Sudan’s prime minister departs amid unrest; UN special representative regrets resignation
The Special Representative of the Secretary- General for Sudan, Volker Perthes, expressed regret that Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok recently decided to resign. According to news agencies, Mr. Hamdok resigned Jan. 3 after another day of mass protests that rocked the capital of the country, Khartoum. After being detained during the Oct. 25 military takeover, along with senior officials and...
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 legacy of violence by the British Empire in Africa and beyond
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, the Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, once said, “You can’t fathom the depths of Satan.” Caroline Elkins in her 2022 book, “The Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire,” gives much substance to Mr. Muhammad’s weighty words. But if not for Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, who as a child spent much time...
Civilians caught in the middle of Sudan conflict
Recent Sudanese history paints the current conflict waging between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Force (RSF) as a “byproduct” of the political and military conditions brought about by the overthrow of former president Omar El Bashir in a military coup in the wake of a popular protest in April 2019. Residents in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital city,...
Is ‘real talk’ by African leaders a sign of the times?
Many world leaders mounted the speakers’ platform during the recent high-level general debate week of the 78th United Nations General Assembly. However, the tone of some African leaders was eye-opening and worth noting. The annual UNGA 78 gathering at UN headquarters in New York City is where the majority of member states give their input on pressing global issues....
Is South Africa prepared to embrace a coalition government?
As South Africans approach their upcoming national elections, scheduled for May 29—some with reservations—a plethora of critical issues loom large over the country’s political landscape. One that is getting a lot of attention is whether Africa’s most influential nation-state is possibly prepared to embrace coalition governance on a national scale. According to the South African news site Isolezwe, more...
Zimbabwe’s suffering and lingering land crisis
With the Zimbabwean economy in free fall, the government has agreed to pay $3.5 billion in compensation to White farmers. The land, which was originally attained by the White settler colony under British colonial rule, was expropriated by the Robert Mugabe government to resettle displaced Black families. The agreement signed July 29 at President Emerson Mnangagwa’s State House offices in...
Gadhafi to western powers: Treat Africa as equal partner
MAPUTO, Mozambique (PANA) - The West "has eaten our flesh raw and committed historic crimes by engaging in the slave trade and making huge fortunes from it," Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gadhafi declared here July 12. Speaking at the end of the African Union (AU) summit in the Mozambiqan capital, the Libyan leader affirmed that the West in the past...
Kenya: Kofi Annan to lead African Union’s mediation
Election violence rocks Kenya (FCN, 01-13-2008) Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will take over the mediation efforts in the Kenyan post-electoral crisis with his immediate mandate being to tackle constitutional and electoral reforms in the East African country, reports PANA Thursday. African Union (AU) chairman John Kufuor, who is also the Ghanaian President, jet ted...
Why so much bad reporting on Africa?
(FinalCall.com) - According to the April 25, 2012 edition of Foreign Policy, if journalism standards were used to judge Western reporting of Africa, not only would journalists receive substandard grades, in addition, there would probably be lawsuits. The lack of journalistic ethics when reporting in Africa is appalling. “Standards for the depiction and identification of victims of conflict, rape,...