Africa

Photo: Sudanese teachers gather to protest against curriculum of the ministry of education in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on 6 January 2021. [Mahmoud Hjaj - Anadolu Agency]

Teachers On Strike Across the Continent for Better Salaries and Benefits

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Hundreds of Moroccan teachers were on strike last month for permanent work contracts when they were attacked by riot police at a recent march while some of their peers received two month prison sentences for demonstrating without authorization.

The jailed teachers were charged with “unauthorized assembly” and “violation of the state of health emergency,” according to the secretary-general of the National Federation of Education, Abderrazzak Drissi.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 15 March 2022

Photo credit: South African Investment Conference (SAIC

South Africa Offers Opportunities for Foreign Investors

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW | JOHANNESBURG (IDN) — South Africa is in frantic search of foreign investors to boost its economy exposed to turbulences caused by two years of struggle to contain the global pandemic that triggered almost complete shutdown of businesses and production under lockdowns, which threaten economic efforts since the ambitious investment plan was initiated in 2018 under President Cyril Ramaphosa.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 March 2022

Photo: Russian-made Su-30K fighter jets sold to Ethiopia. Source: Horn Affairs

Traditional Ties Earn Russia African Countries' Silence in Critical UN Vote

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” Those were the prophetic words of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, recalled now by influencers on social media pressing South Africa to cut or reduce old “friendly ties” with Russia.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Russia; 08 March 2022

Photo: Women protesting at the Nigerian National Assembly for inclusion of women in politics among other things. Source: The Premium Times, Nigeria.

Int’l Women’s Day: Nigerian Lawmakers Quashed Gender Equality Bill

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — For the third time in five years, Nigeria’s National Assembly has voted against a bill providing affirmative action for women in political party administration. The lawmakers also voted against a provision to create special seats for women in the national and state assemblies.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 08 March 2022

Photo: Nigeria receives the first batch of evacuees from Ukraine. Source: The Premium Times of Nigeria

African Students in Ukraine Reject Evacuation to Russia

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — At least 1,700 foreign students were still trapped in the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, as shelling from the Russian army continued for the tenth day. Promised humanitarian corridors failed to materialize.

“We are really demoralized, everybody wants to go home,” Precious Ogunbayo, a 21-year-old medical student from Nigeria, told Al Jazeera. “We keep asking for help, but it’s not coming at all.”

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 March 2022

Image: Cover of The Business in Africa Narrative Report

New Report Calls for Shifting Perceptions About Business in Africa

Viewpoint by Moky Makura

The writer is Executive Director of Africa No Filter, a not-for-profit international organisation that supports the development of nuanced and contemporary stories that shift stereotypical and harmful narratives within and about Africa. The following is the executive summary of The Business in Africa Narrative Report, launched recently.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (IDN) — Last year, African Development Bank President Dr Akinwumi Adesina told his audience of African Ambassadors that a concerted effort to change the narrative on Africa in the United States was necessary to attract increased US investments into the continent.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 March 2022

Photo: African soldiers fought against the German Wehrmacht in the Libyan desert. Source: Deutsche Welle

What Russian Invasion of Ukraine Means for Africa

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — War is messy and never fails to spread responsive misery. When Adolf Hitler asked for safe passage to East Prussia through the Polish corridor and for the occupied port of Danzig, not many could have imagined that it would spiral into a World War that would cost 85 million lives and leave an unspeakable trail of devastation in its wake.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 March 2022

Image: Africa and Europe: a joint vision for 2030. Source: European Council.

AU-EU Summit: Five Ways to Turn the Rhetoric of an ‘Equal Partnership’ Into Practice

Viewpoint by Inge Kaul, Senior Fellow, Hertie School

This article was issued by The Conversation and is being republished under Creative Commons licence.

BERLIN (IDN) — Like several prior summits, one of the proclaimed goals of the recent gathering in Brussels was to “lay the foundations for a renewed and deeper partnership” between the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU).

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 03 March 2022

Ukraine: South Africa Slates European Nations at UN Over Treatment of Fleeing Africans

By Jonisayi Maromo, Independent Online (IOL)

PRETORIA (IDN) — The South African government has thrown its weight behind the statement of the African Union (AU), which expressed concern over the treatment of Africans fleeing the war in Ukraine.

Ambassador Mathu Joyini, South Africa’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations delivered a statement at an emergency sitting of the UN's General Assembly on Tuesday (March 1) night, calling on the European countries to resolve the situation, where African nationals have reportedly been barred from leaving the war-torn nation.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 02 March 2022

Image: Diviner’s Figure representing Belgian Colonial Officer, Maximilien Balot, 1931. Credit: Travis Fullerton/Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Museums in Two Countries Fight Over a Statue

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A fierce tug of war is underway between a U.S. Museum and a Congolese gallery over a statue depicting the angry spirit of a Belgian officer beheaded during an uprising in Congo in 1931.

An image of the statue of Maximilien Balot, a colonial administrator, is claimed by the Virginia Museum of Fine Art.