l'AFRiQUE...and other stories

I enjoyed reading this article. I was and still am guilty of assuming all is well if the media says so (lame…I know). A woman is president of Malawi now? She sold the presidential jet? Guess that means Malawi is well on its way to development *Moves on* It was nice to sit down read about some of the very contradicting issues this president is facing. Each person will have their own opinion on her performance depending on what lens you look at it from. I’m interested to see how she fares in next year’s elections. 

Also…let us not speak the words Madonna and Malawi in the same sentence again. I’m over it. 

Chad  has sent troops to the Central African Republic (CAR) to fight rebels who have seized Bria, a key mining town in a diamond-rich region.

CAR President Francois Bozize reportedly asked the neighbouring country for help after his own army failed to repeal the attack.

The rebel coalition accuses Mr Bozize of failing to comply with the terms of a peace treaty signed in 2007.

Read on here

Source: BBC

fotojournalismus:

Members of Senegalese anti-government youth movement Y’En A Marre, or “We’re Fed Up,” chant slogans in Senegal’s capital Dakar, February 16, 2012. Senegal riot police again used teargas, truncheons, and a water cannon on Thursday to disperse hundreds of people in the capital Dakar protesting at President Abdoulaye Wade’s decision to seek a third term in office. The clashes in the West African state erupted after demonstrators shouting “Wade step down” gathered at a downtown square near the presidential mansion, shrugging off a state ban on protests in the run-up to the Feb. 26 vote.

[Credit : Joe Penney/Reuters]

(via misshamdi)

President Goodluck Jonathan comparing Boko Haram’s wave of violence to atrocities committed during the countries 1967-1970 civil war, otherwise known as the Biafran War 

Senegalese troops have clashed with suspected separatist fighters in the troubled Casamance region, leaving three soldiers dead and six wounded, military and hospital sources say.

The clashes took place in Sindian, 50km north of the regional capital Ziguinchor, as troops were providing security for people and their property against “armed groups who terrorise them”, a military source told the AFP news agency on Tuesday.

“Yesterday [Monday] at dusk… we clashed with Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC) rebels, we counted three dead and six injured,” the source said.

A nurse at a hospital in Ziguinchor confirmed that three bodies, and six wounded, had been taken in.

The Casamance is separated from the rest of Senegal by Gambia and is the theatre of West Africa’s longest running conflict with the MFDC fighting for independence since 1982.

The conflict, which has seen periods of quiet and surges of violence, has not reached the levels of bloodshed of other wars in the region but has nonetheless claimed thousands of lives over the past three decades.

Several peace accords have failed, the MFDC is reportedly riven with divisions and rebels are often implicated in large-scale hijackings and the harassment of villagers.

Violence soared over November and December with 23 people, including 10 civilians, killed in fighting.

President Abdoulaye Wade, who promised upon his election in 2000 to solve the crisis in 100 days, visited the region which has remained a thorn in the side of his government last weekend as he campaigned for a third term in February 26 polls.

He proposed a plan which involved disarmament, demining, and five major agricultural projects. 

Source: Al Jazeera  

NAIROBI — Everyone in Kenya knows the phrase “kitu kidogo.”

It means “something small” in Swahili, and it refers to the bribes Kenyans pay minor bureaucrats, such as policemen and utility company employees, to make life easier. For decades, Kenyans had only their relatives and friends to complain to. Until now, that is.

A new Web site — I Paid a Bribe – is allowing Kenyans to share their experiences with bribery. Activists say the site could become a potent weapon in the fight against graft in one of the world’s most corrupt nations.

“It brings a human face to corruption,” said Samuel Kimeu, executive director ofTransparency International-Kenya, an anti-corruption watchdog group. “When people tell their stories the way they do on the Web site, it has the potential to catalyze action.”

Drawing some inspiration from the Arab Spring uprisings, activism appears to be on the rise here and in many other corners of sub-Saharan Africa. Last year, protests erupted in Uganda and Malawi over bad governance and other issues. More recently, Nigerians have demonstrated against corruption and rising fuel prices, and activists in Senegal have rallied against President Abdoulaye Wade’s bid for a third term.

