LAGOS, Nigeria: After more than a year in office, President Donald Trump for the first time is hosting an African president at the White House. The meeting with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday comes after an uncomfortable start to the Trump administration’s approach to the world’s second most populous continent.
Security and economic issues top the agenda for the bilateral meeting and working lunch. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with almost 200 million people, is the largest economy on the continent and the leading crude oil exporter. Buhari was one of the first two African leaders Trump called after he took power, along with South Africa’s president.
Nigeria is also one of Africa’s most troubled when it comes to extremism. Extremist group Boko Haram launched a violent insurgency in the northeast nine years ago with the aim of creating an Islamic state, and tens of thousands of people have been killed. Mass abductions of schoolgirls brought Boko Haram international notoriety and one faction has declared allegiance to the Daesh group.
Boko Haram is now active in neighboring Cameroon, Niger and Chad and poses one of the most severe security threats to West Africa’s vast Sahel region.
With Nigeria nowhere close to fully defeating Boko Haram despite government claims of having “crushed” the extremists, Buhari is expected to seek further US military assistance. Already the Trump administration has made a $600 million deal to supply military planes and security equipment, one that was stalled under the Obama administration because of allegations that Nigeria’s military has been involved in human rights including rape and extrajudicial killings.
“Absent clear evidence of a systematically abusive regime, moral preening is of little utility in dealing with situations like this,” J. Peter Pham, director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center, said in a blog post on Thursday, saying Buhari’s administration has taken a “much more decisive approach” to Boko Haram.
Buhari, facing elections early next year, is under pressure to deliver on promises to defeat Boko Haram that helped him win office in 2015 in a rare democratic transfer of power in Nigeria.
In addition to seeking greater security collaboration, Buhari and Trump also will “discuss ways to enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries and to advance shared priorities, such as promoting economic growth,” the Nigerian presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, said in a statement.
Nigerian newspapers report that a team of government officials that traveled to the US ahead of Buhari have signed an agreement to provide four companies led by General Electric the opportunity to invest an estimated $2 billion to modernize key railways between Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos, and the northern city of Kano and between Port Harcourt in the oil-rich Niger Delta and the northern city of Maiduguri — the birthplace of Boko Haram.
China, the top investor in Nigeria, already is deep into similar infrastructure work in the country.
Officials in Buhari’s delegation also will try to strike a deal with US aircraft manufacturer Boeing for a new state-owned airline project that Nigeria’s junior aviation minister, Hadi Sirika, has said will be the largest in Africa.
Nigerian officials are also expected to explore financing arrangements with the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation.
While Nigeria seeks closer military and security ties with the US, it can’t overlook the difficult moments since Trump came to power — not least Trump’s firing of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson just hours after Tillerson came to Nigeria on the highest-level US visit to Africa since Trump took office.
In December, Nigeria and several other African countries that are traditionally friendly with the US at the UN General Assembly voted to condemn Trump’s controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
In January, Nigeria was one of a number of outraged African countries to summon the US ambassador to explain Trump’s reported vulgar remarks likening the continent to a filthy toilet.
The US president already had caused anger in Nigeria in June when he reportedly said Nigerians wouldn’t want to return to their “huts” if allowed to visit the US
Such utterances have left Trump with a low rating among many Nigerians, though some in the country with a sometimes tense Muslim-Christian divide have said they support the US president’s wary stance on Muslim immigrants, notably his administration’s travel ban.
The stricter immigration policies, however, also make it more difficult for many Nigerians to travel to the US, doing nothing to give Trump a positive perception in a country where many youths want to escape economic hardship at home.
In light of the Trump administration’s perceived neglect of Africa, with key posts including assistant secretary of state for Africa and several ambassadorships remaining unfilled, “the administration may see the Buhari visit as an opportunity to make some amends, though they are unlikely to say as much,” a former US ambassador to Nigeria, John Campbell, wrote Friday for the Council on Foreign Relations.
Trump finally hosts African leader at the White House
Trump finally hosts African leader at the White House
Sri Lanka monsoon floods kill 14, schools shut
- Sri Lanka faces more frequent floods as the world heats due to climate change
Some drowned, including three members of the same family swept away near the capital Colombo on Sunday.
Others were buried alive in mudslides, including an 11-year-old girl and a 20-year-old man, the Disaster Management Center (DMC) said.
Nine other people were crushed and killed when trees fell on them in seven districts since the monsoon intensified on May 21, the DMC said.
While Sri Lanka depends on the seasonal monsoon rain for irrigation as well as hydroelectricity, experts have warned that it faces more frequent floods as the world heats due to climate change.
The DMC said 20 out of the country’s 25 districts were affected by heavy rain and issued warnings to people living on the banks of main rivers to move to higher ground.
Flights arriving at Colombo’s main international airport were diverted to a smaller airport, and some key highways were flooded at several exits.
The government also ordered all schools to remain shut on Monday after the weekend holiday, as more rain was forecast.
“There could be more heavy rains accompanied by strong winds and thunder,” the DMC said.
Last week, wildlife authorities found seven carcasses of young elephants who drowned in the biggest single loss of the animals in five years.
The onset of the southwest monsoon triggered flooding in the elephant habitat in Dimbulagala, around 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Colombo.
French far right has big lead over Macron ally ahead of EU vote: poll
PARIS: France’s far-right National Rally (RN) party holds a commanding lead in voting intentions for upcoming European Parliament elections, according to an opinion poll published on Sunday.
Voting intentions remained “very volatile,” however, said the Elabe institute, which conducted the polls for broadcaster BFMTV and weekly La Tribune Dimanche.
“One in three voters could still change their minds before the election, especially on the left.”
The poll was conducted among 1,803 people between May 29 and 31.
