Africa Update Vol. 3
Welcome to this week's edition of Africa Update! We've got uranium mines, questionable AfDB lending decisions, African philanthropy, the vinyl guru of Nairobi, and more.
West Africa: Four months after Nigeria introduced a new whistleblower policy, the government has recovered nearly US$180 million in stolen funds. The current issue of Republic Journal on Buhari's Nigeria is essential reading. It's time to talk about rape culture in Côte d'Ivoire. Here's a rare English-language article about the politics of uranium mining in Niger.
Central Africa: Rwandan teachers want to use Kinyarwanda as a primary language of instruction instead of English, but a lack of textbooks is hindering them. At the Rwanda-DRC border, a new transport collective run by wheelchair users is changing the face of cross-border trade. In the DRC, women who can't pay their hospital bills after giving birth are essentially held prisoner until they settle up.
The Kigali Convention Centre is illuminated in purple for the 23rd anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. Photo via Niti Bhan
East Africa: Omar Al-Bashir is ill and his government is fragmenting, but the weakness of the Sudanese opposition means he'll probably be in power for a while. The AfDB has approved a US$14 million loan to South Sudan to improve its electrical infrastructure, apparently willing to overlook the near-total collapse of the state amidst civil war. The US military has asked NGOs in Somalia to share their locations, raising concerns about possible airstrikes. Anti-terrorism laws are having a chilling effect on aid deliveries to drought-affected regions in Somalia. President Magufuli fired nearly 10,000 Tanzania civil servants who were found to be using fake educational certificates.
Southern Africa: Here are six key tasks for Zimbabwe's opposition parties before the 2018 elections. Zambia's bishops have condemned the government for police brutality against the opposition.
Education: Uganda is using public-private partnerships to provide primary and secondary education in its prisons. Here's a brief history of student protests in Africa. Kenyan scientists are doing good work, but little of their research is used in local policymaking.
Public health: This is why Africa's rates of death by drowning are among the highest in the world. On a more positive note, death rates from malaria have dropped by 57% since 2000.
Culture: African philanthropy is coming into its own, with both large and small donors playing a role. A new database captures the beauty of Africa's traditional architecture. This is a phenomenal list of African creatives to watch across the continent.
The Lomé airport has a series of beautiful new murals called « Chemin de Paix ». Photos via Kanka-Malik Natchaba
Newsletters: I was inspired to start Africa Update by several of the other fantastic newsletters I've discovered recently. Favorites include This Week in Africa and the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief.
Podcasts: Kim Dionne's Ufahamu Africa podcast is a treat -- regularly updated, covering a diverse range of African issues, and consistently smart and engaging. Other one-off podcasts I enjoyed included Zam Magazine's episode on multilingual maths education in South Africa, and Congo Research Group's occasional updates on « actualité de la semaine ».
Twitter: Interesting people I followed this week include NK Nazzah (Ghana), Nicole Amarteifio (Ghana), Elie Smith (Congo-Brazzaville), and Africa Trades (regional).
Music: Chill out with some ambient music from Qatari-Sudanese artist Sammany. Enjoy Diamond Platnumz's updated version of Tanzanian hit "Salome," featuring colorful outfits from across the continent. Get your feminist inspiration for the week with Oumou Sangaré's fierce new video for "Yere Faga." And if you're in Nairobi, don't forget to visit the vinyl guru.
Cheers,
Rachel