JUBA — Prominent civil society activist Edmund Yakani has warned that delay of army’s salaries for several months may be a source of insecurity for individuals and communities.

This comes after a soldier belonging to South Sudan People’s Defense Force (SSPDF) committed suicide in the capital Juba over alleged delay of salaries which had affected family commitments.

In a statement, Yakani urged the presidency to address the salary issue of the army, warning that its delay is one of the issues that may cause insecurity in the country.

“CEPO seriously urges the national government to take care of our soldiers welfare now before it become a factor of insecurity for individuals and communities,” Yakani said in the statement extended to Sudans Post.

Yakani who is the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) said the government needs to take urgent measures to address issues of army’s salaries given the inflation which has affected livelihoods of less paid citizens.

“The presidency should take urgent act on improving payment of our soldiers for them to meet their responsibilities of safeguarding their duty of adherence to adequate standard of living,” he said.

“Political leaders at national and state levels have access to good amount of cash for earning their cost of living meanwhile our soldiers and civil servants are delayed to access their soldiers regularly. This is a trend that triggered the insecurity across the country and commitment of suicidal acts by service members,” he added.

He further urged “the president to take action on finding concrete solution on the issue of the soldiers salaries in terms of adequacy and timely payment.” - Sudans Post

Uganda’s Opposition leader Kizza Besigye has warned Kenyans against lowering their guard in their quest for democracy.  Besigye is attending a conference on Uganda's state of democracy in Nairobi. 

Speaking on Spice FM this morning, Besigye said while Kenya had made significant steps in the realisation of democratic governance, the gains could be reversed if citizens allowed negative political trends to thrive.

"We are keeping a close eye on you because you [Kenyans] are leading the democratic process, and any reversal will harm those who were looking to the country for inspiration," he said. 
He expressed concern about Fafi MP Salah Yakub's proposal to repeal the presidential two-term limit and replace it with an age limit of up to 75 years for those running for the seat.
"You are on very slippery ground; the steps that Kenya has made have been achieved through struggle. But you relax a little, they will be reversed because the achievements have not been consolidated... you brink and the gains are gone," he said.

Besigye urged civil society organizations to stand firm and oppose such regressive proposals.

"Civil society has a huge role to play in continuing to broaden citizens' competencies to identify danger signals and push back against negative trends that will creep up in society," he said.

"If you can't influence what happens in your country, you'll end up in the kind of trouble that Uganda is in," he said. 

His sentiments come a day after President William Ruto dismissed any plot to amend the Constitution to extend his term limit.

The President warned the Kenya Kwanza legislators from diverging their attention from service delivery.

President Ruto said he was not interested in extending his term, asking lawmakers allied to him to instead focus on amending laws that will benefit Kenyans.

“Do not spend your time pushing for selfish and self-serving legislation, like changing the Constitution to remove term limits. My focus is service to the people,” Ruto said.

According to Besigye, Uganda has one of the worst records of human rights violations and has disregarded the rule of law under President Yoweri Museveni. 

The country celebrated 60 years of independence on Sunday 9 October.

“All these years no leader has ever handed over power peacefully. Similarly, of course, whoever has occupied the highest office in the country has bombed his way into office, which precisely means the people of Uganda do not have the capacity to raise one of them to leadership or to say stop... In other words, the population has no voice in deciding their leaders,” he said. 

“Every human being aspires to have freedom. It is an intrinsic need for humans to have justice and be treated fairly. The people of Uganda believe in a political dispensation that will accord that kind of governance,” he said. 

In an exclusive interview with NTV on November 16, Besigye said that Museveni was perceived to be the most enlightened but turned out to be the worst in human rights violations.

“The abuses since 1986, when the government was supposed to be more enlightened took over, have been more. Ugandans have seen far greater injustices and violence under Museveni’s rule. Probably because he’s been here longer,” Besigye said.  By David Njaaga, The Standard

Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, it has only become less likely that the world will meet that pact’s goals. Emissions must now be halved by the end of this decade to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

Making finance flows and services consistent with this pathway is essential not only for the planet, but for the financial sector itself. Munich Re, the world’s largest reinsurance company, adopted a new policy last month excluding oil insurance and reinsurance.