The extreme-right RN’s top candidate, Jordan Bardella, is credited with 32.5 percent of voting intentions in the poll,
Valerie Hayer, an ally of center-right President Emmanuel Macron, came second with 16 percent, followed by center-left Socialist candidate Raphael Glucksmann with 13.
While the standing of the main candidates was broadly unchanged from a similar poll a week ago, left-wing parties France Unbowed, the Greens and Communists made slight gains.
The right-wing opposition Les Republicains and the extreme-right Reconquete were, meanwhile, below the five percent threshold needed for representation in the European Parliament.
In France, the European Parliament elections are primarily seen as a key gauge of national politicians’ popularity.
Bardella was later on Sunday to hold a final election rally in Paris.
Around 5,500 supporters and RN party heavyweight Marine Le Pen were expected to attend.
Opinion polls show far-right parties making gains in several European Union countries in the elections on June 6-9.
Businesswoman set to become Iceland’s next president
- Halla Tomasdottir was officially credited with 34.6% of votes, after 71.6% of ballot papers had been counted
- Iceland’s president holds a largely ceremonial position in the parliamentary republic
REYKJAVIK: Businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir was set on Sunday to become Iceland’s new president, election results showed, beating former prime minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, who critics said was too political for the post.
Jakobsdottir conceded defeat early on Sunday and congratulated Tomasdottir, the CEO of The B Team, a global non-profit co-founded by UK business tycoon Richard Branson to promote business practices focused on humanity and the climate.
Iceland’s president holds a largely ceremonial position in the parliamentary republic, acting as a guarantor of the constitution and national unity.
He or she does however have the power to veto legislation or submit it to a referendum.
Tomasdottir, 55, was officially credited with 34.6 percent of votes, after 71.6 percent of ballot papers had been counted on Sunday.
The 48-year-old Jakobsdottir, who stepped down as prime minister of a left-right government in April to run in Saturday’s election, garnered 25 percent.
The results showed Tomasdottir with much stronger support than opinion polls had suggested in the run-up to the election, where the two candidates had been seen running neck-and-neck.
The final results were likely to change somewhat but Jakobsdottir conceded defeat in the early hours of Sunday before the last votes were in.
“It seems to me that Halla Tomasdottir is quickly heading toward becoming the next president of Iceland.
“I congratulate her on that and know that she will be a good president,” Jakobsdottir told national broadcaster RUV at an election night rally.
Tomasdottir meanwhile told daily Morgunbladid during her election rally she was “just trying to breathe.”
“I feel incredibly good. I know it’s not over until it’s over. So I’m also just trying to stay calm and breathe,” she said.
Tomasdottir is also the founder of Audur Capital, an investment firm created in 2007 aimed at promoting feminine values in the financial sector.
No one central issue dominated the campaign, where candidates traditionally run as independents without party affiliations.
In the country of 380,000 people, any citizen gathering 1,500 signatures can run for office.
While Jakobsdottir was at times seen as the favorite, political observers had suggested that her background as prime minister could weigh against her.
Among the other main candidates in the field of 13 were a political science professor, a comedian, and an Arctic and energy scholar.
Tomasdottir is set to be the second woman to serve as Iceland’s president.
In 1980, Vigdis Finnbogadottir became the world’s first woman democratically elected as head of state.
The businesswoman is set to succeed the hugely popular Gudni Johannesson, who has held the job since 2016.
He announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election.
Jakobsdottir, party leader for the Left Green Movement from 2013 until her presidential bid, has been hailed for her handling of the resurgence in volcanic eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula since December.
The five eruptions, including one last week, have sparked a series of evacuations as well as the state’s acquisition of homes from residents evacuated from the threatened fishing town of Grindavik.
Rescue crews work to free people trapped under a collapsed apartment building in Istanbul
ISTANBUL: Emergency workers were trying to rescue people trapped under a collapsed apartment building in Istanbul on Sunday.
TV images showed firefighters shifting rubble by hand from the flattened three-story building in Kucukcekmece on the city’s European side. Two injured people were pulled from the debris, broadcaster CNN Turk reported.
The Istanbul governor’s office said the structure collapsed at 8:40 a.m. local time (0545 GMT). The cause was not immediately clear.
More than 59,000 people were killed last year when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck parts of southern Turkiye and neighboring Syria. The disaster highlighted the poor enforcement of building regulations in Turkiye.
Heatstroke killed 33 Indian polling staff on last voting day— state election chief
- Security guards, sanitation staff included among 33 Indian polling staff who died from heat
- Indian PM Modi expected to win third successive landslide election after results are announced
Lucknow, INDIA: At least 33 Indian polling staff died on the last day of voting from heatstroke in just one state, a top election official said Sunday, after scorching temperatures gripped swathes of the country.
While there have been reports of multiple deaths from the intense heatwave — with temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in many places — the dozens of staff dying in one day marks an especially grim toll.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said temperatures at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh reached 46.9 degrees Celsius (116 Fahrenheit).
Navdeep Rinwa, chief electoral officer for the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where voting in the seventh and final stage of elections ended Saturday, said 33 polling personnel died due to the heat.
The figure included security guards and sanitation staff.
“A monetary compensation of 1.5 million rupees ($18,000) will be provided to the families of the deceased,” Rinwa told reporters.
Experts say that when a person is dehydrated, extreme heat exposure thickens their blood and causes organs to shut down.
Rinwa reported a separate incident in which a man queueing to vote in the city of Ballia lost consciousness while waiting in line.
“The voter was transported to a health facility, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival,” Rinwa said.
India is no stranger to searing summer temperatures.
But years of scientific research have found climate change is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.
Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks set to win a third straight landslide election victory after voting ended on Saturday.
Exit polls showed he was well on track to triumph and Modi himself was certain he had prevailed.
The results will be formally announced on Tuesday.
