Africa

Local censorship goes global as media under siege

New York, February 21, 2012 (CPJ) – Repressive governments, militants, and criminal groups across the globe are leveraging new and traditional tactics to control information, with the aim of obscuring misdeeds, silencing dissent, and disempowering citizens, according to Attacks on the Press, a yearly survey released today by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

As demonstrated by Eritrea and Equatorial Guinea’s media blackout of the popular uprisings of the Arab Spring or Syria’s blackout on the repression of protests, or Egypt’s unplugging of the Internet, local suppression of information-whether by technology as done by Iran, legal persecution as in Ecuador and Turkey, or violence against journalists as in Mexico, Uganda and Somalia-has global repercussions.

“Navigating political unrest, environmental disaster, and other disruptions cannot be done effectively when information is censored,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “In a globalized information age, censorship is a transnational violation that must be emphatically countered.” Read more…

Africa’s Dirty Wars

Warfare in Independent Africa
by William Reno
Cambridge University Press, 271 pp., $27.99 (new paper book)

Young rebels from the Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo—whose fighters, according to UNHCR, are told to spray themselves with ‘magic water to protect themselves from bullets’—Lukweti, Masisi Territory, North Kivu, 2011. The photograph is titled Vintage Violence and appears in Infra, Richard Mosse’s book of infrared images of eastern Congo. The book includes an essay by Adam Hochschild and has just been published by Aperture and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Young rebels from the Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo—whose fighters, according to UNHCR, are told to spray themselves with ‘magic water to protect themselves from bullets’—Lukweti, Masisi Territory, North Kivu, 2011. The photograph is titled Vintage Violence and appears in Infra, Richard Mosse’s book of infrared images of eastern Congo. The book includes an essay by Adam Hochschild and has just been published by Aperture and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

In December 2009, the Lord’s Resistance Army, a brutal African rebel group guided by a wig-wearing commander named Joseph Kony, massacred more than three hundred people in a remote corner of northeastern Congo. Most of the victims were clubbed to death, some were killed with machetes, a few were shot, and a few more were strangled. The LRA, as it is widely known—in Congo it’s simply called tonga-tonga, which means something like “those who attack silently”—had just kidnapped hundreds of people and was moving quickly through the bush. Anyone who couldn’t keep up was killed. Most often the other conscripts, many of them children, were forced to do the killing. Because that corner of Congo is so isolated and sparsely populated, it took weeks for news of the massacre to filter out, unusual in today’s hyperconnected world. I had to charter a plane to reach the massacre area, because there were no functioning roads close to it. I flew into a little town called Niangara, an old trading post at the confluence of two rivers. During Belgian rule, Niangara was a boom town for cotton and coffee, though you would never know that now. The roofless old Belgian houses are sinking into the elephant grass and the once-paved roads are gluey mud. There was no evidence of war or distress when I landed, not even fresh-faced foreign aid workers in their white vests. Read more…

Libyan Militias Accused of Targeting African Migrants

African migrant workers whom rebels accused of being mercenaries seen detained in a military base in Tripoli, Libya

February 19, 2012 (The New American) – As Libyans prepare to mark the one-year anniversary of the Western-backed uprising that ultimately toppled the regime of despot Muammar Gadhafi, human-rights monitors say hundreds of “out of control” militia groups are still engaged in mass savagery — raping and torturing people to death in makeshift prison camps, ethnically cleansing parts of the country, and more.

The most recent charges came on Wednesday. Researchers with the organization Amnesty International released a fresh report, citing interviews with detainees and observations on the ground, accusing the lawless Libyan militias of committing widespread human rights abuses including what amounts to war crimes. Read more…

Africa: Acid Test for Democracy in Africa As 12 Nations Braced for Elections

woman signs a document certifying her vote in Côte d'Ivoire's legislative elections (file photo).

February 15, 2012, Nairobi (All Africa) — As world attention remains riveted on the US political campaigns and their implications for the Obama presidency, many may forget that in Africa there will be major tests for democracy this year.

Among the most critical political events on the continent will be a referendum in Darfur that is expected to pave the way for the self-determination of the people of that troubled Sudanese region.

In the wake of the emergence of independence for South Sudan, what happens in Darfur will be of great significance for East Africa, and Africa as a whole.

Ravaged by war for many years, Darfur has been one of the major hotspots on the African continent.

