Taiwan is the place I grew up, the land that raised me. I am Taiwanese,” she said, adding that the way she defines where is from “should not be controversial”. But not all young Taiwanese are so rooted in their sense of identity, and some do see themselves as Chinese. Ting-yi Zheng, a 27-year-old student from Tainan, Taiwan’s historical city, has lived in China for seven years and is currently studying for a doctoral degree in Beijing. China has increased political, military and economic pressure on Taiwan since Tsai Ing-wen was first elected president in 2016. She cannot run for a third term [Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP] He told Al Jazeera he had no plan to return home to vote. Last time around he backed KMT candidate Han Kuo-yu, but now he worries about the state of Taipei’s ties with Beijing and the effect on the island’s economy. China has raised political, economic and military pressure on Taiwan ever since Tsai Ing-wen was first elected president in 2016, despite her early offer of talks. Zheng says he does not want the island to go to war with Beijing. “I hope the two sides of the Taiwan Strait can be peacefully unified,” he told Al Jazeera, adding that both peoples needed to know each other more. Liz Li, now 27, says she learned at school that Taiwan was an “independent country” but says she came to have doubts after doing more of her own reading. “The older you get, the more news and history you see, and you will think to yourself: Are we really a country?” Li said, referring to the international community’s understanding of Taiwan’s state as “a country but not a country”. Whatever her thoughts on identity, however, it will not be what motivates her decision at the ballot box. Values to live by Li dreams of buying her own home on the island, but prices are so high she is thinking of working overseas – getting a job as a UX designer in Japan or the United States – so she can earn and save enough money to make it a reality. She thinks that as Taiwan grapples with economic issues such as affordable housing, it needs new ideas and an alternative to the two parties – the DPP and KMT – that have dominated politics since democratisation. Li plans to vote for the TPP’s Ko for the sake of “who will give us a better and more stable life.” Ko has attracted support from many similarly disillusioned young people who are attracted by his outsider status, and for whom economic issues are more of a concern than the rumbling from across the Taiwan Strait. “The thing about China is that it is an existing problem for us,” she said, explaining that she did not think it was an issue where ordinary people could have much impact, unlike the economy. Chiaoning Su, associate professor in the Department of Communication, Journalism and Public Relations
Fears simmer in Essequibo region as Venezuela eyes the disputed territory
Wakapoa, Guyana – The threat had always been there, ever since Lloyd Perreira was a young child: that one day his ancestral home could be absorbed into the neighbouring country of Venezuela. A member of the Lokono Indigenous people, Perreira considers his home Essequibo, a vast territory on the western flank of Guyana. He grew up in Wakapoa, a village composed of 16 islands on the Pomeroon River, nestled in the heart of the region. “Even as a small boy, I remember hearing Venezuela saying Essequibo is theirs,” Perreira said. “But I also know I live in Essequibo, and as an Indigenous person, Essequibo is ours.” Perreira is now the toshoa, or chief, of Wakapoa. But his childhood fears returned when Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro recently held a referendum to claim Essequibo as his country’s own. “We were very scared when we saw the referendum,” Perreira said, as he picked a harvest of rare liberica coffee beans. Lloyd Perreira, the toshao or chief of Wakapoa, stands in front of his harvest of liberica coffee beans [Nazima Raghubir/Al Jazeera] Though tensions have subsided since the December 3 referendum, the ongoing question of whether Essequibo could be annexed to Venezuela has sparked anxiety among those who call the territory home. Nearly two-thirds of what is considered Guyana lies in Essequibo, a 159,500-square-kilometre (62,000sq mile) area lush with jungles and farms. Along the Pomeroon River, coconuts are cultivated to make oil. Coffee shrubs blossom from riverbanks. And Indigenous groups like the Lokono harvest cassava for bread and cassareep, a syrup used to preserve food. But the discovery of large oil deposits off its shores in 2015 reignited a decades-long territorial dispute over Essequibo. Experts