The end of a decade; Sudan's former president gets locked up; Extremists target the Sahel
Issue No. 2: December 2019
Hi everyone!
Does it feel like 2020 is just a few days away? The proximity of the new year didn’t set in for me until I was having a conversation with a friend who was elated to kiss 2019 goodbye. During these kinds of chats, I have a tendency to tone people out. Everyone is excited about a new year until late January, when the freshness of it officially loses its shine and people, again, find themselves in their conventional routines.
But I suppose there should be more excitement this time. We’re entering a new decade which will bring about new trends, new bops, and God willing, more kindness in our politics and society.
As we close the decade, there will be many listicles and analysis pieces ranking the most important, - and the silliest - stories of the past ten years. For yours truly, I will always remember the 2010’s through the lens of BLM’s rise and the continuing re-awakening among African-Americans, and those in the global African diaspora, on issues of justice, and discussions on how to tackle both explicit and implicit forms of racism in society. Especially in how we see beauty. And from these conversations, there were many sunshine moments. Natural hair was embraced, darker skin tones were a bit more accepted, and little by little, black people, especially women, gained ground in media representation.
So for me, there was no better way to close out my decade than by meeting some of the women seen as leading figures in this changing narrative.
Left to Right: Miss USA, Cheslie Kryst; Miss Universe, Zozibini Tunz (hailing from South Africa); yours truly; and Miss America, Nia Franklin. They are the women who make up the historic black-out in beauty pageants during the past decade.
Which political and social themes dominated the 2010’s for you? Send me a note, and let’s chat!
-Haleluya
Top Headlines:
Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir sentenced to two years in correctional facility
Another day, another despot headed to jail.
Former President Omar al-Bashir, who was thrown out of office this April after a historic uprising in Sudan, was found guilty of corruption, illegitimate possession of foreign currency, and sentenced to two years in a correctional facility.
I know what you’re thinking: “that’s it?”
No, there’s much, much more.
The former military leader is also awaiting trial for charges over plotting a 1989 coup which removed the democratically-elected Prime Minister of Sudan, Sadiq al-Mahdi, and resulted in Bashir’s rise to power. Aside from that, he has yet to be charged with his regime’s crackdown on protesters which left countless people dead in 2019. As CNN’s Nima Elbagir and others have reported, the systematic crackdown was brutal, and even involved soldiers using rape to silence female protesters, which by some estimates made up about 70% of the demonstrators.
The East African country has also launched an investigation into the bloody Darfur conflict under Bashir’s reign.
The horrific five-year war was sparked in 2003 when rebel groups launched an attack against Bashir’s Arab-dominated regime for what they saw as a disregard for non-Arab populations by the government. The regime responded by sending Arab militias, known as the “Janjaweed,” into communities sympathetic to the rebels, and what followed was ruthless - mass rape, torture, genocide, and ethnic cleansing of communities which left nearly 300,000 people dead and close to three million displaced.
This led the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue warrants for Bashir’s arrest in 2009 and 2010 on numerous charges, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. It has yet to be clear whether he will be extradited to face charges with the ICC in The Hague, or whether those who assisted him during the conflict will be indicted.
But the downfall of Bashir points to something the world has largely forgotten about since the Arab Spring: the revolutionary power of an organic political movement. In Africa, a continent which still harbors many despots, this is something to keep an eye on.
Extremist attacks are sweeping the Sahel
Attacks by Islamist militants in Niger and Burkina Faso, - countries which make up parts of Africa’s Sahel region - has led to the deaths of over a hundred civilians and soldiers in December.
In the city of In-Atès in Western Niger, ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on a military outpost which left 71 soldiers dead and a dozen wounded. That attack produced the highest number of deaths in recent history for the country’s army, and continues to highlight the persistent problem with insecurity for the Sahel.
Just yesterday, the Associated Press reported another attack in Niger which killed 14 security officials transporting election officials in Sanam, a city nearly 200 miles from the capital, Niamey. In Burkina Faso, Niger’s neighbor to the west, 35 civilians were killed when militants attacked a town in the northern part of the country on Christmas Eve. This follows another attack by gunmen in November which targeted a Canadian mining company and killed over three dozen people.
