Headline

Following Trump, Argentina Quits World Health Organization

Published

10 months ago

February 6, 2025

Argentina said Wednesday it will quit the World Health Organization, following in the footsteps of Donald Trump’s United States and citing similar complaints over the UN body’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Railing against the economic fallout of Covid-19 lockdowns, President Javier Milei lamented “one of the most bizarre crimes against humanity” as he explained the reasons for the move.

Argentina’s self-declared “anarcho-capitalist” leader said the WHO had been “the executing arm of what was the greatest experiment in social control in history.”

The South American country announced its withdrawal from the UN health agency two weeks after Trump, an ideological ally and hero of Milei, signaled Washington’s planned exit.

Milei’s decision was based on “deep differences regarding health management especially during the pandemic,” spokesman Manuel Adorni told reporters earlier, adding Argentina would not “allow an international body to interfere in our sovereignty.”

Argentina had been hard hit by the pandemic, with about 130,000 deaths, and Milei’s predecessor Alberto Fernandez imposed a five-month lockdown in 2020 widely perceived as crippling for a struggling economy.

Adorni insisted withdrawing from the WHO gave Argentina “greater flexibility to implement policies adapted to the context” locally, while ensuring “greater availability of resources.”

The WHO did not immediately comment on Argentina’s departure.

WHO data shows Argentina contributed about $8.75 million in membership fees to the organization across 2022 and 2023 — 0.11 percent of the total budget.

It was slated to contribute $8.25 million for 2024-2025.

The vast majority of the UN agency’s budget comes from voluntary contributions, however, and Argentina has made none in recent years.

Adorni said Argentina “does not receive funding from the WHO, so this measure does not represent a loss of funds for the country.”

He also accused the body of “a lack of independence.”

– ‘Endless quarantines’ –
Last year, Argentina refused to join a new pandemic protocol drawn up by the WHO and gave notice of its intention to withdraw from the agency altogether.

International relations expert Federico Merke, of the University of San Andres in Buenos Aires, said the move would leave Argentina isolated when it comes to information-sharing and cooperation in the case of a new pandemic or other health threat.

Milei is an avowed fan of Trump, who signed an order within hours of his January 20 inauguration for the United States to withdraw from the WHO, which he has also criticized for its pandemic handling.

Washington was the biggest contributor to the Geneva-based organization, which Trump claimed had “ripped us off,” and the US withdrawal leaves global health initiatives short of funding.

Since taking office in December 2023, Milei has gutted public spending, having vowed to maintain a zero budget deficit after years of overspending.

His austerity measures are estimated to have tipped millions more people into poverty, but the country last year recorded its first budget surplus since 2010 while inflation fell by nearly half.

Milei was the first foreign leader to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate after the Republican’s November US election victory.

His decision also casts new doubt on Argentina’s future adherence to the 2015 Paris climate change agreement, under which countries committed to limiting greenhouse gas emissions to keep global average temperature rise below a critical threshold.

Withdrawing the United States from the Paris pact was another of Trump’s first moves after taking office.

Milei’s Argentina, pushing for a free trade deal with the United States, has previously said it was “reevaluating” its strategy “on all climate change-related issues.”

Headline

Nnamdi Kanu’s Case Proof Of Religious Persecution In Nigeria – US lawmaker, John James

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

Former chairman of the Africa Subcommittee and now a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative, John James, has claimed that the case of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is proof of religious persecution in Nigeria.

James stated this when the United States House Subcommittee on Africa on Thursday, held a public hearing to review President Donald Trump’s recent redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern.

The hearing in Washington, DC included senior US State Department officials and Nigerian religious leaders.

James claimed that in the case of Nnamdi Kanu, Nigeria’s Court of Appeal had struck down the charges against him and ordered his release in 2022.

He said: “Religious persecution is tied to political repression and weakening institutions in Nigeria. The detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is a clear example.

“In 2022, Nigeria’s Court of Appeals struck down the charges against him and ordered his release.

“The UN Working Group for Arbitrary Detention has also called for his unconditional release, yet he remains in solitary confinement in deteriorating health and recently had to represent himself in court.

