09 February 2022
“A family with a sick person at home will not miss another’s funeral”
BBC Africa Live 09 February 2022. Wise words of the day. An Oromo proverb from Ethiopia sent by Michu Sena
South Africa: The article provides “some thoughts and analysis” on the 640-page Zondo Commission Report Part 2. Successful parasites do not harm their hosts. The “scale of (the Guptas’) rapaciousness meant that, within just a few years, the institutions they leeched were in a state of collapse”: the transport parastatal Transnet, the national carrier South African Airways, the power utility Eskom and the state defence company Denel. The Guptas cost Transnet alone R41bn (US$2.7bn). Revealing all this is good and important, but “the success or failure of the Zondo Commission Report will be what consequences will result from it for the criminals and corrupt.”
https://theconversation.com/state-capture-in-south-africa-how-the-rot-set-in-and-how-the-project-was-rumbled-176481
Kenya: With Al-Shabaab active again, the article gives reasons why terror alerts are important but rarely specific.
https://theconversation.com/kenya-is-on-edge-again-heres-what-you-should-know-about-terror-alerts-176072
Kenya: The State House i.e. the President is asking Parliament for a 47.7% increase to its budget, saying it will need 2.6m USD for buying new presidential cars, an increase in its fuel allocation by four times to 870,000 USD, 1m USD for renovating the head of state’s residence and state lodges.
BBC Africa Live 09 February 2022. 11:56
Congo-Kinshasa/Uganda: Congo is demanding more than 11bn USD in compensation for Uganda's occupation and looting of Ituri province from 1998 to 2003 and Uganda is demanding reparation for an attack on its embassy in Kinshasa. In 2005, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague ordered the two countries to negotiate mutual reparations. The two being unable to reach an agreement, the case was referred back to the ICJ
Uganda will have to pay 325m USD to Congo (225m for damages to persons (10-15,000 dead, women raped), 40m for damages to property, 60m for looted gold, diamonds and timber) in five annual instalments of 65m USD up to 2026. “The court's decision is final with no recourse to appeal, but (the ICJ) has no means of enforcing its verdict.”
BBC Africa Live 09 February 2022. 6:27
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60323990
Madagascar: According to the latest count, tropical Cyclone Batsirai killed 80, “left 94,000 people in need of emergency assistance and forced 60,000 from their homes”. Most of the dead were victims of their houses collapsing on them.
BBC Africa Live 09 February 2022. 16:01
Nigeria: The oil spill caused by the explosion of The Trinity Spirit – the oil production vessel with capacity for storing 2m barrels of oil – covers 315 hectares. Nigeria is confident that it can clean it up itself. 3 died in the explosion.
BBC Africa Live 09 February 2022. 17:14
08 February 2022
Horn of Africa: According to the World Food Programme (WFP), because of continued drought – the rainy season having failed three times in a row –, 13 million face severe hunger and a humanitarian crisis is imminent.
BBC Africa Live 08 February 2022. 7:42
Chagos/Mauritius/GB: Under the “pretext” of scientific research (to map reefs in the waters around the islands), Mauritius is sending a boat to the Chagos Islands which rightfully belongs to Mauritius but has never been handed over by Great Britain – one of the islands, Diego Garcia, was instead rented out to the USA for a military base. Several Chagossians “forced by Britain to leave their homes on Chagos half a century ago” will also be on the boat. The trip is political, highly provocative – the British foreign office has been informed in advance.
BBC Africa Live 08 February 2022. 4:36
Climate variability/Climate change: “Southern Africa’s current above-average rainfall is a climate variability signal”, resulting from a weak La Niña event since December 2021, La Niña being one of the three phases of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), with El Niño and Neutral phases being the other two. On the other hand, “the outlook under human-induced climate change suggests that southern Africa’s summer wet-seasons will likely become drier and shorter, but individual rainfall events may intensify.”
https://theconversation.com/southern-africas-summer-has-been-wetter-than-normal-heres-why-176487
Nigeria: Where police cannot cope, neighbourhood crime control by vigilantes is an alternative or possible add-on. In the past and not only in Nigeria, “many excesses have been reported. Some have brutally punished or killed crime suspects. Aside from human rights abuses, vigilantes may be unreliable, poorly skilled, and lacking both transparency and accountability.” Regulation is needed. “Procedural justice” needs to be attained: fair processes, transparency, impartiality. In the country’s economic capital, the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency since 2016 regulates and controls vigilante activities. It provides “an overarching framework of policing standards to guide performance, procedures, jurisdictions, interventions and other regular activities.” The article’s author’s survey found that about 42% of residents were very satisfied and 46% said the vigilantes were effective.
https://theconversation.com/vigilantism-in-nigeria-a-way-to-combat-crime-if-its-non-violent-and-regulated-175676
Tunisia: All courts will suspend work tomorrow Wednesday and the day after if the Judges Association is to have its way. This will be in protest against the President’s dissolving the Supreme Judicial Council.
BBC Africa Live 08 February 2022. 14:36
Burkina Faso: At the Thomas Sankara murder trial, prosecutors are asking the court to find Blaise Compaoré, the main sponsor behind the killing, “guilty in absentia of an ‘attack on state security’, ‘concealment of a corpse’ and ‘complicity in a murder’”. They are asking for a 30-year prison term for Blaise Compaoré, 30 years for Hyacinth Kafando and 20 years for Gilbert Diendéré.
BBC Africa Live 08 February 2022. 13:29
Ghana: Maxam Corp, the Spanish company whose lorry exploded transporting explosives and killing 13, injuring more than a hundred and destroying the village of Apiatse has been fined 6m USD.
BBC Africa Live 08 February 2022. 17:32
Mozambique: An acre of mangrove forest absorbs nearly the same amount of carbon dioxide as an acre of Amazon rainforest. Under a deal with reforestation specialist Blue, close to 100 million trees are to be planted in the Sofala delta, which straddles the Sofala and Zambezia provinces on the coast. Also, “(m)angroves are an important protection against climate change, mitigating against the effects of cyclones and floods.”
BBC Africa Live 08 February 2022. 17:20