13 December 2021
Gambia: Barrow’s decisive victory might come with his abandoning important parts of his programme of the 2016 elections – a new constitution (because of the question of term limits?) and the non-implementation of the recommendations of the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (as Barrow now relies on some Jammeh loyalists). Looking at the election results, it seems unlikely that there will be any important challenge to Barrow’s rule in the near future.
https://theconversation.com/what-barrows-re-election-means-for-the-gambia-173437
Endangered species: Deep-sea mining threatens some unique species, especially at deep sea hydrothermal vents (cracks in the seafloor along fault lines, e.g. in the Red Sea) which harbour insular ecosystems – with the UN’s International Seabed Authority having already granted 31 exploratory deep sea mining contracts, several of them at hydrothermal vents, extinction could result.
https://theconversation.com/deep-sea-mining-may-wipe-out-species-we-have-only-just-discovered-173558
South Africa/Covid: The country fared so badly in the pandemic because it followed Trump & co instead of South Korea & co, so measures taken were inadequate. The problem at the bottom of it – and in the case of Covid, it is the realm of science that is concerned – is that “(t)he minority which is heard in the national debate lives and thinks like the first world. It is fixated on Western countries whether it praises or criticises them. And it sees the rest of South Africa as a third world of poverty and incapacity.” The article’s author has just published a book on the topic, called “One Virus, Two Countries”.
https://theconversation.com/one-virus-two-countries-how-the-misuse-of-science-compounded-south-africas-covid-crisis-173079
Uganda: Medical interns have been on strike since 6th of November, but they had continued to work on emergencies – now they are ceasing all work. Industrial action had been ongoing since 2017. The government has broken all promises to increase pay.
BBC Africa Live 13 December 2021. 8:47
12 December 2021
Sudan: Prime minister Hamdok has replaced state governors appointed by the military leader since the coup d’état in October as he had recently replaced ministers appointed by al-Burhan since October.
BBC Africa Latest Updates 12 December 2021. 17:53