03 August 2022
Congo-Kinshasa/UN: According to the Congolese government, the withdrawal of UN troops could happen earlier than planned. The recent killing of civilians by UN soldiers at the Uganda border has brought things to a head. The spokesman of the UN peacekeeping force has furthermore been asked to leave the country a.s.a.p. – allegedly, he had made “indelicate and inopportune statements”.
BBC Africa Live 03 August 2022. 9:04
BBC Africa Live 03 August 2022. 12:51
Rwanda: There are only Rwandans in Rwanda, no Tutsis or Hutus. This policy of ethnic non-recognition was adopted in 2003. Yet commemoration allows or promotes exceptions to this policy. Genocide commemoration does not only happen on one day – kwibuka/to remember means one hundred days of official commemoration each year. This goes hand in hand with the Rwandan genocide having been officially rebaptised “the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi” in 2014. The article’s author has done research into the question and tells the various effects of this re-ethnization. Stoking historical social and ethnic divisions may serve adherence to the ruling party – only guarantor of peace and stability. But is it good for the country?
https://theconversation.com/how-rwandas-annual-genocide-commemoration-fans-the-flame-of-ethnicity-186244
Nigeria: There has recently been heightened consciousness of violence against Christians in the country. But there has also been persecution against non-Christians, Muslims, adherents of traditional religions, atheists, and there have been interdenominational aggressions, for example of Sunni against Shia Muslims. Without really going anywhere, the article at the end reminds us of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s choice – the 2023 presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress – of a co-Muslim as his running mate and that this is likely to make religion an election issue.
https://theconversation.com/persecution-of-christians-in-nigeria-is-more-complicated-than-it-seems-186853
02 August 2022
Cameroon: After the government’s arrest of four of its staff and suspension of its activities, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) yesterday Monday announced its withdrawal from Kumba and Mamfe, two towns in the country’s anglophone South-West region. This will further deprive locals of adequate healthcare.
BBC Africa Live 02 August 2022. 8:36
Burundi: If the country is last in the world in terms of GDP per head, it is because elites (military, administrative and economic bureaucracies) have captured national resources and left nothing for the “people of the hills” (rural farmers). Between 2005 and 2015, things looked better – but Nkurunziza spoilt that with his unconstitutional third term. “Pro-Nkurunziza elements in the army who crushed the (May 2015) coup (then) sensed an opportunity for self-enrichment to match the fortunes of their senior Tutsi colleagues and graduates of military schools.” Will the peasants under Nkurunziza’s successor Evariste Ndayishimiye (in the author’s eyes “a wise and withdrawn man”) re-appropriate the state?
https://theconversation.com/burundi-at-60-is-the-poorest-country-on-the-planet-a-look-at-what-went-wrong-186844
Western Sahara: Who cares about what is right or wrong? Who cares about The Western Sahara’s right to independence? The article tells the story of Morocco’s illegal occupation of the biggest part of the Western Sahara since 1975. Morocco has for a long time been backed by the US, France and Saudi Arabia; Spain recently started supporting it also. All that Rabat is ready to concede is limited self-governance under ultimate Moroccan control.
https://theconversation.com/unpacking-the-power-plays-over-western-sahara-186675
South Africa: Four among thousands of protesters against lack of basic services and high electricity prices died yesterday Monday in Tembisa township (east of Johannesburg). Amnesty International says that exercising one’s right to protest must not get anyone killed.
BBC Africa Live 02 August 2022. 10:25
Ethiopia: An impressive number of 63 journalists have been arrested in the country since the beginning of the Tigray war – 8 of them remain in prison. The US-based The Committee to Protect Journalists says authorities were trying “to control the narrative of the war.”
BBC Africa Live 02 August 2022. 14:11
Ghana/Slavery: Reparations for damages caused by the transatlantic slave trade are long overdue, according to the country’s president.
BBC Africa Live 02 August 2022. 12:12
Somalia: Mukhtar Robow used to be deputy leader and spokesman for al-Shabaab and was for some time on the US list of people wanted for terror. Then he split in 2015 due to “ideological differences” and founded his own organisation/militia group. He was under house arrest for five years. Now he has been named religious affairs minister in Hassan Cheikh Mohamoud’s government. Can and will this work?
BBC Africa Live 02 August 2022. 16:26