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Malaysia Sun
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Malaysia Sun
Roundup: UN-Habitat Assembly ends with adoption of strategic plan to tackle housing crisis
NAIROBI, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The resumed second session of the United Nations Habitat Assembly concluded late Friday in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, with the adoption of a bold strategic plan aimed at tackling the global housing crisis. More than 1,300 delegates, including ministers, city mayors, urban planners, innovators, donors, campaigners, and entrepreneurs, attended the premier event that ran from Thursday to Friday. Held every four years, the assembly is the world's highest decision-making body on sustainable urbanization and human settlement, composed of 193 UN member states. Kenyan President William Ruto hailed the consensus-based adoption of the United Nations Human Settlements Program's (UN-Habitat) Strategic Plan 2026-2029, saying it will guide the establishment of climate-smart and inclusive cities in the future. "The adoption of this strategic plan reaffirms our commitment to urban renewal through equitable and adequate access to housing," Ruto said, urging UN member states to establish global champions for affordable housing. Besides adopting the strategic plan for tackling the global housing crisis, the two-day meeting elected a new presidency of the assembly to be shared by Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2025 to 2029 alongside 36 members of the Executive Board of the UN-Habitat. During the assembly, it was also announced that the 13th session of the World Urban Forum will be held in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on May 17-22, 2026, under the theme "Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities." The UN-Habitat's strategic plan seeks to boost access to housing, land, and basic services, such as clean drinking water and sanitation, aligning with the global quest for converting cities into hubs for green innovation, prosperity, and resilience. Anaclaudia Rossbach, executive director of the UN-Habitat, said the plan is rooted in the bold vision of transforming cities through upgrading informal settlements, improving land governance, accelerating climate action, and eradicating poverty. Rossbach stressed that political goodwill, innovative financing, partnerships, and targeted use of technology will be key to hastening the implementation of the strategic plan, ensuring that urbanization is both resilient and sustainable. Alice Wahome, Kenya's cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing and Urban Development, who read Ruto's speech, said the strategy presents a solid blueprint for realizing urban renewal through increased access to decent shelter, safe drinking water, sanitation, and waste management. In addition, the plan will boost post-recovery efforts in cities reeling from conflicts, poverty, inequalities, and fragilities linked to the climate crisis, Wahome said.
Hindustan Times
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Decolonising minds, reimagining literature
Every year, a ritual precedes the announcement of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Several names of possible winners dominate discussions on the web. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o invariably featured in these conversations, but never won. Let us not equate awards with literary greatness, though. At the same time, it must also be acknowledged that the lack of the award did not prevent us from reading Thiong'o. We gravitated to the author and his ideas for his radical politics and theorisation on the use of language especially in post-colonial nations such as his own Kenya and India in our case. Ideas can travel without the patronage and fanfare of big awards. Thiong'o and the enduring popularity of his seminal text, Decolonising the Mind, is a case in point. Thiong'o spoke about decolonisation before it became a symposia favourite across university departments. He was a torchbearer in every sense. Much like Frantz Fanon, his intellectual mentor in some ways. Thiong'o was a lifelong advocate for an exploration of our own languages, stories, writers and a steadfast critic of Eurocentrism and linguistic imperialism. For those who may not know, he even shed his birth name James and chose Ngũgĩ in his native Gikuyu — Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o meaning Ngũgĩ, son of Thiong'o. He has written extensively and expansively about the country of his birth and the birth of a writer in his memoir series — Dreams in a Time of War, In the House of the Interpreter and Birth of a Dream Weaver. It is in the last and final instalment of his memoirs where Thiong'o begins to reminisce about the birth of an author and the stories that he formed while studying at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. It is also here that he first met Chinua Achebe. In obituaries that have appeared since the announcement of his death, he is often referred to as an African writer. There's no debating his place of origin but Thiong'o is also a world writer who inspired and shaped thinking, writing, reading, and critical analysis in many corners of the world. Thiong'o did many radical things as a writer but the most important is his decision to quit writing in English around 1977 and switch to writing in his mother tongue, Gikuyu. This happened following his year-long stint in a Kenyan prison after the staging of his controversial play which highlighted inequities in Kenyan society. In Detained: A Writer's Prison Diary (1981) he recounts the time spent as a political prisoner. Though recounting a personal experience, Thiong'o connects it to the larger political situation in Kenya by accusing the then government of being controlled by 'foreign capital' and 'foreign economic interests'. He said the Kenyan elites behaved as neo-colonialists. He was finally exiled from Kenya and lived in the UK and the US for the rest of his life. Not enough is often said or written about his fiction. Several of his novels are astonishing such as Weep Not, Child, A Grain of Wheat, Petals of Blood amongst others. To many of us in South Asia, his non-fiction is more popular owing to the strong anti-colonial ideas they helped to develop. Having said that, one must also acknowledge that Thiong'o was a very different fiction writer from Chinua Achebe or Wole Soyinka, the other two luminaries of 20th century African literature. Both Achebe and Soyinka focused extensively on the tension between tradition and the modern in African societies. Thiong'o, on the other hand, used every opportunity to unravel the pitfalls of colonialism and capitalism rather explicitly in his fiction. The three writers even openly argued in public during a conference in Uganda in 1962. Thiong'o argued that literature written in indigenous African languages should be called African Literature. Achebe and Soyinka opposed this idea and found Thiong'o's position flawed. It is not surprising that Thiong'o helped us to understand the virtues of translation through his speeches, essays, commentaries on the role of translation in a globalised world. Translation helps cultures to be in conversation with each other. He equated translation with democracy where everyone has a voice and representation or ought to have one. Translation provides that opportunity to all languages and writers of the world. He also self-translated his last novel, Wizard of the Crow, to English (from Gikuyu). Thiong'o's writings will continue to shape debates and discussions about the use of language and our reading of literature. His work provokes many questions. What constitutes the practice of decolonisation in current times? Is decolonisation being held hostage by academic lobbies in the West? Shouldn't decolonisation lead to new forms of storytelling in a multilingual nation like ours? Thiong'o created his own path. As readers, critics, students, and followers of his work, we should create ours. That's the best tribute for a writer you admire. Kunal Ray teaches literature at FLAME University, Pune. The views expressed are personal.
