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Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About
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The Singularity
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Ethiopia loves to do this all-female flights thing. But they should have maybe used a different word in the title other than "man".
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Cameroon's Anglophones flee to Nigeria as crackdown grows
DECEMBER 14, 2017 / 10:21 AM
IKOM, Nigeria (Reuters) - When soldiers burst into her village in southwest Cameroon last month with guns blazing, small farmer Eta Quinta, 32, raced into the forest with three of her children.
“I found a canoe and I used it to cross over with my kids, not knowing where my husband and my (other) two kids are,” she told Reuters across the border in Nigeria, where thousands of English-speaking Cameroonians have fled in past weeks.
What began last year as peaceful protests by Anglophone activists against perceived marginalisation by Cameroon’s Francophone-dominated elite has become the gravest challenge yet to President Paul Biya, who is expected to seek to renew his 35-years in power in an election next year.
Government repression - including ordering thousands of villagers in the Anglophone southwest to leave their homes - has driven support for a once-fringe secessionist movement, stoking a lethal cycle of violence.
The secessionists declared an independent state called Ambazonia on Oct. 1. Since then, 7,500 people have fled to Nigeria, including 2,300 who fled in a single day on Dec. 4 fearing government reprisals after raids by separatists militants killed at least six soldiers and police officers.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR is preparing for up to 40,000 refugees.
Quinta and her children walked for three days through the dense forests to reach a border crossing at the Agbokim Waterfalls. They remain without news of the rest of the family.
“There are many pregnant women in the forest,” Quinta said as she held her sick two-month-old baby whose head was covered by a white wooly hat. “I have friends in the forest and am not sure if I will get to see them again or their kids.”
A still image taken from a video shot on December 9, 2017 shows Cameroonian refugees standing outside a center in Agbokim Waterfalls village, which borders on Cameroon, Nigeria. REUTERS/via Reuters TV
At the end of World War One, Germany’s colony of Kamerun was carved up between allied French and British victors, laying down the basis for a language split that still persists.
English speakers make up less than a fifth of the population of Cameroon, concentrated in former British territory near the Nigerian border that was joined to the French-speaking Republic of Cameroon the year after its independence in 1960. French speakers have dominated the country’s politics since.
A still image taken from a video shot on December 9, 2017 shows a Cameroonian refugee woman carrying a child outside a center in Agbokim Waterfalls village, which borders on Cameroon, Nigeria. REUTERS/via Reuters TV
Cameroonian authorities say the English-speaking separatists pose a security threat that justifies their crackdown.
The new arrivals in Nigeria live mainly with host families who have supported them with food, clothing and shelter. The integration, a UNHCR official said, was made easier by the pidgin English spoken on either side of the border.
Food and medicine are in limited supply. Four people have died of sicknesses since coming to Nigeria and the refugees sometimes sleep as many as 50 to a five-by-seven meter room.
Their anger has grown toward a government they feel no longer represents them, which could provide the separatists with easy recruits.
“We were walking for peaceful demonstrations ... but it’s because of the killing of our innocent people that is why our own people have started reacting,” said Tiku Michael, a businessman, farmer, father of six and now a refugee.
“Even ... God himself, he will not allow things to go (on) like that.”
Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Tim Cocks and Peter Graff
Cameroon's Anglophones flee to Nigeria as crackdown grows
DECEMBER 14, 2017 / 10:21 AM
IKOM, Nigeria (Reuters) - When soldiers burst into her village in southwest Cameroon last month with guns blazing, small farmer Eta Quinta, 32, raced into the forest with three of her children.
“I found a canoe and I used it to cross over with my kids, not knowing where my husband and my (other) two kids are,” she told Reuters across the border in Nigeria, where thousands of English-speaking Cameroonians have fled in past weeks.
What began last year as peaceful protests by Anglophone activists against perceived marginalisation by Cameroon’s Francophone-dominated elite has become the gravest challenge yet to President Paul Biya, who is expected to seek to renew his 35-years in power in an election next year.
Government repression - including ordering thousands of villagers in the Anglophone southwest to leave their homes - has driven support for a once-fringe secessionist movement, stoking a lethal cycle of violence.
The secessionists declared an independent state called Ambazonia on Oct. 1. Since then, 7,500 people have fled to Nigeria, including 2,300 who fled in a single day on Dec. 4 fearing government reprisals after raids by separatists militants killed at least six soldiers and police officers.
The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR is preparing for up to 40,000 refugees.
Quinta and her children walked for three days through the dense forests to reach a border crossing at the Agbokim Waterfalls. They remain without news of the rest of the family.
