17 May 2021
Rwanda: Emergency situations like the 1994 genocide create a backlog of education. Second chance opportunities for formal education need to be on offer. The author’s research, based on life-story interviews, “shows that this needs to be accessible, flexible and inclusive.” She provides examples from Rwanda where the post-genocide government took the problem very seriously.
https://theconversation.com/conflict-kills-education-rwandan-experiences-show-how-lost-years-can-be-recovered-158314
Sudan: 7 soldiers have been arrested and will be tried for the killing of 2 demonstrators last Tuesday outside army HQs in Khartoum. But there is still no prosecution for those who killed many more two years ago – who “were from the much-feared Rapid Support Forces - headed by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo who today is the deputy head of the military council.”
BBC Africa Live 17 May 2021. 5:10
Sudan: France has promised to lend Sudan 1.5bn USD so that it can pay off its arrears to the IMF – a precondition for debt forgiveness under the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative.
BBC Africa Live 17 May 2021. 10:55
Zimbabwe: The Justice minister, of all people, said “we do not accept the decision of the High Court. We have a serious situation of a judiciary that has been captured by foreign forces in this country”. On Saturday, the court had ruled that Luka Malaba, who the President wanted to stay on for another term, had ceased to be chief justice.
BBC Africa Live 17 May 2021. 4:37
Zambia: For the 12 August elections, reigning president Edgar Lungu has chosen another woman as candidate for the vice-presidency, Prof. Nkandu Luo, a microbiologist. Since 2015, Inonge Wina had been vice-president, the first woman to hold that position.
BBC Africa Live 17 May 2021. 12:36
Tanzania: The Covid task force, formed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan, amongst its 19 recommendations advises the government to start a mass vaccination programme, to make information about the virus public and to prepare for a third wave.
BBC Africa Live 17 May 2021. 16:15
15 May 2021
Ethiopia: The army says it has ‘destroyed’ a group of about 320 Tigrayan rebels who were en route from Sudan to the leaders of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF). Weapons, satellite telephones, radios and medicine intended for the party leaders are said to have been captured. It was “also alleged the rebels carried a secret document detailing a military deal reached with some generals in Sudan, which has previously denied accusations that it is helping forces in Tigray.”
BBC Africa Latest Updates 15 May 2021. 10:44
Zimbabwe: The president had wanted him to stay on for another five years as chief justice and for this purpose had parliament pass a constitutional amendment that raised the retirement age of senior judges from 70 to 75. But Luke Malaba will not be able to stay in office: constitutional amendments need to be put to a referendum. “Justice Malaba faced some criticism in 2018 for dismissing an opposition petition which had sought to annul the election of President Emmerson Mnangagwa – alleging the vote had been marred by ‘mammoth theft and fraud’.”
BBC Africa Latest Updates 15 May 2021. 16:22