Africa Update Vol. 1
Welcome to the inaugural edition of Africa Update! I'm excited to share some of the most interesting news, scholarships, and photos I've seen this week. Let's get started!
View for the week: a stunning photo of Goma by Esther Nsapu
West Africa: Dr Vera Songwe of Cameroon is the first woman to lead the Economic Commission on Africa. This was a very good overview of the challenges faced by Nigerian women who'd like to go into politics. After helping solve Gambia's political crisis, Senegal is looking for an exit strategy. En Côte d’Ivoire, le trafic de drogue reste aux mains de la mafia nigériane.
Central Africa: The DR Congo's new biometric passports are some of the most expensive in the world. This was an interesting piece about how the 1960 Congo crisis set the stage for contemporary peacekeeping practices. In Uganda, anyone who broadcasts an independent weather forecast without permission from the government could face up to two years in jail.
East Africa: A Turkish company has broken ground on a new high speed rail project linking Uganda, Rwanda, DR Congo and Tanzania. Learn about 15 East African women who are achieving new heights in business, politics and the arts. Here's why Ethiopia is building a space program. Somalia's president had a busy day at the office last Thursday: he declared war against Al-Shabaab and replaced his military, intelligence and police chiefs. A new report has found that EU anti-migration funding in Sudan is being funneled to Janjaweed militias. Wait 50 million years and you'll be able to swim from Kenya to Congo.
Urbanization: Nearly half of Kenya's urban population lives in slums. Rents are falling in oil-exporting African countries as expats affected by the industry's downturn are leaving. This article reviews Ethiopia's struggle to create new waste disposal and recycling centers after a landslide in a rubbish dump killed 125 people.
Public health: Rates of heroin addiction in Nairobi are increasing, and methadone clinics can't keep up. New mobile health clinics in central Kenya are running nighttime outreach to sex workers and truck drivers, who are disproportionately affected by HIV. Tanzania has begun enforcing colonial-era anti-gay laws, forcing many men to undergo invasive and unnecessary medical examination.
Academics: CODESRIA is seeking short essays on the topic of "Africa in the world, the world in Africa." Sex workers in Nairobi have criticized researchers after they used confusing consent forms and didn't share any concrete benefits from research participation. Hopefully they've seen the research code of ethics written by members of the San community in South Africa. Ugandan academics have taken foreign researchers who study Uganda to task for not speaking out after Dr Stella Nyanzi's arrest for criticizing the president. Follow #FreeStellaNyanzi to stay up to date.
Scholarships: if you're an African journalist, check out this opportunity from Thompson Reuters on fact-checking elections. Chatham House offers a mid-career fellowship for researchers from Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa. aKoma is running a cool fellowship program for African storytellers.
Twitter: Interesting people I followed recently include Safioushka (Sahel), Charlene (Ghana / Nigeria), Kathleen Ndongmo (Cameroon), Edith Honan (Kenya), Lillian Nyamongo (Kenya), Yvonne Mburu (Kenya), Thabit Jacob (Tanzania), Constantine Manda (Tanzania), and Hans Hoebeke (DR Congo).
Books: I just finished Roland Rugero's Baho!, one of the first novels from Burundi to be translated into English, and hands-down the best thing I've read all year. It's a small book with an enormous universe inside. Next up for my African book club is Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi's Kintu, which has been called "an absolute gem, the great Ugandan novel you didn’t know you were waiting for." And then I can finally get to Nnedi Okorafor's Binti: Home, the sequel to my favorite piece of African science fiction from 2015.
Cheers,
Rachel