“There are many pregnant women in the forest,” Quinta said as she held her sick two-month-old baby whose head was covered by a white wooly hat. “I have friends in the forest and am not sure if I will get to see them again or their kids.”
A still image taken from a video shot on December 9, 2017 shows Cameroonian refugees standing outside a center in Agbokim Waterfalls village, which borders on Cameroon, Nigeria. REUTERS/via Reuters TV
At the end of World War One, Germany’s colony of Kamerun was carved up between allied French and British victors, laying down the basis for a language split that still persists.
English speakers make up less than a fifth of the population of Cameroon, concentrated in former British territory near the Nigerian border that was joined to the French-speaking Republic of Cameroon the year after its independence in 1960. French speakers have dominated the country’s politics since.
A still image taken from a video shot on December 9, 2017 shows a Cameroonian refugee woman carrying a child outside a center in Agbokim Waterfalls village, which borders on Cameroon, Nigeria. REUTERS/via Reuters TV
Cameroonian authorities say the English-speaking separatists pose a security threat that justifies their crackdown.
The new arrivals in Nigeria live mainly with host families who have supported them with food, clothing and shelter. The integration, a UNHCR official said, was made easier by the pidgin English spoken on either side of the border.
Food and medicine are in limited supply. Four people have died of sicknesses since coming to Nigeria and the refugees sometimes sleep as many as 50 to a five-by-seven meter room.
Their anger has grown toward a government they feel no longer represents them, which could provide the separatists with easy recruits.
“We were walking for peaceful demonstrations ... but it’s because of the killing of our innocent people that is why our own people have started reacting,” said Tiku Michael, a businessman, farmer, father of six and now a refugee.
“Even ... God himself, he will not allow things to go (on) like that.”
Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Tim Cocks and Peter Graff
Cameroon's Anglophones flee to Nigeria as crackdown grows
Nigeria: 300 Doctors Left Nigeria in 2016 - Medical Association
Nigeria: 300 Doctors Left Nigeria in 2016 - NMA Preside
Three hundred Nigerian doctors left the country in 2016, the national president also of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Mike Ogirima, has revealed.
He said more doctors have joined the migration train this year. He did not give any statistics, although NAN learnt that 500 doctors sat for qualifying foreign medical examination preparing to move out.
Mr. Ogirima made this revelation at the association's National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on Thursday in Lagos.
An estimated 35,000 Nigerian doctors are practising abroad, out of the 72,000 registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.
The United Kingdom and the United States are the top destinations of the migrant doctors.
In August, an official of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Abimbola Olajide, revealed that no fewer than 2,500 doctors would leave the country this year.
"Nigeria is using her resources to train doctors and professionals at the advantage of foreign countries.What are those things attracting these professionals outside? Can we duplicate those things here?" Mr. Ogirima asked.
The NMA president said the responsibility to check the migration lies with the government, the people and professionals to provide good working environment.
Mr. Ogirima said, "The government should provide adequate remuneration.We are not saying we should pay so much, but pay them for the job they are doing as at when due.
"We, on our part as professionals should look inward to change our attitude to patients. We should make patients as the Centre focus of why we are called doctors."
He said the National Health Act of 2014 has not been fully implemented despite warnings of legal action and its implications from the NMA.
According to him, the act holds the key to revolutionising the health industry.
"It will encourage provision of additional fund to the system and ensure care of the vulnerable in the society.
"The present provision of only three to four per cent of our annual budget to health sector is not helping the development of our system.
"Some African countries who have voted up to 15 per cent or more to their health systems are witnessing gradual improvement in their health sector.
"Nigerians are now patronising health facilities in our neighbouring countries," he said.
Also, the Commissioner for Housing, Lagos State, Gbolahan Lawal, urged NMA to create sustainable policies that would make major economic impact on Nigerians.
Mr. Lawal said, "If we consider informal housing, that is, houses that do not have the approval of government and located in slum areas, and the consequences, it has a lot to do with health.
"The government already has building code that does not allow for houses not good for human habitat," he said.
Nigeria: 300 Doctors Left Nigeria in 2016 - NMA Preside
Three hundred Nigerian doctors left the country in 2016, the national president also of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Mike Ogirima, has revealed.
He said more doctors have joined the migration train this year. He did not give any statistics, although NAN learnt that 500 doctors sat for qualifying foreign medical examination preparing to move out.
Mr. Ogirima made this revelation at the association's National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on Thursday in Lagos.
An estimated 35,000 Nigerian doctors are practising abroad, out of the 72,000 registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria.
The United Kingdom and the United States are the top destinations of the migrant doctors.
In August, an official of the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Abimbola Olajide, revealed that no fewer than 2,500 doctors would leave the country this year.
