Profiteers selling ‘conflict diamonds’ from Central African Republic, despite ban
GINNEWS (GIN) - Since a coup d'etat and an extremely bloody aftermath, not much has improved in the Central African Republic and that suits the black market diamond merchants just fine. With news cameras turned away, their trade in “conflict diamonds” is proceeding at a gallop, despite a global ban. The diamond-trading ban was imposed by the Kimberley Process, a global...
Motherland reality: As simple as drawing lines on a map
(FinalCall.com) - To show students how Africa was divvied up in 1885 by Europeans, I stood in front of my son Equiano's sixth grade class at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia and armed only with a magic marker, he drew “artificial borders” on a map of Africa, devoid of its current nation states, that was projected from the...
South African land redistribution is a ticking time bomb
(FinalCall.com) - With the “stroke” of a pen, passage of the June 19, 1913 Native Land Act legalized atrocities committed against South Africa's indigenous population. Forced off of land Blacks had lived on since time immemorial, the new law gave substance to what Blacks already realized, the majority of South African land was now reserved for Whites. Not only that,...
Zimbabwe land redistribution a sign for South Africa?
(FinalCall.com) - During a recent speech at the University of South Africa, former President Thabo Mbeki took Western nations to task for mounting an “offensive against Zimbabwe” that he called an indirect attack on the aspirations of all Africans. During his speech, after attending President Robert Mugabe's inauguration in Zimbabwe, he focused on criticisms about the outcome of the...
U.S. Gov’t Destabilizing Africa through AFRICOM
(FinalCall.com) - Thanks to the U.S. and its proxy-led interventions, instability in North Africa and the Middle East has spread to the African continent. Violence, including the longstanding conflict (you might remember “Black Hawk Down”) in Somalia has spread to include Ethiopia, Uganda and most recent victim Kenya. While global concern focuses on poison gas attacks in Syria, Iran's alleged...
Al-Shabaab, Kenya, oil and raping Somalia
-Contributing Writer- (FinalCall.com) - The recent massacre at an upscale shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya has yet by the majority media to be put into context. Though the wholesale killing of innocent civilians is never warranted, this time by members of Somalia's al-Shabaab militants, this was not an isolated attack. According to The Guardian, “Unlike Uganda's internationally (AMISOM)...
Egypt’s crisis and violence grows
(FinalCall.com) - In Cairo on August 14, the worst was realized as Egypt's security forces, backed by bulldozers, and using tear gas and live ammunition, moved in on two huge pro-Mohamed Morsi protest camps, launching into a long-threatened forced removal. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of the mostly peaceful demonstrators dead and thousands more wounded. The shooting and unrest continued...
Political musical chairs, money, America and Egypts crisis
(FinalCall.com) - In a diplomatic move that displayed how fluid the developing situation in Egypt is, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns recently made the first senior level visit by a U.S. official since President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown by a widely disputed military coup. Though Burns said he came with no “American solutions, nor did I come...
Is President Obama dangerous for Africa?
(FinalCall.com) - President Obama's trip to Africa maybe more wolf in sheep's clothing. His trip is scheduled to include West, South and East Africa, and the nations of Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. The trip may be too little too late. “To some in Africa,” as noted by Isaac Mpho Mogotsi in Politicsweb. co.za, “U.S. President Barack Obama represents...
Mandela’s Legacy: Much more than goal of a non-racial society
(FinalCall.com) - The 94-year-old Nelson Mandela has received much press of late. His hospital stays have garnered much headlines, and his mortality much discussion. Talk is of his legacy and what South Africa's first post-apartheid Black president will represent to the country going forward. His legacy, as it is being shaped, appears headed toward a similar image assigned to...