16 August 2021
Zambia: Hakainde Hichilema has won the presidential elections by a margin of 1 million votes (2,8m versus 1,8m for Edgar Lungu). The biggest challenge for the new president will be the dire economic situation.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58226695
Madagascar: The reported assassination attempt on Andry Rajoelina “reveals deep political turmoil”. It is the fourth time Rajoelina claims that his life has been threatened. “We can’t be sure whether this latest ‘threat’ is an excuse for the President to further consolidate power and suppress the opposition, or whether it reveals a deep dissatisfaction with the country’s political direction.” Anyhow, things are not well at all. The two times Rajoelina has come to power (in 2009 and 2018), it was under circumstances that were hardly democratic (being handed power by the military the first time and after unfulfillable promises, amongst accusations of fraud and with low voter turnout the second time). Then “he opened up the country to exploitation by his cronies”, rosewood has never been as heavily logged as during his reign. He has invested in “several vanity projects” which a country where 75% live on less than 2 USD a day and almost half the children under five years of age suffers from stunting. And he has mishandled the Covid crisis.
https://theconversation.com/president-andry-rajoelina-is-driving-madagascar-into-another-political-crisis-165865
Congo-Kinshasa: Tshisekedi has announced that US special forces are soon to deploy in the country’s east to help the Congolese army fight the Allied Defence Forces (ADF) – designated a terrorist group affiliated with the Islamic State by the USA some months ago.
BBC Africa Live 16 August 2021. 15:31
Zambia: Who is sixth time lucky Hakainde Hichilema? Born into humble beginnings, he got a scholarship to the University of Zambia, later got an MBA from the University of Birmingham, then made “a fortune in finance, property, ranching, healthcare and tourism”, has been jailed fifteen times since going into politics.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58229710
15 August 2021
Zambia: Since incumbent president Edgar Lungu is the one in charge, he must know: he says the elections were neither free nor fair. This is in fact in accordance with European Union election observers whose preliminary report stated that the vote was “marred by unequal campaign restrictions, restrictions on freedoms of assembly and movement, and abuse of incumbency”. According to early results, Edgar Lungu is trailing Hakainde "HH" Hichilema…
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58215507