Tibor Nagy, who served for 22 years as an American diplomat in eight African capitals says he’s found intense interest in Africa across the US political spectrum.

On completing a four-nation tour as the US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Tibor Nagy tells journalists in Pretoria  he’s happy his bosses understand the line he used in his acceptance hearing.

“One of my slogans is that we should all be looking at Africa through the windscreen not the rearview mirror, and I really think that this administration gets it,” he says

He says Africa’s short term crises often eclipse the long-term strategy for peaceful progress and integration.

Nagy insists the Trump Administration understands the importance of those goals. 

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The statement by  the Department of International Relations and Cooperation calls on the United Nations Security Council to restore an integral part of Syrian territory seized by Israel 46 years ago.

As a member of the United Nations Security Council, South Africa is joining the international community in expressing concern at the Trump administration’s decision.

Israel’s seizure of Golan in the 1967 war and its subsequent annexation of the heights was swiftly condemned by the world body and has repeatedly been described as a serious violation of the UN Charter, international law and applicable UN resolutions.

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The human rights watchdog says the troops sometimes demanded sex in exchange for food at refugee camps.

Amnesty International says Nigerian troops separated women from their husbands and raped them.

It adds that thousands of people have also starved to death in the camps in north-eastern Nigeria since 2015.

Nigeria’s military has dismissed the allegations as malicious and false.

The military has repeatedly been accused of carrying out atrocities.

During the Obama administration, the US refused to sell weapons to Nigeria, citing concerns about the military’s human rights record.

The Trump administration, on the other hand,  has decided to press ahead with the sale of military aircraft and weapons, which Nigeria sees as vital to defeat the insurgents

The post Amnesty International accused Nigerian troops of raping Boko Haram victims appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

She’s wrapping up a three-nation African safari looking at peace keeping operations and efforts to promote dialogue.

Nikki Haley has strongly criticized South Sudanese  President Salva Kiir, saying he does not care if his actions cause his people to suffer.

She visited a camp with people displaced by violence in South Sudan.

They were not permitted to hand her a petition and became angry  that time constraints prevented her from meeting with them.

Haley later expressed her her disappointment that what was happenening in South Sudan is the opposite of the freedom and safety the United States thought it was investing in.

The post Nikki Haley evacuated from camp with angry, displaced South Sudanese appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

She was speaking in Addis Ababa at the start of her first safari as US envoy to the world organization.

It will be interesting to gauge  the mood at Nikki Haley’s visit to South Sudan, which she will visit along with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Speaking to African Union leaders in Addis Ababa she says South Sudanese President Salva Kiir doesn’t care if Washington pulls its development aid to his country because he doesn’t care  if his people suffer .

Haley says the US is considering how best to pressure Kiir to return to peace talks ending more than four years of civil war in South Sudan.

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