31 January 2023

SADC/Congo-Kinshasa/Rwanda/eSwatini: The main focus of the extraordinary summit of the Southern African Development Community in Windhoek will be the conflict between Kinshasa and Rwanda in Eastern Congo. A statement is furthermore expected on the recent killing of human rights lawyer and pro-democracy activist Thulani Maseko in eSwatini.
BBC Africa Live 31 January 2023. 10:27

Addis Ababa, Kampala, Kigali: With East Africa one of the fastest urbanising regions in the world, based on Tom Goodfellow, Politics and the Urban Frontier: Transformation and Divergence in Late Urbanizing East Africa, the article compares the urbanisation processes that Addis Ababa, Kampala and Kigali underwent and undergo.
https://theconversation.com/kampala-kigali-and-addis-ababa-are-changing-fast-new-book-follows-their-distinct-paths-198458

Inequality in sub-Saharan Africa: Examining multiple dimensions of inequity – assets as well as access to basic services – the author unsurprisingly found high levels of spatial disparities in sub-Saharan Africa. Concerning assets, spatial intra-country inequality was found to be especially high in Mozambique, Ethiopia, Kenya and Congo-Kinshasa. For access to basic services, inequality was relatively high in Sierra Leone, Mozambique and Niger and relatively low in Gabon, Malawi, Comoros and South Africa. To reduce spatial inequalities, the country context needs to be taken into account.
https://theconversation.com/inequality-in-access-to-basic-services-is-a-major-problem-in-sub-saharan-africa-but-progress-is-being-made-192884

Lagos/Cult gang: There are more than ten violent gangs in Lagos that control certain areas, extorting money from businesses and residents. The Badoo cult gang sowed terror in Ikorodu area from 2016 to 2018 – it was different: it killed its victims in a ritual way and for ritual purposes. The article describes their mode of operation, especially how they chose their victims. It took the cooperation of formal authorities (police) with informal ones (local vigilance groups) to stop the Badoo gang.
https://theconversation.com/the-badoo-ritual-gang-created-fear-in-lagos-heres-what-made-victims-vulnerable-196148

Is Ethiopia’s media freedom shrinking further? Authorities say they were working without permits: 15 media practitioners in the Somali region (east of the country) working for foreign organisations (the BBC’s and the Voice of America’s (VOA) Somali language services amongst them) have been banned. The region’s journalists’ association’s head says it is because of their reports “exposing corruption and impacts of severe drought” in the region. “According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, between November 2020 and August 2022 at least 63 journalists and media workers had been arrested” in Ethiopia.
BBC Africa Live 31 January 2023. 13:01




30 January 2023

Nigeria: Worldwide, 170,000 are estimated to die from neglected tropical diseases each year – amongst which figure dengue fever, leprosy, snake-bite envenoming, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis (bilharzia), lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), soil-transmitted helminth infections (intestinal worms), trachoma, leptospirosis, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis and Buruli ulcer. Around 100 million Nigerians are at risk for at least one of these diseases (a quarter of all Africans affected by neglected tropical diseases). While Guinea-worm disease has been eradicated and onchocerciasis has been eliminated in two states (Plateau and Nasarawa) and “(p)rogress has been made in mapping of the diseases, development of master plans and the delivery of intervention”, lots remains to be done, both concerning prevention and management of these diseases. For such measures, financing is necessary and “effective communal participation is vital”. For the time being, public awareness about the diseases is insufficient.
https://theconversation.com/100-million-nigerians-are-at-risk-of-neglected-tropical-diseases-what-the-country-is-doing-about-it-198320

Tunisia: “(I)n what is being seen as a clear rejection of the controversial reforms of President Kaïs Saïed”, turnout for the second round of parliamentary elections yesterday Sunday was 11% only, about as low as in the first round.
BBC Africa Live 30 January 2023. 6:36

Libya: Rome and Tripoli have signed memorandums of understanding “to crack down Mediterranean migration flows” and an 8bn USD gas production deal. While the migration agreements were criticized by rights groups, the gas deal came under attack from inside the Government of National Unity: oil and gas minister Mohammed Aoun, calling it “illegal”, saying that it “lacks equality between the Libyan and Italian sides” and complaining that his ministry had been “bypassed” concerning the deal.
BBC Africa Live 30 January 2023. 5:10

Somalia: 8 years in prison is what Fartun Abdirashid, wife of local IS leader Abdiqadir Mumin, was sentenced to because she transferred money to the terrorist organisation and shared information. She had been arrested in March 2022 in Mogadishu, having beforehand used various names concealing her identity.
BBC Africa Live 30 January 2023. 12:52

Somalia: The government yesterday Sunday claimed that 136 al-Shabab fighters including 3 commanders were killed and 98 wounded in a joint operation with international partners near Janale Town (south-west of Mogadishu) on Saturday evening.
BBC Africa Live 30 January 2023. 4:37
https://shabellemedia.com/somalia-says-its-army-neutralized-136-al-shabaab-in-offensive/

Somaliland: The recent oil find has not been as unexpected as often reported – there have been several oil seeps in the past (unintentional seeping of oil because of human activity other than looking or drilling for oil). The de facto independent country’s lack of international recognition has hindered prospection activities. While Nugaal Valley which stretches from Somaliland into Puntland has seen exploration in the past on both sides of the border which had to be abandoned for security reasons, the new find is in Salaxley in Maroodi Jeex region considered much safer. In the face of Mogadishu’s continued hostility to Somaliland’s independence making the raising of finance difficult, if the find should prove financially feasible (which is yet to be shown by more detailed surveying), the next challenge would be negotiations over the sharing of the proceeds of oil extraction in Somaliland.
https://theconversation.com/somalilands-oil-find-could-reset-the-regional-balance-heres-how-197995

South Africa: The article looks into why actual Covid vaccination has been much lower (at about 25%) in Soweto than vaccination intent (about 50%), including false information, “othering” et al.
https://theconversation.com/vaccine-hesitancy-in-south-africa-covid-experience-highlights-conspiracies-mistrust-and-the-role-of-the-media-198002