International
South Africa is preparing to invest Ramaphosa for a second term as president
Cyril Ramaphosa will be inaugurated as president of South Africa for a second five-year term, in a solemn ceremony attended by about twenty African leaders and that will begin a new stage in the country’s history with an unprecedented Government of national unity.
“We have the investiture in the year in which we celebrate thirty years of freedom and democracy in our nation, which is a very important milestone,” the interim director general of Communications of the South African Government, Nomonde Mnukwa, told local media on Tuesday.
Under the slogan “Thirty years of democracy, collaboration and growth,” the event will be held at the Union Buildings, the headquarters of the Executive in Pretoria, and will be attended by 18 heads of state and government, as well as former presidents and delegations from many countries, according to the authorities.
Among the countries that will send high-level representatives are Namibia, Angola, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Esuatini (former Swaziland), Uganda, Nigeria, Burundi and Egypt, but also China and Cuba, whose vice president, Salvador Mesa, has already arrived in the country.
Representatives of organizations such as the African Union (AU), the UN and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), in addition to Palestine, whose cause has historically been supported by South Africa, will also attend.
After the beginning of the day with a program of cultural events starring local artists, the ceremony will take place in which Ramaphosa will be sworn in before the head of the South African Judiciary, magistrate Raymond Zondo.
During the event, for which the streets surrounding the enclosure will be cut, the National Defense Forces of South Africa (SADF) will carry out a greeting of 21 cannon salvos, accompanied by an Air Force flight, in addition to an inspection and a parade of troops.
Although it is a working day, buses will be chartered so that residents of different provinces can attend the ceremony, who will have to go through strict security controls.
The investiture will be the culmination of a process marked by uncertainty, after the African National Congress (CNA), in power since the establishment of democracy and the end of the racist ‘apartheid’ regime in 1994, lost for the first time the absolute majority in the elections of last May 29.
In those elections, the seventh generals of the country, the CNA achieved 40.18% of the votes, which translates into 159 of the 400 seats in the National Assembly (Lower House of Parliament), an insufficient victory that forced for the first time the historic formation to approach other parties to be able to govern.
That approach was felt last Friday in a marathon first session of the National Assembly after the elections, in which Ramaphosa was elected by 283 votes.
Hours before that election, John Steenhuisen, leader of the Democratic Alliance (AD, liberal center-right), until now the first force of the opposition, announced that he had reached an agreement with the ANC to form a “Government of national unity (GUN)”.
That formula was previously used by the country’s first black president, Nelson Mandela, when he came to power in 1994, when his party enjoyed an absolute majority and started from a position of strength, unlike the current weakness, which prevents him from forming a government alone.
As confirmed by the CNA on Monday, three other political forces have also agreed to join the government alliance: the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP, conservative and nationalist of the Zulu ethnic group), GOOD (social democrat) and Patriotic Alliance (AP, extreme right).
Thus, the investiture will be the starting signal for the formation of a Cabinet that should include members of the other parties of the coalition, although Ramaphosa, 71 years old and fifth president of the country, has not yet revealed the composition of the Executive.
After playing an important role in the negotiations that allowed the dismantling of ‘apartheid’, being a trade union leader and prospering in the private sector, Ramaphosa arrived in 2018 with the promise of change to end the corruption that tarnished the mandate of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma (2009-2018).
However, its popularity decreased due to the persistence of problems such as high unemployment (32.9%), crime, the energy crisis with constant blackouts and the extreme inequality that still weighs on the black population.
International
At least 120 dead in the Gaza Strip in the last 48 hours from Israeli attacks
At least 120 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip in the last 48 hours from Israeli attacks and the death toll since the war began amounts to 44,176, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, controlled by Hamas.
In the case of the injured, the ministry confirmed 205 in the last two days and in total since the war began, on October 7, 2023, they total 104,473, according to that count.
In addition, it is estimated that there are 11,000 missing people under the rubble.
Offensive in Yabalia and Beit Lahia
Although fatalities have been recorded in different parts of the Strip, in the last 40 days Israel’s offensive has focused on the northern half, especially in the cities of Yabalia and Beit Lahia, with more than 2,300 dead since then, and more than 6,000 injured.
Kamal Adwan hospital has been attacked again after an Israeli drone destroyed the electric generator, water tank and oxygen tanks in the center yesterday, where 80 patients remain.
“It seems that there are no limits to the cruelty inflicted on the Palestinians in Gaza. For more than 40 days, the northern population is besieged: surrounded, bombed, deprived of the basic means of survival and forced to flee under threats,” denounced the head of the OCHA (UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs) office for Palestine, Jonathan Whittal.
