International
Climate Change: Climate Emergency ‘a Danger to Peace’, UN Security Council Hears
Jul 24, 2020
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UN
The climate emergency generated by global warming, is exacerbating existing risks to international peace and security, while also creating new ones, a senior UN official…
DRC/Uganda: How Smuggled DRC Gold Passes through Entebbe
Jul 24, 2020
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Franklin Draku, Monitor
Uganda has continued to offer an exit route for gold smuggled from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) despite international concerns of fueling conflict…
Diamond Development Initiative Becomes Part of Resolve
Jul 24, 2020
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Rob Bates, JCK
The Diamond Development Initiative (DDI), the Ottawa, Canada–based group that works on issues affecting artisanal diamond miners, will now become part of Resolve, the Washington, D.C.–based nongovernmental…
Iraq: Iraq on the Brink
Jul 24, 2020
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Adnan Bahiya, Ecologist
Covid-19 and the fall in oil prices has pushed Iraq towards calamity, underlining the urgency of ending the country's fossil fuel dependency.
Syria: Black Waters: Oil Spills Pollute Northeast Syria Creeks
Jul 22, 2020
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Delil Souleiman, Agence France-Presse
Oil pollution in Syria has been a growing concern since the 2011 onset of a civil war that has taken a toll on oil infrastructure…
Liberia: Liberia Responds to COVID-19 Impact on the Oil Industry
Jul 22, 2020
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William Q. Harmon, Observer
The Government of Liberia, through the Liberia Petroleum Regulatory Authority (LPRA), has made significant adjustments to its bid evaluation criteria for the 2020 Offshore Licensing…
Yemen: Yemen Sees Return to Alarming Levels of Food Insecurity - UNICEF, WFP, FAO & OCHA
Jul 22, 2020
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UNICEF
Economic shocks, conflict, floods, desert locusts and now COVID-19 are creating a perfect storm that could reverse hard-earned food security gains in Yemen, warns the…
Myanmar: Many Myanmar Mining Firms Fail to Name Politically Connected Owners: Global Witness
Jul 22, 2020
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Nan Lwin, Irrawaddy
At least 10 companies in Myanmar have failed to identify “politically exposed persons”—those with links to high-ranking present or former military officials and ethnic armed…
China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Oil and Gas Fueling South China Sea Tensions
Jul 22, 2020
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Helen Clark, Asia Times
Vietnam’s crucial offshore energy industry is being squeezed as US-China tensions rise in the South China Sea. According to reports, China is pressing for the…
Iraq/Kurdistan: Iraq's Tussle with Semi-Autonomous Kurdish Region Seen Complicating Energy Policy
Jul 21, 2020
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Dania Saadi, S&P Global Platts
Iraq's federal government has a complicated energy relationship with the Kurdish region that is unlikely to be resolved due to differences within the semi-autonomous entity…
Liberia: Oil Spill in Liberian Capital Creates Environmental Hazard - and Opportunity
Jul 21, 2020
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Darlington Porkpa, Radio France Internationale
An oil spill in the Mesurado River in the Liberian capital Monrovia has prompted hundreds of people to rush to collect the fuel, as environmental…
Myanmar: Difficult to Enforce Law in Kachin’s Jade Mine Town: Officials
Jul 20, 2020
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Kyaw Ko Ko, Myanmar Times
Law enforcement is a major challenge in the Hpakant jade mining town in Kachin State, the site of the deadliest landslide in the country’s recent…
China/Vietnam/South China Sea: Did China Block Vietnam Offshore Oil Contract?
