Africa News and Discussions

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Ex-hotel Driver Sentenced to 14 years for Complicity in Rwanda Genocide
by Molly Quell
December 17, 2021

https://www.courthousenews.com/ex-hotel ... -genocide/

Introduction:

PARIS (Courthouse News) — The month-long trial of a former hotel chauffeur charged with crimes relating to the Rwandan genocide came to an end on Thursday evening, nearly a decade after the investigation first began.

Claude Muhayimana was given a 14-year jail sentence by the Assize Court in Paris for complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity. The court found that he used his job as a hotel driver to transport Hutu militiamen to the sites of massacres of ethnic minority Tutsis during the violent conflict in 1994.

Muhayimana, a Hutu, was married to a Tutsi woman, has denied the charges, claiming he was forced to make trips at gunpoint. The investigation into his actions revealed he also hid members of aided members of the ethnic group in escaping at his own peril.

He is the fourth and lowest-ranking Rwandan to face genocide charges before a court in France. Muhayimana became a French national after leaving Rwanda in the late 1990s and France's legal system allows for universal jurisdiction to prosecute crimes against humanity.

Rwanda

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On TV in Ghana, Portland’s Pious Ali Urges Compassionate Leadership
December 15, 2021

https://www.amjamboafrica.com/portlands ... hanian-tv/

(Amjambo Africa) While visiting Ghana recently, Pious Ali took time for a TV interview, hosted by Trust TV. The topic was his journey from private citizen to well-respected elected official. Ali, the first African-born Muslim American to be elected to public office in Maine, spoke about leadership, and his firm belief that elected officials should serve the people. He was first elected to the Portland Board of Public Education in 2013, and then to the Portland City Council in 2016. He is Chair of the Housing and Economic Development Committee and a member of the Legislative/Nominating Committee. He is currently the longest-serving member on the Council. His term expires in 2022.

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The Planet is Not a Dumping Ground
by Jim Hightower
December 15, 2021

https://otherwords.org/the-planet-is-no ... ng-ground/

Introduction:

(Other Words) In a world that’s clogged and choking with a massive overdose of plastic trash, you’ll be heartened to learn that governments and industries are teaming up to respond forcefully to this planetary crisis.

Unfortunately, their response has been to engage in a global race to make more plastic stuff — and to force poor countries to become dumping grounds for plastic garbage.

Leading this Kafkaesque greedfest are such infamous plunderers and polluters as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, and other petrochemical profiteers. With fossil fuel profits crashing, the giants are rushing to convert more of their over-supply of oil into plastic.

But where to send the monstrous volumes of waste that will result? The industry’s chief lobbyist outfit, the American Chemistry Council, looked around last year and suddenly shouted: “Eureka, there’s Africa!”

In particular, they’re targeting Kenya to become “a plastics hub” for global trade in waste. However, Kenyans have an influential community of environmental activists who’ve enacted some of the world’s toughest bans on plastic pollution.

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Thousands of protesters in Sudan call for transition to civilian rule
Source: France 24

Waving flags, beating drums, dancing and chanting, crowds marched on the streets of Khartoum despite a heavy deployment of security forces -- who later fired tear gas canisters to break them up.

Officers had earlier blocked bridges connecting the capital to suburbs, cut phone lines and restricted the internet ahead of the planned protests.

At least 48 people have died in crackdowns during weeks of protests, according to the independent Doctors' Committee, and Khartoum's state governor has warned that security forces "will deal with those who break the law and create chaos".

Demonstrators converged on the presidential palace in Khartoum, the headquarters of the military government in control since General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power on October 25.

Read more: https://www.france24.com/en/africa/2021 ... ilian-rule

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Firefighters battle new blaze at South African parliament, suspect charged with arson
Source: Reuters

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) -A new blaze broke out on Monday at the complex housing the two chambers of South Africa’s national parliament in Cape Town, one day after a devastating fire swept through the buildings.

“The fire and rescue service confirms that the fire at parliament has flared up. The void beneath the roof sheeting of the National Assembly is on fire,” a spokesman for the city’s fire services said on Monday afternoon.

Police have charged a 49-year-old man with arson and other offences including theft and he was expected to appear in court on Tuesday.

National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said the arson, if confirmed, would represent an attack on the country’s democracy.

