The World Press Freedom Index puts it top of the continental list and ranks it 23rd in the world.

The Paris based non-profit organisation Reporters Without Borders has been publishing its annual world press freedom index for 25 years.

This year the Scandinavian countries Norway, Finland, Denmark and Sweden are judged to be the freest in the world.

For the eighth successive year Eritrea is at the bottom of the list of 180 countries.

South Africa is in 31st position – the same place it occupied last year.

The organisation calls 2020 a decisive year for the world media and says its difficulties have been exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic.

The post Namibia is the freest African country in which to be a journalist appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

His office says the international peace negator and his wife Eeva, who has also tested positive, are doing well.

ends intro

Martti Ahtisaaari’s efforts as a United Nations diplomat and mediator in serious and long-lasting conflicts in Namibia, Indonesia, Kosovo and Iraq earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008.

He was Finland’s President from 1994 until the year 2000.

Eight years ago he was named as a possible mediator in the Syrian conflict which has become the worst humanitarian crisis on the planet.

He asked to be excused that appointment.

It is not clear where the 82-year-old contracted COVID 19 and his office has asked that journalists respect his privacy 

The post Nobel laureate Martti Ahtissari has COVID19 appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Amnesty International calls on the government in Botswana not to carry out its threat to forcibly remove them.

The members of the secessionist United Democratic Party, now banned in Namibia, say the reasons for their fleeing to Botswana 20 years go still exist.

Some of their comrades are still imprisoned in Namibia and the Windhoek government has refused their call for dialogue.

Their leader Felix Kalula does not believe the assurance from Namibian President Heine Geingob that they will be safe back home.

His Botswana counterpart Mokgweetsi Mashishi insists his government will enforce a court order for the refugees to be repatriated next month.

The post More than 800 Namibian refugees in Botswana say it’s still not safe to go home appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Speaking at as the head of the SADC Ministerial Council, Netumbo Nandi Ndaikwah is adamant that Morocco must ends its illegal occupation of Western Sahara.

ends 

Namibia’s foreign minister Netumbo Nandi Ndaikwah tells a regional summit in Pretoria on solidarity with the Western Sahara that there’s no place for colonialism in Africa this century after European colonialism was defeated decades ago.

Morocco’s illegal occupation of Western Sahara is Africa’s last colonial issue.

It will be defeat by international solidarity which served to end both colonialism and apartheid.

But she appealed for a peaceful solution.

“Both Western Sahara and Morocco are members of the AU. They are children of the same house. They must live at peace with one another,” she said

All that is required is that Morocco keep the promises it made when the United Nations negotiated an end to the fighting in the Western Sahara.

The post SADC ministerial council head takes conciliatory tone on Morocco appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Tens of thousands of Hereros and at least 10 000 Namas were killed by the Germans when they revealed between 1904 and 1908.

New York Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled that the Herero and Nama claim was inadmissible because of Germany’s sovereignty immunity during its 31-year colonization of Namibia.

Herero chief Vekuii Rukero says the judge was wrong and the ruling would be appealed.

The claim was made in New York because the tribes maintain there is an American commercial involvement in the genocide because bones of the victims were  sold in the  United States.

The post Hereros to appeal New York court ruling against genocide compensation from Germany appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Today’s handover at a Berlin church is the third by the German government that refuses to pay reparations for the  killing of more than 100 000 colonial subjects.

The Herero and Nama people are growing impatient with the German government, that admits the killings of  Hereros and Namaquas in retaliation for their rebellion in 2004 was the first genocide of the 20th century, but refuses to pay reparations.

The skulls of many victims were sent to Germany for scientific research purporting to show the inferior brain capacity of Africans.

The German public broadcaster ARD says the skulls of 1 000 Rwandans and 60 Tanzanians killed during German colonial times are still in Berlin.

The post Germany returns Herero skulls to Namibia appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

the genocide of their peoples by German colonial rulers more than a century ago in what is now Namibia.

The suit also demands that their representatives of these two groups be included in negotiations between Germany and Namibia on the issue.

The two countries have been in talks about a joint declaration on the massacres in 1904 and 1905.

Germany acknowledges a genocide occurred.

It refuses to pay direct reparations, saying that its development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros since Namibia’s independence from South Africa

in 1990 was for the benefit of all Namibians.

The plaintiffs counter that their  class action suit is on behalf of all Ovaherero and Nama worldwide, seeking reparations and compensation for the

genocide suffered at the hands of the German colonial authorities.

The post Herero and Nama start class action against German colonial genocide appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Geingob is in Pretoria where he will co-chair today’s bi-national commission  with President Jacob Zuma.

It was President Hage Geingob who extended the live branch that  brought Hidipo Hamutenya back  to Swapo.

Hamutenya quit the ruling party in 2007 after losing a leadership tussle and being sacked as foreign minister.

He led the opposition Rally for Democracy and Progress before falling out them.

Hamutenya commended what he called new enlightened Swapo leadership under Geingob.

He’s credited with  being the brains behind most of Swapo’s policy documents before independence, including the party’s constitution.

The post Hamutenya’s death is a loss for Namibia says President Geingob appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

They’ll prepare the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting of their presidents. at the second binational commission.

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana Mashabane welcomed her Nambian counterpart Netumbo Nandi Ndaitwah, saying they’re bent on projects that will help the continent and the region, but most importantly the people of their countries.

“The two sides have to date signed 71 agreements and memoranda of understanding. We must remember that our people have said to us  these are enablers, the real work is when we put hands on deck, “she said

Nandi Ndaitwah listed issues to be discussed to ensure the wellbeing of the people.

“Trade, energy, health, investment, wildlife, information and communication technology, higher education and training, science and technology as well as defence and security.”

She says better bilateral cooperation between South Africa and Namibia will greatly enhance integration of the SADC regional  grouping.

The post Better SA Namibia ties will enhance SADC integration appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

Environment Minister Edna Molewa said the move by Chad and Gabon threatens South Africa’s lucrative market in the trophy hunting of  elephant and the sale of hides, hair and meat.

ends intro

The Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species is debating a proposal that elephants in all African states to placed on CITES appendix 1 which would ban all trade in wild elephants.

Elephants in central, east and west Africa are already afforded this protection.

Southern elephants, however appear on CITES appendix which allows controlled hunting and sale of body parts excluding ivory.

(take in Edna clip here)

She says South Africa has an elephant population of 18 800, most of which live in Kruger National Park where their number have increase by 4,2% this past generation.

The post Zambia threatens to quit CITES if elephant vote does not go its way appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.