estimate that more than 11 billion barrels of oil and natural gas could sit within its territory. In recent months, Maduro has framed Venezuela’s claims on the land as a “historic battle against one of the most brutal dispossessions known in the country”. The referendum his administration put before voters consisted of five questions, asking them to reject 19th-century arbitration that awarded Essequibo to Guyana and instead support the creation of a Venezuelan state. That the referendum passed with 98 percent support fueled fears in Guyana that a Venezuelan takeover may be imminent. “Guyana has never been in any war,” taxi driver Eon Smith told Al Jazeera in the town of Charity, southeast of Wakapoa. “We are not prepared for war. What will we do?” Those concerns have also translated into lower attendance at Wakapoa’s local boarding school. Students who usually travelled for miles to attend instead stayed home in the lead-up to the referendum, their dormitory beds sitting empty. “We have one boy in the dormitory,” teacher Veneitia Smith said, pointing to a flat concrete dwelling. “Everyone else stayed away since we heard about the Venezuela referendum.” Guyana’s President Mohamed Irfaan Ali has sought to quell those fears, though. “Guyana will intensify precautionary measures to protect its territory,” Ali said in December. Guyana’s President Irfaan Ali has sought to reassure the public that his country’s territory is safe [Lucanus D Ollivierre/AP Photo] But since the referendum, Maduro has proceeded to declare Essequibo “a province” of Venezuela. He also directed Venezuela’s state-owned companies to “immediately” begin exploration for oil, gas and minerals in the region. Some Guyanese residents, however, have organised activities to protest the referendum. Those demonstrations ranged from prayer meetings to school performances of patriotic songs and chants. Indigenous leaders like Jean La Rose, the executive director of the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), also called on residents to stay in their villages — and resist any urge to leave preemptively. La Rose herself returned to her home in Santa Rosa, a village in the Moruca subregion of northwest Essequibo. In a message posted on social media, she urged Indigenous peoples “to remain in their homes and guard them” in case of annexation. “I want to encourage other people: Stay in your homes, that is what you own. Stay on your lands, that is what you own,” she said. “That is the patrimony of your forefathers, your ancestors. Stay, guard it.” A boy in Caracas drives a motorcycle past a mural depicting Essequibo as part of Venezuela, following a referendum over the disputed region [Matias Delacroix/AP Photo] Cross-border relations have remained taut, despite a December 14 agreement between Guyana and Venezuela “not to threaten or use force” to settle claims over Essequibo. Known as the Argyle Agreement, the deal included assurances from presidents Maduro and Ali to “remain committed to peaceful coexistence” and to resolve the dispute in accordance with international law. The International Court of Justice continues to weigh a 2018 case brought by Guyana over the territorial dispute. But despite talk of peace, the spectre of military tensions lingers. Late last month, the United Kingdom sent a warship to Guyana for joint training exercises, prompting Venezuela to respond with “defensive” exercises of its own. Maduro called the ship’s presence a provocation, saying it was “practically a military threat”. Guyana’s Foreign Minister Hugh Todd acknowledged in an interview with Al Jazeera that he has heard “concerns” over Venezuelan “aggression”. Still, Todd said, the threat is not so great that businesses are “not willing to invest” in Guyana. He pointed to the energy producer ExxonMobil, which announced in December that it would continue to offshore oil extraction despite the tensions. “They made it clear that Exxon is not going anywhere and they will continue to do their work here in Guyana,” Todd said. Wakapoa, a community composed of multiple islands, is part of the disputed territory of Essequibo [Nazima Raghubir/Al Jazeera] Essequibo’s oil production is one of the primary drivers behind Guyana’s economy. The World Bank has named Guyana one of the “fastest-growing economies” in the world, with double-digit growth of its gross domestic product (GDP) expected to continue in 2024. When asked about potential risks for oil companies from the tensions, Todd maintained that Guyana’s investments are “well protected”. “There is no reason to not want
What plans does Washington have for Gaza?
