World

The IMF has approved an agreement to revive a massive loan programme for Pakistan, the finance minister said Monday, as the country grapples with devastating monsoon flooding that has worsened an economic crisis.

“We should now be getting the 7th & 8th tranche of $1.17 billion,” Miftah Ismail said on Twitter.

The original $6-billion bailout package with the International Monetary Fund was signed by former prime minister Imran Khan in 2019, but repeatedly stalled when his government reneged on agreed reforms on subsidies and failed to significantly improve tax collection.

The new agreement follows months of deeply unpopular belt-tightening by the government of Shehbaz Sharif, who took power in April and has effectively eliminated fuel subsidies and introduced new measures to broaden the tax base.

The government reached an agreement with IMF staff last month to restart the suspended aid package.

The board of the Washington-based crisis lender also was considering a request to extend the package through June 2023 and add about $1 billion to the total.

The IMF had not yet issued a statement on its decision.

The latest disbursement would bring the total received under the Extended Fund Facility from the IMF to just over $4 billion.

– Desperate for aid –

Pakistan is desperate for international support for its economy, which suffers from poor revenue collection and dwindling foreign reserves to pay its crippling debt.

The new government has slashed a raft of subsidies to meet the demands of global financial institutions but risks the wrath of an electorate already struggling under the weight of double-digit inflation.

A new coalition government — which came to power after Khan was ousted by a parliamentary no-confidence vote — has said it will make the tough decisions needed to turn the economy around.

Successive administrations blame their predecessors for the country’s economic woes, but analysts say the malaise stems from decades of poor management and a failure to tackle endemic corruption and widespread tax avoidance.

In a bid to secure the IMF loan, Sharif has imposed three fuel price hikes — cumulatively totalling 50 percent — and raised the cost of electricity to effectively end the subsidies introduced by Khan.

Ismail told the national assembly last month that the steps were “essential” to preserve the country from default.

“We knew it would damage our political reputation, but still we did it,” he said. 

The latest budget has earmarked 3.95 trillion rupees ($18.8 billion) just to service the country’s whopping debt of $128 billion.

Under the deal agreed with the IMF last month, policy priorities included steadfast implementation of the budget to reduce the need to borrow.

Pakistan also agreed to continue power sector reforms, introduce a proactive monetary policy to tackle inflation, strengthen governance, combat corruption and improve the social security net.

But the IMF warned that authorities should stand ready to take any additional measures necessary.

NASA scrubbed a test flight on Monday of its largest-ever rocket in a setback to the ambitious program to send humans back to the Moon — and eventually to Mars.

“We don’t launch until it’s right,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said after an engine issue forced a cancellation of the launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

“This is a very complicated machine,” Nelson said. “You don’t want to light the candle until it’s ready to go.”

The goal of the flight is to test the 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew capsule that sits on top. The mission is uncrewed — mannequins equipped with sensors are standing in for astronauts.

Mike Sarafin, mission manager of the Artemis 1 program, said the US space agency may make another attempt on Friday.

“Friday is definitely in play,” Sarafin told reporters. “They’re still holding in the launch countdown configuration and we’re preserving the option for Friday.”

Next Monday is also an alternative launch date.

Blastoff had been planned for 8:33 am (1233 GMT) but was cancelled because of a temperature problem with one of the rocket’s four RS-25 engines.

NASA said a test to get one of the main engines to the proper temperature range for blastoff was not successful.

Delays are “part of the space business,” Nelson said, expressing confidence that NASA engineers will “get it fixed and then we’ll fly.”

Tens of thousands of people — including US Vice President Kamala Harris — had gathered to watch the launch, which comes 50 years after Apollo 17 astronauts last set foot on the Moon.

“While we hoped to see the launch of Artemis 1 today, the attempt provided valuable data as we test the most powerful rocket in history,” Harris tweeted. 

“Our commitment to the Artemis Program remains firm, and we will return to the Moon.”

Veteran NASA astronaut Stan Love told reporters he was disappointed but “not really surprised.”

“This is a brand new vehicle,” Love said. “It has a million parts. All of them have to work perfectly.”

– Extreme temperatures –

Overnight operations to fill the orange-and-white rocket with more than three million liters of ultra-cold liquid hydrogen and oxygen were briefly delayed by a high risk of lightning.

