07 July 2022
Tunisia: Ons Jabeur today Thursday reached the Wimbledon finals, beating her German friend Tatjana Maria 6-2 3-6 6-1 in the semi-finals.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/live/tennis/58529472
BBC Africa Live 07 July 2022. 14:42
Zimbabwe: Ndabaningi Sithole (1920-2000) was the first president of the Zimbabwe African National Union (Zanu), from 1963 until the mid-1970s, when Mugabe staged a palace coup against him. The article’s author believes that this leading intellectual, author of many books needs to be rediscovered and reread.
https://theconversation.com/ndabaningi-sithole-zimbabwes-forgotten-intellectual-and-leader-185494
South Africa: Sandfish can grow to up to half a meter. They “keep rivers clean and the food web balanced”. But they are under threat in the Olifant-Doring river system in the country’s arid south-west. “(T)hey need healthy, connected rivers that hold water year-round and don’t harbour alien species.” With climate change and other human intrusions, conditions have substantially worsened for them. The Saving Sandfish project tries to remedy that in cooperation with landowners, farmworkers and other stakeholders, for example by off-stream farm dams acting as nurseries for young sandfish, where they grow up safely to reach 20 cm – when they can safely be released back into the wild.
https://theconversation.com/south-africas-sandfish-are-on-the-brink-of-extinction-how-farmers-are-helping-rescue-them-185425
Congo-Kinshasa: The handing back of a tooth – all that’s left of Patrice Lumumba – came without a formal apology. Overall, it looks like the death of Lumumba has cast a spell on his country: “(t)he rest of the world continues to benefit from Congolese talents and minerals while the country itself regresses.” Handing back of stolen art could be a beginning to meaningful reparations – something substantial is needed: “acts of reparations (…) must include socioeconomic and cultural deliverables”.
https://theconversation.com/patrice-lumumbas-tooth-represents-plunder-resilience-and-reparation-186241
Pan-Africa: A year late, the Pan-African Parliament has finally elected a president and four vice-presidents. The non-election of 2021 and controversies surrounding it have tarnished the image of the institution whose real problem, though, is that “it is almost impossible to imagine AU member states conceding any real powers to continental legislators. Most leaders, arguably, don’t concede such power even to their own legislatures” and they are unlikely to want to be held to account by a Pan-African institution.
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-pan-african-parliament-finally-elects-a-president
Youth gangs in Abidjan: EnactAfrica announces the publication of a report on the “microbes”, violent youth gangs that terrorise poor parts of the Ivorian economic capital Abidjan. The author, Sébastien Hervieu, argues that “(p)rioritising public investment in areas where these violent youth gangs live is key to reducing the poverty that spawns the groups.” Download the report on:
https://enactafrica.org/research/research-papers/the-microbes-of-abidjan
06 July 2022
Nigeria: 879 prisoners escaped, amongst them dozens of Boko Haram suspects, when Kuje prison not far from Abuja was attacked – most probably by Boko Haram. About half of the escapees (443) have returned voluntarily or been recaptured.
BBC Africa Live 06 July 2022. 13:15
Tunisia: 10 people, amongst them head of Ennahda party Rached Ghannouchi, a fierce critic of president Saïed, and Hamadi Jebali, a former Prime minister, have had their bank accounts plus financial assets frozen by the country’s financial auditor.
BBC Africa Live 06 July 2022. 7:35
Nigeria: A convoy of staff of president Buhari, travelling ahead to the president’s hometown Daura for Tabaski festival, was attacked by gunmen. Two were injured before the military could repel the attackers.
BBC Africa Live 06 July 2022. 4:31
Uganda: After a cabinet decision, Swahili is now an official language in Uganda.
BBC Africa Live 06 July 2022. 6:25