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Africa

Race, Rights And Repression

September 8, 2024 ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka and Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report. , , , , , , , ,
As the presidential election will take place in about two months, we need to discuss the prospects of peace, if any, under a Harris or Trump administration, but specifically in Palestine and in the West Asia region, but Ukraine is still an issue, more than two years after Russia's special military operation began. Who is in charge of the US as Ukraine undertakes an incursion into Russia, and what does this mean for the future? Also, we'll talk about AFRICOM, the US Africa Command, which was founded in October of 2008 in the waning days of the George W Bush administration, but under Obama and other presidents, has grown significantly. Also, how does this impact domestic policy, with the 1033 program giving surplus military equipment to police departments and the IDF training of police forces, why do we have a more than $800 billion military budget, which, of course, is a leading cause of austerity.

China To Give LDCs, Including 33 African Countries, Zero-Tariff Treatment

September 6, 2024 Friends of Socialist China. , , , ,
China has decided to give all least developed countries having diplomatic relations with China, including 33 countries in Africa, zero-tariff treatment for 100 percent tariff lines, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced on Thursday in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, the Xinhua News Agency reported. This has made China the first major developing country and the first major economy to take such a step. It will help turn China’s big market into Africa’s big opportunity, Xi said, Xinhua reported. China will expand market access for African agricultural products, deepen cooperation with Africa in e-commerce and other areas, and launch a “China-Africa quality enhancement program,” Xi said.

Scale Up Mpox Response, Health Groups Urge

August 24, 2024 Ana Vračar, People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
Thousands of people across Africa have been infected with the Mpox virus, resulting in hundreds of deaths and the ongoing spread of the disease. In response, over 55 health groups have urged the British government to support health systems in the affected countries. In an letter circulated on August 23, the groups demand rapid distribution of vaccines to countries in Africa currently struggling with mounting a response to the outbreak, as well as ensuring sharing of technologies between existing vaccine producers and manufacturers in Africa to increase global supply.

SADC Holds 44th Annual Summit In Zimbabwe

August 23, 2024 Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
President Emmerson Mnangagwa of the Republic of Zimbabwe has emerged as the regional chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) 44th Annual Summit which was held in Harare on August 17. SADC is a 16-member regional organization composed of states and their affiliates extending from the Republic of South Africa to the Seychelles and as far north as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Since 1980 when its predecessor organization, the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC), was founded in Lusaka, Zambia which later transitioning towards SADC in Windhoek, Republic of Namibia in 1992 to the present era, the mission of the grouping is to foster economic cooperation, peacekeeping operations and solidarity with other oppressed and exploited people in Africa and around the globe.

Mali And Niger Break Diplomatic Relations With Ukraine

August 16, 2024 Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report. , , , , , , , , , , ,
Since the beginning of the Russian Special Military Operation in Ukraine, the African continent has become a major battleground in the renewed Cold War between Moscow and Washington. In recent weeks in response to an attack by rebels in the north of Mali in Tinzaoten, the military government based in Bamako has revealed that Ukrainian military forces were involved in an ambush against its soldiers and Russian security advisors on July 27. Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have formed an Alliance of Sahel States (AES) which has formerly broken with the western-backed Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Is The Ukraine War Spilling Into Africa?

August 16, 2024 Damilola Banjo, Consortium News. , , , , , ,
Ukraine’s military intelligence recently claimed to have had a role in the massive ambush coordinated with Tuareg rebels that killed Russian troops operating alongside Malian armed forces in Mali, the Francophone West African country. The assertion has sparked fears that parts of Africa might become a proxy war zone for Russia and Ukraine. As the war in Ukraine continues, President Volodymyr Zelensky is looking beyond the stubborn battlefield on his country’s front line for other victories. In Africa, the apparent success in Mali could be largely rhetorical, several analysts told PassBlue.

The Imperialist Attack On The Alliance Of Sahel States

August 15, 2024 Essam Elkorghli, Kribsoo Diallo, and Matteo Capasso, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
On July 27, 2024, armed Tuareg militants and affiliates of the Islamic State in the Sahel attacked a Malian military convoy heading to the northern part of the country, Tinzawaten, close to the border with Algeria. The ambush led to the killing of a large score of the Malian military personnel and their accompanying cadres from the Private Military company, Wagner Group. Being inflicted on one of Russia’s allies in the Sahel, the Western puppet press voyeuristically rushed to glorify the violence. More importantly, Ukraine hopped on to cheer the massacre, and a Facebook post from their embassy in Dakar claimed that the country had provided information, intelligence and military support to Tuareg militants.

From East To West Africa: The People Are Uprising Against Colonial Oppression And Corruption

August 7, 2024 Ferdinand Ibebuchi, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
The time for Africans to reclaim their land, dignity, and future is now. The only means by which Africans can achieve liberation and self-determination is through collaborative unity, in the form of scientific socialism. A divided continent will only remain mired in the exploitation and degradation that has defined its very existence since the imposition of colonialism a century and a half ago.

