Africa Update Vol. 37
Welcome to the latest edition of Africa Update! This month we’ve got the Abidjan-Lagos megalopolis, the politics of memorializing (de)colonization in Namibia, a landmark victory against offshore oil drilling in South Africa, 154 climate research organizations based in Africa, and more.
Start with art: Nengi Omuku’s Kwadwo I, 2022
West Africa: In Ghana, the government has offered informal miners the chance to register their operations, but many miners don’t pursue it because the mines only produce for 6-18 months and it takes three years to get registered. What can be done to lower the risk of building collapses in Lagos? By 2100, the Abidjan-Lagos metropolitan coast is projected to be one of the largest urban corridors on earth. Here’s a piece remembering the capsize of the Joola, a Senegalese ferry whose 2002 sinking killed more people than the Titanic.
Central Africa: This is a deeply reported article about how Rwanda has been using Interpol and the US criminal justice system to harass critics of the government. Uganda is evicting businesses from wetlands in the name of conservation, but residents say that poor families are being targeted while the rich are protected. A new law that would legalize domestic organ transplants is now being considered in Uganda.
Abidjan’s new metro will open its doors in 2023, making the city the first in the region to launch a light rail system (via @Kdenkss on Twitter)
East Africa: Here’s an interesting history of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, which was seem as a symbol of independence-era solidarity but has since fallen into disuse. After ending requirements for cargo transport on the SGR railway line, Kenya has defaulted on the Chinese loans which were used for its construction. After years of disputes with Somalia over a potential offshore oil block, Kenya has failed to strike oil in new explorations in the Indian Ocean. I’ve written about what the new Kenya Kwanza government is promising in terms of social assistance.
Southern Africa: This is an insightful article about the politics of memorializing (de)colonization in Namibia. In South Africa, almost 60% of households risk losing access to water due to climate change. A group of South African environmental activists recently won a landmark victory forcing Shell to pause oil exploration off the Wild Coast.
Here's the current scope of IMF programs across Africa (via Francis Waithaka)
Environment: Nigerian waste pickers “contribute to environmental sustainability by…providing material for recycling and reuse, but they are never considered when waste management policies are designed.” In Kenya, 92% of electricity comes from renewable sources, but this has come at the expense of the displacement of indigenous people. The latest edition of The Funambulist has great articles about life in desert environments in Namibia, Niger, and Sudan. Desertification is quite relevant since a new report suggests that climate change might force up to 113 million people to relocate within Africa by 2050. For more on climate change in Africa, check out this database of 154 climate research organizations based on the continent.
Agriculture: Large-scale agricultural projects are booming in Africa, but their focus on cash crops means they’re not improving the continent’s food security. Aflatoxin contamination in maize and groundnuts is a rising cause of cancer in African countries, but more must be done to control its spread. Why are pesticides that are banned in Europe still being sold in Kenya by European firms? As the Kenyan short rains fail again for the fifth year in a row, read about the Meru practice of naming famines to keep them in collective memory.
In Kolwezi, southern DRC, the downtown is literally being erased from the map by a cobalt and copper mine (via Candy Ofime)
Policing & justice: Ugandan police have abducted over 1000 people who criticized the government in the run-up to the 2021 elections. While Kenya has disbanded a leading hit squad within the police for abuse of force, this appears to be less about justice and more about putting commanders in place who are friendly to the new government. Kenya hasn’t executed any prisoners in 35 years, but despite this the death penalty is still on the books. “Demolition colonialism” in Nairobi destroys the homes of poor people without warning, but allows rich people to negotiate and rebuild.
Afterlives of colonialism: Here’s an interesting piece about how French colonizers came to define the Maghreb as being separate from the rest of Africa. Along the Nile, colonial-era water management agreements which were set up by the British are still causing tension between Egypt and upstream countries today. “For nearly 30 years, some of the most ferocious British colonial wars in the world occurred in the kingdom of Bunyoro in western Uganda.”
Quote of the day, from Michael Eric Dyson via Catherine Amayi
Research & academia: Here’s why Nigerian academics have gone on strike 17 times in the last 23 years. Economist Grieve Chelwa lists the books by African and diasporic thinkers which left an impression on him. Meet some of the leading African scholars working on the restitution of African artifacts to the continent. This is an interesting piece about the history of fact-checking in African journalism. Don’t miss this list of hundreds of texts by leading African scholars at Democracy in Africa’s Decolonizing the Academy reading list.
Cheers,
Rachel