Around 3:00 am, a potential leak was detected during the filling of the main stage with hydrogen, causing a pause. After tests, the flow resumed.

NASA engineers later detected the engine temperature problem and put a hold on the countdown before scrubbing the launch altogether.

The Orion capsule is to orbit the Moon to see if the vessel is safe for people in the near future. At some point, Artemis aims to put a woman and a person of color on the Moon for the first time.

During the 42-day trip, Orion will follow an elliptical course around the Moon, coming within 60 miles (100 kilometers) at its closest approach and 40,000 miles at its farthest — the deepest into space by a craft designed to carry humans.

One of the mission’s primary objectives is to test the capsule’s heat shield, which at 16 feet in diameter is the largest ever built.

On its return to Earth’s atmosphere, the heat shield will have to withstand speeds of 25,000 miles per hour and a temperature of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius) — roughly half as hot as the Sun.

– Crewed mission to Mars –

The dummies aboard the spacecraft will record acceleration, vibration and radiation levels.

The craft will also deploy small satellites to study the lunar surface.

NASA is expected to spend $93 billion between 2012 and 2025 on the Artemis program, which is already years behind schedule, at a cost of $4.1 billion per launch.

The next mission, Artemis 2, will take astronauts into orbit around the Moon without landing on its surface.

The crew of Artemis 3 is to land on the Moon in 2025 at the earliest.

And since humans have already visited the Moon, Artemis has its sights set on another lofty goal: a crewed mission to Mars.

The Artemis program aims to establish a lasting human presence on the Moon with an orbiting space station known as Gateway and a base on the surface.

Gateway would serve as a staging and refueling station for a voyage to the Red Planet that would take a minimum of several months.

Fighting was reported in a volatile area of northern Ethiopia on Monday, local sources said, despite urgent international appeals for a halt to the renewed hostilities between government forces and Tigrayan rebels.

The warring sides have accused each other of launching attacks last Wednesday that torpedoed a five-month truce and dealt a blow to hopes for a peaceful resolution to the conflict in Africa’s second most populous nation.

On Monday, clashes were reported in an area around the town of Kobo, which lies in the Amhara region just south of Tigray and fell into the hands of rebel fighters at the weekend, prompting many residents to take flight.

“There is heavy fighting nearby. I was hearing the sounds of heavy weaponry starting from morning to around 3:00 pm (1200 GMT),” one Kobo resident told AFP on condition of anonymity after fleeing to Woldiya about 50 kilometres (30 miles) further south.

The resident said many people were flocking from nearby areas to the town, some sleeping on verandahs, while the authorities were allowing some of the displaced to be housed in university dormitories.

“There is currently an air of uncertainty in Woldiya although it’s slightly calmer than yesterday,” the resident said, adding that the town was currently under a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

The government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had announced Saturday that federal forces had pulled back from Kobo in order to avoid “mass casualties”.

In turn, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has been fighting government forces and their allies for almost 22 months, said it had captured a number of towns and cities in a counter-offensive.

The various claims could not be independently verified as access to northern Ethiopia is severely restricted.

– ‘I saw people drowning’ –

A diplomatic source said there were clashes in an area about halfway between Kobo and Woldiya on Monday, while a humanitarian source reported “heavy fighting” around the Zobel mountains southeast of Kobo.

Tigist, a 30-year-old mother of three, said she fled Kobo on Friday across a river as the bridge was destroyed, helped by people with light rafts transporting women and children over the water.

“I’m very lucky, I saw people drowning while attempting to cross the river,” she told AFP, a day after finally arriving in Woldiya on Sunday.

“We’re not getting help (from the authorities) in Woldiya, so people are helping each other for food, water, shelter.”

She said people were terrified and were considering travelling further from the combat zone to Dessie, a major city about 100 kilometres (60 miles) further south.

“I don’t know if I ever want to move back to Kobo.” 

The first displaced resident said ambulances were ferrying the wounded to medical facilities inside Woldiya or further afield, adding that the injured included federal troops, members of the Amhara regional force and the Amhara militia known as Fano.

– ‘Outraged’ over renewed fighting –

On Friday, as conflict on the ground escalated, an air strike on Tigray’s capital Mekele killed at least four people including two children, an official at the city’s biggest hospital told AFP.