In yet another Middle East visit, the US secretary of state has been rallying support from regional players. The US secretary of state has wrapped up his latest visit to the Middle East, with Cairo as his final stop. It’s Antony Blinken’s fourth time in the region since Israel began its assault on Gaza more than three months ago. He says the conflict needs to end soon and he has called on regional leaders to help build a stable post-war order. But why isn’t the administration of US President Joe Biden first trying to reach a ceasefire? Presenter: Adrian Finighan Guests: Said Sadek – political sociologist at the Egypt-Japan University Chris Hedges – former Middle East bureau chief for the New York Times and a Pulitzer Prize winner and author Mouin Rabbani – co-editor of Jadaliyya, an online magazine of the Arab Studies Institute Adblock test (Why?)
Photos: Greek students protest government plan for private universities
Thousands of Greek students rallied in Athens and other cities on Thursday to protest against planned education reforms that would allow the introduction of private universities in the country. The conservative government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who won a second term last year, is expected to submit a bill to parliament this month that would permit private universities to operate inside Greece. The government has said the schools will operate as branches of foreign universities. Many believe the move will devalue degrees from Greece’s public universities and that the private system will exclude those who cannot afford it. The change will “tear apart the public university as we knew it”, said student Christina Iliopoulou, who joined the protest in Athens. “It will destroy our daily life in terms of how we will be able to find a job after we graduate.” The protests were largely peaceful, but there was a brief clash in Athens between protesters and police, who fired tear gas. Universities in Greece are government-funded institutions where attendance has been free for decades. But Greece has implemented a series of education reforms in the past despite fierce opposition from students and staff. The government, which enjoys a parliamentary majority, has argued that the reform would bolster the economy by luring back some of around 40,000 students now studying overseas and reverse a brain drain of academics prompted by the 2010-2018 debt crisis. The private universities’ curriculum would follow very strict academic standards, the government said last week, adding that the reform would also free public universities of bureaucracy and boost their self-governance. Adblock test (Why?)
Trump accuses New York attorney general of bias in court closing arguments
Trump’s remarks come on final day of a trial over allegations that he habitually exaggerated his wealth. Former US President Donald Trump has used closing arguments in his civil fraud trial to attack New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump had sought to deliver Thursday’s full closing arguments, but permission was denied when he failed to sign off on restrictions stopping him from using the courtroom as an electioneering platform. The former president is the current frontrunner for the Republican nomination to go against the current president, Joe Biden, in the November election. Judge Arthur Engoron, who is ruling on what penalties to impose on Trump after an earlier decision that he and his company had manipulated property values fraudulently, allowed Trump to make brief additional comments after his lawyer had spoken. Trump quickly took the chance to attack the New York state attorney general, saying, “They want to make sure I never win again. The [attorney general] hates Trump … and if I can’t talk about that it’s a disservice.” Former US President Donald Trump attends the closing arguments in the Trump Organisation civil fraud trial at New York State Supreme Court in the Manhattan borough of New York City [Shannon Stapleton/Reuters] James brought the case and is looking for a nearly $370m ruling and a lifetime ban on Trump from the state’s real estate industry. “We have a situation where I am an innocent man,” Trump said, adding, “I’m being persecuted by someone running for office and I think you have to go outside the bounds.” But Engoron attempted to interrupt Trump with a warning to wrap up his comments, to which the former president responded, “You have your own agenda, you can’t listen for more than one minute”. The judge told Trump’s lawyer, Christopher Kise, to “control your client” in response to Trump’s statement. The trial is one of multiple criminal and civil cases Trump faces as he seeks to return to the White House, ranging from a rape allegation to conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. On the final day of the trial, Engoron was sceptical of Kise’s argument that Trump should not be penalised for allegedly manipulating the value of his properties because lenders and insurance still turned a profit. Engoron said there does not have to be any “evidence of harm”. Throughout the trial, the state’s lawyers have looked to prove that Trump consistently overvalued many of the towers, golf clubs, and other assets that he had before he entered politics. In November last year, Trump admitted to providing inaccurate property valuations. “The myriad deceptive schemes they employed to inflate asset values and conceal facts were so outrageous that they belie innocent explanation,” James’s office said in a filing. In one example heard at the court, James’s team argued that Trump valued his Mar-a-Lago Florida club by “asking prices” rather than actual sales prices. “From 2011-2015 defendants added a 30 percent premium because the property was a ‘completed [commercial] facility,’” the filing said. But Trump’s lawyer, Kise, argued that while there could be errors in Trump’s corporate financial statements, they do not “lead to the conclusion there was fraud”. Trump is also scheduled to go on trial in Washington in March for conspiring to overturn the 2020 elections and in May for taking troves of highly classified documents in his belongings after he left the presidency. Adblock test (Why?)
