Africa Update Vol. 41
Welcome to the latest edition of Africa Update! We’ve got a new malaria vaccine in Ghana, the Kampala pothole exhibition, legal victories for students with dreadlocks in Malawi, and more.
West Africa: Ghana is the first country to approve a new malaria vaccine for children under three, in what could be a huge step towards ending the disease. Mali will finally hold a long-delayed referendum on its constitution, with a new text that would significantly increase the power of the presidency. “While better governance and elite-level austerity may improve service delivery at the margins, the harsh reality is that there is no money to fund operations in Liberian hospitals because there is no money.” Don’t miss the annual meeting of the Lagos Studies Association, online and in person from June 20-24.
Central Africa: Uganda has officially passed its harsh anti-LGBTQ+ law, but it already faces a court challenge and has sparked cultural and literary resistance. This is a really insightful article about contests over urban space and business in Kampala. Read about the political economy of urban land use in Bukavu, DRC. Border disputes between Rwanda and Congo have a long and contested history.
East Africa: Kenyan domestic workers are organizing for better labor conditions, ranging from better pay to freedom from sexual assault. The Mathare Social Justice Centre has released a new report on police use of lethal force in Kenya, accompanied by calls to defund the police. I loved this deep dive into the Maasai origins of place names in Nairobi. In Ethiopia, Facebook is under fire for refusing to take down hateful posts that led to the murder of a chemistry professor in Amhara. Somali immigrants to North America are reshaping the demographics of the long-haul trucking industry.
Southern Africa: Struggling to contain an insurgency in the north, Mozambique has legalized the creation of local militias in a move that’s likely to only increase violence. A court in Malawi has ruled that students must be allowed to attend school without removing their dreadlocks. The socialist thought of South Africa’s Chris Hani “emphasized that democratizing the economy through different social ownership patterns, extending social redistribution, protecting labor rights and other forms of redress were as salient as protecting political civil liberties.”
Conflict: Here’s some background on the challenges of paramilitary integration in Sudan’s ongoing conflict. Ethiopia may face similar challenges as it tries to integrate all regional armed forces into the national army or police. This is a useful deep dive into the roots of the current M23 conflict in the DRC.
Politics + economics: Given that Africa is rich in natural resources, why doesn’t the sector produce billionaires? This is an interesting reflection on why Francophone African countries are more likely to have presidents extend their term limits. Even the largest African economies are still smaller than many US cities.
Cheers,
Rachel