Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About

[loyola llothta]

U.S. Uses Terrorism as a Ploy for More Militarization in Africa with Kambale Musavuli

Published on Jul 8, 2021

U.S. militarization helped cause ISIS in Africa and now it is being used as an excuse for more militarization by the U.S. and other Western powers. The new scramble for Africa is on, but people are fighting back! Kambale Musavuli, activist, writer, & analyst with the Center for Research on the Congo-Kinshasa explains.

 

[loyola llothta]

Must Read.

ERITREA AND NAMIBIA: COLLATERAL VICTIMS OF THE KOREAN WAR IN AFRICA

Eritrea and

The Namibian Connection Professor Gerald Horne makes another powerful connection in how the sanctions on Zimbabwe was a warning shot from Washington/London to Nambia and South Africa to deter them from pro-poor land reforms & distribution of wealth via @BlackPowerMedi1

 

[loyola llothta]

My latest: @Pfizer reached a deal with Biovac to make COVID-19 shots in #SouthAfrica for the African Union in 2022. While it's a step forward, Pfizer stops far short of the tech transfers needed to end their dependence on the pharma giant.



Pfizer Partners With South Africa’s Biovac to Make COVID-19 Vaccines for Africa in 2022
sputniknews.com
3:32 PM · Jul 22, 2021

 

[loyola llothta]

Report: Rwanda used Israeli spy tech to tap phones of top Ugandan officials



Report: Rwanda used Israeli spy tech to tap phones of top Ugandan officials
africanews.com
11:58 PM · Jul 22, 2021

 

[loyola llothta]

 

[loyola llothta]

Biden administration bombed Somalia again.... check out @hoa_pals ongoing fundraiser to help survivors who've been harmed by AFRICOM and imperialism #shutdownAFRICOM



ShutDownAFRICOMSomalia: Donate to survivors, organized by Horn Of Africa Pan-Africans For Liberat...
gofundme.com
6:32 PM · Jul 24, 2021

 

[loyola llothta]

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank makes first move into sub-Saharan Africa

The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) approved its first project in sub-Saharan Africa last Thursday, adding to a growing list of international development banks now moving into the continent.

The Beijing-based AIIB, which began operations in 2016, said its would provide a $100 million loan to Rwanda in east Africa as part of a broader COVID-19 Crisis Recovery Facility it set up last year.

AIIB economist Suzanne Shaw said the move, which is co-financed with World Bank in Washington, demonstrated the AIIB’s “relevance and value to its non-regional members during a time of severe crisis and need”.

Since its launch five years ago the AIIB has spent just over $21 billion on projects. It has 103 governments as shareholders, although unlike most big development banks that does not include the United States, or Asia’s second-largest economy, Japan.

It is now though joining a growing scrum of multilateral institutions looking to expand into sub-Saharan Africa.

Also read: Botswana woos Chinese investors as lenders shun coal projects

The resource-rich region is seen as having growth potential, but the International Monetary Fund estimates it will need an additional $425 billion between now and 2025 just to fight COVID-19 and reduce poverty levels that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.

The AIIB might find itself elbowing for space however.

Last month, top G7 development banks – a group that does not include China – made a landmark joint pledge to pump $80 billion into African companies and projects over the next five years.

The African Development Bank, Afreximbank and Islamic Development operate there too, while the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is looking at expansion there again after putting earlier plans on ice last year.

link:
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank makes first move into sub-Saharan Africa

 

[loyola llothta]

Don’t Allow Another U.S.-NATO Libya in the Horn of Africa
Ready for Evolution

01 Jul 2021



Don’t Allow Another U.S.-NATO Libya in the Horn of Africa

The US clearly intends to justify yet another armed intervention in Africa in order to reinstate its former proxies in Ethiopia


“The United States and its EU-NATO allies know no compassion or genuine concern for the Black lives in Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa or anywhere else.”

The following is a joint statement from the US Out of Africa Network and Horn of Africa PALS .

