Why is Obama going to Africa but not the OAU/AU Summit?
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Organization of Africa Unity-African Union (OAU/AU). Three issues–Pan Africanism, which includes continental integration, sustainable development and the empowerment of women, according to African Union Chair Nokosazan Klamini-Zuma “loom the largest,” for the group's meeting planned for May 25-27 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The AU's predecessor, the OAU, came into existence as...
Brazil museum tallies up African antiquities lost in fire
GINNEWS (GIN)–A fast-moving fire that swept Brazil's National Museum on Sept. 2 incinerated priceless objects and reduced hundreds of African antiquities to ash, museum officials are now saying. The museum's permanent African exhibit was named Kumbukumbu–a Swahili word for the memory of people, objects and experiences. A throne from the Kingdom of Dahomey (current-day Benin) and ritual objects of Afro-Brazilian...
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...
Martyred for the Sake of Our Freedom and Justice
“I say to my brothers and sisters in Africa, if they come up with a vaccine be careful. Don’t let them vaccinate you with their history of treachery through vaccines, through medication. Are you listening?” —The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan “What is it that we are killed? What is it if ten million of us get killed for right and...
Sudanese coup leaders’ riches feed military power
General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (also known as Hemedti), head of Sudan’s feared Rapid Support Force, pledged over $1 billon to help stabilize the Sudanese Central Bank after an economic crisis and overwhelming protests which led to the military ouster of President Omar el-Bashir in 2019. His promise two years ago is a sign of how Sudan’s military coup leaders have...
‘Water grab’ by profit-seeking corporations starve African lands of vital resources, report says
(GIN)—In anticipation of Earth Day on April 22, a blistering new study has emerged on the escalating climate crisis in Africa and the threat to water for millions of Africans. Large-scale agricultural plantations have been drying up African lands, according to the California-based Oakland Institute in its newly published report released on the eve of the Forum Alternatif Mondial de...
Biden administration’s military action in Africa shows U.S. footprint still there
The latest iteration of “scramble for Africa” by foreign interests, is not only being seen in the number of countries involved, but with the U.S. military strategies utilized. The United States African Command (U.S. Africom) is pushing military might as seen in the August return of its annual Senior Enlisted Leader conference in which NATO participated. According to several...
Africa’s place in global diplomacy defined by colonial and post-colonial history
Africa’s placement in global diplomacy has almost always been informed by its “colonial and post-colonial history,” wrote Takudzwa Hillary Chiwanza, a barrister, journalist and social media content professional. “When African countries got independence, they inherited the colonial power structures of the colonizers without fundamentally altering them, thus perpetuating the dominance of capitalism to the detriment of the masses: the urban...
Uniting Africa and the U.S. Black diaspora to forge a new global economic destiny
ATLANTA— Bridging the gaps between the African continent and the coast-to-coast diaspora was a big discussion point at the National Black Business Conference, which recently took place. The conference, hosted by the National Business League, the National Black Chamber of Commerce and The World Conference of Mayors, welcomed African representatives from all over the continent. Present were the Minister of...
Trillions of dollars in mineral resources but still poor
Despite being rich because of $24 trillion in mineral resources that are ready to be turned into consumer electronics and batteries in electric cars for Western industrialized democracies, the population of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is one of the poorest in the world. In fact, according to the World Bank, the DRC is among the five poorest nations...