Jul 20, 2020
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Ralph Jennings, Voice of America
The sudden cancellation of an offshore drilling project commissioned by Vietnam is raising fears that the Chinese government pressured it to stop, part of Beijing’s…
South Africa Warns UN Security Council about Violence Against Women in Occupied Western Sahara
Jul 19, 2020
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Sahara Press Service
South Africa warned the UN Security Council about the increasing violations of human rights in occupied Palestine and Western Sahara, in particular the hostilities permanently…
Yemen: How a Decaying Oil Tanker became a 'Massive Floating Bomb' Risking Millions of Lives in Yemen
Jul 18, 2020
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Campbell MacDiarmid, Telegraph
Time is running out to prevent an “environmental disaster waiting to happen” in the Red Sea, the UK and the UN warned this week, as…
South Sudan: South Sudan Oil Production Plummets to 170,000 bpd Due to COVID-19
Jul 17, 2020
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Xinhua
South Sudan oil production has dropped to 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) from 185,000 bpd due to disruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic, said a senior…
South Sudan: Local Communities Demand Implementation of Petroleum Laws
Jul 17, 2020
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Patrick Godi, Gurtong
In the face of surging coronavirus cases in South Sudan and its crippling effects, communities living in the oil producing areas have said they’re are…
Colombia: Security Council Press Statement on Colombia
Jul 16, 2020
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UN Security Council
The members of the Security Council reiterated their full and unanimous support for the peace process in Colombia and reaffirmed their commitment to working closely…
Egypt/Sudan: Satellite Images of Dam Raise Tensions in Egypt and Sudan
Jul 16, 2020
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Jonathan Tirone and Samuel Gebre, Bloomberg
Satellite images of Africa’s biggest hydropower project show a reservoir flooding with water from heavy rainfall in recent weeks, adding to tensions that risk spilling…
Iraq: Southern Iraq’s Toxic Twilight
Jul 16, 2020
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Alissa J. Rubin and Clifford Krauss, New York Times
Iraq is the rare country that imports gas but also burns natural gas from oil wells into the air. The wasted gas is enough to…
Myanmar: Neither Return nor More Compensation: Myanmar Military Stands Firmly on Farmers’ Confiscated Land
Jul 15, 2020
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Kyaw Myo, Irrawaddy
The Defense Ministry says it has no plan to return the farmland it confiscated for a sugar mill project in Sagaing Region’s Kantbalu Township or…
Afghanistan: Reviving Cotton-Processing Plant Provides Job Opportunities in Southern Afghanistan
Jul 14, 2020
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Abdul Haleem, Xinhua
The cotton-processing factory commonly known "Tasadi Bost Helmand" is the only industrial unit of its type in the troubled Helmand and the neighboring Kandahar, Zabul…
Afghanistan: Fish Farming Booms in S. Afghan Province
Jul 14, 2020
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Xinhua
The Afghan Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock has been supporting local farmers in southern province of Kandahar in raising fish to cater to the…
Climate Change: Climate, Weather, and Resilience in the NDAA
Jul 14, 2020
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Laura Leddy, American Security Project
In recent weeks, the House and Senate have progressed on the FY2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The House Armed Services Committee passed the House…
Afghanistan: With Schools Shut, Afghan Children Work the Poppy Fields [Video]
Jul 14, 2020
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Radio Free Afghanistan
In Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province, more children are working in the poppy fields and selling opium after schools were shut because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Iraq: Two Men Convicted over £4.9m Iraqi Oil Bribery Plot
Jul 14, 2020
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BBC
Two businessmen have been convicted of a £4.9m bribery plot to win oil deals in Iraq. Ziad Akle, 45, and Stephen Whiteley, 65, aimed to…
Myanmar: Myanmar Government Channels Funds to Support Fisheries Sector
Jul 14, 2020
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Zeyar Hein and Chan Mya Htwe, Myanmar Times
Calls for support from the fisheries sector are now being heeded by the government with the latest move involving a sum of K6 billion earmarked…
Afghanistan: Afghan Farmers Grow Legal Crops to Replace Poppy Cultivation
Jul 12, 2020
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Abdul Haleem, Xinhua
Infamous for growing poppy and increasing insurgency, the restive Helmand province has been regarded as a hotbed for the Taliban outfit, which rules parts of…
Mali: 'A Drastic Loss': Satellite Imagery Reveals Mali's Farmers Forced off Land by Militias
Jul 10, 2020
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Kaamil Ahmed
A surge in fighting in central Mali has forced hundreds of villagers from farmland they depend on and could leave them without enough food to…
South Sudan: Tackling South Sudan’s Oil Spills in Court
Jul 10, 2020
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Ed Reed, Energy Voice
South Sudan is the outlier. A legal challenge mounted in late April by Hope for Humanity Africa in the East African Court of Justice, in…