14 December 2022
South Africa: The African Transformation Movement says it will challenge Ramaphosa’s being let off the hook by yesterday Tuesday’s National Assembly decision before the High Court in Cape Town, calling the vote “irrational”. Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance is “weighing its legal and parliamentary options”.
BBC Africa Live 14 December 2022. 15:19
Africa/USA: The article’s author, the director of the University of Pretoria’s African Centre for the Study of the United States, gives a long list of what he thinks African leaders should and could get from Joe Biden at the ongoing US-Africa summit. From AU membership in G20 and two permanent UN Security Council seats to infrastructure investment etc. etc. Nothing in this article sounds like a meeting of partners – and it may in actual fact resemble more a king holding court…
https://theconversation.com/us-africa-summit-four-things-african-leaders-should-try-to-get-out-of-it-196429
African Ports: From 2004 to 2019, more than 50bn USD were spent on port infrastructure in Africa, that is about 13 times what was spent in the 15-year period before. Underlying the “ports race”, as the article’s authors call it, is extractivism and development initiated by state elites who “speak of ‘unlocking’ the potential of specific African regions by connecting them with global trade and capital flows”, implying that they are not worth anything if not well-connected. But in fact, port projects may well be harmful for growth and development.
https://theconversation.com/africas-ports-race-is-hyped-as-development-but-also-creates-pathways-for-plunder-195731
Child Nutrition & the Poor/South Africa: For the most disadvantaged, benefits of early nutritional improvements may wear off because of their socioeconomic challenges later on. For better off children, on the other hand, “the benefits magnify over time”. So context matters. Holistic interventions are needed – not health only, or education only, or nutrition only.
https://theconversation.com/child-nutrition-programmes-can-feed-inequality-model-from-south-africa-shows-how-context-shapes-lives-194096
13 December 2022
Kenya: The Lapsset (Lamu Port-Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport) corridor with its promises of a golden future induces the article’s author to compare it with the 1901 Uganda railway project. “The history of colonial violence in Africa is interwoven with infrastructure projects, along which imperial power could be projected.” Though the present is certainly not a “repeat of imperial practice”, there are nevertheless “many similarities between colonial and postcolonial developmental practices”. The Lapsset corridor – a mixed blessing? A tricky treasure?
https://theconversation.com/kenyas-lapsset-development-corridor-between-a-bright-future-and-a-grim-past-195460
Nigeria/Covid: As from now, PCR tests are no longer necessary for departing and arriving air passengers in the country as the virus “has been persistently rare in Nigeria and most of the rest of the world”.
BBC Africa Live 13 December 2022. 11:05
South Africa: No impeachment against Ramaphosa – 214 of 364 have voted against it in Parliament.
BBC Africa Live 13 December 2022. 15:42
Ghana: An initial agreement has been reached with the IMF for the granting of a 3-year 3bn USD Extended Credit Facility “to help restore Ghana’s economic stability and ensure debt sustainability.”
BBC Africa Live 13 December 2022. 13:11
Morocco/Spain: On 24th of June, 37 or more sub-Saharan Africans died while trying to cross the Melilla border. In a report, Amnesty International finds “evidence of crimes under international law”. Investigations into the deaths stalling or inadequate “smacks of a cover-up”. UN special experts had already asserted “excessive and lethal use of force by Moroccan and Spanish law enforcement authorities” and a BBC investigation had “uncovered evidence contradicting the official version of events.”
BBC Africa Live 13 December 2022. 12:30
Congo-Kinshasa: Floods after a night of heavy rains have killed at least 50 according to police.
BBC Africa Live 13 December 2022. 16:30