Africa

Photo: Thousands of protestors march on newly named “Black Lives Matter Plaza” in Downtown DC on June 7.

Spreading the Seeds of Multiculturalism: A Moroccan Perspective

By Jacqueline Skalski-Fouts

VIRGINIA, USA (IDN) – Since early June, an estimated 15 to 26 million people across the United States have participated in protests against the death of George Floyd and the persistence of systematic racism in America, making it one of the largest movements in the country’s history.

Recent trends have shown that support for the Black Lives Matter movement—now more than 67%— has doubled since 2016, and the majority of Americans favour working directly with Black Americans to solve local issues.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 12 August 2020

Photo: Mauritius Declares Environmental Emergency After Massive Oil Spill, Credit: India.com

Dirty Oil Floods Pristine African Beach in Major Spill

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – An Indian Ocean island nation, beloved for its sandy beaches, pristine lagoons and reefs, its tropical climate and its multi-ethnic population, has become another world treasure soiled by the relentless trade in oil, shipped by tankers, unsafe at any speed.

The ship that ran aground off the shores of Mauritius began spilling oil into the country’s famed blue lagoons this week, setting off an environmental crisis in a tiny island nation that relies on its waters for fishing, food and tourism.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 August 2020

Photo: Singer Yahaya Sharif-Aminu sentenced to death for blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad in Kano, Source: Sleek

Muslim Songwriter Facing Death Penalty for Blasphemy Revives Bitter Debate in Nigeria

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Death sentences are rare in northern Nigeria where Sharia law is implemented alongside secular law in most states.

But the recent sentence of a 22-year-old singer to die by hanging has revived an emotional debate in the West African nation. An upper Sharia court in the Hausawa Filin Hockey area of Kano state ruled on August 10 that Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, 22, should die by hanging for the crime of blasphemy for a song he circulated via WhatsApp in March.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 August 2020

Collage of pictures of President Alassane Ouattara of Ivory Coast and President Alpha Conde of Guinea from Wikimedia Commons.

Democracy-Seeking Opposition Prepares To Fight ‘Coups’ In Two African States

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Citizen activists in two West African countries, Ivory Coast and Guinea, are rallying their troops on social media to defend the constitutional limit of two terms which current office-holding presidents seem determined to defy.

In Abidjan, the Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, police have been firing teargas to disperse opponents of President Alassane Ouattara, who says he was asked to run for a third term of five years by the ruling party after the sudden demise of his hand-picked successor Amadou Gon Coulibaly from a heart attack in July.

The constitution limits presidents to two five-year terms.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 August 2020

Image source: Governing Africa: British records from African countries under colonial rule

Russia Sees Neocolonialism as An Investment Barrier in Africa

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW (IDN) – Russia not only supported African countries in liberating themselves from the yoke of colonialism and attaining political independence but also facilitated in the UN General Assembly adopting in 1960 the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. It's a landmark document which states that all people have a right to self-determination and proclaimed that colonialism should be brought to a speedy and unconditional end.

Russia has now embarked on fighting “neo-colonialism” which it considers a fortified barrier on its way to regain Soviet-era multifaceted influence in Africa.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Africa; 09 August 2020

Photo: Members of a cooperative in Morocco meeting and planning their future (July 2020). Credit: High Atlas Foundation

Challenging the Dogma of Community Approach to Development

Viewpoint by Dr Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer is a sociologist and president of the High Atlas Foundation, a U.S.-Moroccan not-for-profit organization dedicated to sustainable development in Morocco.

MARRAKECH (IDN) – Systems devised to organize local community participation in development emerged more than 70 years ago as a means to address poverty by involving people in designing their own initiatives and activities. Today, the people-driven approach to development is widely considered a way to create sustainable projects to advance economic growth, education, and health.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 09 August 2020

Photo: Mamman Daura, nephew to the President. Source: Sahara Reporters

Nigerian President's Nephew Is Not the Problem

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) – I’ve been amused by the strenuous efforts to explain exactly what Mamman Daura, President Muhammadu Buhari’s nephew, meant or did not mean when he said that rotating the Presidency was no longer useful.

Daura told the BBC Hausa service on July 28 that Nigeria’s next president should be chosen on merit, not on a “turn-by-turn” arrangement, a sarcastic reference to a political system that prioritizes tribe.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 07 August 2020

Photo: South African citizens placed under COVID-19 quarantine at The Ranch Resort in Limpopo Province, South Africa. CC BY-ND 2.0, Flickr / GovernmentZA.

South Africa Struggles To Contain Exploding Rate of Coronavirus Infections

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – South Africa, with a population of about 58 million, has the fifth-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. It has become the country with the highest number of infections on the continent.

Health Minister Zwelini Mkhize announced 10,107 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country’s cumulative total to 503,290, including 8,153 deaths.

South Africa’s Gauteng province — which includes Johannesburg, the country’s largest city, and Pretoria, the capital — is the country’s epicenter with more than 35% of its confirmed cases.

Health experts say the country could reach the peak of its outbreak in late August or early September.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 August 2020

Bronx Zoo Issues Apology for Displaying African Man In Cage

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – 'Black Lives Matter' can take credit for the scores of apologies from around the world for racist statues, discriminatory corporate policies and now from the Bronx Zoo for its cruel and racist display of an African man in a cage in 1906.

“In the name of equality, transparency, and accountability, we must confront our organization’s historic role in promoting racial injustice as we advance our mission to save wildlife and wild places,” officials with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said a statement released to the press on July 29.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 August 2020

Photo: Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa talks with Nick Swanepol, former president of Commercial Farmers Union after the signing ceremony at State House in Harare, Zimbabwe, on July 29, 2020. (Xinhua/Wanda)

Zimbabwe To Pay White Farmers for Lands Taken Under Mugabe

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – "The compensation of land is a settled issue, and we are not revisiting it." Those were the words of government spokesman Nick Mangwana defending a $3.5 billion agreement to compensate white farmers whose properties were confiscated by the Mugabe regime to be redistributed to the majority Black population left landless by British colonial policies.

According to the agreement just signed at President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s State House offices in Harare, white farmers would be compensated only for infrastructure on the farms and not the land itself, as per the national constitution.