is nearly unprecedented extending from the great lakes near canada to the texas border with mexico across the country. the storm knocked out power to as many as $1500000.00 people with hundreds of thousands more warning that they could be left without electricity. buffalo is the most effected city were more than one meter of snow, fell on sunday, with blizzards, making roads unusable and power stations being frozen. the new york governor described it as a crisis of epic proportion. this is a war with mother nature and she has been hitting us with everything she has. and this will go down in history as the most devastating storm and holiday travellers have also had their christmas plans. ruined as thousands of domestic and international flights have been cancelled due to weather conditions, huge hughes were seen in airports with people lying on the floor waiting for flights to resume. we heard from some of the stranded passengers. i'm terrified,

honestly, i'm maureen. i really hope everything goes smoothly and i'm just praying for the bus. i was not as effective as other people were. you know, some people were my flight. mr. flight met mr. connecting a flight to get to charlotte. so luckily i was able to make here, they have to reschedule whole entire 3. you said to fly into amsterdam, and then to my long love destination, i have to go to the london from london to amsterdam and from amsterdam. so i extended my flying thyme and connection time, and there was that to wrap on the hour's top stories from around the world for 247 coverage had over to r t dot com. and don't forget to follow us on odyssey rumble and gab, thanks for checking in. we'll see you back next hour. a

the news? hello, i'm manila chan. you are tuned into modus operandi the show that explores the methods and patterns of foreign policy all around the world and the history that reverberates in our lives today. now on this episode of the ammo will explore the continent of africa, the world's mind for everything from precious gemstones and diamonds, to ever increasingly critical minerals such as cobalt and lithium needed for modern day tech gadgets. so who's cozying up to the still developing region? then later kenya's latest presidential elections were fraught with drama and debate . accusations of balance stopping and stolen election sounding more like the u. s. 2020 elections than not. so who will lead one of africa top economies? for the coming years? we'll discuss all that and more coming up. all right,

let's get into the ammo. me the recent passing of queen elizabeth the 2nd has revive the decades old conversation about precious gems being returned to africa after what some described as having been stolen from the continent during the colonization period from the 1800s to around the start of world war one the star of africa diamond, which currently rest the top, the sceptre of the british royal family is a $500.00 carrot, clear cut, diamond mind in south africa, 1905. it's slightly smaller sister diamond clapped from the original 3100. carrots fits in. the royal crown, but today the minerals being mined and africa are owned by what seems like just about everyone on the planet there in your cell phone, lithium and cobalt to vital minerals needed for every electronic gadget in the world. from your phone to laptop your tablet,

chances are pretty good. that you have a little piece of africa in your possession and don't even realize it. to discuss this will turn to koala who seni? she is a ph. d, student and environmental science and engineering with a focus on the impact of resource extraction for low carbon technologies at the shanghai jour tongue university. cola, b, d, r. c, the democratic republic of congo supplies some 70 percent give or take the world's cobalt. now, cobalt is an essential or used in lithium batteries. china seems to be the number one contract and buying up this resource. does this effectively also give china more influence in the country from a geopolitical perspective? so, as you fab actually, it's correct. on the r c provides more than 60 percent of the global

calls because of course, a large shares estimate global leveled and couples is extremely important for the global transition towards low carbon technology. and it's used in the tim, i'm batteries. it's also used like super allies and other key industries that are needed as a global level actually not only china, but also other of flooring mining. national industries are involved in the market. and for instance, land core is the major mining industry that extracts a couple. it's andy sauce with british. what you national in addition of is there is china molybdenum, which is a state's own company and it's extract around 10 percent of the total couples in china. how we're in is sorry,

in the r c. however, what is important to not to hear that once the college is extracted in the are see 90 percent of it is been processed in china . so the largest profession and but the stations of the earth you happens in china and b o is not on the affecting the r c, but is affecting the globals like chain for couples. how long? how many more years in the future can countries like d, r c, depend on cobalt as their main export? i mean, will. these economies in africa have to switch perhaps to another mineral resource to sustain their economies? so the importance of the college ins, mccracken republic of congo will be significant also in the following years. and

it's his actually projected the demand of the public is projected to increase we years and to reach a peak around 2050. what can the other countries do is actually to us hearts, recycling cobbles and recycling. it's like from secondary resources and other, for example, used to me i batteries and these will actually reduce the mining impacts in the mac republic of congo. the african continent has been basically the world jewelry store for more than a century is demand for precious stones like diamond specifically, that's still a core export for the continent. and what changes have been made in that industry

over the years as it pertains to human rights and other working conditions. so it depends of course of the country and depends of the resource which is mind in specific. there are claims that there was abuse is in the mining industry, mostly like in the are choosing all mining that are run by cuts, most scale and where miners works, we talk to been regulated. and because of the global low carbon transition needs on increasing demand of critical minerals in which like the african continent is abundance. the chad become such as the flashing on groups, such as such as like there are commune, rubidium, aluminum. always minerals are part of 4 of the industries as a global level and the african nation share a large like like a percentage in the global supply chain. there,

