Will U.S. troops headed back to Somalia pose more problems?
The Biden Administration is sending hundreds of U.S. soldiers back into Somalia to “advise and assist” and on a “training mission” for African forces fighting the Somalian resistance group Al-Shabab. The Pentagon announced the decision during a recent press briefing. However, Africa watchers say it’s a bad move considering America’s sordid history in Somalia and the Horn of Africa...
Killing in Nigeria based on religion condemned
Nigeria’s renowned Islamic theologian Ahmad Gumi, according to PRNigeria, said the lynching of Deborah Yakubu, a female Christian student at Sokoto’s Shehu Shagari College of Education, for allegedly making insulting remarks about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), was wrong, and did not reflect the Sunnah, the way or tradition, of the Prophet. While holding a religious instruction class in...
AFRICA WATCH. Africa and its strategic balance in Russia-Ukraine conflict
Foreign Policy, a weekly digest of national security, defense, and cybersecurity news, recently reported that Africa is under pressure from European diplomats, to not allow Russia to use them to “evade U.S. and European sanctions.” One should ask, what one had to do with the other? According to Bloomberg, on the day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that the foreign...
Facebook sued in Kenya over work conditions for moderators
KAMPALA, Uganda—A man who says he is “destroyed” after working as a content moderator for Facebook has filed a lawsuit accusing the company of human trafficking Africans to work in an exploitative and unsafe facility in Kenya. The case against Meta Platforms, the Menlo Park, Calif. company that owns Facebook, and Sama, a San Francisco subcontractor, was lodged May 10...
Ambitions, plans of African Union Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat raising questions
The pretty bizarre exhortations by current Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Moussa Faki Mahamat and published in the daily Sudan Tribune, speaks to the ambitions of the former Chadian prime minister. The AU chairperson is a “ceremonial head” position, but Chairman Mahamat sometimes acts more like a chief potentate than a spokesperson representing 55 heads of African states. Born...
The history David Livingston and Zanzibar’s slave trade
Petina Gappa’s 2019 novel “Out of Darkness, Shining Light” about the explorer David Livingston and the extraordinary group of Africans that carried his body, minus his heart, across Africa’s impossible terrain “illuminates the agonies of colonialism and blind loyalty.” Some wood from a tree in Zambia under which Livingston’s heart is buried, a testament to his last adventure after leaving...
Whistleblower reveals U.S. role in Zuma’s corruption inquiry
(GIN)—Business consultant Athol Williams said he witnessed high-level corruption under the presidency of Jacob Zuma—but a good portion of it emanated from a U.S. company with connections to U.S. presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, according to a new report. Mr. Williams had been a consultant with the American financial firm Bain Capital founded by chief executive Romney. Bain & Co took...
Tanzania’s Muslim female president seeks partnerships during ‘royal tour’
On the heels of a White House visit, Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzania’s first female president, made a special stop in New York City: The world premiere of Emmy award-winning journalist and travel editor Peter Greenberg’s global television special, “Tanzania: The Royal Tour.” “This is a very special, up close and personal journey to and through a country, seen through the...
Extreme weather brings deadly flooding to KwaZulu-Natal
(GIN)—Record-breaking levels of rainfall threaten a new round of flooding and landslides in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal. Already, the calamity has taken over 400 lives, left some 40,000 homeless, with an economic cost yet to be tallied. Weather forecasters and climate scientists, speaking to the Daily Maverick news outlet, are predicting a repeat of such events—potentially sooner than expected. “The events of...
Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral wealth continues to be exploited
In 2009 African Business magazine estimated the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) total mineral wealth at $24 trillion was the equivalent to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Europe and the U.S. combined. In Susan Williams’ recent book, “White Malice: The CIA and The Covert Recolonization of Africa,” she paints a picture of a U.S. scramble for global dominance,...