Tigrai TV, a local network, put the death toll at seven, including three children.

The international community has voiced deep alarm about the resumption of fighting in a conflict that has already caused the deaths of untold numbers of civilians and led to a desperate humanitarian crisis.

A truce was declared in March, leading to a lull in fighting that allowed aid convoys to slowly return to Tigray, where the UN says millions are nearing starvation, and cash, fuel and medicine are in short supply.

Since the end of June, Abiy’s government and the rebels have repeatedly stated their willingness to enter peace talks but disagreed on the terms of such negotiations.

Among the latest to express concern was the UN-appointed International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia.

It said it was “outraged” about the renewal of hostilities and called for both sides to cease fighting, return to dialogue and enable humanitarian agencies to distribute aid in Tigray.

A similar plea was made by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, an independent state-affiliated body, which said the hostilities resumed as “civilian populations in the affected areas still continue to suffer from recent trauma, loss of loved ones and livelihoods”.

Angola’s MPLA party was on Monday declared the winner of a closely fought election, extending its decades long rule in the oil-rich country and handing President Joao Lourenco a second term.

He promised to be the “president of all Angolans” and to open dialogue after the electoral commission announced the results, which saw the opposition make large gains. 

“This a victory for Angola and Angolans in general,” Lourenco, 68, said in his inaugural address shortly after the unveiling of the result of the August 24 ballot. 

“This vote was a vote of confidence, which gives us the immense responsibility of promoting dialogue and social consultation”.

The National Electoral Commission (CNE) reported the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola won 51.17 percent of the ballots against 43.95 percent for the main challenger, the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

Despite the victory, the outcome — the tightest in Angola’s history — marked a record low for the MPLA and might yet end up in court after UNITA had earlier rejected provisional results.

Several members of the electoral commission did not sign off on the final tally, poll officials said on Monday. 

The MPLA has traditionally wielded control over the electoral process as well as state media, and opposition and civic groups had raised fears of voter tampering.

UNITA leader Adalberto Costa Junior, 60, last week called for an international panel to review the count.

International observers have raised some concerns including questions over the electoral roll and biased reporting by state-owned television, but most said voting was peaceful and well organised. 

– Lowered majority –

The MPLA, a former Marxist liberation movement, has ruled Angola for nearly half a century since independence from Portugal in 1975.

But it has seen a steady decline in support over recent elections.

While it romped to victory with 71.84 percent of the vote in 2012, it only garnered 61 percent five years later.

UNITA scored 26.67 percent in 2017 elections and contested the official count.

Alex Vines, of the UK-based think tank Chatham House, said that while UNITA was likely to challenge the count also this time, the former rebel movement had reasons to be happy. 

“It’s an amazing result for UNITA when you think that 20 years ago, they were defeated on the battlefield,” he said.

“Politics will have to change in Angola now. There’s going to have to be the politics of compromise,” he said.   

The results gave the MPLA 124 of the 220 parliamentary seats up for grabs while UNITA won 90. 

Turnout was low, with only about 45 percent of those registered  casting their ballots, which pointed to a growing disillusionment with politics, said Vines. 

The United States on Monday called on all parties “to express themselves peacefully and to resolve any grievances in accordance with applicable legal processes”.

“We will continue to closely follow the electoral process,” the State Department said in a statement before the final results were announced.

– Second term –

The latest election has been overshadowed by a struggling economy, inflation, poverty, drought and the death of Lourenco’s predecessor Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

Dos Santos was buried in Luanda at a solemn funeral on Sunday.

The opposition has proved popular in urban areas, winning in the capital Luanda and among youth disaffected with the ruling party.

Angola is Africa’s second largest crude producer, but the oil bonanza has been accompanied by corruption and nepotism.

Lourenco, a former general educated in the Soviet Union, was first elected in 2017.

He is credited with far-reaching reforms since taking power, including boosting financial transparency, tackling graft, and promoting business-friendly policies to lure foreign investors.

But critics say his anti-graft crusade has been one-sided and aimed at settling political scores, targeting children and cronies of dos Santos.

His economic reforms have also so far failed to translate into better living conditions for most Angolans, critics say.

“With this vote of confidence, it is time to continue the reforms necessary to make Angola a more prosperous and more developed country,” Lourenco said, promising to pay particular attention “to the expectations of young people”.