there where negative impacts related to the mine and industries, but at the same time, positive one. because countries in africa have a strong institutional framework actually are getting benefits from it. for instance, in morocco, more than 10 percent of the mining industry represent the local g d p. and this figure is around 7 percent in south africa. so we believe it's important to have a strong institutional framework and to integrate our regulations and policies to make the mind industry more sustainable and more inclusive so that the local communities can be protected. and also the rise of minors. colo, we know that africa is the 2nd largest continent on earth,

only behind asia. there is a tremendous amount of land with what one must imagine is full of valuable earth minerals. can you give us a sort of a broad sense of the mineral resource, wealth of africa, kind of like as a continence of the african nations, are reach in resources and for, for instance, as we have mentioned earlier, more than 60 percent of cobbled is mind in the r c and if you think about like platinum group, more than 90 percent alone is mind in south africa in addition to a large share of manganese and chromium. and there are several minerals that we need in our daily lives that we need for providing solution to climate

change. because these minerals are used and implemented in our clean technologies. the issue here is how we can actually promote other resorts endorsements in the african nation. and how we can lower the mining environmental damages still, but the african nations can in the modern time, avoid the resource course. and historically speaking, how much of africa's resource wealth has actually gone to native africans versus say, international powers? so it started clear speaking as we might all be familiar with in the old centuries, the african nation were attracted with mineral or wealth and also the natural and human capital and those

so many imperialistic countries have actually exploiters, african resources. nowadays, the african nations are more aware about the importance of protecting the ecosystem and giving benefits to their local communities. for instance, the african union into 2009 lounge to the african might envision the objective is to provide a series of guidelines and strategist to make their industry more sustainable. however, one key issue here is that actually most of the african nations of they explore the minerals as or as the concentrates and they lack of the acknowledges that they can implement for

mineral beneath istation. so what they can do in modern time is to like, integrates different technologists to process and to fabricate. there is a resources like from or to final product and to have an imagined role in the global supply chain. how are african countries working today to best use their natural resources for the benefit of their native population? so one that, as we discussed earlier, is the african american invasion, which actually provides already based off regulations and how and started do some how to make of the mining industry more holistic, more inclusive to work their local governments and number

that was taken by several countries. is to regulate the system so to provide a sort of solid minute explanation that will in a way of protect the mining resources from flooring attraction in a way and to make the mining on more profitable for their local communities. and also certain countries like bus one, for instance, they implemented a series of strategies to train local entropy nurse and also to provide like the local mining industry. we've a number of trainings and the assistance so that they can

be more inclusive to the local community. are their outside major players who are assisting in this process and how or why. so because as we have talked about earlier for mckorick republic of congo, the major mining players are flooring industries like glen core and come up kind them leaderman like which is a chinese company. so they flooring money, industries. they still the responsibility of providing some services for the local communities based on their planes. actually, glen core. they be announced that they, that's a number of provisions to train

local communities and to provide medical assistance to build schools for children and also 2 of 5 malaria by providing some decides to the local community around the mining areas. also, the chinese mining states on companies claimed that they are doing assistance to local managers by promoting education, scientific corporation, and also medical assistance. however, it is very questionable whether these companies or be flooring assistance is really making a big change for the local community, or it's rather lighting of the resources and

damaging the system of the mining areas. lastly, a, how is this green energy push impacting africa? so green energy provide both opportunities and challenges for african nations opportunities because we could see that the resource and omens of the african nations can be beneficial to the economic growth to build infrastructures, to provide jobs for the local communities. but at the same times, the challenges comes when these ambitions meet, like a will governance and political instability and whether countries that are abundance in the minerals, they don't have institutional framework that can protect the mineral

resources and their resource richness and endowment. so it is important in this regard for african nations to boost of the legal system and to boost strategy is that integrates more holistic and sustainable approach of 4 of the mining industry. kola who's seni. thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today. and when we return allegations of election fraud, vote tampering, and there we say it collusion. no, we're not talking about the u. s. 2020 presidential election, but rather the 2022 kenyan elections that saw protest and rejection of the results will be right back to discuss kenya on the m i

what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have. it's crazy confrontation, let it be an arms race, movies on, often very dramatic development. only personally, i'm going to resist. i don't see how that strategy will be successful, very political time. time to sit down and talk with ah, oh oh oh oh, a ah,

with the news in kenya, a hotly contested and contentious election cycle for 2 men running for president rylon o' dingle, the former prime minister of kenya. and william rudo, the deputy president, or someone called the vice president of kenya. now, according to local polls, the popularity of these 2 men seemed evenly split with just a slight lead in favor of dingo. now here's the twist. even though william rudo was