Read more: https://www.metro.us/firefighters-battle-new-blaze/

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Ethiopia Announces Pardons for High-profile Political Prisoners
January 7, 2022

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/7 ... -prisoners

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera) The Ethiopian government has announced it would pardon and release some of the country’s most high-profile political detainees, including opposition figure Jawar Mohammed and senior Tigray party officials.

The announcement on Friday came after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed issued a statement calling for “national reconciliation” as Ethiopia celebrated Orthodox Christmas.

It listed several leading members of the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front), whose forces have been locked in a brutal conflict with government forces in northern Ethiopia since November 2020, as well as prominent opposition leaders from the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups.

It was not immediately clear how many of those granted amnesty had yet been freed.

It was the most dramatic move yet by the government after the country’s deadly Tigray war entered a new phase in late December, when Tigray forces retreated into their region amid a military offensive and Ethiopian forces said they would not advance further there.

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Mali’s Junta Deplores New Sanctions Imposed by Regional Bloc
January 10, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/malis-ju ... onal-bloc/

Introduction:

BAMAKO, Mali (AP via Courthouse News) — Mali's ruling junta on Monday condemned the new economic sanctions imposed by West African regional leaders after the coup leader announced a plan to delay new elections by four years.

The new measures stepping up pressure on Col. Assimi Goita include the immediate freezing of Mali's assets held in the regional central bank. Flights from the 14 other countries in the regional bloc known as ECOWAS also have been halted.

West African leaders who met Sunday in Ghana's capital also said they had activated the ECOWAS standby military force, hinting at the threat of military intervention if the junta in Mali continues to defy international calls for democratic elections.

Appearing on a late-night news flash on state TV, a spokesman for Mali's government said it learned of the decision with "stupefaction."

"The government of Mali energetically condemns these illegal and illegitimate sanctions," said Col. Abdoulaye Maiga, spokesman for the transitional government headed by Goita, the coup leader.

Mali

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Ugandan Fintech Asaak Raises $30 Million to Support Acquisition of Motorbikes, Smartphones by Taxi Operators
by Annie Njanja
January 17, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/17/ugand ... operators/

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) Asaak, a Ugandan asset financing startup, has secured $30 million in pre-Series A equity and debt funding. The round saw the participation of new and existing investors including Resolute Ventures, Social Capital, HOF Capital, Founders Factory Africa, End Poverty Make Trillions, Decentralized VC and a number of angel investors.

Asaak offers motorbike financing to operators, who are often locked out by formal banking institutions due to stringent security requirements comprising income history and regular account activity.

The startup works with a number of partners including mobility and e-commerce platforms to make motorcycle ownership easier for the riders– who earn a living by operating motorcycle taxis (bodaboda), a popular mode of transport across Africa, and especially in major cities like Kampala.

Through Asaak, bodaboda operators are now able to own the motorcycles they ride, compared to previously when most of them were either employed by bike owners, or were renting or leasing the motorcycles.

“Asaak is unlocking mobility-based work, which literally moves the economy forward and creates upward mobility for these individuals. Bodaboda riders are the lifeblood of Africa, moving people and cargo from home to school to work. They just need access to motorcycles which leads them to better income opportunities and makes them able to provide for their families,” Asaak co-founder and chief business officer Dylan Terrill told TechCrunch.

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Ghanian Fintech Float Raises $17 Million Seed to Power Cash Flow for Commerce in Africa
by Tage Kene-Okafor
January 17, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/01/17/ghana ... in-africa/

Introduction:

Cash flow is a major pain point for small businesses in Africa. Long payment cycles, which can take 30-90 days after services or products have been rendered, and little or no capital, of which research says 85% of African small and medium businesses are subject to, are the main culprits of cash flow issues.

Many startups are solving these problems for African SMBs in one form or another, and the demand for their services has seen Ghanaian startup Float pick up a significant round of funding. The fintech which provides credit lines for businesses has raised $17 million, funding that it will be using to bolster its offerings and expand geographically.

The seed round was a mix of $7 million equity and $10 million debt. While Cauris provided debt financing, Tiger Global and JAM Fund, the investment firm of Tinder co-founder Justin Mateen co-led the equity bit. Other VC firms involved in the equity round include Kinfolk, Soma Capital, Ingressive Capital and Magic Fund.