“Nigeria has signaled that the law is optional and targeting Christians is fair game. Just hours ago this morning, despite the pleas and cries of Nigerian people and many Nigerian lawmakers, Kanu was convicted on all charges.”

Nnamdi Kanu was on Thursday, sentenced to life imprisonment over terrorism charges.

Headline

Nigerians Don’t Trust Their Govt – US Congressman Riley Moore

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

US Congressman Riley Moore has said that Nigerian people do not trust their government.

Moore stated this on Thursday at US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Africa, which is investigating Trump’s redesignation of Nigeria as a ‘Country of Particular Concern’, CPC.

“The Nigerian people don’t trust their government. ‘How can you trust a government that doesn’t show up when you ask them to?

“The Nigerian government must work with the US in cooperation to address these insecurity issues.

“A case that just happened recently in Plateau state. We had a pastor there who warned the Nigerian government that they were under attack. There’s imminent attack forces here in the next 24 hours. Please come and help us.

“The Nigerian government did not only ignore it but put up a press release that it is fake news,” he said.

Moore would be meeting with a delegation of senior members of the Nigerian government, over the devastating insecurity in Nigeria and the US designation of the country as CPC, DAILY POST reports.

Headline

US Makes U-turn, To Attend G20 Summit In South Africa

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2025

Editor

In an 11th-hour about-turn, the United States has told South Africa it wants to take part in this weekend’s G20 summit in Johannesburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa said Thursday.

President Donald Trump’s administration had said it would not take part in the November 22-23 meeting and that no final statement by G20 leaders could be issued without its presence.

It has clashed with South Africa over various international and domestic policies this year, extending its objections to Pretoria’s G20 priorities for the meeting of leading economies being held for the first time in Africa.

“We have received notice from the United States, a notice which we are still in discussions with them over, about a change of mind about participating in one shape, form or other in the summit,” Ramaphosa told reporters.

“This comes at the late hour before the summit begins. And so therefore, we do need to engage in those types of discussions to see how practical it is and what it finally really means,” he said.

There was no immediate confirmation from US officials.

Ramaphosa said: “We still need to engage with them to understand fully what their participation at the 11th hour means and how it will manifest itself.”

In a note to the government on Saturday, the US embassy repeated that it would not attend the summit, saying South Africa’s G20 priorities “run counter to the US policy views and we cannot support consensus on any documents negotiated under your presidency”.

Ramaphosa said earlier Thursday that South Africa would not be bullied.

“It cannot be that a country’s geographical location or income or army determines who has a voice and who is spoken down to,” he told delegates at a G20 curtain-raiser event.

There “should be no bullying of one nation by another”, he said.

– ‘Positive sign’ –
Ramaphosa said the apparent change of heart was “a positive sign”.

“All countries are here, and the United States, the biggest economy in the world, needs to be here,” he said.

South Africa chose “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” as the theme of its presidency of the G20, which comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies, the European Union and the African Union.

Its agenda focuses on strengthening disaster resilience, improving debt sustainability for low-income countries, financing a “just energy transition” and harnessing “critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development”.

After early objections from Washington, it vowed to press on with its programme and its aim to find consensus on a leaders’ statement on the outcome of the discussions.

“We will not be told by anyone who is absent that we cannot adopt a declaration or make any decisions at the summit,” Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said Thursday.

Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment on a number of issues since he returned to the White House in January, notably making debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country.

He expelled South Africa’s ambassador in March and has imposed 30 percent trade tariffs, the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.

US businesses were well represented at a separate Business 20 (B20) event that wound up in Johannesburg Thursday.

The head of the US Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Clark, thanked South Africa for fostering “real collaboration between G20 nations during a time of rapid change” during its rotating presidency, which transfers to the United States for 2026.

“The US Chamber of Commerce will use our B20 leadership to foster international collaboration,” Clark said.

The United States has significant business interests in South Africa with more than 600 US companies operating in the country, according to the South African embassy in Washington.

G20 members account for 85 percent of global GDP and around two-thirds of the world’s population.