the vice president of the outgoing president who, who ruled kenyatta, b incumbent president through his support behind ry lo dinner rather than his own v . p. so with dinner and rudo, nearly neck and neck, and the poles, the extra push coming from kenyata, the son of the very 1st democratically elected president of kenya, gave supporters the impression that o dingo would take the victory. however, when results returned, showing a router when violence broke out in hotspots all over, kenya now claims a fraud irregularities bias from the election board and even the high court railer . oh, dinger took his case to the top only for the court to stay the election results in favor of rudo despite 4 out of 7 election board members disputing the numbers. and

now william rudo has been sworn into office as kenya's, newest president. so joining us to discuss the election drama in kenya is, are you only as the cow way he is? the publisher and editor of the pan african news wire in senegal. thank you for being with us today. the election board return the total number of votes that accounted for over a 100 percent of the registered voters. and this raised a lot of red flags for doing the supporters. plus, there were a number of election board officials who dissented on the certification of william rudolph victory. how do you read that whole situation? well, i'm not sure what the political composition of the i, b c, the independent boundaries and electro commission and what that is based on their

work for people who the senate fall and as a result of that a corporate alicia as has taken this issue to the king supreme court hopefully few days time and they will come back with a decision in regard to whether the elections will legitimate or whether the elections will have to be down over. now we saw there's several years ago where although we're kinyata was initially proclaimed the victor, there was an order from the supreme court to re run the elections. the elections were, we run by the radical dinner, said they were withdrawn from the race due to erect irregularities in the b, e. c. and also due to the violence that was taking place in the country was killed

and injured. a number of people inside of kenya. so hopefully, this year there will be a decision by the supreme court, which will be respected by the majority of people in china. junior is the largest economy in east africa. it plays a very important he to did role throughout the entire region. even barring the contest in small number of ballots. that was, you know, over the number of registered voters. the dingo versus rudo race was already a tight one. can you briefly summarize for us the platforms of these 2 men? i mean, what differentiated them? why do they have comparable numbers in popularity? well, they both come. kenyatta, for example, comes from a political dynasty and junior. his father was the 1st political leader of kinder of gender. general digger is the father of wild junior,

who was in opposition. the 19691972, out of kenyan after national incumbent. present port alana danger in this election, but it was not enough. give him a decisive of good to it. perhaps there was a decision made and after the previous election, that over what support or election since he was barred from my from for the 3rd term. however, william mucho did not agree with that, and he is own political alliance, which i did quite well in the elections i, he was declared the winner, although they have been not just the other issues. so unfortunately, the courts and hopefully because, well,

in the aftermath of decision by the junior supreme court, the kenyan high court has just returned a decision to uphold the victory of william root. ho. will we see more political violence in kenya, one way or the other? yeah, i think this is the correct decision. it took, perhaps a week for the results to be a now officially, i think they wanted to make sure that they had everything in order before the public announcement was made. we can only hope, as has been proven over the last month that the country will remain peaceful and stable. otherwise, i was going to be very, very difficult for the people in tenure to deal with. the current economic slowdown is taking place in the country. is also a problem of drought in some parts of junior, as well as the neighboring somalia. and ethiopia, it's very important for you to stay stable so they can provide leadership of the

current situation in ethiopia. when you have an internal pamphlet is causing a lot of dislocation injuries and deaths, and also in somalia with the ongoing insurgency there. and the need for assistance . so can you has to be a leadership play a leadership role. and all of these efforts in east africa, i o me as a cow way of the pan african news wire. thank you so much for joining us today. so as the u. k closes a chapter of history, what the burial of queen elizabeth kenya, and many a former colonies began to write a new chapter in theirs as the world looks to africa, to help supply and global demand for minerals. that's going to do it for this weeks episode of modus operandi the show that dig deep into foreign policy. i'm your host manila chan. thank you for tuning and we'll see you again next week to figure out

the ammo. ah ah ah ah, with the discovery of the new world at the end of the 15th century, there appeared at atlantic slave trade. the slave traders from european countries started building forth on the western coast of the african continent to transport the african inhabitants to america, to be forced into hard labor. until the middle of the 17th century, portugal had played the main role indies, atrocious business. then great britain,

brand and the netherlands took the leadership for this fan of 400 years of legal and illegal slave trade. about 17000000 people were forcefully shaped across the atlantic. not including those who died on the way due to unbearable living conditions. modern historians estimate that for each slave ship to america, there were 5 who died while captured during transportation, and cruel obliteration of rebellion. this ruthless people tre practice by the leading european countries, took away tens of millions of african lives. the organisation of united nations classifies that trans atlantics, the late trade as one of the gravest human rights abuses in the history of humanity . this is the biggest act of deportation of people ever seen by mankind. i'm

with almost every conspiracy theory that people had about twitter turned out to be true . feel on my moffatt twitter stark past revealing how federal agents pushed it to send for negative information about youth brain labeling. it russian dis information for tina fos. those expels it's un coordinator declaring her persona non grata, accusing the official of painting a negative picture of the country security situation. for now, i really know where we stand and of our re goings. we need to talk to some people who come to dictate them all to us or give us their opinions and china.