South Africa presents case to the ICJ accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza
NewsFeed South Africa presented their case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing Israel of committing genocide against the people of Gaza. Published On 11 Jan 202411 Jan 2024 Adblock test (Why?)
Gaza daily deaths exceed all other major conflicts in 21st century: Oxfam
The killing of civilians in Gaza is at a scale unprecedented in recent history, monitoring groups have said, as Israel continues to pound the besieged coastal enclave more than three months into the war. Britain-based charity Oxfam said on Thursday that the daily death toll of Palestinians in Israel’s war on Gaza surpasses that of any other major conflict in the 21st century, while survivors remain at high risk due to hunger, diseases and cold, as well as ongoing Israeli bombardments. “Israel’s military is killing Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day, which massively exceeds the daily death toll of any other major conflict of recent years,” Oxfam said in a statement. For comparison, the charity provided a list of average deaths per day in other conflicts since the turn of the century: 96.5 in Syria, 51.6 in Sudan, 50.8 in Iraq, 43.9 in Ukraine, 23.8 in Afghanistan, and 15.8 in Yemen. Oxfam said the crisis is further compounded by Israel’s restrictions on the entry of aid into Gaza, where only 10 percent of weekly food aid that is needed gets in. This poses a serious risk of starvation for those who survive the relentless bombardment, it said. Also on Thursday, United States-based rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its World Report 2024, which said civilians in Gaza have been “targeted, attacked, abused, and killed over the past year at a scale unprecedented in the recent history of Israel and Palestine”. ‘War crimes’ At least 23,469 Palestinians have been killed and 59,604 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since October 7, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. In the most recent 24-hour reporting period, Israeli forces carried out 10 mass killings in the Gaza Strip, causing 112 deaths and 194 injuries, the ministry added. About 7,000 people remain missing under the rubble and are presumed dead. “The heinous crimes carried out by Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups since October 7 are the abhorrent legacy of decades-long impunity for unlawful attacks and Israel’s systematic repression of Palestinians,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at HRW. “How many more civilians must suffer or be killed as a result of war crimes before countries supplying weapons pull the plug and otherwise take action to end these atrocities?” he asked. This comes as South Africa on Thursday presented its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing the country of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza, a charge that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected as “hypocrisy and lies”. In its report, HRW noted that Israel’s war on Gaza has included “acts of collective punishment that amount to war crimes and include the use of starvation as a method of warfare”, including cutting off essential services such as water and electricity and blocking the entry of most critical humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, HRW said during the first eight months of 2023, incidents of settler violence against Palestinians and their property reached the highest daily average since the United Nations started recording this data in 2006. At least 3,291 Palestinians were held in administrative detention without charge or trial, according to Israel Prison Service figures. “Israeli authorities’ repression of Palestinians, undertaken as part of a policy to maintain the domination of Jewish Israelis over Palestinians, amount to the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution,” HRW said. ‘Gaza is different from space’ Experts in mapping damage during wartime have also found that the war in Gaza now sits among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history. According to an analysis of Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite data by the CUNY Graduate Center and Oregon State University, the war has killed more civilians than the US-led coalition did in its three-year campaign against ISIL (ISIS). The offensive has wreaked more destruction than the razing of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II, researchers found, according to a report by The Associated Press. Israel’s offensive has likely either damaged or destroyed more than two-thirds of all structures in northern Gaza and a quarter of buildings in the southern area of Khan Younis, according to satellite data collected by the research group. That includes tens of thousands of homes as well as schools, hospitals, mosques and stores. UN monitors have said that about 70 percent of school buildings across Gaza have been damaged. “Gaza is now a different colour from space. It’s a different texture,” said Corey Scher of the CUNY Graduate Center, who has worked to map destruction across several war zones. Adblock test (Why?)
