25 November 2022
Côte d’Ivoire: The World Bank will finance 149m USD of a project that aims to triple the country’s forest cover until 2030, to cover 20% of its territory then. Cocoa plantations are the main culprit of the country’s loss of most of its forest cover over the last half a century.
BBC Africa Live 25 November 2022. 6:54
Congo-Kinshasa: The ceasefire deal negotiated by heads of state in Luanda does “not concern” the M23 as they were not part of the negotiations. “Kinshasa has refused to engage with the M23, calling them terrorists” and accusing Kigali of supporting them.
BBC Africa Live 25 November 2022. 4:30
“The lizard that jumps into the river to fight a crocodile will not come out with testimony”
BBC Africa Live 25 November 2022. 4:30 Proverb of the day. Sent by Ben Amicable to BBC News Pidgin.
Simon Nkoli/South Africa/Queer rights: “Nkoli’s activism highlighted the intersectionality”, the “interconnectedness of various systems of oppression such as racism, sexism and homophobia”. He is best known for fighting against persecution because of sexual orientation. In Africa, it was he who organised the first Pride march. And he contributed a lot to South Africa’s 1996 constitution outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation. He died in 1998, only 41 years old, but he is still being celebrated.
https://theconversation.com/simon-nkolis-fight-for-queer-rights-in-south-africa-is-finally-being-celebrated-24-years-after-he-died-194741
24 November 2022
Congo-Kinshasa: M23 represents Rwandophones in Congo and is based in Rutshuru territory (5,300km² – a fifth of Rwanda), rich in forest and mineral resources and with “huge traffic of commercial trucks carrying goods from the Kenyan port of Mombasa through Uganda to Goma and Bukavu in the DRC” through Bunagana border town. Kigali feeling isolated in the region after Kinshasa’s moving closer to Uganda and Burundi stepped up its support for M23 recently – the M23 had acted as its proxy ten years back, when it occupied the regional capital Goma. With M23 well-equipped, disciplined, superior to the Congolese army, Kigali has come under increased international pressure to have M23 stop fighting.
https://theconversation.com/m23-four-things-you-should-know-about-the-rebel-groups-campaign-in-rwanda-drc-conflict-195020
South Africa/Small-scale fishery: Everywhere in the world, “resource depletion, geographical isolation, unsafe working conditions, market fluctuations, climate change, lack of access to healthcare and education, and social exclusion” make small-scale fishers vulnerable. South Africa’s Small-Scale Framework, put in place between 2012 and 2016, though allocating fishing rights to the small-scale sector, falls short. Allocation is subject to stringent conditions; fair distribution of allocations is not ensured and nothing to prevent elite capture. The article makes concrete suggestions how to reform the Small-Scale Framework.
https://theconversation.com/south-africas-small-scale-fishers-have-been-marginalised-since-apartheid-what-needs-to-change-194742
Mali: According to a FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights) report, summary executions, sexual violence and forced recruitment make life for civilians in Ségou and Mopti regions into a “living hell”. The perpetrators are self-defence groups, jihadists, the Malian army and Russian mercenaries. The report (in French only/84 pages) can be downloaded on https://www.fidh.org/en/region/Africa/mali/in-central-mali-victims-and-persecutors-live-together.
BBC Africa Live 24 November 2022. 12:14