Paternalistic U.S. government political posturing toward Africa has a history of turning into fatal consequences for the masses of African peoples. A decade ago, several of the same individuals who now hold positions in the Biden administration were accomplices in the U.S.-led NATO decimation of Libya, which was rationalized under the guise of protecting “pro-democracy” activists from massacre by the so-called dictator Colonel Muammar Gadaffi. Hiding behind a modern-day version of the “White Man’s Burden,” otherwise known as “Responsibility to Protect” or R2P, the United States and its NATO allies killed and maimed thousands of Libyans, with U.S. leaders like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton taking special satisfaction in the sadistic video recording of Gaddafi’s murder.

Given the catastrophic effects of the U.S.-NATO intervention in Libya, the Black Alliance for Peace ’s U.S. Out of Africa Network and BAP member organization Horn of Africa Pan-Africans for Liberation & Solidarity (HOA PALS), condemn, under no uncertain terms, any and all forms of intervention and meddling in the conflict in Ethiopia. As it did against Libya, U.S. imperialism is weaponizing disinformation and misinformation to exploit and distort the complexity, historical context and political realities in the Horn of Africa to create the pretext for more direct intervention.

“Should those responsible for undermining a resolution of the crisis in Tigray fail to reverse course, they should anticipate further actions from the United States and the international community. We call on other governments to join us in taking these actions.” — U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, May 23, 2021 press statement

The attack on the federal base by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that started the conflict is now being used as a de-facto instrument of U.S. policy in Ethiopia to justify “humanitarian intervention.” In this way, the primary contradiction in the Tigray region reflects broader dynamics in the Horn of Africa as a whole and can be boiled down to the common denominators of global capitalist hegemony and Western imperialism by way of its proxy actor, the TPLF. Western powers only curtail the right of self-determination for the Horn of Africa and Global South states.

“U.S. imperialism is weaponizing disinformation and misinformation to exploit and distort the complexity, historical context and political realities in the Horn of Africa.”

We condemn all military violence, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, displacement, theft, discrimination, harassment and intimidation perpetrated on innocent Tigrayans, as well as any and all unnecessary violence perpetrated on other Ethiopians and Eritreans in the ongoing conflict as a result of their ethnic, religious, or national identity, refugee status or political affiliation. We unequivocally support and uplift mutual cooperation, solidarity, and peace among all parties and people in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the broader Horn of Africa region.

We support African-led, localized conflict resolution that is not tied to advancing imperialism, neo-colonialism or any other nefarious Western agendas. We believe in the inherent agency and ability of Africans on the continent to reach a resolution to the conflict peacefully and independently of Western aggression, destabilization, and extractive and exploitative economic interests.

The United States and its EU-NATO allies know no compassion or genuine concern for the Black lives in Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa or anywhere else Black people are in the world. Their true concerns are always selfish, racist and reflective of their objective geopolitical interests. In Ethiopia and Eritrea, their interests are:

• To control or have undue influence over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a chokepoint critical to securing global energy;
• to challenge the robust presence of China ; and
• to impose AFRICOM in the only country left in Africa that has evaded its control, Eritrea.

Africa is not underdeveloped and fraught with militarized instability because there is not enough involvement by Western Europe and its evil settler-colonial spawn, the USA. Anyone who believes that must also believe Africans are inferior savages. The fact is Africa is underdeveloped and destabilized precisely because of centuries of European colonialism and decades of U.S. and Western European neocolonialism. Any disposition held by Africans that lends legitimacy to intervention, sanctions, or the fake moral or altruistic dominion of Pan-European, white supremacist capitalist interests in Africa are based either on severe ignorance or treacherous opportunism.

U.S. foreign policy in Africa always involves enveloping any part of the continent that poses a threat to its geostrategic interests into its sphere of forever wars. In 2011, Black anti-imperialist forces were unable to effectively counter the plan by the U.S./EU/NATO Axis of Domination to destroy the revolutionary Pan-Africanist nation of Libya. This was partially because the action had the political cover of the first Black president, which confused and disarmed left opposition and made them objective collaborators with U.S. reaction.

