21 February 2022
Morocco: Over the whole country, protesters have taken to the streets and also to the social media. One issue is rising prices, another the 11th anniversary of a pro-reform and anti-corruption group born out of the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011 – lamenting “that none of their demands for social justice, gender equality among others, have been achieved in 11 years”.
BBC Africa Live 21 February 2022. 4:36
Niger/Nigeria: A Nigerian air strike meant to target armed bandits has accidentally killed 7 children and hurt another 5 in Nachade village in the area of Madarounfa, Niger, close to the Nigerian border. “Niger and Nigeria have been conducting joint military operations against armed gangs responsible for a wave of kidnappings and killings in the region.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60454481
Swahili: The article presents some ideas on how and why Swahili became so big. Nyerere played an important role in this, the African Union much later followed suit, in between, there was prof-activist-author Maulana Ron Karenga with his Kwanzaa celebration.
https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-how-swahili-became-africas-most-spoken-language-177259
Chagos Islands: Great Britain has broken all the rules when it split off the British Indian Ocean Territory i.e. the Chagos archipelago from Mauritius and only decolonized Mauritius, and again when it depopulated the islands between 1965 and 1973 so that the USA had no one bothering them when they erected a military base. London has been told by the UN and by the International Court of Justice that it has no right over the Chagos islands – to no effect. Yet, “(a)ll that remains is for Britain to do the decent thing and decolonise the Chagos Archipelago without delay”
https://theconversation.com/britains-ownership-of-the-chagos-islands-has-no-basis-mauritius-is-right-to-claim-them-177461
Zimbabwe: The opposition party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) launched its campaign for parliamentary by-elections in almost 30 constituencies in the capital Harare on Sunday. 80 or more CCC supporters remain in custody, having been arrested over the weekend in Masvingo (in south-eastern Zimbabwe).
BBC Africa Live 21 February 2022. 6:22
Somalia: Seven deals signed by the petroleum ministry with US firm Coastline Exploration have been nullified by president Farmaajo – he had not been consulted, he says, and such agreements are forbidden during election years. The Prime minister has also rejected the deals. The country’s auditor-general yesterday Sunday said that he had lodged a legal case with the attorney-general, claiming that “the petroleum ministry had signed an ‘unlawful agreement’ which puts at risk Somali resources and the coming generation’.”
BBC Africa Live 21 February 2022. 14:59
20 February 2022
Looted art/Nigeria/Britain: Nigerian artist Victor Ehikhamenor has been invited by St Paul's Cathedral to contribute to reflecting on the British looting of art from ancient Benin (in present-day Nigeria). He has created “Still Standing”, a 3.7 meter-tall rosary-bead tapestry of Oba Ovonramwen, “the Benin monarch who was exiled by the British in 1897”. Dominating the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral, “the radiance of the piece commands attention, challenging the viewer to take another look at a historical episode, and consider the continuing impact of the destruction of the ancient Benin Kingdom.”
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60429725