11 June 2022
UK/Rwanda: With the judge in charge arguing that he considers that there is no evidence there would be ill-treatment, refoulement or anything that violated the deported asylum seekers’ rights, the High Court in Britain has allowed the first flight taking UK asylum seekers to Rwanda to go ahead on Tuesday. Campaigners will take the case to the Court of Appeal on Monday. NB that according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UK’s arrangement with Rwanda is unlawful.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61763818
Alien species in the oceans and climate change: Shipping – which takes care of 90% of world trade – is the main pathway for marine species invasions and it is nowadays next to impossible to find a part of the ocean that has not been invaded by an alien species. Climate change altering temperatures and chemistry of the oceans will speed up this process of marine species invasion. The article gives some examples from South Africa.
https://theconversation.com/alien-species-are-moving-across-oceans-faster-climate-change-will-accelerate-this-184415
10 June 2022
NgÅ©gÄ© wa Thiong’o: As Kenya celebrated the 59th anniversary of its independence, a 45-year-old play was staged. “Ngaahika Ndeenda” (I Will Marry When I Want) was NgÅ©gÄ© wa Thiong’o’s first play in Gikuyu – before that, he had only written in English. And it promptly got him into prison (without trial) in 1977 from which he was only released after the then-president’s death. And shortly after, he was forced into exile. He only set foot in Kenya decades later – he was enthusiastically welcomed – but also “brutally attacked and his wife raped” in their hotel. In 2014, he was hosted by the president: “(Jomo) Kenyatta put me in a maximum security prison. Moi drove me into exile. Uhuru (Kenyatta) received me at the State House”. The shows of his 45-year-old play, which is about social inequities and justice, were sold out.
https://theconversation.com/drama-that-shaped-ngugis-writing-and-activism-comes-home-to-kenya-184353
Sudan: If the US embassy in Khartoum is to be believed, the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), after refusing perseveringly to talk to the military rulers since the October 2021 putsch, have “begun informal talks with the military mediated by the United States and Saudi Arabia” to explore possible solutions for the Sudanese crisis.
BBC Africa Live 10 June 2022. 6:34