08 October 2021
Cameroon: As information collection in Anglophone Cameroon is difficult under civil war conditions, the article’s authors examined tweets “to understand how the conflict was affecting the key determinants of health” including poverty. As for the findings: the “disparities that have resulted from, or have been exacerbated by, the consequences of the conflict” have been classed into eight categories: people feel neglected by government related to health; there is a failure of the education system, with most schools having been closed for years; there have been job losses (with businesses closing), others went for several months without pay or received salary cuts; while poverty was increasing, the government has been discouraging humanitarian support; thousands lost their homes and were displaced (several villages were burned down or seized by the military or non-state armed groups; hundreds of thousands were internally displaced or fled); “(p)eople experienced social exclusion and oppression” (lack of human rights, no freedom of expression); women and girls were especially vulnerable, with sexual violence and rape increasing; health services became more difficult to access (with some hospitals and clinics destroyed; NGOs could not entire replace them).
https://theconversation.com/we-turned-to-twitter-to-understand-conditions-on-the-ground-in-cameroon-168428
Sahel: According to the UN secretary general, NATO is studying options of support for G5 Sahel troops.
BBC Africa Live 08 October 2021. 5:35
Sierra Leone: The death penalty has been abolished after President Bio signed a law decided by Parliament in July. Though 39 death sentences were handed down in 2020 alone, no-one has been executed since 1998.
BBC Africa Live 08 October 2021. 15:05
Zambia: According to President Hichilema, the country owes Chinese lenders over 6bn USD. This had not been disclosed by the government of former President Lungu. Total external debt stands at 14.5bn USD. In 2020, Zambia had defaulted on a debt repayment.
In a 10’54’’ BBC interview, President Hichilema said the hole he and his government found upon taking over was a lot bigger than previously assumed. Corruption was at horrifying levels. But frivolous expenditure would from now on be controlled. Concerning IMF support, he’s not afraid of IMF conditionality, his government’s own conditionalities are tougher than the IMF’s. That the finance minister was the first appointment (the government’s composition is not known yet) was meant as a message: that the economy and investment come first. To improve the derelict state of the economy, peace and stability is needed – that’s why the security sector saw new appointments (the interviewer had called it a “purge” of the defence forces). Government spending is to be decentralised.
The new President’s first budget is only 25 days away.
BBC Africa Live 08 October 2021. 14:29
07 October 2021
Sudan: To put pressure on the government, protesters in the north-east of the country with their blockade of Port Sudan are “throttling the national economy”. Sayed Tirik, chairman of the “High Council for the Tribes of the Beja” stands for people who want to end neglect of the region by Khartoum, who want a fair sharing of power and wealth and a fair representation in the central government. Their demands also include cancelling the Juba peace agreement of 3rd of October 2020. However, Sayed Tirik does not represent the whole region/is by no means supported by all ethnic groups in the north-east (the Beja are just one of 17 in that part of the country). In the meantime, Sudan is running out of basic commodities like essential medicines, fuel and wheat. In the article’s author’s view, the government should refuse “tribalisation” and start discussions with all components of the region in one common forum
https://theconversation.com/blockade-of-port-sudan-whats-behind-it-and-what-can-end-it-169264
Kenya/disinformation on Twitter: NPO Mozilla Foundation has found that there were, in May and June 2021, “at least 11 disinformation campaigns consisting of more than 23,000 tweets and 3,700 participating accounts” used bots (automated software that runs repetitive tasks online) and sock puppet accounts (fake accounts) and “using well-known “influencers” to promote their messages, often coordinated attacks on targeted individuals or campaigns.” There also were “hashtags sponsored or paid for by Kenya’s key political players in an effort to control the national political narrative through various disinformation practices.” Individuals were also targeted, members of pro-democracy activist group Linda Katiba and judges perceived to be anti-government following their court rulings were attacked and some are now fearful to continue engaging in debate. The pockets of freedom provided in digital spaces of social networks are thus seriously under threat: “The invasion and weaponisation of the digital public sphere by well-resourced state operatives and various shadowy groups is therefore worrying.”
There are other “subtle and sophisticated ways of controlling or shaping political agendas and discourses” on social networks, with Tanzania and Nigeria e.g. using copyright laws to silence dissenting voices.
https://theconversation.com/social-media-are-being-hijacked-to-subtly-suppress-opposing-voices-insights-from-kenya-168864
“A rat does not seek wisdom from one place”
BBC Africa Live 07 October 2021. African proverb of the day. A Twi proverb sent by Noble Ohene Gyan in western Ghana.
Tanzania: Human Rights Watch urges the government “to reverse its ban on pregnant students and adolescent mothers attending school”, a measure it considers “discriminatory and inhumane”.
BBC Africa Live 07 October 2021. 10:12
Tanzania: Abdulrazak Gurnah, originally from Tanzania, is this year’s literature Nobel Prize winner “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fate of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents.” He has been living in Great Britain since the 1960s, was “professor of English and Postcolonial Literatures at the University of Kent until his recent retirement.”
BBC Africa Live 07 October 2021. 11:14
BBC Africa Live 07 October 2021. 11:29
BBC Africa Live 07 October 2021. 11:45
https://twitter.com/NobelPrize/status/1446067987417649153?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1446067987417649153%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Flive%2Fworld-africa-47639452
Discontent: Increased protests and riots in Africa can be explained by “disparate distribution of resources, widening inequality and systemic relative deprivation among various groups of people”, with Covid exacerbating “hardships and frustrations”. Economics may be the most important driver of discontent, but “(p)olitical uncertainties, poor service provision and the absence of basic freedoms can overrule economic indicators.”
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/africas-rise-in-protests-is-about-more-than-macroeconomics
Cameroon/Lake Chad Basin: With guns being increasingly used, inter-communal clashes in Cameroon’s Extreme North have become more violent of late. “Climate change increases the competition for scarce resources, which, fuelled by identity-based politics, leads to bloody conflicts.” Before the background of Boko Haram violence, something should be done quickly to calm such inter-communal conflicts before they take on a regional dimension.
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/cameroons-community-violence-adds-to-lake-chad-basin-security-woes
Gambia: After the fallout with the allies that carried him to electoral victory in 2016, President Barrow’s teaming up with the party of long-time dictator Yahya Jammeh now raises serious doubts about his commitment to deliver on promises of justice for Jammeh-era violations. Will the perpetrators ever stand trial? Barrow has broken promises before (to step down after three years and call free elections). Even Jammeh’s return from exile in Equatorial Guinea seems now possible.
https://issafrica.org/iss-today/barrow-puts-political-power-ahead-of-justice-in-the-gambia
Burkina: It is no surprise: Blaise Compaoré (and also his lawyers) will boycott the trial over Thomas Sankara’s assassination on 15th of October 1987. Blaise Compaoré has taken up Ivorian citizenship after his flight from Burkina at the end of 2014 and it is highly unlikely that he be extradited, though an international warrant for his arrest has been issued in 2016.
BBC Africa Live 07 October 2021. 13:37