The situation in the two countries, and neighboring Mali, - a hotbed of militant attacks - has gotten so bad since 2012 that officials from the United Nations are warning the Sahel is on the “cusp of disaster.” The UN also notes close to half a million people have been displaced in the past few years. For more on the displacement crisis, check out Ahmed Idris’s great reporting for Al Jazeera here.
France, which has close to 4,500 troops deployed in the Sahel, has pushed back against militant groups, but with growing insecurity, there’s been a rise in anti-French sentiment expressed by protesters and some public figures throughout the region. Those opposed to French involvement have accused the country of stationing troops for economic reasons, an accusation which drew a strong rebuke from French President Emmanuel Macron at the recent NATO summit.
“I can’t have French troops on the ground in the Sahel when there is ambiguity (by authorities) toward anti-French movements and sometimes comments made by politicians and ministers,” Macron said.
He also added:
“France is not there contrary to what’s heard sometimes for neo-colonialist, imperialist or economic reasons. We’re there for our collective security and the region.”
Despite post-colonial fears and French frustration, President Macron solidified his support for the fight against extremism in a Twitter post which shows him holding the hand of Niger’s President, Mahamadou Issoufou.
Other Things that happened in December:
A regional West African court ordered Sierra Leone to lift a 2015 government policy which prevented pregnant girls from attending school. When a spike in teen pregnancies, - mainly as a result of sexual violence - happened after the Ebola crisis, the country put in a place the policy to segregate pregnant girls into part-time schools to protect “innocent girls.” While human rights groups say the recent ruling is a win for women in the country, Sierra Leone has a long way to go in tackling its rampant sexual assault problem which led to a declaration for a national emergency on rape earlier this year.
CFA Franc, the controversial French-backed currency introduced by Colonial France and currently used in 14 countries across West and Central Africa, will be launched in 2020 as “The ECO”. The revamping of the currency, originally known as “French colonies in Africa,” will not require African countries using the common currency to keep half of their reserves with France, but will remain pegged to the Euro and guaranteed by the former colonial power. Speaking in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s economic capital, French President Emmanuel Macron called the move a “historic reform,” and urged the continent’s youth to “build a new partnership of friendship with France.”
After an attack at an upscale hotel in Mogadishu earlier this month which left three civilians dead and eleven injured, the Somali Islamist militant group Al Shabaab also claimed responsibility for an attack in the town of Galkayo, the capital of the country’s central Mudug region, which killed seven people.
Following the arrest and detention of Nigerian Journalist and Activist Omoyele Sowore, and a controversial bill supported by some administration officials which proposes social media restrictions, the country’s influential newspaper, the Punch, says it will refer to President Buhari as a “military dictator.” But the Holidays brought some good news for Sowore, who was released on Christmas Eve after a lengthy campaign by his family in the United States.
My recommended reads from this month:
Over the past few years, Musician and politician Bobi Wine donned his famous red beret and emerged as the face of opposition against Uganda’s decades-long President, Yoweri Museveni. In The Conversation, Carla Lever explains the historical and contemporary symbolism of red head-wear in political revolutions and anti-establishment narratives.
In African is a Country, Daniel Okechukwu reviews “The Ghost and the House of Truth,” filmmaker Akin Omotoso’s latest feature which tells the story of a missing girl to highlight the darker side of Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos.
During the last three-years, the Liberian government has been experimenting to determine if outsourcing education to private operators could increase learning outcomes. Jenny Anderson writes for Quartz on the findings from the trial, which point to only slight improvements in learning among the country’s students.
Song of the month:
In “Azmari Negn,” Zeritu Kebede, a popular Ethiopian artist, embraces rock music to sing about her new Christian identity.
P.S. Are you boping to any great songs by East or West Africans? If so, send me a note to share!
That does it for this newsletter. Have a wonderful, joyful, and peaceful new year!