Whittal said that his teams have been trying to access Yabalia, Beit Lahia and Beit Hanun, the most affected cities, for more than a month, but that the Israeli authorities have rejected all his requests.
“The result? People are under the rubble without being rescued. The sick and the wounded cannot reach the hospitals. Drinking water and food have run out. Lives have been lost,” he said.
International
At least 10 people died at the hands of strangers in a mosque in northern Afghanistan
At least 10 people were killed in an attack by unidentified armed men in a mosque in Baghlan province, in northern Afghanistan, Taliban government sources confirmed to EFE this Saturday.
The attack in the Nahrin district of Baghlan, northern Afghanistan, took place on Thursday night, according to Taliban government deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat.
“Unfortunately, before last night (Thursday night) in a mosque and on a pilgrimage during the night, ten people who stayed for worship were killed by strangers,” he said.
Sufi communities in Afghanistan often spend nights in mosques as a worship practice.
Research to identify the authors
Fitrat assured that investigations are being carried out to identify and bring the perpetrators to justice for this “horrible incident,” for which no armed group has claimed authorship.
“The Islamic Emirate strongly condemns this terrible act and considers it an unforgivable crime,” added Fitrat, who blames extremist groups.
“This act was committed by those extremist groups that have no respect for the blood of other Muslims,” he condemned.
In the last three years, since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, ISIS-Khorasan, the Afghan branch of the jihadist group Islamic State- has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on minorities and members of the Taliban, becoming the country’s greatest security threat.
Minority groups such as the Hazara Shiite community and Sufi practitioners have been frequent targets of violence by extremist groups that try to impose a rigid interpretation of Islam.
The Taliban de facto government has insistently denied that the Islamic State is a security threat to Afghanistan or any other country, while the regime’s secrecy and iron controls on the press have cut off the flow of information on the country’s security situation.
International
Ukraine attacks the port of Berdyansk with missiles, according to pro-Russian authorities
The Ukrainian army attacked the port of Berdiansk, in the Sea of Azov, with missiles on Saturday, according to the pro-Russian authorities of the Zaporyy region today.
“The enemy perpetrated an attack with guided missiles against the port of Berdiansk. The fires caused by the impact have been suffocated,” reported the governor imposed by Moscow, Yevgueni Balitski, on his Telegram channel.
The governor, who was recently received in Moscow by Russian President Vladimir Putin, stressed that the attack did not cause injuries among the civilian population and did not interrupt the work of the port facilities.
In turn, he assured that anti-aircraft defenses continue to be on maximum alert, since new Ukrainian attacks against the city are not ruled out.
At the end of October Kiev had already attacked the strategic port under Russian control since 2022 with a dead old woman.
The Russian army controls more than 70% of Zaporiyia and tries to take control of the rest of the region as it advances at forced marches in neighboring Donetsk.
North Korean soldiers in the Belgorod region, according to Ukraine
Ukraine claims that North Korean soldiers, who until now were only in the Russian region of Kursk, were also transferred to Belgorod, which borders the northeastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv.
“Some soldiers from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were transferred to the border of the Belgorod region,” the head of the Central Intelligence Department of the National Security and Defense Council, Andrí Kovalenko, wrote on Telegram.
The senior Ukrainian official stressed that “they are not in the Kharkiv region,” as some US media had reported based on Ukrainian sources.
The Kremlin rules out a second onde of mobilization
For its part, the Kremlin today ruled out a second wave of mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine with a view to the fourth year of fighting in the neighboring country.
“Our citizens very actively sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense,” Dmitri Peskov, presidential spokesman, told the official agency RIA Novosti.
Peskov stressed that volunteers carry out courses in which they are instructed “consciously,” so “now there is no need to talk about mobilization.”
“There are many, hundreds who sign contracts every day,” he added.
The Kremlin has refrained from declaring a new partial mobilization after the first one in September 2022 caused great popular discontent and the exodus of hundreds of thousands of military-age men.
1,000 days of combat
Fighting in Ukraine reached 1,000 days this week with Russian forces advancing in forced marches in the Donbas, although Moscow has not yet been able to expel Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region.
Ukraine hopes to slow down the current Russian offensive with Western authorization to use American and British long-range missiles against targets in Russian territory, which Kiev used against the Bryansk and Kursk regions.
Russia responded on Thursday by launching an Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile at an arms factory in the Ukrainian region of Dnipro.
In addition, on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that there will be more launches and announced the mass production of those new generation missiles capable of circumventing any Western missile shield.
At least 120 dead in the Gaza Strip in the last 48 hours from Israeli attacks
At least 10 people died at the hands of strangers in a mosque in northern Afghanistan
Ukraine attacks the port of Berdyansk with missiles, according to pro-Russian authorities
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