Egypt under international fire for rights abuses
The United Nations Human Rights Council has called out the Arab Republic of Egypt to end suppression of freedoms of expression and assembly. The council expressed “deep concern” for pervasive human rights violations committed with impunity by Egyptian authorities. A joint statement was signed by 31 mostly Western nations, including the United States, which has observer status on the council....
Tanzania swears in the world’s first female Black Muslim president
The African continent should be proud of Tanzania’s seamless passing of power to vice president now President Samia Suluhu Hassan. The world’s first Black Muslim female world leader took the oath of office holding a Holy Qur’an after the death of the East African country’s beloved president and former science professor John Magufuli. “I think the fact that she’s Muslim...
Belated acknowledgment: Ethiopia confirms Eritrean soldiers’ role in Tigray conflict
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has confirmed for the first time that troops from Eritrea entered Tigray during the recent conflict in the northern Ethiopian region. The conflict in Tigray erupted after forces loyal to the then-governing regional party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), attacked army bases across the region in early November last year, triggering a retaliatory offensive by federal...
Africa should dictate terms of its relationships with U.S.
U.S. President Joe Biden has dispatched Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) to Ethiopia to meet with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to express the administration’s “grave concerns” about the humanitarian crisis in the country’s Tigray region. Sudan and Egypt, because of their water dependence on the Nile River, asked the Biden administration, the UN and the African Union to intervene...
Thousands in Senegal say ‘Enough’ in rally for economic social change
(GIN)—For centuries, Senegal was called the “country of teranga” or “country of hospitality.” The mask of hospitality was lifted recently to expose the frustration of thousands of young Senegalese fed up with government corruption and what was called “wealth hoarding by the political class.” Protestors are also demanding the release of political prisoners and reform of the criminal justice system. “Trop...
Proclaiming the history and legacy of Blacks in Islam
Islam’s history in Africa predates its spread in Arabia, let alone the neighboring countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, sent dozens of his companions to Abyssinia, now called Ethiopia, before the beginning of the Muslim calendar. During the first century of the Muslim calendar, Islam spread from Egypt through the Red Sea and the East...
W. Africa’s legendary Dahomey female warriors
No story about Africa’s kingdom of Dahomey, now the Republic of Benin, would be complete without chronicling the history of their fearless female warriors. In fact, in the history of the world these fearless women warriors called “Agojie” or Dahomey Amazons by the French literally left European colonialists “shaking in theirs boots.” The Agojie warriors are called the only documented frontline...
Okonjo-Iweala is 1st woman, African to lead world trade body
FRANKFURT, Germany—Nigerian economist Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed to head the World Trade Organization, becoming the first woman and first African to take on the role amid rising protectionism and disagreement over how the body decides cases involving billions in sales and thousands of jobs. Ms. Okonjo-Iweala, 66, was named director-general by representatives of the 164 countries that make up the...
Building bridges in Ethiopia through Pan Africanism
On the 13th of January 2021, Addis Ababa University and the United States Africa Institute signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on tasks related to education, research and overall development at the Addis Ababa University Main Campus located in Ethiopia’s capital city. The Los Angeles-based institute, according to its Facebook page, focuses on “Advancing the strategic partnerships between the...
New head of African Union faces daunting challenges from day one
(GIN)—He’s been described as a “master strategist,” but can the incoming chair of the African Union beat the daunting challenges ahead? That is the difficult question facing Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, president of the Democratic Republic (DRC) as he assumes the post just relinquished by South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa. Skeptics are already circling President Tshisekedi who has ambitious goals for the...