The Victims’ Pact: Rwanda And Israel

August 4, 2024 Ann Garrison, Black Agenda Report. , , , , , , ,
Rwanda is the Israel of Africa. The two nations reinforce one another in a longstanding victims’ pact, while the West reinforces both. The three commonly join forces to promote Western “humanitarian interventions” like those in Libya and Syria, which are in fact wars of aggression. The foundation of Israel and Rwanda’s victims’ pact was laid a year after then General Paul Kagame and his Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) won the 1990-1994 Rwandan Civil War and seized power in July 1994. Robin Philpot, in his book Rwanda and the New Scramble for Africa, from Tragedy to Useful Imperial Fiction writes: Two specific events that often go unnoticed contributed to the official sanctioning of the use of the word “genocide” to describe the entire Rwandan tragedy.

The Ruthless And Desperate Pursuit Of US Influence And Access Over Africa

August 1, 2024 Netfa Freeman, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
On June 25, 2024, the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) convened the African Chiefs of Defense (ACHOD) Conference in Botswana. The conference, purportedly to “strategize on counter terrorism, collaborate on crisis response and the importance of civilian and military relations,” has been held annually since 2017. This latest ACHOD was the first to convene in Africa. The earlier conferences were convened primarily in Europe. At this conference, it was revealed that AFRICOM would attempt to use Libya as a new front against Russia. Journalist Habib Lassoued reported that: According to Libyan sources, US officials demanded during the past period that General Khalifa Haftar, commander-in-chief of the National Army, limit the alliance ties that bind him to Moscow and expel Russian militants.

NYC Protesters Target AIG Over East African Crude Oil Pipeline

July 27, 2024 Jessica Corbett, Common Dreams. , , , , , , ,
The "Summer of Heat" continues—both in terms of record-breaking temperatures driven by fossil fuels and a series of nonviolent direct actions targeting Wall Street for its contributions to the climate emergency. After protests last month calling out Citibank for "financing the arsonists," climate campaigners on Friday set their sights on finance and insurance giant AIG for "stubbornly" refusing to join over two dozen other insurers that won't cover the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). EACOP is set to run nearly 900 miles from Uganda's Lake Albert oilfields to the port of Tanga in Tanzania. Rights groups have sounded the alarm about how the project has devastated the lives and livelihoods of people in its path as well as violence endured by African activists, who have been "kidnapped, arbitrarily arrested, detained, or subjected to different forms of harassment."

Responsibility For Kenya Crisis Lies At The Feet Of US Neo-Colonialism

July 10, 2024 Black Alliance For Peace, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
The excessive support and public adoration the U.S. government has given to Kenya’s President William Ruto represents the racist contempt this settler state has for all of Africa and for the domestic population of descendants from the continent. Two days before African Liberation Day on May 25th and one month before the Kenyan police’s brutal crackdown on protests against the US-IMF backed Finance Act that increases taxes up to 35% on essential goods, U.S. President Biden rolled out a red carpet for Ruto at a White House state dinner. The debt that this bill is supposed to address only exists because of the incessant and indiscriminate borrowing by the previous government of Kenya, for which Ruto was vice president.

The Sahel Stands Up; The World Must Pay Attention

July 9, 2024 Vijay Prashad, People's Dispatch. , , , , , ,
On July 6 and 7, the leaders of the three main countries in Africa’s Sahel region—just south of the Sahara Desert—met in Niamey, Niger, to deepen their Alliance of Sahel States (AES). This was the first summit of the three heads of state of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, who now constitute the Confederation of the AES. This was not a hasty decision, since it had been in the works since 2023 when the leaders and their associates held meetings in Bamako (Mali), Niamey (Niger), and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso); in May 2024, in Niamey, the foreign ministers of the three countries had developed the elements of the Confederation.

Fishery Protection Measures Marred By ‘Massive Conflicts Of Interest’

July 9, 2024 Brigitte Wear, Hazel Healy and Michaela Herrmann, DeSmog. , , , , , ,
Flagship initiatives to ensure “responsible sourcing” for the global aquafeed industry in West Africa are being undermined by systemic conflicts of interest, endangering efforts to safeguard critical fish stocks, DeSmog can reveal. The findings raise concerns at a time of growing evidence of the harms caused by the fishmeal industry in the region, prompting accusations of “greenwashing” from campaigners. In the last decade, factories producing fishmeal and fish oil – the engine of the carnivorous fish farming industry – have proliferated along the West African coastlines of Mauritania, Senegal and The Gambia.

The War In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo Will End

July 4, 2024 Vijay Prashad, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. , , , ,
On 20 June, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) condemned the attacks on civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ‘in the strongest terms’. In its press statement, the UNSC wrote that these attacks – by both the DRC’s armed forces and various rebel groups supported by neighbouring countries such as Rwanda and Uganda – ‘are worsening the volatile security and stability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in the region and further exacerbating the current humanitarian situation’. Five days later, on 25 June, the United Nations peacekeeping force in eastern DRC withdrew, in accordance with a December 2023 UNSC resolution that pledged both to provide security for the DRC’s general elections on 20 December and to begin to gradually withdraw the peacekeeping force from the country.
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