17 November 2021
Ethiopia: The US State Department is urging US citizens to leave Ethiopia immediately. There would not be a mass evacuation even if the security situation worsened. So far, “the US has held off approving sanctions against the warring parties, because peace negotiations are still active.”
BBC Africa Live 17 November 2021. 4:44
Covid: The consequences of school closures are dramatic, be it on the economic or on the psychological level. On top of that, inequalities grow, as the well to do-students are much less hurt, having good internet access, while the poorest will pay the heaviest price.
https://theconversation.com/the-cost-of-covid-what-happens-when-children-dont-go-to-school-171606
Nigeria/Rape: Nigerian authorities have declared a ‘state of emergency’ on sexual and gender-based violence. But that has not changed much. According to an Amnesty International report “the failure of authorities to tackle the rape crisis has emboldened perpetrators and silenced survivors” and “rape continues to be among the most prevalent human rights violations in Nigeria”. Rapists often pay bribes to stop police from investigating. Many “cases of rape go unreported due to pervasive corruption, stigma and victim-blaming”.
BBC Africa Live 17 November 2021. 15:48
Nigeria: Buhari is “a leader who has abdicated the duties and responsibilities of leading”. He’s shown that with the #EndSars protests last year. And you certainly should not expect federalisation from him. By name, Nigeria is a federation, but it has become strongly centralised and power has become “distant, unresponsive and insufferably corrupt and inefficient.” And Buhari’s agenda of fulanisation runs contrary to nationhood and unity.
https://theconversation.com/nigeria-is-a-federation-in-name-only-why-buhari-isnt-the-man-to-fix-the-problem-171133
Kenya: The Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) is an umbrella organisation for 43 community conservancies in the north of the country. The Oakland Institute, a US-based policy think-tank, is accusing the NRT “of dispossessing communities of land in the name of conservation” through intimidation and violence and says that “its armed ranger units have engaged in human rights abuses”, ethnic violence and extrajudicial killings.
BBC Africa Live 17 November 2021. 11:25
Sudan: If it had not been for the putsch, al-Burhan was meant to hand over the leadership of the Sovereign Council to a civilian today. Another day of protests against the putsch is under way. Telephone and internet connections have been switched off by the authorities.
BBC Africa Live 17 November 2021. 0512:05
Violences faites aux filles/Niger : Depuis hier, mardi, et jusqu’à demain, jeudi Union Africaine et ONU organisent le 3e Sommet des filles africaines à Niamey. Le sommet traite surtout des violences faites aux filles et aux femmes, entre autres les mariages d’enfants et les MGF/excision.
https://www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/20211117-niger-un-sommet-pour-trouver-une-solution-durable-aux-violences-faites-aux-femmes
ECOWAS: Senior officers of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) have started a 3-day summit in Abidjan today, Wednesday. While discussing the Barkhane withdrawal and AU’s offer to send 3,000 troops to the region, they will “assess current operations and reflect on the prospects for improving security in the Ecowas zone”.
BBC Africa Live 17 November 2021. 16:56
16 November 2021
South Africa/Literature: Nokuthula Mazibuko Msimang, a writer, filmmaker and lecturer, has interviewed Zakes Mda about his latest novel “Wayfarers’ Hymns”. Centred on famo music, a genre of music in Lesotho, very popular there, it uses their hymns to talk about gang wars – the gangs led by musicians. So the novel talks about toxic masculinity. But also about strong women. About the latter, Zakes Mda says: “In many instances, they’re the people who drive life in those environments. And therefore, they drive my story.”
https://theconversation.com/zakes-mda-on-his-latest-novel-set-in-lesothos-musical-gang-wars-170839
South Africa: The continent’s most murderous city is home to about 130 gangs. “For the people living along the margins of Cape Town, joining a gang offsets a lack of development and governance, and helps members access opportunities for self-protection, dignity and income.” While it is often thought that, once in a gang, you cannot get out, the article’s author has – after five years of ethnographic research – written a book based on the life stories of 24 former gang members who did manage to get out. It is dangerous – and it is difficult: it needs a total change in cultural capital.
https://theconversation.com/heres-how-some-of-cape-towns-gangsters-got-out-and-stayed-out-170485
Sudan: El Musalmi El Kabbashi, Al Jazeera TV network's bureau chief, one of hundreds arrested after the recent military takeover in Khartoum, has been released.
BBC Africa Live 16 November 2021. 6:25
“If you invite people into your parlour, they will want to come into your bedroom”
BBC Africa Live 16 November 2021. 4:45 African proverb of the day. A Krio proverb sent by Ghazi Bahsoon in Sierra Leone.
Uganda: The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) aka the Central Africa Province of the Islamic State are thought to be behind today’s two suicide attacks in central Kampala – one near parliament, the other close to police headquarters.. This was their biggest attack yet. 6 killed, amongst them three suicide bombers, and dozens injured.
BBC Africa Live 16 November 2021. 14:18
Nigeria: The Lekki killings report, leaked on yesterday/Monday night, seems to corroborate protesters’ accounts. After the “massacre”, the authorities tried to cover it all up.
BBC Africa Live 16 November 2021. 14:59