NEWSBRIEFS

Photo: Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate (left) CC BY-SA 4.0 and South African climate activist Ayakha Melithafa (right) at DAVOS World Economic Forum in 2020. CC BY 3.0

African Teens on World Stage Demand Action on Climate Change

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has at least two African partners stepping up on the global stage and telling world leaders to “wake up” and recognize the dangers to women and girls of climate change.

In a speech broadcast as part of the Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture, Ugandan activist Vanessa Nakate tied climate change to poverty, hunger, disease, conflict and violence.

“See the danger we are in,” Nakate urged the leaders at the Tutu peace lecture.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 October 2020

Photo: A new economic analysis for South Sudan indicates that the economy is recovering, but poverty remains deep rooted. Credit: World Bank.

Cash-Strapped Sudan Faces New Demands Before Painful Sanctions Are Lifted

Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – The U.S. has now conditioned the lifting of painful sanctions on Sudan until it agrees to Washington’s Middle East agenda and to normalizing relations with Israel.

If Sudan agrees before U.S. elections in November, sanctions could be lifted, opening the floodgates to desperately needed investment for this economically stressed corner of Africa.

Our economy is in shambles, admitted Amjed Farid, assistant chief of staff for Sudan’s prime minister. Sudan can't even get COVID aid from international institutions. U.S. sanctions have blocked all transactions using US currency or products, impeding any business with operations in the U.S. from trading with Sudan.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 October 2020

Photo: Irreecha is a thanksgiving festival celebrated every year. Oromo people gather from all places to the sacred lake and sprinkle the water to their body. In 2019, Irreecha was celebrated at artificial lake for the first time due to the drying up of lake. CC BY-SA 4.0

Popular Harvest Fest in Ethiopia Scaled Back as Opposition to Leadership Grows

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Harvest festivals are a common sight in Africa although this year organizers were advised to keep the numbers down due to the COVID-10 pandemic.

The Homowo Festival – a celebration by the Ga people of Ghana – was held as scheduled in Ga Mashie. Many of the celebrants could be seen wearing masks while cooking pots held steaming soups and other dishes.

In Ethiopia, massive crowds were expected in the Oromia region for the harvest festival of Irreecha – one of the year’s most important cultural and religious events for millions of ethnic Oromos. Flowers and long grasses are traditionally tossed into a pool of water to thank God for the blessings of the past year and to wish prosperity for the coming year.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 October 2020

Faith Leaders Criticise Bill Gates for A 'Highly Problematic' Agricultural Project

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – African faith leaders are calling on Bill Gates to reconsider his foundation’s “highly problematic” support of genetically engineered foods, crops and agrichemicals against the interests of non-corporate farmers in countries throughout Africa.

“We write out of grave concern that the Gates Foundation’s support for the expansion of intensive industrial scale agriculture is deepening the humanitarian crisis,” says the sign-on open letter coordinated by the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute (SAFCEI).

SAFCEI, based in Cape Town, South Africa, is comprised of African traditional healers, members of the Baha’i, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, and Quaker faiths, and a wide range of Christian denominations.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 October 2020

In Quest of Data-Based Solutions for A Sustainable Future

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK (IDN) – More than 2,000 participants from the data user and producer communities will discuss in the first-ever fully virtual UN World Data Forum, from October 19-21, some of the greatest data challenges in our fast-changing world. They will identify innovative solutions to intensify cooperation on data for sustainable development. and renew the urgent call for more and better funding for data.

“In a world wracked by COVID-19, we need data-based solutions to guide our way to a sustainable future,” said Francesca Perucci, Assistant Director of UN DESA’s Statistics Division. “We need data for a changing world, and we need data for a better world.”

: Santo D. Banerjee; UN INSIDER; 01 October 2020

Photo: Makerere University main building burning (PHOTO/PML Daily).

Historic Uganda University Devastated by Overnight Blaze

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – "It is a very dark morning for Makerere University. Our iconic Main Administration Building caught fire and the destruction is unbelievable. But we are determined to restore the building to its historic state in the shortest time possible."

Those were the words of Makerere’s Vice-Chancellor Barnabas Nawangwe as fire officials struggled to extinguish the last embers of a huge fire that appear to have started in the upstairs public relations office of the Main building – also known as the Ivory Tower, spreading to floors below that house the finance and records department. Buildings that housed the classrooms were not damaged, witnesses said.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 September 2020

Shakespeare Festival in South Africa Performed by An All Woman Cast

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | JOHANNESBURG (IDN) – “Theatre will rise again,” declared James Ngcobo, artistic director of the renowned Market Theatre in Johannesburg. “COVID hasn’t stifled our passion, just moved it into another space.”

This month, Ngcobo is spotlighting speeches from some of Shakespeare’s iconic plays, mostly written for male characters but acted here by women. Reversing the roles, he says, will provide the actors with artistic challenges in dramas that were written more than 400 years ago but are still relevant today.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 September 2020

Photo: The Senegalese-American RnB singer Akon has just announced the laying of the foundation stone for the construction of the green and futuristic Akon City in western Senegal. Source: Afrik21.

Senegal Sees Dollar Signs in New Construction Underway in Dakar

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | DAKAR (IDN) – Can a fish and peanut-based economy ramp up to become a world-class industrial powerhouse when money is tight and oil discoveries may not bring the hoped-for rewards?

That’s the question for Senegalese people to consider as hopes placed in their president, Macky Sall, and his “Plan for an Emerging Senegal” sputter forward.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 September 2020

Photo: Amina Mama, the poet. CC BY-SA 4.0

African Women's Groups Decry Spike in Sexual Violence Tied to Pandemic

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the number of cases of the coronavirus inched up in Africa this summer, another number was reaching new heights with less notice.

In Nigeria, Liberia, Morocco and South Africa, protestors have been taking to the streets demanding urgent action against the surge in rape and sexual violence against women. But it is hardly an African problem.

“African countries are not unique in this pattern of increased gender-based violence during the pandemic,” noted feminist writer Rosebell Kagumire and human rights lawyer Vivian Ouya in an online Al Jazeera opinion piece.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 31 August 2020

Photo: Zukiswa Wanner. Credit: Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study

Zambian Writer, ‘A Role Model for A Generation’, Tapped for Cultural Prize

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – This year’s Goethe Medal has been awarded to African writer and publisher Zukiswa Wanner, Elvira Espejo Ayca of Bolivia and Ian McEwan of the U.K. for their commitment to international cultural exchange.

Zukiswa, a writer, journalist and publisher, is the author of the novels The Madams (2006), Behind Every Successful Man (2008), Men of the South (2010). and two children's books, Jama Loves Bananas and Refilwe. As an essayist, she wrote “The Politics of Race, Class, and Identity in Education” and 2011 Mail & Guardian’s book of Women Introductory essay, “Being a Woman in South Africa”.