Pope Francis appealed for religious unity Thursday as he addressed tens of thousands of people at a football stadium after meeting faith leaders at Southeast Asia’s biggest mosque in Indonesia.

“I encourage you to sow seeds of love, confidently tread the path of dialogue, continue to show your goodness and kindness… and be builders of unity and peace,” he told more than 80,000 devotees packed into the stadium in the Indonesian capital.

The 87-year-old pontiff earlier met Grand Imam Nasaruddin Umar at Jakarta’s Istiqlal Mosque, where they signed a declaration warning against using religion to stoke conflict and appealed for action against climate change.

Francis’s packed schedule on Thursday capped the first stop of a gruelling Asia-Pacific tour, the longest of his papacy, that will take him to Papua New Guinea on Friday and then to East Timor and Singapore.


He appeared to be in good spirits despite fears over his health as he addressed excited Catholics, who make up about three percent of the population of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country.

Anastasia Ida Ediati, a 59-year-old notary who went to the stadium with 200 other members of her parish, said she was filled with joy that she was lucky enough to be invited.

“We Catholics have such a charismatic and humble leader. His visit is especially meaningful for us, as many of us who are older may not have this opportunity again,” she told AFP.


With President Joko Widodo in attendance, the pope entered Indonesia’s national football stadium in a tactical vehicle built by an Indonesian state-run defence company.

– Conflict, climate –
The crowd had arrived on packed buses hours before, many of them wearing t-shirts showing the pope and taking group photos with the huge stadium in the background.

Pope Francis stood up to speak and start the mass despite humid conditions.

He had not travelled abroad since visiting Marseille in France in September last year and, as standard procedure, has been accompanied by his personal doctor and two nurses.

Unity between faiths has been the central theme of his trip and the declaration signed at the Istiqlal Mosque, Southeast Asia’s largest, called for “religious harmony for the sake of humanity”.

“The global phenomenon of dehumanisation is marked especially by widespread violence and conflict. It is particularly worrying that religion is often instrumentalised in this regard,” it read.

“The role of religion should include promoting and safeguarding the dignity of every human life.”


Francis underlined his message of unity in a speech before leaders of Indonesia’s six recognised religions — Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

“We are all brothers, all pilgrims, all on our way to God, beyond what differentiates us,” he said.

The pope was welcomed to the mosque by a percussion band often used in Islamic ceremonies.

Once seated, he and Nasaruddin listened to a passage from the Koran recited by a young blind girl and a passage from the Bible.

– ‘Save our environment’ –
Francis also visited a “tunnel of friendship” that links the mosque to Jakarta’s cathedral across the street, signing a section of the tunnel.

The declaration signed with Nasaruddin also pinpointed the environmental crisis as a threat to human civilisation and called for “decisive action” to counter global warming.

“The human exploitation of creation, our common home, has contributed to climate change,” it read.


It said climate change had led “to various destructive consequences such as natural disasters, global warming and unpredictable weather patterns”.

Francis has made several visits to Muslim-majority countries. He signed a document on human brotherhood with the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam’s prestigious seat of learning, on a 2019 visit to the United Arab Emirates.

The trip to Indonesia is the third by a pope and the first since John Paul II in 1989.

Catholics number about eight million people in Indonesia, compared with the 87 percent, or 242 million, who are Muslim.

AFP

African leaders descend on China’s capital this week, seeking funds for big-ticket infrastructure projects as they eye mounting great power competition over resources and influence on the continent.


China has expanded ties with African nations in the past decade, furnishing them with billions in loans that have helped build infrastructure but also sometimes stoked controversy by saddling countries with huge debts.

China has sent hundreds of thousands of workers to Africa to build its megaprojects, while tapping the continent’s vast natural resources including copper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.


Beijing has said this week’s China-Africa forum will be its largest diplomatic event since the Covid-19 pandemic, with leaders of South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and other nations confirmed to attend and dozens of delegations expected.

African countries were “looking to tap the opportunities in China for growth”, Ovigwe Eguegu, a policy analyst at consultancy Development Reimagined, told AFP.

China, the world’s number two economy, is Africa’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade hitting $167.8 billion in the first half of this year, according to Chinese state media.