A couple of angel investors also took part: Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel, Sandy Kory of Horizon Partners, Ramp founders Karim Atiyeh and Eric Glyman, Gregory Rockson of mPharma and Dutchie founders Zach Lipson and Ross Lipson.

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Dozens feared dead after immense explosion rocks western Ghana
Source: The Guardian

Dozens of people are feared dead after a truck carrying mining explosives collided with a motorcycle in western Ghana, sparking an explosion that has left hundreds of buildings destroyed.

The accident happened around noon in Apiate, near the mining city of Bogoso, 300km (180 miles) west of the West African country’s capital, Accra.
...
At least 57 who were injured had been taken to local hospitals, emergency officials said. Dr Joseph Darko, working at Apiate hospital, told AFP that five of the casualties had been taken there, “including a five-year-old child who is in a life-threatening condition”.

More than 500 buildings had been destroyed, said Seji Saji Amedonu, deputy director general of the National Disaster Management Organisation.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... ng-vehicle

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Heavy gunfire reported at Burkina Faso military base
Source: AP

By SAM MEDNICK

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Heavy gunfire rang out at a military base in Burkina Faso’s capital early Sunday, prompting fears that a coup attempt was underway after weeks of growing frustration with the government’s handling of the Islamic insurgency wracking the country.

The government put out a statement acknowledging gunfire in army barracks but denying an army takeover of the country. President Roch Marc Christian Kabore has not been detained, according to Defense Minister Aime Barthelemy Simpore.

State broadcaster RTB carried a news headline describing the gunfire as “acts of discontent by soldiers.”

“The military hierarchy is working to restore calm and serenity in the barracks,” it read. “Contrary to some information, no institution of the republic has been targeted.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/africa-burki ... 2ff7a774d9

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At least 16 killed, several injured in nightclub fire in Cameroon's capital
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/23/africa/n ... index.html
By Nimi Princewill and Schams Elwazer, CNN

Updated 10:39 AM ET, Sun January 23, 2022

People walk past the entrance of the nightclub where a deadly fire occurred in the Bastos district of Yaoundé, on January 23, 2022.

(CNN)At least 16 people were killed after a fire tore through a nightclub in Cameroon's capital city Yaoundé early on Sunday morning, according to the country's government.
Eight other people were seriously wounded in the fire at the Liv Nightclub, according to the government's statement. During a press conference held at the scene of the fire, the director of the Yaoundé Central Hospital said several people in critical condition were transferred to the hospital.

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Mdundo Eyes More Telco Partnerships After Music Streaming Revenue Growth from Tanzania and Nigeria Deals
by Annie Njanja
February 10, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/10/mdund ... ria-deals/

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) Mdundo, an Africa-focused music streaming service, is banking on more partnerships with telcos across the continent to grow its earnings and user base. Last year, the company signed deals with MTN and Airtel in Nigeria, and Vodacom in Tanzania, which appear to be paying off after its user-base almost doubled as it added paying subscribers as a source of revenue.

MTN and Airtel Nigeria have a combined customer-base of 124.5 million, while Vodacom Tanzania has 15.6 million subscribers, giving Mdundo access to a huge target audience.

“This is a new revenue stream for us. When we listed the company in September 2020 we predicted that revenue from this revenue stream will account for 40% of revenue within a few years and this is still our forecast,” said founder Martin Nielsen.

Mdundo users access music through USSD services on a bundled program (daily, weekly or monthly). The streaming service is also accessible through its website or app which has over 1 million downloads.

By December 2021, Mdundo had 1.7 million international songs on its platform and 367,000 tracks uploaded by 122,000 African musicians, a 46 percentage point growth from December 2020. The company pays more than 50% of its income to music creators.

Mdundo co-founders Martin Moeller Nielsen (CEO) and Francis Amisi (Frasha) who is also an image artist.
Credit: Mdundo

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Mauritius formally challenges Britain’s ownership of Chagos Islands

Mon 14 Feb 2022 08.00 GMT

Britain’s ownership of the Chagos archipelago has been formally challenged after the Mauritian ambassador to the UN, Jagdish Koonjul, raised his country’s flag above the atoll of Peros Banhos.