"Nigeria is using her resources to train doctors and professionals at the advantage of foreign countries.What are those things attracting these professionals outside? Can we duplicate those things here?" Mr. Ogirima asked.
The NMA president said the responsibility to check the migration lies with the government, the people and professionals to provide good working environment.
Mr. Ogirima said, "The government should provide adequate remuneration.We are not saying we should pay so much, but pay them for the job they are doing as at when due.
"We, on our part as professionals should look inward to change our attitude to patients. We should make patients as the Centre focus of why we are called doctors."
He said the National Health Act of 2014 has not been fully implemented despite warnings of legal action and its implications from the NMA.
According to him, the act holds the key to revolutionising the health industry.
"It will encourage provision of additional fund to the system and ensure care of the vulnerable in the society.
"The present provision of only three to four per cent of our annual budget to health sector is not helping the development of our system.
"Some African countries who have voted up to 15 per cent or more to their health systems are witnessing gradual improvement in their health sector.
"Nigerians are now patronising health facilities in our neighbouring countries," he said.
Also, the Commissioner for Housing, Lagos State, Gbolahan Lawal, urged NMA to create sustainable policies that would make major economic impact on Nigerians.
Mr. Lawal said, "If we consider informal housing, that is, houses that do not have the approval of government and located in slum areas, and the consequences, it has a lot to do with health.
"The government already has building code that does not allow for houses not good for human habitat," he said.
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
Good for them
mbewane
Knicks: 93 til infinity
Ghana Tourism Authority Inks Deal with U.S. Based Adinkra Group to Foster Tours, Investments In Africa for Black Americans
Thought this might interest some you brehs
I don't have any more info and don't even know Ghana so don't know how the whole situation is, but sounds like an interesting initiative
Ghana Tourism Authority Inks Deal with U.S. Based Adinkra Group to Foster Tours, Investments In Africa for Black Americans
By
Tanasia Kenney
-
December 22, 2017
Diallo Sumbry (left), Akwasi Agyeman (center) and GTA publicist Felicia Aniagyei pose after signing MOU. (Image courtesy of BlackNews.com)
The Ghana Tourism Authority and Washington, D.C.-based Adinkra Group have teamed up in an effort to attract more Black American tourists to the West African nation.
The organizations inked a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, this year to collaborate on boosting tourism, business and investment in Ghana through various projects, according to a press release. The new deal is a part of ongoing efforts by the GTA and Adinkra Group, an African cultural resource company, aimed at promoting Ghana as a travel destination in the U.S. market and connecting those of African descent to the traditions of African culture.
“This MOU signifies a strong push in our quest to form strategic alliances with key actors in Africa Tourism,” Diallo Sumbry, CEO of the Adinkra Group, said in a statement. “[The] GTA has taken the bull by the [horns] in seeking to build on [Ghana’s] previous success with Panafest by working with us to introduce an annual “Back2Africa” Heritage Tour. We’re delighted with this partnership and the opportunities it presents to both organizations.”
Projects, including the aforementioned Back2Africa Tour and the Heritage Documentary, set for release in February 2018, are key parts of the organizations’ efforts to position Ghana as an attractive tourism destination. The tour, which runs from Feb. 26 through March 8, 2018, allows travelers an all-inclusive trip to Accra, Ghana, for a week full of fun, food, music, and culture. Meanwhile, the accompanying documentary follows U.S. go-go band the Backyard Band from Washington to Ghana as they “connect with their ancestral roots through music.”
“I wanted to take go-go to another place,” Sumbry said in a phone interview. “And a part of my mission with The Adinkra Group is to introduce people to African culture … whether [it’s] through a dance class, a drum class or selling waist beads. We believe that a part of our role is to introduce people to the culture … and let them find their own magic.”
Sumbry added that his group regularly organizes what he calls “birthright journeys” where travelers are able to trace their heritage through AfricanAncestry.com, the results of which are later revealed during a special ceremony on the trip.
For years, Ghana has been at the forefront of initiatives attracting more Black Americans to the Motherland. It was two years ago that the nation launched its “Right of Abode” program allowing people of African descent to gain permanent residency. The Ghanaian Immigration Act of 2000 states, “The concept of right of abode under Immigration Law is that person having the right of abode will ‘be free to live and to come and go into and from the country without let or hindrance.’ ”
Sumby noted an amazing feat in the country last year when 34 Africans of the diaspora were granted dual citizenship in Ghana. Now, the deal with the GTA is aiming to achieve similar interest by exposing more Blacks to African culture. Akwasi Agyeman, the acting CEO of the GTA, called the new MOU a “win-win relationship” for the two organizations.
