25 August 2021
Zimbabwe: In the 1980s in Matabeleland, around 20,000 dissidents were killed in the Gukurahundi massacres. The children of those victims that died/disappeared without being declared dead have suffered because, without the parent’s death certificate, they cannot get identity documents. They cannot exercise their right to vote or may become stateless if going abroad to look for work.
BBC Africa Live 25 August 2021. 12:28
Mali: In the article’s author’s view, the objectives set out in Prime minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga’s Action plan are laudable but do not go far enough, especially where national security is concerned and where “everyday peace at the local level” is forgotten. “(S)ome of the non-state armed forces (should be integrated) into the national army to better protect local communities from criminal violence and intransigent insurgents. This would create the kind of everyday peace in the markets, schools and neighbourhoods that is now lacking.” On a different count, there are elements in Maïga’s Action plan that may be setting up a prolongation of the transition period, the allotted time simply being too short.
https://theconversation.com/malis-roadmap-for-lasting-peace-has-laudable-goals-but-it-doesnt-go-far-enough-166419
Kenya: The Court of Appeal considers that President Kibaki’s Constitution Amendment Bill 2020 (also known as the Building Bridges Initiative) goes too far, is no longer an amendment but amounts to a dismemberment of the Kenyan constitution. The Court of Appeal has thus upheld the High Court’s prohibiting the bill.
https://theconversation.com/kenyan-judges-stop-presidents-reforms-as-attempt-to-dismember-the-constitution-166587
Niger: 16 soldiers were killed and 9 wounded when Islamists attacked an army post near Diffa. According to the army, its counter-attack killed 50 Boko Haram fighters. “Earlier, the army in Niger said it had killed about 100 jihadists in the south-west of the country, near the border with Burkina Faso.”
BBC Africa Live 25 August 2021. 18:47
Nigeria: A 24-hour curfew has been imposed in Plateau state capital Jos after gunmen killed at least 18 people during an apparently carefully planned raid on a Christian community Tuesday night in the city’s outskirts. “Plateau state has suffered years of deadly ethnic and religious violence as well as clashes between farmers and herders.” Earlier in August, “dozens of Muslim travellers (were killed) by a mob in a Christian dominated neighbourhood”.
BBC Africa Live 25 August 2021. 17:50
24 August 2021
Zambia: Now that he has won, the new president, Hakainde Hichilema, will have to reign in the so-called “cadres”, also and first of all those of his own party, “unemployed men who extort money, provide informal security for party elites, and disrupt opposition events.” There is the fight against corruption and for the restoration of the rule of law, but his main task will be fixing the economy, with the IMF demanding austerity. “Hichilema will have to balance austerity and the high expectations of the many unemployed young people and struggling people who voted for him.”
https://theconversation.com/why-edgar-lungu-and-his-party-lost-zambias-2021-elections-166513
Zambia: In what is the third peaceful and democratic transfer of power over the last three decades, president Hakainde Hichilema has today Tuesday taken his oath of office. In his inauguration speech, he made big promises: he would not only fix, but also grow the economy. And: “No Zambian should go to bed hungry.” There will be three decent meals a day for everyone. There would be reforms in the mining, energy, land and tourism sectors, he said, and zero tolerance towards corruption.
BBC Africa Live 24 August 2021. 13:37
Nigeria: Latest in a series of attacks and kidnappings from schools: today Tuesday early in the morning, unknown gunmen have attacked the Nigerian Defence Academy in Kaduna, “the premier military university of West Africa”. They killed two and abducted one.
BBC Africa Live 24 August 2021. 14:27
Somalia: Al-Shabab has recaptured Amara in Gelmudug region, a “strategic town in central Somalia” which had only recently been conquered by the Somali army after having been held by al-Shabab for a decade.
BBC Africa Live 24 August 2021. 16:47