It’s not a single actor: As of October, 41 insurers  — including industry heavyweights such as Allianz, Munich Re and Swiss Re — representing 39% of the market for primary insurance and 62% for reinsurance had withdrawn or reduced cover for coal. For oil and gas, those figures now stand at 38% of reinsurance and 15% of primary insurance markets. Coal companies now face soaring premiums of up to 40%, reduced coverage and longer searches to access insurance. 

Yet insurance and reinsurance companies need to move faster. Lloyd’s of London, for instance, announced in 2020 that it would stop insuring fossil fuel projects by 2030 (pdf). But last year, it issued guidance suggesting this policy was optional for agents (pdf). According to global campaign group Insure Our Future many other insurers continue to insure new oil and gas projects in defiance of climate science and evidence.

As Russia’s war on Ukraine continues, the fossil fuel industry sees an opportunity to set up new infrastructure around the world. Governments that are desperate for revenue are falling for the promise of quick returns and opening their doors to these companies.

But insurance companies must stay wary — backing investments in oil and gas will only become more perilous. 

‘The worst place in the world to drill for oil’

One of the riskiest investments on offer today is in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In July it auctioned the exploration rights for 30 oil and gas blocks in an area of about 277,000 sq km (106,950 sq miles) – larger than the size of the United Kingdom.

Some of the blocks overlap with protected areas, including Virunga National Park, a World Heritage Site that’s threatened by armed conflicts and now by the prospects of drilling. It is home to the Batwa and other local communities facing violence and discrimination, as well as 3,000 species of animals, including the critically endangered eastern gorilla.

Other blocks are in the peatlands of the Cuvette Centrale, which serve as a sink that stores about 30 gigatons of carbon, equivalent to three years of global emissions from fossil fuels.

Simon Lewis, a professor at Leeds University and head of a British-Congolese research group called CongoPeat, has called the DRC blocks “the worst place in the world to drill for oil”. Lewis has warned there may not be substantial oil deposits beneath the Congo forests and if there are, getting them from extremely remote areas to global markets may not be economically viable. Yet even if exploration reveals no commercial-scale oil fields, it will seriously damage the rainforest’s biodiversity.

Oil Colonialism in Africa 

Beyond the Congo too, Russia’s war in Ukraine and rising energy prices has been one of the triggers for a new scramble for fossil fuels across Africa — from Senegal through Namibia to Uganda.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has said that the world needs a complete bar on all new fossil fuel investments in order to get to net-zero emissions by 2050, a minimum goal laid out by the IPCC, the United Nations panel of experts on climate change.

That prescription is particularly important for Africa, where oil production often has higher carbon intensity than elsewhere (pdf) — the equivalent of about 40% more carbon dioxide per barrel.

Climate inequality 

Historical injustice means communities in Africa and the broader Global South are often among the most vulnerable to impacts of climate change caused by emissions of richer countries and polluting corporations. In October, Nigeria reported almost 800,000 displaced and 500 dead from floods, while Pakistan is still dealing with the aftermath of devastating floods that drowned a third of the country. In Somalia one million people have been displaced due to a drought following a two-year historic dry spell. And the list goes on.

The new scramble for fossil fuels has devastating implications for human rights as well. Exploration and drilling rights are being granted in ways that sacrifice natural ecosystems that have been serving local and Indigenous communities for centuries. In the Congo, communities were not even informed before their land was auctioned. 

 Divest from fossil fuels

Insurance companies have enormous power to force change. Without insurance, most new fossil fuel projects cannot proceed and existing ones must close. As the Insure Our Future coalition — which ranks the world’s top insurers on the basis of their fossil fuel exclusion policies — has demanded, it is vital to end insurance for new oil, gas and coal projects. It is also critical to phase out support for existing projects and for insurers to divest all assets from coal, oil and gas companies that are not aligned with a pathway that limits the planet’s temperature increase to 1.5 C.

Finally, insurers must maintain robust due diligence and verification mechanisms to ensure clients fully respect and observe all human rights. 

That’s essential for the world but also a sensible business strategy for insurers: Projects in the Congo and other such vulnerable ecosystems likely represent the worst deals in the world to insure. They’re best avoided — for everyone.

Irene Wabiwa Betoko is the International Project Leader for the Congo Basin forest, Greenpeace Africa; Kuba Gogolewski is the Lead Campaigner, European Money for Change, Greenpeace. By GIrene Wabiwa Betoko & Kuba Gogolewski, Green Peace