25 November 2021
Violence against women and children in South Africa: An ISS report – downloadable under the given link – presents comprehensive evidence “of interventions in South Africa to prevent violence against women and violence against children, that were documented between 1999 and 2021. It identifies and distils principles, approaches and activities that hold promise for effectively reducing violence experienced by women and children in South Africa.”
https://issafrica.org/research/southern-africa-report/preventing-violence-against-women-and-children-an-evidence-review?utm_source=BenchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=ISS_Weekly_FR&utm_medium=email
South Africa: The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have backed Mpho Phalatse of the Democratic Alliance (DA) so that he could be elected Johannesburg mayor, thus prevailing against ANC candidate Mpho Moerane.
BBC Africa Live 23 November 2021. 11:17 23 Nov
South Sudan: While the transitional unity government will be two years old soon, only a bit more than one year remains for reaching the objectives laid down in the 2018 peace agreement. On 1st of December, ISS is holding a Zoom seminar on “what needs to be achieved in the next year, the realities within which the peace agreement is being implemented and how various actors and warring parties have adjusted to the power-sharing arrangement”.
https://issafrica.org/events/the-clock-is-ticking-on-south-sudans-transition?utm_source=BenchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=ISS_Weekly_FR&utm_medium=email
Somalia: With the drought worsening (rains have failed three times), the Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency. According to the UN, 3.5 million are already in a situation of acute food insecurity
BBC Africa Live 24 November 2021. 6:39 24 Nov
Somalia: Meeting the 24 December deadline for the presidential elections will hardly be possible. Even if some progress has been made, it is minor. Which is no surprise, seen that there are quite a few “stallers”, first and foremost the still-president Farmajo (who is not sure at all he will win at the elections, though he would be allowed a second term). If nothing advances, the political opposition could get frustrated and tensions could explode.
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/somalias-democracy-by-instalments?utm_source=BenchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=ISS_Weekly_FR&utm_medium=email
eSwatini: The 2021 protest movement, according to the article’s author, is a pure “youthquake” – frustrated youths try to change the political system so as to participate. The constitution-making which started in the 1960s has never been finished. Support comes from the outside – the US and EU called for freedom of political expression in the Africa’s last absolute monarchy. Will the upcoming National Dialogue Forum be able to introduce meaningful changes?
https://theconversation.com/what-lies-behind-uprisings-in-eswatini-the-unfinished-business-of-democratic-reform-171844
Nigeria: The leaked Lekki massacre report is a fake. So says Information minister Lai Mohammed. Hear hear!
BBC Africa Live 23 November 2021. 10:41 23 Nov
Nigeria: After 2005 and 2008, the country is experiencing its third inflationary bout of food items of the last two decades. Food is cheaper in the north, more expensive in the north. The difference in prices can be explained by the cost of diesel – almost all of it imported. It is not the farmers up north who gain from the higher food prices in the country’s south but the diesel producers or importers. Now Dangote wants to build the world’s largest refinery. Though this is good news for the Nigerian trade balance and its forex reserves, the overall effects remain to be seen.
https://theconversation.com/nigerias-food-inflation-losers-winners-and-a-possible-solution-172313
Tanzania: For almost 20 years, pregnant students had been banned from attending school. Around 6,500 girls dropped out of school every year due to pregnancy. On Wednesday, Education Minister Joyce Ndalichako has announced the decision to remove the ban.
BBC Africa Live 25 November 2021. 12:18
Gambia: The country's Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission has said it will submit the report on human rights violations during the 22-year rule of Yayha Jammeh to President Adama Barrow today, Thursday. Barrow then has one month to study it before submitting it to Parliament. “The president is also expected to issue a detailed outline of how the government plans to implement the recommendations of the findings within six months.”
BBC Africa Live 25 November 2021. 10:05
Burkina Faso: The governments suspending mobile internet services for 4 days, then extending the suspension for another 4 days does not go down well with the concerned.
BBC Africa Live 25 November 2021. 5:49
BBC Africa Live 9:11 24 Nov
Ethiopia: The UK is urging its citizens to leave (has even suspended Covid regulations for returnees), the US embassy warns of possible terror attacks in Addis, and according to the French embassy, “(a)ll French nationals are formally urged to leave the country without delay”.
BBC Africa Live 24 November 2021. 17:32 24 Nov
BBC Africa Live 24 November 2021. 14:03 24 Nov
BBC Africa Live 23 November 2021. 14:02 23 Nov
Ghana/Poetry: British-Ghanaian poet Dzifa Benson has been awarded the 33,000 USD-worth Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship, the most important British poetry prize.
BBC Africa Live 24 November 2021. 16:31 24 Nov
Sudan: Coup leader Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has reinstated Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok but protests are continuing, demanding that the military completely withdraw from politics. The US wants to see more progress (e.g. the freeing of political prisoners) before resuming aid. According to Hamdok, investigations into violations against protesters since the 25 October military coup have been launched. Furthermore, all appointments made during his detention will be reviewed.
BBC Africa Live 24 November 2021. 11:10 24 Nov
BBC Africa Live 24 November 2021. 7:44 24 Nov
BBC Africa Live 23 November 2021. 5:29 23 Nov
BBC Africa Live 22 November 2021. 15:00 22 Nov
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59364349
Mozambique: After a suspension of nearly 2 years, the collection of crocodile eggs is to be resumed along Zambezi River so as to reduce crocodile attacks on people. Environmentalists say this could endanger biodiversity.
BBC Africa Live 23 November 2021. 17:03 23 Nov
Liberia: 7,000 women have shown up in Monrovia for pre-recruitment physical training for 100 women (among 200 personnel) to be recruited by the army.
BBC Africa Live 23 November 2021. 16:46 23 Nov
20 November 2021
Sudan: Journalist Mohanad Hashim had only returned from exile in Britain in August 2020 to work for the Sudan National Broadcasting Corporation (SNBC). The recent putsch happened while he was on leave in Britain and he finds himself blocked there: the “SNBC is once again the mouthpiece of the regime”. And like so many, he feels betrayed by the military, not least because of the “internet blackout, the repression and arrest of journalists, the closure of newspapers and FM stations, the suspension of the BBC's and RFI's local FM relays and the enactment of laws to curb the freedom of anti-coup voices”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59345561