27 August 2021
Mali: Ex-Prime Minister Boubèye Maïga has been arrested because of his alleged implication in a corruption affair around the purchase of the presidential plane, thought to have been overpriced when bought at USD40m.
BBC Africa Live 27 August 2021. 7:27
Zambia: Situmbeko Musokotwane has been named finance minister by new President Hakainde Hichilema. The 65 year-old, who has already been Finance minister 2008-11, has worked for IMF and World Bank – which should prove a good basis for talking to the people Zambia owes money to.
BBC Africa Live 27 August 2021. 16:36
Mozambique: Not sure ex-finance minister Manuel Chang will be extradited after all – challenged by the Mozambique Budget Monitoring Forum (FMO), “a group of civil society organisations” which thinks that “he will not face proper justice at home”, the extradition has been suspended and the hearing challenging it postponed to the 17th of September.
BBC Africa Live 27 August 2021. 15:37
Algeria/Morocco: Algeria will not renew the gas-supply agreement under which it supplies Morocco with 900,000m3 a year of natural gas – the contract expires in October.
BBC Africa Live 27 August 2021. 13:13
Nigeria: The rest of the students who had been kidnapped from an Islamic school in the town of Tegina in Niger State in western Nigeria have been freed after school and parents “paid more money and even bought motorcycles” for the kidnappers. Before that, “(p)arents and school administrators had sold possessions and part of the school's land to pay the ransom. But (the kidnappers had) later said they wanted more money”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58351793
Uganda: In the early 1940s, Uganda hosted Polish refugees who fled from Nazi-occupation, in the 1950s Sudanese refugees fleeing civil war. It “has hosted significant numbers of refugees ever since”. Today’s 1.5 million refugees living in Uganda make it the top refugee-hosting country in Africa. And it is renowned for “being progressive on refugee issues” – refugees have the right to work, freedom of movement and the right to the same social services as Ugandans (incl. health and education). Yet many refugees still struggle. This is partly due to their refugee status not being officially recognized. But the most important lack is that of land – refugees’ main source of income being agriculture and they do get plots of land, but often not enough: “liberal refugee policies (…) must be backed with adequate resources”. Yet “donor funds have not often matched the praise” of Uganda’s refugee policies.
https://theconversation.com/uganda-has-a-remarkable-history-of-hosting-refugees-but-its-efforts-are-underfunded-166706
Gambia: Flights bringing migrants deported from the EU have been formally blocked as “large numbers of returning migrants would cause ‘social upheaval’”. According to the IOM, overseas remittances of around 118,000 Gambians amount to more than 20% of GDP.
BBC Africa Live 27 August 2021. 20:03
26 August 2021
Malaria: Combining a vaccine with taking a preventive drug in the run-up to rainy season reduces malaria deaths in small children by 70% – these research results were described as “striking” even though it sounds complicated.
BBC Africa Live 26 August 2021. 6:39
Polio: A year ago, Africa has been declared polio free. But “(d)espite the efforts of health programmes around the world, there is still a threat that polio could spread again.” Vigilance continues to be needed and vaccination coverage needs to be kept high.
https://theconversation.com/its-been-a-year-since-africa-was-declared-polio-free-but-a-threat-remains-166625
Ethiopia: In Oromia region’s East Wollega zone (where “fertile lands have been a source of tension between the two communities”), clashes between Oromo and Amhara have killed more than 200. It seems like both Oromo and Amhara militia are to blame.
BBC Africa Live 26 August 2021. 17:23