IMF unlocks $4.7bn for Argentina amid economic crisis, Milei austerity cuts
Inflation has crossed 160 percent in Latin America’s third-biggest economy, with 40 percent of population living in poverty. Argentina and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have finalised an agreement to release $4.7bn as part of a debt restructuring plan for the troubled South American nation. Latin America’s third-biggest economy is facing dire economic challenges after decades of debt and financial mismanagement, with inflation surpassing 160 percent year-on-year and 40 percent of Argentinians living in poverty. “Understandings were reached on a strengthened set of policies to restore macroeconomic stability and bring the current program back on track,” the IMF said in a statement on Wednesday. With this deal, Argentina’s new President Javier Milei, who took power in December and inherited a deep social, economic and financial crisis, puts back on track a $44bn bailout package with the IMF that dates back to 2018. “The new administration is already implementing an ambitious stabilization plan, anchored on a large upfront fiscal consolidation, along with actions to rebuild reserves, correct relative price misalignments, strengthen the central bank’s balance sheet, and create a simpler, rules-based, and market-oriented economy,” the IMF said. The agreement is to be approved by the global lender’s executive board “in the coming weeks”, it said. The previous administration of President Alberto Fernandez renegotiated the loan, but the COVID-19-induced recession and a severe drought this year created challenges for Argentina to meet the targets agreed to with the IMF. Economy Minister Luis Caputo, commenting on the deal, clarified that it was not a new agreement, emphasising that the IMF had expressed willingness to explore a new debt programme and additional funding. Libertarian Milei has taken several steps to cut public spending and overhaul the economy. He recently presented a legislative package to Congress, seeking to privatise more than 40 public companies and impose restrictions on the right to assembly and demonstration. In December, the government said it would slash the value of its currency, the peso, by more than 50 percent against the US dollar and announced a raft of other austerity measures, including sweeping subsidy cuts, cancellation of tenders for public works projects, and plans to axe nine government ministries. While the planned measures drew praise from the IMF, they sparked harsh criticism from some progressive activists. A self-described “anarcho-capitalist”, Milei has argued that harsh austerity is needed to put Argentina back on the path to prosperity and that there is no time for a gradualist approach. Adblock test (Why?)
