Africa

Photo: Women discuss politics at a women’s conference in Darfur, Sudan. Credit: UN

Women in Politics: Miles to Go Before Parity Is Achieved

By Zipporah Musau

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – In the fight for gender equality, women around the world have advanced in small and large ways. Yet for women in Africa, progress is measured in micro steps, and the struggle has a long way to go.

The good news is that women’s representation in political decision making has been on the rise globally. The not-so-good news is that the increase has been stubbornly slow, barely 1% in 2018 compared with the previous year. In 2018 the number of women ministers worldwide reached an all-time high at 20.7% (812 out of 3922).

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 April 2019

Photo: Bogolo Kenewendo of Botswana is also adviser to the UN Secretary-General on digital cooperation. Credit: UN

Young Botswana Minister Is Opening Doors for Women and Girls

By Baboki Kayawe*

GABORONE (IDN-INPS) – Bogolo Kenewendo describes herself as having been “an ordinary Botswana child with an ordinary upbringing”. Kenewendo, poised and focused beyond her years, is being modest. At 32 she is Botswana’s youngest minister, in charge of investment, trade and industry.

She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics, specializing in macroeconomic policy, public debt management, export development and other trade-related fields.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 April 2019

Photo: Sudanese women preparing songs to celebrate ouster of O. al-Bashir

Sudanese Demands for a Civilian Government Remain Firm

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Protests that began over the skyrocketing price of bread and shortages of food and fuel have accomplished what few people believed was possible in a country ruled by a leader with an iron fist.

A Sudanese people’s movement was born on the streets of Khartoum. Hundreds of thousands of women and men hunkered down and braved attacks by anti-riot police.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 April 2019

Photo: Around 15,000 farming households hit by Tropical Cyclone Idai will receive agricultural kits including early-maturing maize and bean seeds to grow their own food again. Credit: FAO

FAO Starts Giving Much-Needed Seeds to Cyclone Hit Mozambique

By Santo D. Banerjee

NEW YORK | ROME (IDN) – While clock is ticking to reboot agriculture as secondary growing season is .already underway, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has started distribution of much-needed seeds and tools in cyclone-ravaged Mozambique.

Nearly three weeks after the Tropical Cyclone Idai, which was one of the worst long-lived storms on record, that caused catastrophic damage in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, farmers in Mozambique have started to receive much-needed agricultural inputs.

: Santo D. Banerjee; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 April 2019

Photo: ICAN Executive Director Beatrice Fihn and Bekele Gonfa attended the AU Peace and Security Council in Addis Ababa to lobby for signature and ratification of the #TPNW. Credit: ICAN France

African Nations Can Choose Their Own Destiny

Viewpoint by Beatrice Fihn

Following are extensive excerpts from International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) Executive Director Beatrice Fihn’s address to the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council on April 4, 2019 at the organization's Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

ADDIS ABABA (IDN-INPS) – Across the world we have seen the devastating impacts of weapons on civilian populations. Humanitarian disarmament is a preventative approach aimed at reducing human suffering through the creation of norms and laws around weapons with indiscriminate and inhumane impact on civilians.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 April 2019

Photo: South African nuclear weapon. Credit: The National Interest.

South Africa a Shining Example of Dismantling Nuclear Arsenal

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the nuclear weapons and fossil fuel divestment campaigns gather steam, their political impact could be as powerful as the divestment campaign against South Africa in the late 20th Century, which was a critical factor in moving the South African government to end apartheid in 1994, anticipates Thies Kätow, researcher for the World Future Council.

There are hardly any signs that such an expectation will be realized and the campaign under way would persuade heavily armed nuclear states to disarm. Yet South Africa remains a shining example of a country that went from developing its own nuclear arsenal to dismantling it and being an outspoken advocate against these weapons of mass destruction.

: J Nastranis; THE WORLD; Africa; 13 April 2019

Photo: Sengalese at cultural parade in Harlem in New York. Photo: Alamy | Richard Levine | Source: Africa Renewal.

African Migrants Strive to Preserve Their Cultural Heritage

By Sharon Birch-Jeffrey*

NEW YORK (IDN-INPS) – To experience a taste of African culture deep inside the Big Apple, visitors – including many Senegalese – turn to Le Petit Senegal (Little Senegal), a West African neighborhood in West Harlem, New York.

African grocery shops, fabric stores, hair braiding parlors and regional restaurants sit shoulder to shoulder along the streets. The Sandaga Market of Little Senegal showcases a strong blend of African cultures, customs and languages, symbolizing efforts by African immigrants to project and protect their cultural identities.

: Africa Renewal; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 April 2019

Photo: President of Angola Joao Lourenco.

Angola Plans Manufacturing Russian Military Equipment

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – Many African countries are looking for profitable business, investment and trade rather than development aid. Now Angola, a south-central Africa, has announced corporate plans to diversify its state business away from purchasing to full-fledged manufacturing of Russian military equipment for the southern African market, and possibly other regions in Africa – impeding realization of the Sustainable Development Goal 16 calling for peace and justice.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 April 2019

Photo: President Lourenço of Angola with President Putin of Russia. Credit: en.kremlin.ru

Russia and Angola Stuck between Diplomatic Rhetoric and Business Reality

By Kester Kenn Klomegah*

MOSCOW (IDN) – Strengthening cooperation in trade, economy and culture, as well as current international and regional matters were top issues in talks between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and President João Lourenço of Angola at the Kremlin on April 4.

Striking a personal note, the Angolan leader, who completed his education in 1982 in Moscow, said: “Moscow then and now are two different cities. My congratulations – you have ensured progress and development for Russia and the Russian people.”

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 April 2019

Photo: Atewa forest. Source: Save Atewa Forest

Bauxite Mining Threatens Ghana’s Crown Jewel of Biodiversity

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | ACCRA (IDN) – Environmental groups in Ghana are waging an eleventh-hour battle to stop the government of Ghana from opening the Atewa Forest Reserve – a crown jewel of biodiversity and a source of three rivers – to commercial large-scale bauxite mining.

Their resistance conforms to the Fourth United Nations Environment Assembly's resolution on mining resource governance in Nairobi from March 11-15. The resolution stresses in particular Sustainable Development Goal 7 calling for 'affordable and clean energy' and Goal 12 on 'responsible consumption and production', "reminding the important contribution of mining to their achievement".