The Star
a day ago
- Health
- The Star
Africa CDC urges aggressive action to curb mpox outbreak in southern Ethiopia
ADDIS ABABA, May 30 (Xinhua) -- The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has called for aggressive efforts to control mpox in southern Ethiopia to avert possible cross-border spread. The East African country reported its first mpox case on May 25 when a 21-day-old infant tested positive in Moyale near the Kenyan border. On Friday, the Ethiopian Ministry of Health announced that the number of cases has now reached six as three new cases were confirmed. During an online media briefing on Thursday evening, Ngashi Ngongo, chief of staff and head of the Executive Office at Africa CDC, expressed concern due to Moyale town's close proximity to neighboring Somalia. "The proximity to Somalia, and knowing all the challenges in Somalia, makes it that we really need to be very bold and aggressive to control this outbreak from the source so that it does not expand from the region," he said. Meanwhile, Ngongo said that the African continent has reported 139,233 mpox cases since the start of last year. Of these, 34,824 were confirmed and about 1,788 related deaths were recorded. Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, was first detected in laboratory monkeys in 1958. It is a rare viral disease transmitted through body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials. The infection often causes fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Tanzanian politician's lawyers ask UN to declare his detention arbitrary
By Aaron Ross NAIROBI (Reuters) -Lawyers for Tanzania's jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu filed a complaint on Friday to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in a bid to ramp up international pressure for his release. Lissu, chairman of Tanzania's main opposition party and runner-up in the 2020 presidential election, was arrested last month and charged with treason, a capital offence, over comments he is alleged to have made calling on supporters to prevent national elections in October from going ahead. Tanzania's government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While President Samia Suluhu Hassan has won plaudits for easing political repression, she has faced questions about unexplained abductions of government critics in recent months. Hassan, who will stand for re-election in October, has said her government respects human rights and ordered an investigation into the reported abductions. Lissu's international lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, said the confidential complaint to the U.N. working group, which issues opinions but has no enforcement power, was part of a wider pressure campaign. The European Parliament this month adopted a resolution denouncing Lissu's arrest as politically motivated, and Amsterdam said he would petition the U.S. State Department to impose sanctions. "Right down to prosecutors, judges, police - all the people that are involved in this false show trial had better be aware that they should protect their U.S. assets," Amsterdam told Reuters. In response to the European Parliament resolution, Tanzania's foreign ministry said outside criticisms about the case were based on "incomplete or partisan information". The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lissu, who was shot 16 times in a 2017 attack for which no one has ever been charged, will appear in court on Monday. Before he appeared in court last week, authorities detained a Kenyan and a Ugandan rights activist who had come to attend the hearing. They were abandoned several days later near the borders of their home countries, and the Kenyan activist, Boniface Mwangi, said both were badly tortured while in custody. Tanzanian officials have not responded to requests for comment about the allegation. Hassan has warned outsiders against "invading and interfering in our affairs".
Straits Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Tanzanian politician's lawyers ask UN to declare his detention arbitrary
Tanzanian opposition leader and former presidential candidate of CHADEMA party Tundu Lissu waves to his supporters as he arrives at the Kisutu Resident Magistrate Court in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania May 19, 2025. REUTERS/Emmanuel Herman/File Photo NAIROBI - Lawyers for Tanzania's jailed opposition leader Tundu Lissu filed a complaint on Friday to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in a bid to ramp up international pressure for his release. Lissu, chairman of Tanzania's main opposition party and runner-up in the 2020 presidential election, was arrested last month and charged with treason, a capital offence, over comments he is alleged to have made calling on supporters to prevent national elections in October from going ahead. Tanzania's government spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While President Samia Suluhu Hassan has won plaudits for easing political repression, she has faced questions about unexplained abductions of government critics in recent months. Hassan, who will stand for re-election in October, has said her government respects human rights and ordered an investigation into the reported abductions. Lissu's international lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, said the confidential complaint to the U.N. working group, which issues opinions but has no enforcement power, was part of a wider pressure campaign. The European Parliament this month adopted a resolution denouncing Lissu's arrest as politically motivated, and Amsterdam said he would petition the U.S. State Department to impose sanctions. "Right down to prosecutors, judges, police - all the people that are involved in this false show trial had better be aware that they should protect their U.S. assets," Amsterdam told Reuters. In response to the European Parliament resolution, Tanzania's foreign ministry said outside criticisms about the case were based on "incomplete or partisan information". The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lissu, who was shot 16 times in a 2017 attack for which no one has ever been charged, will appear in court on Monday. Before he appeared in court last week, authorities detained a Kenyan and a Ugandan rights activist who had come to attend the hearing. They were abandoned several days later near the borders of their home countries, and the Kenyan activist, Boniface Mwangi, said both were badly tortured while in custody. Tanzanian officials have not responded to requests for comment about the allegation. Hassan has warned outsiders against "invading and interfering in our affairs". REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
