01 July 2021
Central African Republic: This article was written just before the visit of a field mission of the AU’s Peace and Security Council which was meant to look into the situation since the armed Coalition Patriotes pour le Changement (CPC), now led by former president Bozizé, tried to seize power in Bangui in January 2021. The 2019 Political Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in the CAR (APPR) is seen by the government and its multilateral partners as the only possible framework for progress, but the APPR needs to be revitalized. Civilians will need to be “protected and not targeted by the warring parties, including the CAR government and its allies. An inclusive and constructive dialogue” will also be necessary. With all this, the Russia-France conflict is making things yet more difficult.
https://issafrica.org/pscreport/psc-insights/where-to-from-here-for-the-central-african-republic?utm_source=BenchmarkEmail&utm_campaign=ISS_Weekly_FR&utm_medium=email
South Africa: Zuma has no cause. He just tried to evade the law. The Constitutional Court has now caught up with him. The article explains how & why.
https://theconversation.com/jacob-zuma-isnt-a-man-with-a-cause-just-a-wily-politician-trying-to-evade-the-law-163660
Morocco: Omar “Radi, who has written about corruption among senior civil servants and police violation of human rights, is accused by the Moroccan authorities of espionage and rape.” Now his Belgian lawyer has been detained upon arrival at Casablanca airport and flown back to Belgium without having being able to see his client. According to the authorities, the lawyer was expelled “because of his ‘hostility’ towards Morocco and his ‘biased’ reports ‘aimed at damaging the reputation of the country’.” According to human rights organisations, Radi’s case is politically motivated, they call for the immediate release of the detainee who “has been on hunger strike for 83 days to protest his innocence”.
BBC Africa Live 01 July 2021. 15:08
Apology for slave trade: About 500,000 enslaved Africans are estimated to have been transported by Dutch traders to the Americas between the 16th and the 19th centuries. An independent panel set up by the Dutch government in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder in the USA said that “the Netherlands should apologise for its role in the transatlantic slave trade and recognise it as a crime against humanity.” Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister, had beforehand stated he would not apologise “because it was not his place to pass judgement on Dutch history”.
BBC Africa Live 01 July 2021. 15:05
30 June 2021
Kenya: Low rainfall has led to drought in the northern counties of Marsabit, Turkana and Mandera and some of the pastoralists’ animals have died because of the drought. The three counties are now in “alarm stage” with the risk of starvation looming.
BBC Africa Live 30 June 2021. 5:41
Eswatini: Protests sparked by the death of a law student, murdered by police according to the demonstrators, have led to violent confrontations with the security forces but are continuing and have brought Manzini, the country’s economic capital, to a standstill. A curfew has been imposed and internet has been shut off, borders and the airport remain closed.
BBC Africa Live 30 June 2021. 15:33