In a ceremony on Monday at 10.30am local time, Mauritian officials sang their country’s national anthem and the red, blue, yellow and green standard was raised up the flagpole.

Koonjul said: “We are performing the symbolic act of raising the flag as the British have done so many times to establish colonies. We, however, are reclaiming what has always been our own.”

A pre-recorded message by the Mauritian prime minister, Pravind Jugnauth, was broadcast on a speaker to the Chagossians, Mauritian officials and media assembled on the beach.

“This is the first time Mauritius has led an expedition to this part of its territory,” he said. “I feel sad that I have not been able to be part of this historic visit."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... os-islands

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Remedial Health Raises $1 Million Pre-seed to Digitize Pharmacies in Nigeria
by Annie Njanja
February 14, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/14/yc-ba ... n-nigeria/

Introduction:

(TechCrunch) Remedial Health has secured $1 million in pre-seed funding to digitize pharmacies, and stem the supply of fake and substandard pharmaceutical products, starting with Nigeria before expanding to the rest of Africa.

The round was led by Global Ventures and Ventures Platform, with participation from Ingressive Capital, Voltron Capital, Opeyemi Awoyemi’s (Jobberman co-founder) Angel Syndicate Fund, and other angel investors, including Flutterwave’s Olugbenga “GB” Agboola and Victor Asemota.

Part of the new funding will be used to extend the startup’s buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) offering, for an even wider reach.

Founded in 2020 by Samuel Okwuada, a trained pharmacist and self-taught software developer, together with his co-founder Victor Benjamin, Remedial Health started off as a private label business, focused on contract manufactured products from markets like India, which they would then sell to pharmacies in Nigeria.

“That business was pretty small. But at least we were in the market and we were growing,” said Okwuada, who pursued his MSc in Pharmacy at the University of East Anglia, in the UK.

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Did the French Mission in Mali Fail?
by Mucahid Durmaz
February 18, 2022

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022 ... -mali-fail

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera) In February 2013, thousands lined up along the main road in the historic Malian city of Timbuktu to give a heroic welcome to France’s President Francois Hollande. He was visiting the city after French forces had pushed back armed groups that had captured swaths of Mali and were marching towards the capital, Bamako.

Dancing and waving French flags, locals chanted “Vive la France” as Hollande waved back at them. Even the muezzin of the 14-century mud mosque of Djinguereber, who recites the call to prayer five times a day, flaunted a scarf in the colours of the French flag as he shouted “Vive Hollande”. It was a joyful day in Mali.

Today, that seems like a distant memory. In Bamako, French flags are now considered a neocolonial symbol and are being burned during anti-France protests. The troops once referred to as liberators are now accused of splitting the country and training militias.

The deafening calls for a French exit from Mali were finally heard in Elysee Palace. On Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron announced the withdrawal of the French military and Paris-led European force known as Takuba after nearly a decade of fighting against the worsening uprising. “We cannot remain militarily engaged alongside de facto authorities whose strategy and hidden aims we do not share,” he said.

According to Macron, the military bases in the towns of Gossi, Ménaka and Gao will be shut down in four to six months in an “orderly” manner.

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Nigeria is Locked in an Endless Tug of War with its Academics
by Ope Adetayo
February 18, 2022

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022 ... -academics

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera) Lagos, Nigeria – In the 22 years since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, academics in its public universities have gone on strike a record 15 times. The 16th one, a one-month warning strike declared on February 14 to press for increased wages, comes barely two years after a nine-month industrial action.

In each case, the institutions have had to shut their doors, disrupting academic calendars to the frustration of students and parents nationwide. But for the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the umbrella body of the lecturers, a similar frustration is at the heart of its perennial struggle for better remuneration and improved infrastructure in the schools.

‘’Imagine receiving the same salary since 2009 and compare what you received in 2009 with what you are receiving now [and] with the inflation,” asked Foluke Aliyu-Ibrahim, an English lecturer at the University of Ilorin who told Al Jazeera that the government has reneged on several agreements with ASUU. “People don’t understand what we are going through, it is a lot of sacrifices.’’

Since the oil boom of the 1970s, the government has traditionally subsidised tuition in tertiary institutions, but these days, it can barely keep up with the rising cost of education. Industry stakeholders have said the public education system is in a state of gradual decay, best exemplified by the declining standards of the universities.

