Healthy life expectancy in Africa grows by nearly 10 years
Healthy life expectancy among Africans living in mainly high and upper middle-income countries on the continent, has increased by almost 10 years, the UN health agency, WHO, said on Aug. 4. The World Health Organization announced the good news Aug. 4 after examining life expectancy data among the 47 countries that make up the WHO African Region from 2000 to 2019, as part of...
U.S. ‘democracy’: Backing kings, dictators and military regimes
Western powers, mainly the U.S., spout democracy while putting aid in the hands of monarchs, dictatorships and military regimes. And while it characterizes aid as meant to support democracy, according to the Brookings Institute, it wasn’t “necessarily meant to promote democracy.” Democracy suggests “alteration of power,” but most Western assistance avoids anything that can be “construed” as supporting much needed...
New film portrays famed Somali runner forced into servitude in the UK
(GIN)—Somalia-born runner Mohamed Abdi Jama Farah—known as Mo Farah—won 10 gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) for being the second man in history to win long-distance doubles at successive Olympics and World Championships. But he won much more than that. He won a platform to tell his story of forced servitude and how he was trafficked to Britain as...
Kenya: UN expert hails historic reparations ruling in favor of Indigenous peoples
An independent UN human rights expert hailed a decision July 18 by the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, to award reparations to the Ogiek Indigenous peoples, for harm that they suffered due to “injustices and discrimination.” The historic ruling follows a landmark judgment delivered by the court on May 26, 2017, finding that the government of Kenya had violated the right...
The U.S. military presence in Africa: A global top cop revives the Cold War
Being a global economic power is no longer necessary if you are the world’s gendarme, or policeman. Looking at the U.S. and its increasing global military presence, including NATO and U.S. Africa Command (Africom), the world’s largest distributor of corporate manufactured weapons of mass destruction is looking at military might as more important than economic might. Serving as a global cop...
Deception, destruction and no end to Libya’s suffering
Chaos is the order of the day in Libya more than a decade after the American-NATO overthrow and murder of longtime leader Muammar Gadhafi who ruled the North African nation and led a revolutionary movement for 42 years. Acute tribal discord, a grueling civil war, and failure to create a comprehensive government have plagued Libya. The country is still torn between...
Brazil: ‘Racialized’ police killings, evidence reforms are needed, say experts
Following the killings of at least 23 Brazilians during police raids and checks, UN-appointed independent human rights experts called for urgent reforms against “racialized police brutality.” “We have repeatedly raised our concerns about the excessive and lethal use of force used by Brazilian law enforcement officials and the disproportionate impact on Brazilians of African descent,” the three experts said in...
Algeria marks 60 years of independence with military parade
ALGIERS, Algeria—Algeria celebrated 60 years of independence from France with nationwide ceremonies, a pardon of 14,000 prisoners and its first military parade in decades. Opposition figures and pro-democracy activists called the elaborate celebrations an effort to distract attention from Algeria’s economic and political troubles by glorifying the army and called for the release of political prisoners. The events mark the country’s...
The Motherland’s challenge: Enriching elites or agricultural self-sufficiency
I’ve been examining news of Africa’s growing food shortage, particularly brought on by the war between Russia and Ukraine. I reflect that what is happening has more to do with dependency on European and American systems of agricultural imperialism or “exporting commodities,” instead of the Motherland growing food stuffs as the staple for internal consumption. Carlos Lopes, a development economist...
Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba and the fight for a united Africa
The only remains of murdered Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba—a gold-capped tooth in a blue box—was handed over to his family during a ceremony in Brussels, noted the German international newscaster. This symbolic handover of the first democratically elected leader of the now Democratic Republic of Congo, and recent visit by Belgium’s King Phillippe to the minerally rich country appeared...