28 March 2022
Egypt/Morocco et al.: Foreign ministers from Egypt, UAE, Morocco, Bahrain, Israel and the US are about to meet in Israel “in a sign of their commitment to a new relationship with Israel”. Main topics of discussion are thought to be nuclear Iran and the Ukraine war.
BBC Africa Live 28 March 2022. 9:40
Egypt: For Egyptians, there is nothing more central than bread: “bread is life”. Shortage of wheat and thus of bread because of the ongoing Ukraine war is a potential catastrophe.
https://theconversation.com/in-egypt-where-a-meal-isnt-complete-without-bread-war-in-ukraine-is-threatening-the-wheat-supply-and-access-to-this-staple-food-179361
Mozambique/Rwanda: Kigali has asked the European Union for financial support for keeping its troops in Cabo Delgado to further improve the situation in the region.
BBC Africa Live 28 March 2022. 8:40
Zimbabwe: By-elections have reportedly been “marred by intimidation and vote-buying.” A split within the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition party, had made most of the by-elections necessary. Nelson Chamisa’s new party (result of the split) Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has won 19 of the 28 parliamentary seats, but Zanu-PF, the ruling party, made some inroads – 2 seats – and this is where intimidation and vote-buying seems to have taken place. Zany-PF continues to have a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
BBC Africa Live 28 March 2022. 6:59
BBC Africa Live 28 March 2022. 17:22
Central African Republic: Week-long peace talks which were boycotted by the political opposition and to which rebel groups active in the country had not been invited ended on Sunday “without any real progress”.
BBC Africa Live 28 March 2022. 17:38
27 March 2022
Eritrea/Cyclism: Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay won the Gent-Wevelgem race – having been one of a four-men breakaway group with 30 km to go he won by sprint – the first African ever to win one of the one-day classics.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/cycling/60894994
Nigeria/Power Cuts: In her “Letter from Africa”, Nigerian novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani recalls “sitting with (her) family in (their) home in the south-eastern town of Umuahia at night, the entire living room dark except for the glow of a kerosene lamp on the wooden centre table” – some of her “fondest memories” of her childhood in the 1980s, because these power cuts were times when TV was replaced by Igbo folk tales or parents talking about their childhoods. Such outages lasted an hour or two. Since then, NEPA (Nigerian Electricity Power Authority) has become known as the acronym for Never Expect Power Always. When the company was renamed Power Holding Company of Nigeria, its acronym PHCN soon stood for “Problem Has Changed Name” or “Please Hold Candle Now”. Those who could afford it have long since bought generators. But recently, the national scarcity of fuel meant darkness even for Lagos and Abuja for days on end. So, President Buhari had to apologize to his people.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60828728