09 April 2022
Gambia: Voting has started for 53 parliamentary seats. There are only 19 women amongst the 245 candidates. The president will nominate 5 MPs including the Speaker – these five have to be approved by parliament.
BBC Africa Latest Updates 09 April 2022. 8:23
08 April 2022
South Africa/Zulu: One hundred years ago, the first book-length history of black people written in isiZulu was published: Magema Fuze’s “Abantu Abamnyama Lapa Bavela Ngakona” (The Black People and Whence They Came). “(I)t contained local histories of chiefdoms and kingdoms – from the Zulu to the Ngcobo – as well as theories about the Egyptian/Nubian origins of all black Africans.” The article recounts Magema Fuze’s life. Shortly after the publication of the book, in September 1922, Fuze died – he was about 78 years old.
https://theconversation.com/the-100-year-old-story-of-south-africas-first-history-book-in-the-isizulu-language-178924
Africa does not favour Russia’s HRC suspension: Only 10 of 54 African countries – Chad, Comoros, Congo-Kinshasa, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Sierra Leone – backed the suspension of Russia from the UN’s Human Rights Council in Thursday’s vote, 24 abstained and 9 voted against. The remaining 11 had no vote recorded. Awareness of the “the glaring double standards of the international community” (to cite South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor) has certainly played a big role in this.
BBC Africa Live 08 April 2022. 11:22
https://twitter.com/UN_News_Centre/status/1512095779535609862?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1512095779535609862%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Flive%2Fworld-africa-60803122
Kenya: The article describes the coalition of forces that Raila Odinga has gathered around himself for the upcoming presidential elections. Maybe, fifth time ’round, he’ll be lucky. Contrary to its subtitle, the article does not explain why the election outcome matters for the country.
https://theconversation.com/odinga-is-running-his-fifth-presidential-race-why-the-outcome-means-so-much-for-kenya-180605
Ghana/Chinese migrants: Based on his fieldwork in Ghana 2016-19, the article tries to explain the mechanisms underpinning emigration from China to Ghana. They are estimated to be around 30,000, and they are “involved predominantly in trade, infrastructure and mining”. The main factor driving Chinese migration to Ghana is social “repositioning” or “reshuffling”. Those, who find their possibilities of moving up the social ladder blocked in China are the most likely to migrate.
https://theconversation.com/what-drives-chinese-migrants-to-ghana-its-not-just-an-economic-decision-177580