Tellingly, it was the allegedly genocidal violence in Darfur that resulted in the issuing of a warrant of arrest for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court. Read more…

State’s how-to programs raise refugee smiles

African women from the Kayyo Oromo Women's Group take part in yesterday's integration seminar at Flemington Community Centre. Photo: Wayne Taylor

February 14, 2012, Australia (The Age) – A GROUND-BREAKING program to educate refugees on their rights and responsibilities will start in Victoria this year, with the Baillieu government calling the information currently given to new arrivals inadequate.

About 40 public seminars, featuring local police, doctors and councillors, will be held across the state each year in what the government says is the first program of its kind.

Finding a job, how to volunteer, Victorian politics and law are among the topics that will be taught in the sessions, which have been tailored to each town, based on surveys conducted by the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship. Read more…

Female genital cutting sworn off by thousands of African villages

February 14, 2012 (Los Angeles Times) – Eight thousand communities in Africa have sworn off female genital excision, including almost 2,000 that abandoned the practice in the last year, the United Nations Population Fund and UNICEF announced Monday.

In some northern and eastern stretches of Africa and the Middle East, cutting the female genitals is seen as a coming-of-age ritual that ensures chastity and makes a woman marriageable. U.N. agencies have pushed to end practices that cut away all or part of female genitalia, saying they have no health benefits and cause severe pain. Read more…

Zambia stuns Ivory Coast in African Cup of Nations final

February 13, 2012 (Fox Sports) – Zambia won the African Cup of Nations Sunday, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a nerve-racking final at Stade de l’Amitie.

Stophira Sunzu scored the deciding sudden-death penalty after Gervinho missed his spot kick for Ivory Coast.

It’s Zambia’s first African title and came, poignantly, in the same city where nearly the entire national team was killed in a plane crash in 1993 in the country’s worst sporting disaster.

Ivory Coast captain Didier Drogba had missed a 70th-minute penalty for the title favorite to send the dramatic decider to extra time and then a shootout.

After both sides made their first seven penalties, Ivory Coast’s Kolo Toure had given Zambia a first chance at victory when his effort was saved. But Kalaba Rainford sent his effort high over the crossbar to give the Ivorians renewed hope. Read more…

Long live the king! AU’s lavish new home hit by statue row

President Mills, fmr President Rawlings, Prof. Francis Nkrumah, Madam Samia and others poses with Nkrumah's Statue in Addis Ababa

February 11, 2012 (Reuters) – Perched under the shadow of a 100-metre tall marble monolith, a short-sleeved Kwame Nkrumah stands with his right hand raised in triumphant pose, his eyes gazing at the heavens.

The bronze statue, unveiled amid pomp and pageantry last month at the opening of the African Union’s new headquarters, immortalized Ghana’s beloved late leader in the heart of Ethiopia’s capital, in a glowing tribute to a trailblazer for African independence.

Some Ethiopians, however, are not impressed. A row has broken out in the Horn of Africa country over why the country’s late emperor Haile Selassie I was not accorded the same tribute, with opposition officials expressing dismay over the snub. Read more…

Expanding China-Africa Oil Ties

February 10, 2012 (Council on Foreign Relations) – As global demand for energy continues to rise, major players like the United States, the European Union, and Japan are facing a new competitor in the race to secure long-term energy supplies: China. The economic powerhouse has increasingly focused on securing theresources needed to sustain its rapid growth, locking down sources of oil and other necessary raw materials across the globe. As part of this effort, China has turned to Africa. Through significant investment in a continent known for its political and social risks, China has helped many African countries develop their nascent oil sectors while benefiting from that oil through advantageous trade deals. However, China faces growing international criticism over its allegedly exploitative business practices, coupled with a failure to promote good governance and human rights. At the same time, complex local and regional politics are challenging China’s noninterference policy in the affairs of African governments. Read more…

Libya ‘cannot stop’ fighters joining Syria rebels

By Borzou Daragahi in Tripoli

Financial Times, Feb. 9, 2012: Libya’s foreign minister says the interim government cannot stop Libyans from joining the Syrian uprising, as Tripoli takes the hardest line in the Arab world against the regime of Bashar al-Assad.   On Thursday, Libya’s transitional government gave Syrian diplomats 72 hours to leave the country, just days after it handed the Syrian embassy in Tripoli to the opposition Syrian National Council – the first country to take this step.

