16 May 2023
Lesotho: A 22:00 to 04:00 night curfew was declared after the murder of prominent journalist Ralikonelo Joki on Sunday night. “Several journalists have over the past few years either been shot, assaulted or fled Lesotho over threats because of their work.”
BBC Africa Live 16 May 2023. 11:48
Ethiopia: The country in 2006 launched the Integrated Housing Development Programme, one of the continent’s most ambitious housing programmes. But though around 500,000 housing units have been constructed, this is much too little. Also, there are other problems, one being longer journeys to work (because the new houses have been built far from the centre). The lottery system used for accessing the new houses – meant to ensure equality of opportunity – tears apart existing communities. One of the effects is that residents feel a lot less safe than in their old neighbourhoods.
https://theconversation.com/ethiopia-has-one-of-africas-most-ambitious-housing-policies-but-the-lottery-based-system-is-pulling-communities-apart-204816
Sudan: The article explains how the two sides in Sudan’s intra-military war are armed, well-armed, and how it is difficult to see how the guns could be silenced, as there is “flagrant disregard for the safety of the Sudanese people in the capital and the peripheries” on both sides of the frontline.
https://theconversation.com/sudan-is-awash-with-weapons-how-the-two-forces-compare-and-what-that-means-for-the-war-205434
Ghana: A children’s book that presents women from all ways of life and all parts of the country who have shaped the country’s history and especially around independence and after. That’s what writer and researcher Nikitta Dede Adjirakor set out to do with her “Black and Bold Queens”.
https://theconversation.com/black-and-bold-queens-is-a-new-childrens-book-celebrating-women-in-ghanas-history-205482
15 May 2023
Refugee camps near borders: In East Africa, location of camps and refugee policies are often a function of strategic thinking. “Host countries choose their refugee policy to influence the war from which the refugees fled”, for example providing cross-border rebel groups with easy access to camp youths or even enabling them to syphon off aid provided to the camps. The article gives examples from Kenya and Tanzania.
https://theconversation.com/most-east-african-refugees-are-hosted-close-to-borders-its-a-deliberate-war-strategy-200861
African/Malian film: Souleymane Cissé is this year’s awardee of the Carrosse d’Or at Cannes. His film Yeelen (The Light) in 1987 won the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival, the first African film to do so. The Carrosse d’Or is awarded to film makers “for the pioneering qualities of their work and the boldness of their cinematic vision”.
https://theconversation.com/souleymane-cisse-is-honoured-as-one-of-africas-boldest-and-most-pioneering-film-makers-205410