foreign ministers Archives - Jean-Jacques Cornish https://jjcornish.com/tag/foreign-ministers/ The low down on African affairs Mon, 08 Jun 2015 22:00:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 https://i0.wp.com/jjcornish.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-Fountain_Pen_favicon-812.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 foreign ministers Archives - Jean-Jacques Cornish https://jjcornish.com/tag/foreign-ministers/ 32 32 Hosts of African Union summit are clearly not calling the shots https://jjcornish.com/2015/06/hosts-of-african-union-summit-are-clearly-not-calling-the-shots/ Mon, 08 Jun 2015 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2015/06/hosts-of-african-union-summit-are-clearly-not-calling-the-shots/ South Africa’s hosting the 25th African Union summit in Sandton next weekend. But Zimbabwe’s in the chair. It clear even before the leaders gather for their deliberations that hosts are not calling the shots. South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation invited journalists to the opening of the African Foreign Ministers retreat in Sandton […]

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]]> South Africa’s hosting the 25th African Union summit in Sandton next weekend.

But Zimbabwe’s in the chair.

It clear even before the leaders gather for their deliberations that hosts are not calling the shots.

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation invited journalists to the opening of the African Foreign Ministers retreat in Sandton today.

But Zimbabwe’s foreign affairs chief Samuel Mumbengegwi was clearly having none of it.

Embarrassed South African and African Union officials had to herd the media out of the meeting he presided over.

Two days ago, media were invited to report on the opening of the ambassadors’meeting Pretoria.

The Zimbabwe envoy took the chair there and reporters were kept out.

President Robert Mugabe, who was elected chair of the African Union summit for the year of 2015, will be the man in charge when heads of state gather on Sunday.

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]]> AU foreign ministers go into a huddle https://jjcornish.com/2015/06/au-foreign-ministers-go-into-a-huddle/ Mon, 08 Jun 2015 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2015/06/au-foreign-ministers-go-into-a-huddle/ Foreign Ministers from the 54 African Union members have gone into a huddle ahead of the summit of continental leaders in Sandton next weekend. They’ve taken only one official each into their retreat at the Sandton Convention Centre so that deliberations can be kept as private as possible. So concerned are African foreign ministers about […]

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]]> Foreign Ministers from the 54 African Union members have gone into a huddle ahead of the summit of continental leaders in Sandton next weekend.

They’ve taken only one official each into their retreat at the Sandton Convention Centre so that deliberations can be kept as private as possible.

So concerned are African foreign ministers about the confidentiality of their meeting that the media, invited to cover opening remarks, was unceremoniously booted out without so much as a soundbite.

They start their formal meeting tomorrow which will presumably be kicked off with a little fanfare.

But for today they have to decide which of the tricky issues raised by their ambassadors to the African Union in two days of meetings in Pretoria they dare put on the agenda for their heads of state and government at the summit on Sunday.

 

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]]> EU devises plan for dealing with migrants crossing Mediterranean https://jjcornish.com/2015/04/eu-devises-plan-for-dealing-with-migrants-crossing-mediterranean/ Mon, 20 Apr 2015 22:00:00 +0000 https://jjcornish.com/2015/04/eu-devises-plan-for-dealing-with-migrants-crossing-mediterranean/ European foreign ministers have devised a ten-point plan to deal with the growing number of migrants leaving the North African coast and making all too often fatal attempts to cross the Mediterranean. Observers say it marks an appreciation by the grouping that this is a Europe-wide problem that cannot be left only to Italy and […]

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]]> European foreign ministers have devised a ten-point plan to deal with the growing number of migrants leaving the North African coast and making all too often fatal attempts to cross the Mediterranean.

Observers say it marks an appreciation by the grouping that this is a Europe-wide problem that cannot be left only to Italy and Greece.

The plan thrashed out by ministers meeting in Luxembourg is aimed squarely at the people traffickers profiting from the desperate migrants by cramming them into unseaworthy vessels headed for the closest European destination.

It also commits greater resources to preventing the departures and rescuing those in peril on the sea.

Italy yesterday arrested the captain and first mate of a vessel that sank off the Libyan coast at the weekend, leaving at least 700 people dead.

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