Sudan should avoid the mistakes that kept Angola in conflict for 27 years
When General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the leader of Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and former deputy chairman of the Transitional Sovereignty Council of Sudan, landed in Gauteng, South Africa on January 4 for talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa, he looked civil and dapper in a navy blue suit. His calm, confident and businesslike demeanour implied he was on a mission to rescue Sudan from the violent excesses of his obstinate adversaries in the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. Thus, as Dagalo, known widely as “Hemedti”, posed for pictures with a smiling Ramaphosa, he did not look like a rogue military commander who is alleged to have overseen horrendous war crimes – torture, extrajudicial killings and mass rape among others – in Darfur in 2014 and 2015. Standing proudly next to the president of Africa’s second wealthiest nation, acting like a dignified and magnanimous statesman, he did not look like a vicious, power-hungry military operative who had just nine months ago launched a devastating civil conflict that already killed 12,000 people and displaced over seven million others. Hemedti’s recent rebranding as a mainstream political leader and a rightful representative of the Sudanese people – achieved through well-advertised performances of camaraderie not only by Ramaphosa but also the leaders of Uganda, Kenya, and Rwanda among others – is of course nothing but a charade. Since the beginning of Sudan’s latest civil war, Amnesty International says, fighters from both Hemedti’s RSF and al-Burhan’s SAF have committed egregious human rights violations and war crimes including deliberate attacks on civilians, attacks on civilian infrastructure like churches and hospitals, mass rape and other sexual violence. The RSF has also been accused of driving the Masalit people out of Sudan’s volatile West Darfur region through an ethnically targeted campaign of violence, sparking fears of a new genocide in the region. At best, Hemedti, who has acquired a dubious fortune by seizing gold mines and selling gold, is a political reincarnation of his former boss, ousted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled with an iron fist, rigged general elections, stifled dissent through systemic violence, and only paid lip service to constitutional freedoms for 30 years. At worst, he is a rebel without a cause, palpable ideology, or moral compass who appears determined to exploit the Sudanese people’s genuine struggle for democratic change for his own political ends. After he met with Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni on December 27, Hemedti said unnamed figures from al-Bashir’s old regime and the “misguided leadership of the Sudanese Armed Forces” seek to impede the peace process and prolong the war. And he claimed he was engaged in a military effort to “rebuild the Sudanese state based on new, just foundations”. Then, on January 2-3, Hemedti held talks with the leader of the Coordination of Civilian Democratic Forces (Taqaddum), Sudan’s former Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. These discussions concluded with the two leaders signing the Addis Ababa Declaration, supposedly a comprehensive blueprint for peace talks and civilian rule. However, Malik Agar, the deputy chairman of Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council, dismissed the plan as “an agreement between partners, as Taqaddum and the RSF are essentially one body with two faces”, adding “there is nothing new or groundbreaking here”. That Hemedti appears to have developed a newfound appetite for civilian rule at a time when the RSF has been scoring significant military victories against its rivals, including the capture of Wad Madani, the country’s second city, comes as no surprise. All along, Hemedti’s goal has been to defeat his adversaries militarily and use these victories to proclaim himself as the legitimate leader of his country. Like many other former rebels who have needlessly pushed their people into armed conflict while pretending to be working for peace, because continuous fighting helped them obtain or maintain political power, Hemedti shows newfound but questionable commitment to advance an unimpeded constitutional order and avoid a return to war sometime in the future. As a rebel leader whose primary motivation for fighting appears to be accumulating personal power rather than improving the living conditions of his people, Hemedti is more similar to Jonas Savimbi, the founder of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), than any other political figure in Africa. Following a power struggle that broke out soon after Angola gained independence from Portugal in November 1975, Savimbi waged a 27-year intermittent civil war against the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). The cold-war conflict, in which Russia supported the MPLA and the US, alongside apartheid South Africa, backed UNITA, killed one million people and made four million others homeless. For 27 years, Savimbi foiled several peace initiatives from the United Nations and the Organisation for African Unity – the predecessor to the African Union (AU). Despite the leading role he played in the continuation of the devastating conflict, however, he was accepted as a legitimate political player who should have a say over the country’s future. He was treated as a mainstream political figure, and even an anti-colonial hero, by many African leaders and was also hosted by then US President Ronald Reagan at the White House in 1986. In November 1994, amid growing pressure from both the UN and AU, UNITA finally signed the Lusaka Protocol, which called for a permanent ceasefire, demobilisation of UNITA’s troops, and the integration of UNITA’s military and political wings into government departments. The protocol, however, was never fully implemented, largely due to Savimbi’s desire to continue the conflict that was the primary source of his power and political relevance. With MPLA similarly not interested in ending the conflict, for four long years the two parties continued to purchase arms and provoke each other while supposedly negotiating for a permanent end to hostilities. Ultimately, in 1998, UNITA’s refusal to demobilise its soldiers and submit UNITA-controlled areas to a civilian authority led to the complete breakdown of the Lusaka Protocol. After the demise of Lusaka, UNITA and the MPLA continued to