17 January 2023
Sudan/Turkey: In Khartoum, Turkey's intelligence chief has separately met the head of the junta and his deputy. The meetings amongst others served to express Ankara’s “support for the framework agreement the military leaders signed with some pro-democracy groups on 5 December” and which has not been accepted by important parts of the opposition.
BBC Africa Live 17 January 2023. 5:55
Malawi: Primary and secondary schools in Blantyre and Lilongwe reopen today. There are still lots of cholera cases in the country’s two main cities, but, according to the Health minister, “schools now have access to safe water and improved sanitation facilities”. More than 750 have died in the cholera outbreak which started back in March.
BBC Africa Live 17 January 2023. 4:34
Vatican/Congo-Kinshasa/South Sudan: A synodal process, a worldwide consultation, has been initiated by the pope in 2021 and will, until 2024, discuss “the fault lines in modern Catholicism”, contested issues like “women, celibacy, sexuality, marriage, clericalism and hierarchism”. Africa is presently home to close to 20% of the world’s Catholics and the church here is expanding faster than anywhere else in the world. It also looks more dynamic. The “fairly progressive” pope, very much looking to youths, women and the vulnerable, provides space for modernisation and Africanisation. With his February visit to Congo-Kinshasa and South Sudan come hopes for a bigger role for Africa within the global church, more executive functions for Africans in the Vatican, maybe even an African pontifical commission for the continent (like there was one for Latin America in 1958).
https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-visit-to-africa-comes-at-a-defining-moment-for-the-catholic-church-197633
Nigeria: The current public university model needs a comprehensive overhaul. The Higher Education Bill will not fix it. The main challenges are financial sustainability, investment, alignment of courses to the country’s needs, and graduate employability. The article makes some recommendations.
https://theconversation.com/nigerias-university-system-needs-radical-reform-student-loans-for-more-than-100-million-people-might-be-a-good-place-to-start-197552
Kenya: Water levels in the lakes of the Rift Valley have risen considerably since 2010, between 2.38 and 8.53 metres, increasing lake areas between 21% (Lake Naivasha) and 123% (Lake Solai), affecting an estimated 80,000 households/about 400,000 people and damaging fields and also tourism infrastructure. The article is based on research which shows that seemingly negligible increases in mean annual effective rainfall can explain important increases in the lakes’ water levels. “In the period 2010-2020, rainfall increased by around 30% for the Baringo, Bogoria and Solai catchments. In Nakuru, Elementaita and Naivasha, the rainfall increases were lower, amount to 21%, 25% and 25% respectively.”
https://theconversation.com/kenyas-rift-valley-lakes-are-rising-putting-thousands-at-risk-we-now-know-why-194541
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214581821000860?via%3Dihub
Somalia: It looks like a response to government troops’ conquest of Haradhere port a few days ago: a military base in Hawadley town (Middle Shabelle region) has been attacked in today Tuesday morning, no doubt by al-Shabab. The jihadists have lost lots of territory since Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took over as the country’s president, but continue their bomb attacks unabated.
BBC Africa Live 17 January 2023. 8:52
16 January 2023
Frene Ginwala/South Africa/Feminism: Of Parsee descent, born in 1932 in Jo’burg, having studied law and become a barrister, Ginwala became politically active in 1960, after the Sharpeville massacre. Sent abroad (Mozambique, Tanzania, GB) to work for the ANC, she became Oliver Tambo’s assistant, founded the newspaper Spearhead, wrote prodigiously. She returned to South Africa in 1990, after the ANC was unbanned. She was the first speaker of the National Assembly, a post she occupied from 1994 to 2004. After that, “she was the prime mover behind the formation of the Pan-African Parliament and one of the most prominent supporters of the Jubilee 2000 Campaign” which lobbied for debt cancellation for the Global South. From early days, she worked against patriarchy, also within the party, making sure that non-sexism was inscribed alongside non-racism in party principles. Always more radical than the ANC’s Women’s League, she founded the ANC’s Emancipation Commission in 1991, then the Women’s National Coalition – which she herself called a “conspiracy of women” and which was not affiliated to the ANC which made sure “that gender equality was firmly embedded in the country’s final 1996 constitution”. Frene Ginwala died on 12th of January 2023, aged 90.
https://theconversation.com/frene-ginwala-remembered-trailblazing-feminist-and-first-speaker-of-south-africas-democratic-parliament-197851
eSwatini: According to this Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN) statement, “to suppress and quell rising opposition”, Swazi authorities are paying mercenaries of South African based company Bastion Risk Solutions (BRS)/Bastion Security (holding company: Night Fire Investments 84 (Pty) Ltd. Bastion Risk Solutions) “owned and run by former Apartheid operatives and recruits mostly white right-wing Afrikaner males”. These mercenaries “terrorise (the) nation”. The statement gives some examples.
https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100072019954167&_rdc=1&_rdr
Cholera/Africa: You get it by eating/drinking contaminated food/water. Africa accounts for 21% of cholera cases and 80% of cholera deaths worldwide. The main reasons for its persistence are “worsening sanitation, poor and unreliable water supplies and worsening socioeconomic conditions”. Inhabitants of urban slums and displaced persons are the most vulnerable. Mostly, prevention is neglected, governments only react to cholera outbreaks. Communities need to be involved. There is also the issue of drug resistance, with overuse of antibiotics contributing. Use of rapid diagnostic tests needs to increase – quick diagnosis is essential.
https://theconversation.com/why-cholera-continues-to-threaten-many-african-countries-197799
Congo-Kinshasa: Artisanal and semi-industrial mining in the east of the country negatively impact biodiversity conservation (deforestation, soil degradation, water pollution; road construction; population growth around mines). Mining creates income for many, including high-level officials and “non-state armed actors”. Mining also creates friction and conflict. Banning semi-industrial mining (which is more harmful to the environment and profits fewer people) may be possible – banning artisanal mining may not be advisable and will most likely not work. One of the problems is that, in a context where different government departments have different interests, “(t)he Congolese agency for nature conservation (ICCN), which is responsible for protected area management, lacks the political clout and resources to make a difference.”
https://theconversation.com/mining-and-armed-conflict-threaten-eastern-drcs-biodiversity-in-a-complex-web-194565
Migration/UK/Rwanda: British charity Asylum Aid is seeking permission from London’s High Court to challenge the December High Court judgment that Rwanda is a safe destination for migrants. If permission is granted, this will further delay flights under the UK scheme to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda.
BBC Africa Live 16 January 2023. 7:43
Somalia: Government troops have retaken Haradhere, a port town in Galmudug state (centre). Al-Shabaab, who had held the town for more than ten years, withdrew without offering any resistance.
BBC Africa Live 16 January 2023. 17:19
Zimbabwe: It seems that the ruling party is starting to prepare for the 2023 elections in earnest: “(A)ccused of holding an illegal gathering at the home of” an opposition MP, 25 activists have been arrested on Saturday. A lawyer who tried to see them was manhandled and had his arm broken by police. When the 25 appeared in court, “(a)nti-riot police armed with assault rifles, batons and teargas prevented many journalists from attending the trial.”
BBC Africa Live 16 January 2023. 17:43