<p><strong>Mozambique seeks EU help amid ISIS crisis:</strong> After an <a href="https://www.gzeromedia.com/what-were-watching-japanese-pm-falls-ill-isis-in-mozambique-eastern-med-tensions-rise" target="_self">army assault</a> failed last month to reclaim a strategic port from Islamic State-linked fighters, Mozambique is now turning to the European Union for <a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/world/africa/2020-09-23-mozambique-asks-eu-for-help-amid-wave-of-islamic-state-attacks/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">help</a>, so far to train its military. The jihadis, who took control of the port in northern Cabo Delgado province in mid-July, are still holding out despite frequent attacks by Mozambican soldiers assisted by foreign <a href="https://allafrica.com/stories/202007270611.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">mercenaries</a>. Meanwhile, the government is running out of ideas for how to put end to a standoff that is <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/islamist-attacks-in-mozambique-threaten-to-disrupt-total-led-natural-gas-project-11597944723" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">affecting</a> major foreign investments in offshore liquified natural gas projects that need access to the port. If the <a href="https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/feature/2020/05/28/Mozambique-Cabo-Delgado-Islamic-State-SADC" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">crisis</a> — which has already killed over 1,500 people and displaced more than 300,000 since the rebels first tried to seize the port in 2017 — continues, we're watching to see if Mozambique asks the EU to go beyond training military assistance launch its third combat mission to Africa to prevent ISIS from gaining a foothold in the southern part of the continent.</p><p><strong>Polish government cracks up over… fur?</strong> Poland's right-wing coalition government is <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-animals/polands-ruling-party-says-coalition-could-collapse-over-animal-rights-bill-idUSKBN268250" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">on the brink of collapse</a> after a massive internal revolt over a bill that outlaws the fur industry and prohibits the ritual slaughter of meat for export. The bill was championed by <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-poland-election-kaczynski/polands-kaczynski-steps-out-of-shadows-to-mobilize-rural-vote-idUSKBN1WQ0Q9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jaroslaw Kaczynski</a>, leader of the dominant Law and Justice party (PiS), but it provoked a backlash from rural Poles and farmers. In the end, more than a dozen PiS members voted against it, as did the members of junior coalition partner United Poland. The rift isn't just about fur: The leader of United Poland, the ultranationalist Zbigniew Ziobro, is staking a claim to leadership of the Polish conservative movement that has put him directly at odds with PiS party elders. Senior PiS members <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/animal-rights-bill-threatens-to-break-polands-ruling-coalition/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">say</a> they are willing to ditch United Poland, form a minority government, and call fresh elections. But that's a big gamble: in 2019 the PiS managed to cobble together a majority only with United Poland's help.</p>
Read Now
Show less