MARITIME & MILITARY

THE MOVE by UAE to cut military training and salary payment to Somali National Army (SNA) marked a new low in diplomatic relations between the two countries but also drove home not so palatable news for over 2,000 Somali forces who have to date been under UAE support. Somalia has not made public a formal statement stopping military support from UAE but a statement which the government did not seek to clarify from Defense Minister last week Mohamed Mursal added to the $9.6 million seizure delivered the final blow as UAE declared the military support programme ceased. Mursal has however told Goobjoog News the remarks may have been taken out of context. “My statement last week was not properly understood,” Mursal told Goobjoog News. “We have to look at the bigger picture; we have the responsibility as a government to train and pay our soldiers. The minister however remained cagey on whether the government was officially cutting off the UAE support. “We are still on this matt...

By  Parach  Mach JUBA, South Sudan At least 207 child soldiers are being released in South Sudan, the third largest such release in 2018, the UN Children's Fund said on Tuesday. According to UNICEF, over 19,000 children are thought to have been recruited by all sides since the civil war began five years ago. “The released children will be reunified with their families and will be given months' worth of food assistance and psychosocial support, along with the opportunity to go to school,” said UNICEF in a statement. In the latest release in February, 311 child soldiers were let go. South Sudan erupted into civil war in 2013, just two years after declaring its independence from the north. The ongoing conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead and created a humanitarian crisis as nearly 4 million people fled their homes. Multiple attempts to end the ruinous civil war have failed and fighting has continued. Fresh talks to revitalize a shattered 2015 p...

CAIRO, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian top court on Tuesday removed 31 members and supporters of the currently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group from the terrorist list over a case related to the deadly protests in 2014. The Court of Cassation removed the 31 Brotherhood loyalists from the terror list over charges of involvement in the violent protests in Cairo's Ain Shams district in early 2014 that left three citizens dead, including a female journalist, a Christian woman and a child, the official MENA news agency reported. The 2014 protests erupted after then army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, now the newly reelected president, announced running for president a year after he ousted former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. In the same case, Cairo Criminal Court sentenced in February 17 defendants to 25 years in jail, nine to 15 years, four to 10 years and two to seven years while acquitting 15 of the charges of committing acts of violence. Since...

Luanda — Angola considers it essential that African States develop complementary maritime strategies at the national, regional and continental levels for maritime space protection, risk prevention, threat identification, the definition of coordinated responses and legal accountability. The information was provided on Monday in Luanda by Angolan Foreign Minister Manuel Augusto at the official opening of the 1st postgraduate course in Law of the Sea, designed to train Angolan cadres on issues related to the maritime domain, in the economic, legal, political, technological security, among others. According to the official, effective cooperation, the sharing of information and an adequate and pragmatic distribution of resources are also defended by Angola in this regard. He considers maritime security as essential for the preservation of the peace, stability and development of the so-called blue economy for the riparian states, especially in the Gulf of Guinea region. The...

The global economy is still on an upswing, but the good times may not last beyond the next year or two. The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday it expects global growth will inch up from 3.8% in 2017 -- its fastest pace in six years -- to 3.9% in 2018 and 2019. That's in line with its most recent estimate in January. It also upgraded its forecast for US growth in 2018 to 2.9%,  up from 2.7% previously . But things don't look as good in 2020 and beyond. "Global growth is projected to soften beyond the next couple of years," the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook. Related: China's economy hit the ground running in 2018 "Risks beyond the next several quarters clearly lean toward the downside," the report added. The IMF listed several factors that could drag on growth, including rising protectionism, escalating political and trade tensions, and "waning popular support for global economic integration." The Wo...

ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi is on an official visit to China. During the visit, the Naval Chief called on Commander PLA (N) Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong and Deputy Administrator of State Administration for Science, Technology & Industry (SASTIND), Mr Xu Zhanbin. Upon arrival at PLA(N) Headquarters, Beijing, Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi was received by his counterpart Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong. A smartly turned out contingent of PLA(N) clad in ceremonial dress presented him the Guard of Honour. Later, Chief of the Naval Staff called on Commander PLA(N), Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong. During the meeting, discussions on professional matters including bilateral naval collaboration and security environment in Indian Ocean Region were held. Various avenues of cooperation between the two Navies were also focused. A comprehensive brief on PLA(N) was given to Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi. Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi highlig...