Currently, there are at least 170 licensed universities in Nigeria; almost half of those are bankrolled by either the federal or state governments while the rest are owned by private individuals and organisations

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Jambo Raises $7.5 Million to Build "Web3 Super App" of Africa
by Tage Kene-Okafor
February 21, 2022

https://techcrunch.com/2022/02/21/jambo ... of-africa/

Intoduction:

(TechCrunch) Jambo, a Congo-based startup building Africa’s web3 user acquisition portal through “learn, play, earn” and democratizing access to crypto-based income-generation opportunities, has raised $7.5 million in seed funding.

Experts say Africa is poised to be disrupted by web3 in a similar fashion that has seen Southeast Asia become one of the best markets for web3. The latter is home to startups like Axie Infinity and Yield Guild Games, which have raised millions of dollars in venture capital owing to the adoption of crypto and play-to-earn models.

The mix of positives such as a fast-growing population–the youngest globally–, solid smartphone penetration, increasing crypto adoption, and negatives like low GDP per capita across board and unemployment makes Africa the next ripe ground for web3.

And a few companies, such as Jambo, are positioning themselves for this next boom. According to James Zhang, its co-founder and CEO, Jambo wants to onboard millions of users to web3 in Africa through its applications. He founded the company with his sibling Alice Zhang — both Congo-born Chinese — in December 2021 after noticing the opportunity to duplicate the success of web3 projects in Southeast Asia across Africa.

Although users of Axie Infinity and other guilds only earn an income while playing games under a revenue-sharing model, Jambo is taking a two-sided approach by allowing its users to do so when they partake in web2 and web3 activities.

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The Keep Africa Poor and Dependent Project
by Graham Peebles
February 27, 2022

https://janataweekly.org/the-keep-afric ... t-project/

Introduction:

(Eurasia Review via Janata Weekly) Exploited and abused for generations by white colonial powers and manipulative economic structures, there is a growing feeling of solidarity within parts of the African continent, as exemplified by the #NoMore movement. Covid vaccine inequality and environmental injustice, together with recent events in Ethiopia have galvanized people.

Ideas of African unity and rage against former imperial forces are nothing new; the chain of suppression and exploitation of African nations is long, running from slavery and colonialism (including colonial extraction) to wealth and climate inequality, racial capitalism and now Covid vaccine apartheid.

Despite the fact that many would say Africa was united long before Europe – family to tribe, tribe to nation, nation to continent, with 54 countries spread over a vast area – establishing a defined Union of Africa seems unlikely, if not impossible. Standing in solidarity, rejecting western intervention, challenging the exploitative status quo and reductive notions of development based on a defunct western model is not; indeed, if African nations are to prosper and create vibrant economies allowing its burgeoning young population to fulfil their enormous potential, they must.

Poverty amidst abundance of resources

Blessed with rich environments and vast natural resources, Sub-Saharan Africa should certainly not be poor. But for huge numbers of people across the continent grinding poverty and hardship are the norm.

According to the World Bank report Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa, while those living in extreme poverty (less than $1.90 a day) has fallen in the last twenty years, the number of “poor people [living on $5 a day or less]…has increased from 278 million in 1990 to over 413 million” Over 80% of those living in stifling poverty are found in rural areas where education and health care are scarce.

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UN: Africa is Already Suffering from Warming and Will See Worse
March 2, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/un-afric ... see-worse/

Introduction:

(AP via Courthouse News) — Although Africa has contributed relatively little to the planet's greenhouse gas emissions, the continent has suffered some of the world's heaviest impacts of climate change, from famine to flooding.

Yet from its coral reefs to its highest peaks, the reverberations of human-caused global warming will only get worse, according to a new United Nations report

The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicted Monday that Saharan flooding, heat and drought will increase, Africa's rich array of wildlife and plants will decline and glaciers on its most iconic mountains will disappear in coming decades.

On a continent already grappling with high poverty levels and food insecurity, the panel warned that fishermen and farmers will feel the pain of future climate change on their lives and livelihoods.

In Kenya, farmer Safari Mbuvi already is trying to weather his country's a four-year drought — and watching his crops fail, again and again.