Africa

Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin in an address to the international forum of parliamentarians early July 2019 emphasized that “the modern world needs an open and free exchange of views, confidence building and search for mutual understanding”. Credit: The Kremlin.

Russia and Africa Need to Know More About Each Other

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – After several years of consistently constructive criticisms, Russian authorities have finally put on the agenda the topic of media cooperation for further panel discussions during the first Russia-Africa Summit on October 23-24 in Sochi, southern coastal city of Russia.

The Russia-Africa Summit programme, released last month, explicitly notes that Russian-African relations are lending an additional dimension to developments, especially with the boost provided by rapidly expanding links across a vast range of areas. The media can and indeed must be a decisive factor in building effective ties.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 11 October 2019

Photo: The Hadza people in Manyara. Credit. Edwin Mkendo.

Tanzania’s Hadzabe Win Climate Change Award

By Kizito Makoye

MANYARA, Tanzania (IDN) – At the heart of the Yaeda valley, which sprawls across a wide expanse of plains in Tanzania’s northern Manyara region, live the Hadzabe – a 40,000-year-old tribe who live in the bush. Their livelihoods still depend on hunting and gathering wild fruits, and for many years now, they have shown a great ability in surviving on a few dwindling resources.

Armed with vast knowledge of the country’s flora and fauna, coupled with their inseparable bond with nature, the Hadzabe have until recently lived in a perfect balance between man and the environment.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 October 2019

African Languages Among the Top Ten Spoken in U.S. Homes

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – If you think you’re hearing more Swahili, Yoruba, Amharic or Twi coming from your neighbour’s home, you’re right!

Newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau finds African languages are among the top ten fastest growing languages spoken at home in the U.S.

The Census list features three groups of African languages: Swahili and other Central/Eastern/Southern African languages; Yoruba, Twi, Igbo, and other Western African languages; and Amharic/Somali.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 October 2019

Image credit: Screenshot of Ethiopia Thanksgiving from CGTN Africa.

Ethiopian ‘Thanksgiving’ Returns as A Joyous Affair

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW York (IDN) – For the first time in 150 years, Ethiopia’s Oromo people celebrated “Thanksgiving” in “Finfinee” – generally known as Addis Ababa.

The country’s largest ethnic group turned up in the hundreds of thousands to mark “Ireecha” – a public outdoors event. People gathered around water bodies, holding tufts of grass to thank Waqqaa (God) and ask for Nagaa (Peace), Finnaa (the development of mind and body), Walooma (togetherness or harmony), and Araaraa (Reconciliation).

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 October 2019

Photo: Kenyan Senator Isaac Mwaura. Source: Standard Digital

What a Kenyan Senator Attending UN Meeting Experienced in US

By Isaac Mwaura

The writer is a Nominated Senator and chairman of the Albinism Society of Kenya. @mwauraIsaac1 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This article was first published in Standard Digitial.

NEW YORK (IDN) – It is Wednesday September 25, 2019, and I am rushing to take my seat at a Kenyan side event on peace, organised by our permanent mission in New York and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was during the United Nations General Assembly meeting. I get into the building and check in at security.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 08 October 2019

Photo: Zena Athumani, a member of the Kisanga Village Executive Committee, registering details of families which have qualified for the cash handouts as part of Social Safety Net Project run by TASAF. Credit: Edwin Mkendo

World Bank's Cash Handouts Lift Tanzanians from Poverty

By Kizito Makoye

KILOSA, Tanzania (IDN) – Hidaya Juma looks gaunt and weary. Her sun-parched skin and tattered clothes tell it all. She is poor.

Juma, a 43-year-old single mother of four, who lives in Kisanga village, Kilosa district, in Tanzania's eastern Morogoro region, lives in a mud-walled house that is prone to flooding.

Her 19-year-old daughter Zubeda shares a dusty bedroom with two siblings. Juma sleeps in the other room with two of her children, aged nine and six.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 October 2019

Photo: Chido Onumah. Credit: Oriental Times.

Advocates for Biafra and Journalists Against Corruption Face Gov’t Crackdown

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) - The war may be over in a place called Biafra – a region of states in the southern part of Nigeria – but it remains a flashpoint for ethnic tensions that simmer just below the surface.

This September, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), announced a meeting with world leaders at the United Nations to present the grievances of the Igbo community, including unfair treatment by successive governments.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 October 2019

Photo: People lining up for water at a borehole in Epworth, in southeast Harare, Zimbabwe.Credit: Zinyange Auntony for The New York Times.

Drought Catapults Zimbabwe into a National Disaster

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – In a new low water mark for Zimbabwe’s troubled economy, two million people in Zimbabwe's capital have now been left without water after the government ran out of foreign currency to pay for imported water treatment chemicals.

Zimbabwe’s capital city shut its main water works on September 26, potentially leaving the city dry and raising the risk of water borne diseases.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 October 2019

Photo: Ugandan investigative reporter and news anchor Solomon Serwanjja. Credit: NBS TV

Ugandan TV Host Wins Coveted Prize for Investigative Journalism

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Ugandan investigative reporter and news anchor Solomon Serwanjja is the 2019 winner of the Komla Dumor award. It goes to a journalist committed to changing the narrative about Africa.

Serwanjja, a presenter at Uganda's NBS TV, hosts one of the channel's prime-time shows. He has also produced award-winning reports, including one for BBC's Africa Eye program about the illegal sale of prescription drugs.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 October 2019

Collage of photos of Brigadier General Mike Nicholas Sango, Zimbabwean Ambassador to Russia against the backdrop of the Zimbabwe Embassy in Moscow. INPS-IDN.

Russia Making Further Inroads into Zimbabwe

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – Russia maintains very friendly relations with Zimbabwe, thanks to ties which evolved during the struggle for independence. Since then, it has had a very strong mutual sympathy with and friendly feelings toward the southern African people, government and country.

One of the fora in which relations between the two countries are discussed is the Russia-Zimbabwe Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Trade and Science and Technical Cooperation.