Beijing’s loans to African nations last year were their highest in five years, research by the Chinese Loans to Africa Database found. Top borrowers were Angola, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria and Kenya.

But analysts said an economic slowdown in China has made Beijing increasingly reluctant to shell out big sums.

China has also resisted offering debt relief, even as some African nations have struggled to repay their loans — in some cases being forced to slash spending on vital public services.

Since the last China-Africa forum six years ago, “the world experienced a lot of changes, including Covid, geopolitical tension and now these economic challenges”, Tang Xiaoyang of Beijing’s Tsinghua University told AFP.

The “old model” of loans for “large infrastructure and very rapid industrialization” is simply no longer feasible, he said.

The continent is a key node in Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, a massive infrastructure project and central pillar of Xi Jinping’s bid to expand China’s clout overseas.

The BRI has channelled much-needed investment to African countries for projects like railways, ports and hydroelectric plants.


Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe (C) arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on September 1, 2024. (Photo by Ken Ishii / POOL / AFP)


But critics charge Beijing with saddling nations with debt and funding infrastructure projects that damage the environment.

One controversial project in Kenya, a $5 billion railway — built with finance from Exim Bank of China — connects the capital Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa.

But a second phase meant to continue the line to Uganda never materialised, as both countries struggled to repay BRI debts.

Kenya’s President William Ruto last year asked China for a $1 billion loan and the restructuring of existing debt to complete other stalled BRI projects.

The country now owes China more than $8 billion.

Recent deadly protests in Kenya were triggered by the government’s need “to service its debt burden to international creditors, including China”, said Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at London’s Chatham House.

In light of such events, Vines and other analysts expect African leaders at this week’s forum to seek not only more Chinese investment but also more favourable loans.

‘Lack leverage’
In central Africa, Western and Chinese firms are racing to secure access to rare minerals.

The continent has rich deposits of manganese, cobalt, nickel and lithium — crucial for renewable energy technology.


Mali’s interim president Assimi Goita arrives at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on September 1, 2024. (Photo by Ken Ishii / POOL / AFP)


The Moanda region of Gabon alone contains as much as a quarter of known global reserves of manganese, and South Africa accounts for 37 percent of global output of the metal.

Cobalt mining is dominated by the Democratic Republic of Congo, which accounts for 70 percent of the world total. But in terms of processing, China is the leader, at 50 percent.

Mounting geopolitical tensions between the United States and China, which are clashing over everything from the status of self-ruled Taiwan to trade, also weigh on Africa.

Washington has warned against what it sees as Beijing’s malign influence.

In 2022, the White House said China sought to “advance its own narrow commercial and geopolitical interests (and) undermine transparency and openness”.

Beijing insists it does not want a new cold war with Washington but rather seeks “win-win” cooperation, promoting development while profiting from boosted trade.

“We do not just give aid, give them help,” Tsinghua University’s Tang said.

“We are just partners with you while you are developing. We are also benefiting from it.”

But analysts fear African nations could be forced to pick sides.

“African countries lack leverage against China,” Development Reimagined’s Eguegu said.

“Some people… think you can use the US to balance China,” he said. “You cannot.”

AFP

The United States, US, Republic presidential candidate, Donald Trump, on Sunday warned Americans against his counterpart from the Democrat, Kamala Harris.


Trump warned that Harris would bring about poverty and chaos to Americans if voted president.

The former US president described Harris as a threat to America’s democracy.


Posting on X, Trump said the Vice President is the weakest presidential candidate in US history.

He wrote: “Think of it, America, Pocahontas, sometimes referred to as Elizabeth Warren, is considered far more Conservative in the U.S. Senate than Comrade Kamala Harris ever was.

“Is this really what we want to be President of the United States? She will only bring us Poverty, Chaos, and Heartache! Kamala is rated, by far, the Number One Most Liberal Senator.


“Kamala Harris is the Weakest Presidential Candidate in History on Crime. She’s allowed millions of people to pour through our Borders, many from prisons, mental institutions and, indeed, terrorists, coming in at levels never seen before.

“What gives her the right to run for President? She got no votes to Biden’s 14 Million. She failed in her previous attempt, was the first one out of 22 people to quit, never made it to Iowa, and now she’s a Presidential Candidate? This is a Threat to Democracy!