13 September 2022

Burkina Faso: The head of the junta has dismissed the defence minister General Barthélémy Simporé and will now assume the role himself. No reason was given for the dismissal.
BBC Africa Live 13 September 2022. 7:29

Kenya: The new president has so far been “fond of quoting the scripture, praying and even sobbing in public”, also during his election campaign. The evangelical Christian is “likely to put religion centre-stage while in office”, though apparently, the self-styled “hustler” “plans to be the leader of people from all faiths” (11% of Kenyans are Muslims, around 85% Christians). Ruto has also said that “(t)here is no room for homosexuality in Kenya” and he opposes abortion.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62835681

Kenya: Food security is a big worry for Kenyans. The price of maize has doubled over the past year. The article’s author advises the new Kenyan government what to do for a sustainable solution
https://theconversation.com/kenyas-maize-price-has-doubled-in-a-year-6-ways-to-avoid-a-staple-food-shortage-190149

Kenya: William Ruto has today Tuesday been sworn in as President. Rigathi Gachagua, the new Vice President, “sent crowds into laughter after he fumbled while taking” his oath.
BBC Africa Live 13 September 2022. 11:46
BBC Africa Live 13 September 2022. 12:08

South Africa/Racism in the media: The article’s author’s content analysis of six South African English-language newspapers from 1994 to 2014 shows that substantial black ownership of South Africa’s commercial media resulting from Black Economic Empowerment/BEE “did not significantly “transform” historical racist tropes (over-used themes and clichés) of blackness in South Africa’s newspaper content.” Racism is subtle, “inferential”, by no means overt, with black people presented as “deviants”, “disorderly”, “criminals”, “lawless”, “incompetent”, the “damned”, or “excessively violent”. Yet media should transform ideologies of the past…
https://theconversation.com/racism-in-south-african-newspapers-persists-even-after-decades-of-black-media-ownership-190105

Sudan: According to Unicef and NGO Save the Children, a third of the country’s children miss out on school. Amongst the reasons are unrest following the October 2021 coup d’état, “skyrocketing” inflation, lack of infrastructure, lack of teacher…
BBC Africa Live 13 September 2022. 9:05




12 September 2022

Senegal: 73 out of 165 – 44% – of parliamentary seats are now held by women, the country is 4th in Africa and 18th in the world with this proportion not too far from parity. “According to a UN report, outside Senegal, only 15 of 111 elected or appointed parliamentary or ministerial positions were filled by women in West Africa and the Sahel between December and June.”
BBC Africa Live 12 September 2022. 17:16

Cameroon: In 1986, 1.24 million tonnes of carbon dioxide gas that had been accumulating at the bottom of Lake Nyos were suddenly released and they killed (suffocated) 1,746 people and about 8,300 livestock. A similar event at Lake Monoum had killed 37 in 1984. Now there are fears that something along the same lines is about to happen at Lake Kuk, only 10 km away from Lake Nyos. The article’s author explains which lakes in Cameroon are at risk of “exploding”. In his view, not enough is being done to mitigate the risks in gas-charged hazardous lakes.
https://theconversation.com/cameroons-exploding-lakes-disaster-expert-warns-deadly-gas-release-could-cause-another-tragedy-190154