Over the past week, as many have been distracted by the U.S. elections, an extraordinarily dangerous unraveling has picked up speed in Ethiopia. Months of simmering tensions between the leadership of the Tigray region and the central government in Addis Ababa boiled over into open military conflict, threatening to tip the country into outright civil war. Ethiopia’s crisis jeopardizes not just the security of 110 million people, but the stability of the region and the promise of...
The police in Tanzanian, on Monday arrested several opposition politicians for allegedly planning illegal demonstrations after accusing the ruling party of rigging the general election. Special police zone commander, Lazaro Mambosasa, told journalists in the commercial capital, that among those arrested are Chadema party national chairman Freeman Mbowe and several other leading Chadema members. “We were tipped [off] that they were organizing illegal demonstrations and persuading youths to go into the streets today. “We did...
Last week President Trump invited reporters to listen in on a call intended to celebrate the normalization of relations between Sudan and Israel, a diplomatic achievement that comes with more than a few complications. During the course of the conversation with the Sudanese and Israeli prime ministers, the president of the United States took it upon himself to casually issue a bellicose threat to Ethiopia on behalf of Egypt and its president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a man...
Ms. Aya Chebbi, African Union Youth Envoy, has urged African leaders to always protect the rights of young people to promote youth development in the continent. Chebbi gave the advice on Wednesday via her twitter handle (via https://twitter.com/auyouthenvoy_/) while reacting to the #EndSARS protests in Nigeria. She tweeted: “An appeal to #African leaders to respect and protect Africa’s youth civil and political rights, not repress them and respond to youth movements in #Nigeria #EndSARS and elsewhere...
The MTN Group on Thursday said it has been named the most valuable African brand in the Brand Finance Africa 150 ranking in 2020. Its Group Executive, Corporate Affairs, Nompilo Morafo, said the award was ascribed a brand value of 3.3 billion dollars to the group. Brand value is the net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licencing the brand in the open market. In its survey by Brand Finance, it said, “Over the last...
Eight armed robbers stormed the Bulawayo High Court in Zimbabwe on Sunday and injured two police officers as they tried to break open the registry safe using a grinder, state media reported on Monday. The robbers gained entry into the court’s criminal registry after attacking and disarming police officers manning the premises. Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi confirmed the incident and said investigations are underway. The incident occurred at about 4 a.m. and the suspects were...
Mainstream U.S. media is characterizing the September 29 debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden as a disaster. The moderator was never able to establish control. President Trump, especially, constantly interrupted former Vice President Biden. Rather than a discussion about policy and ideas, the debate was a rant or a temper tantrum. In Africa, the debate will hardly burnish the image of democracy or the United States. However, the October 2 news that President Trump and the...
French President Emmanuel Macron, in a September 22 UN General Assembly (UNGA) speech, made continued French military involvement contingent upon Mali’s restoration of civilian rule. He was blunt: “They (the junta) must put Mali on the irreversible path of returning to civilian power and organize rapid elections.” And, “France […] can only remain engaged on this condition.” As he has in the past, Macron was also clear that France has a low tolerance level for popular demonstrations against...
Mwazulu Diyabanza, a Congolese-origin activist in France, first attracted social media attention by seeming to steal an artifact from the Quai Branly Museum in Paris to protest slavery, colonialism and the alleged French theft of Africa’s cultural patrimony. The attempted theft was carefully staged for live streaming. The museum authorities stopped the theft. In July, he repeated his protest at a museum in Marseilles. It was also live-streamed. Diyabanza is now back in the news because he, along...
The Nigerian Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, has met with speakers of parliaments in other African countries to discuss ways to seek from external debts. The Speaker announced the meeting on his verified Twitter handle, @FemiGbaja, on Thursday night. Gbajabiamila tweeted, “Today, I engaged with my colleagues from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa to discuss how African speakers can collaborate in the joint task of loosening the stranglehold of...