“The Back2Africa Tour and documentary project affords us an opportunity to tap into new segments and position Ghana as an attractive tourism destination,” Agyeman stated. “In order for us to remain competitive, we must adapt to the ever-changing travel landscape.”
“That is what this partnership signifies,” he added.
As for Sumbry, the New Jersey native says it’s due time for more African-Americans to explore the continent of Africa without fear. He believes Black folk around the world will never get the respect they deserve until Blacks are willing to reconnect with the Mother continent.
The two groups already have new projects in store for 2018, including a tour of 50 U.S. cities to promote Ghanaian diaspora festivals and encourage people to visit. That tour is set to kick off in March 2018.
“Every Black person has an obligation to align themselves with an African country,” Sumbry said. “Find a place and at least visit once. Then after your visit, decide if you’re gonna go back, if you’re never gonna go back. You know, if you’re gonna pack up and repatriate.”
Thought this might interest some you brehs
I don't have any more info and don't even know Ghana so don't know how the whole situation is, but sounds like an interesting initiative
Uganda: MPs vote to remove presidential age limit
December 20, 2017
Politics & Power
President for life, Uganda, Uganda election 2021, Yoweri Museveni
Aaron Brooks
Lawmakers in Uganda voted overwhelmingly in favour of removing constitutional age limitations for presidential candidates on Wednesday, paving the way for Yoweri Museveni to run for a sixth term as president in 2021.
The controversial bill passed with 315 votes in favour, 62 against and two abstentions following days of heated debates in parliament. A number of opposition MPs were suspended and other walked out during the buildup but the final vote means the bill will pass into law as soon as it is signed by Museveni.
Uganda votes for constitutional changes
The bill means Museveni can legally run for president in another two elections, potentially serving a total of seven terms in charge before Uganda is forced to choose another leader. Under current laws, Museveni would not be able to run in the country’s next election in 2021 as the constitution prohibits candidates over the age of 75 from running.
However, the 73-year-old leader will now be able to run in another two elections, which could keep him in power until the age of 86 – assuming there are no further changes made to the constitution over the next decade.
Term limits reinstated
The new bill will also reinstate the two presidential term limit rule in Uganda, which Museveni successfully removed in 2005, allowing him to hold on to power until now. However, the term limit will only come into effect after the next election and Museveni’s previous terms will not be taken into consideration, allowing Museveni to run for another two consecutive terms.
Critics accuse Museveni of attempting to secure his presidency for life. Human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo told AFP the moves were “a reversal of Uganda’s democratic process”.
“To remove the age limit — one of the most important safeguards — will entrench a dictatorial and autocratic regime in Uganda, ” he said.
Uganda: MPs vote to remove presidential age limit
December 20, 2017
Politics & Power
President for life, Uganda, Uganda election 2021, Yoweri Museveni
Aaron Brooks
Lawmakers in Uganda voted overwhelmingly in favour of removing constitutional age limitations for presidential candidates on Wednesday, paving the way for Yoweri Museveni to run for a sixth term as president in 2021.
The controversial bill passed with 315 votes in favour, 62 against and two abstentions following days of heated debates in parliament. A number of opposition MPs were suspended and other walked out during the buildup but the final vote means the bill will pass into law as soon as it is signed by Museveni.
Uganda votes for constitutional changes
The bill means Museveni can legally run for president in another two elections, potentially serving a total of seven terms in charge before Uganda is forced to choose another leader. Under current laws, Museveni would not be able to run in the country’s next election in 2021 as the constitution prohibits candidates over the age of 75 from running.
However, the 73-year-old leader will now be able to run in another two elections, which could keep him in power until the age of 86 – assuming there are no further changes made to the constitution over the next decade.
Term limits reinstated
The new bill will also reinstate the two presidential term limit rule in Uganda, which Museveni successfully removed in 2005, allowing him to hold on to power until now. However, the term limit will only come into effect after the next election and Museveni’s previous terms will not be taken into consideration, allowing Museveni to run for another two consecutive terms.
Critics accuse Museveni of attempting to secure his presidency for life. Human rights lawyer Nicholas Opiyo told AFP the moves were “a reversal of Uganda’s democratic process”.
“To remove the age limit — one of the most important safeguards — will entrench a dictatorial and autocratic regime in Uganda, ” he said.
Uganda: MPs vote to remove presidential age limit
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
The 1980s-90s all over again
Support Buhari, Naija brehs
Greatest African footballer ever.
I hope he gets elected since he's been heavy in politics for quite some time now
Greatest African footballer ever.
I hope he gets elected since he's been heavy in politics for quite some time now
He won lol.
Trajan
Veteran
I've just seen George Weah elected president of Liberia 