“I’m calling what’s happening in Kenya the ‘Bribe Spring,’ ” said Antony Ragui, the Web site’s 36-year-old founder. “People are fed up with corruption and the government. The real goal of I Paid a Bribe is to harness the collective energy of Kenyans. I am trying to create a network of Kenyans who are anti-corruption-minded.”

Ragui, a financial services consultant with an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, said he returned to Kenya in 2007 to find a society that revolved around corruption. Out of 182 nations, only 28 are more corrupt than Kenya, according to Transparency International.

“I was tired of people whining about corruption. I wanted to do something about it,” Ragui said.

One day, Ragui read a magazine article about an Indian Web site — Ipaidabribe.com – that was fighting corruption. He contacted the site, which agreed to provide the software to start a similar effort in Kenya, its first spinoff.

Launched last month, Ragui’s site is divided into three sections. One part collects stories about bribes paid, listing the amount as well as where and when the incident occurred. Another section collects details about people who refused to pay bribes. And the third provides a forum for instances of honesty, when a bribe was not required.

More than 400 bribes have been reported; the total amount paid is nearly 9 million Kenyan shillings – or about $110,000.

Read on here 

Source: Washington Post 

(via b-sama)

You don’t have to look far for a symbol of Abdoulaye Wade’s presidency. If you’re in Dakar, you just have to look up. It’s a monstrous, 49m statue of the “African Renaissance”, built to the specifications of the president himself. It depicts a topless giant of a man surveying the Atlantic Ocean, a woman clutching his rippled chest and a baby balanced rather precariously on his bulging bicep. Completed in 2010, It was to be Wade’s lasting legacy. But perhaps not in the way he envisaged.

You see, rather than bring Senegalese together in a vision of a prosperous, united future, the statue has upset just about every social grouping possible, and turned up the volume on the questions surrounding Wade’s presidency. Feminists are unhappy that the female figure is so obviously subordinate. Muslims were unhappy about the amount of leg she shows. Christians were unhappy because Wade compared the male figure to Jesus Christ. Unions were unhappy because Wade employed a North Korean firm to build it, not local labour. Taxpayers were unhappy because it cost $27-million to build. And for what, exactly?

(Source: thefemaletyrant)

OH LAWD!!! 

See it for yourself =] 

allafrica.com 

dynamicafrica:

Inside Story - Is Senegal sliding into chaos?

Senegal is one of the most peaceful nations on Africa’s west coast but violent protests are increasing over the president’s bid to be re-elected for a third term in office. Discussants are: Cheikh Tidiane Gadio, Amadou Sall and Sylvain Touati.

(Source: )

dynamicafrica:

Anti-government protestors march past burning tires in Dakar on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012.

Protesters hurled rocks at police who retaliated with tear gas in Senegal’s capital Dakar on Friday after a top legal body said President Abdoulaye Wade had the right to run for a third term in elections next month.

Local television said one policeman died from head injuries after clashes in the capital Dakar.

Toure Behan / AFP - Getty Images

(Source: )

Abu Qaqa (of Boko Haram), in response to President Goodluck Jonathan’s call for negotiations between the Nigerian government and the terrorist organization. 

dynamicafrica:

Continent or Country? A Guide to the US GOP Candidates on Africa

It’s evident that former Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is, to be kind, bad at geography. In an October debate, Bachmann’s remarks suggested that she didn’t know Libya was a country in Africa. But where, if anywhere, are the remaining six contenders when it comes to Africa?

Foreign aid and the threat of Islamist extremism rank high on a very short list of African issues that have come up during the campaign. But there are important variations, and some oddities:

Are most primary voters aware that, to the extent that Newt Gingrich is actually a “historian,” he is a historian of Africa? If Americans aren’t paying attention, many Africans—in a continent of over a billion people that will figure heavily on the global economic and political scenes over the next decade—are watching and waiting. Here, then, is a guide.

Read more.

(Photo: Newt Gingrich & Nelson Mandela in 1998)

(Source: )