Nigeria breaks away from African Union at its own risk

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan (L) greets African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping, January 29, 2012

Feb 5, 2011 (Ghana Web) – Nigeria has threatened to pull out of the African Union just because its leader (Jonathan Goodluck) lost his bid to take over from the Equatorial Guinean leader (Theodoro Mbasago Obiang) as the Chairman of the AU. He lost to Benin’s Boni Yayi and is so peeved as to contemplate this action as a way to teach the AU a bitter lesson.

I hope this news report is not true. But we are far away from April 1 (April Fools’ Day).

Specifically, Nigeria is not just threatening to break away from Africa but it is threatening to form an independent continent of Nigeria. What else could be more ridiculous than “an independent continent of Nigeria”? Of course, Nigeria is a big country—probably, its size being a curse in disguise, something that would make the former Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi agitate for the country to be split into three—but it doesn’t justify any politically suicidal move to turn it into a continent of its own. What malarkey?

The threat was contained in a terse press release signed by Mr. Reuben Abati, representing the Nigerian government. The rationale behind this threat? Here it is: “Since Africa does not consider our President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan good enough for the Chairmanship of the African Union, then Africa does not deserve our presence on the Continent.”

The one-week’s ultimatum the Nigerian government gave the AU to regroup and crown Goodluck Jonathan as the head of the Union deserves nothing but disdain. There will be consequences for Africa but Nigeria itself. All of a sudden, we’ve been given the nasty part of the Nigerian leadership. Is this the sort of leadership that can help that country solve its hydra-headed problems? This threat is hollow, misguided, and politically misdirected. It won’t materialize to Nigeria’s advantage. It demonstrates incontinence and lack of respect for discipline and order. Read more…

1,500 migrants died trying to reach Europe in 2011: UN

Feb 2, 2012, GENEVA (Reuters) – A record 1,500 migrants, mainly from Somalia and other parts of Africa, died trying to reach European shores in 2011 and the deadly odyssey continues from Libya, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday.

It said popular uprisings in Tunisia and Libya prompted more people to flee last year, including sub-Saharan migrants working in North Africa, after tighter border measures sharply reduced arrivals in Europe in 2009 and 2010. Read more…

Africa Policy Watchers Lose Hope in President Obama

President Barack Obama speaks at a departure ceremony at the airport in Accra, Ghana, July 11, 2009 (file photo).

Feb 1, 2012 (VOA News) – While President Barack Obama spends the last year of his current term in office with many pressing issues, including trying to get re-elected, African analysts and advocates say policy toward sub-Saharan Africa ranks as a very low priority. This has come as a disappointment to some as Obama’s father was from Kenya.

While walking onto the House floor to deliver his recent 2012 State of the Union speech, President Obama told U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “great job tonight.”

It was later explained the comment referred to a late night U.S. military raid into Somalia to free two hostages including an American aid worker. Read more…

How relevant is the African Union?

As the continent continues to experience social, political and economic upheaval, we ask if African unity is achievable.

Jan 31, 2012 (Aljazeera) – The 18th African Union (AU) summit ends on Monday in Ethiopia with 40 heads of state and government representatives in attendance.

New leaders from Tunisia, Libya and South Sudan are among the delegates at the first annual summit after the so-called ‘Arab Spring’. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, and Chinese officials also attended.

The summit is being held at a time of worsening crises across the African continent. Read more…

AU Summit Highlights Africa’s Tilt Toward the East

African leaders pose for a group photograph with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the 18th African Union (AU) summit in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, January 29, 2012.

China is the honored guest at this summit, and the opening session was filled expressions of gratitude for Beijing’s gift of a new $200-million AU headquarters.

Speakers referred to China’s rising influence in Africa, and to the continent’s growing resentment at what is widely perceived as Western interference in African affairs.

AU Commission Chairman Jean Ping described 2011 as a year of trials and hardship, as Western institutions imposed solutions to crises in Libya and Ivory Coast, rejecting or ignoring African proposals.

“The events of 2011 have greatly strained some of our instruments and consequently our capacity to anticipate,” he said.”Sometimes they tested the strength of our unity and our ability to have our views prevail in some issues of vital interest to the continent.” Read more…