BAP’s U.S. Out of Africa Network and Horn of Africa Pan-Africans for Liberation & Solidarity refuse to allow this fatal mistake to be made again.

link:
Don’t Allow Another U.S.-NATO Libya in the Horn of Africa | Black Agenda Report

 

[loyola llothta]

My latest: #Burundi, home to Africa's only #RareEarths mine & a major #gold exporter, has banned powerful multinational mining firms from exporting until they renegotiate their "unbalanced" deals with the gov to share profits equally.


I should mention (as I did in the piece) that one of the companies with a stake in the Garaka rare earths mine recently got $25 million from the US Defense Logistics Agency, part of the Pentagon, to increase Western access to non-Chinese rare earths sources.



Burundi Stands Up to Foreign Mining Firms, Bans Rare Earth Exports Without Better Profit-Sharing
sputniknews.com

 

[loyola llothta]

Zuma Imprisonment: “Riots” or “Insurrection” in South Africa?
Margaret Kimberley

In the wake of the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma on corruption charges, two South African provinces were swept by riots that current President Cyril Ramaphosa called an attempted “insurrection” against the state. “This is no way to address the differences” in the country, said Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Detroit-based Pan African News Wire. “South Africa has the worst Covid-19 epidemic on the continent. The focus should be on mitigating the spread” of the disease.

 

[loyola llothta]

African Faith Communities plead with Gates Foundation to stop pushing for industrial agriculture

August 4, 2021

The Southern African Faith Communities’ Institute (SAFCEI) and faith community representatives from Africa recently made public its open letter to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. They are appealing to the Gates Foundation to reconsider its approach to “food security and food production” and to stop their push for “input-intensive crop” monoculture agriculture and industrial-scale farming in Africa.

According to SAFCEI’s Gabriel Manyangadze, “Widespread hunger on the African continent, during the Covid-19 crisis, has highlighted the systemic failings of the current profit-driven system. With this week dedicated to raising awareness of the environmental challenges facing Africa, we reiterate our call to the Gates Foundation to stop pushing devastating industrial agriculture on the continent and instead move towards sustainable and agro-ecological approaches.”

The faith-based environmental organisation says that while the Gates Foundation could be recognised for its commitment to improving food security, the problem lies with the model it promotes to achieve this. SAFCEI argues that data has shown that industrialised food systems will not provide the people of Africa with a nutritious and chemical-free, nor a diverse and culturally-appropriate diet that is affordable.

Manyangadze says, “This monoculture farming and food processing – where a single crop is grown year after year, without rotation and vulnerable to the same pests and disease – reduces resilience by depleting and destroying natural soil fertility, water resources and our rich biodiversity and genetic capital. This is a massive blow to small-scale farmers’ livelihoods. Experiences from around the world provide further evidence that industrial mono-cropping will leave African communities worse-off and even more dependent on aid, in the future.”

He adds, “With its Westernised approach, this style of farming also undermines community-spirited traditions of selecting, saving and sharing seed. It also ignores indigenous knowledge regarding diversity and multi-cropping. As people of faith, with reverence to the Almighty and with concern and respect to creation, we must stand for agroecology. So far, close to five hundred (500) people of faith and organisations have signed on to support the letter.”


In its letter, the multi-faith environmental justice organisation also highlights a number of concerns on the role of Alliance for the Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which is supported by the Gates Foundation in the region.

It says, “While Gates and AGRA state their intention is to provide food security for Africa, we contend that the support of large-scale industrial mono-crop farming that has expensive and often damaging hybrid or genetically-modified seed and chemical inputs, will not provide food security to the vast majority of Africa’s citizens and in the long-term, degrades soil.”

“But it is not only the Gates Foundation’s approach that is concerning,” says de Gasparis. “Their influence on farming systems can be seen when governments provide tariff agreements and tax incentives to subsidise large agri-business. As a result of this approach that centralises control of production systems, land and profits end up in the hands of a small elite minority. This not only threatens the agency of those whose farming practices are based on historical and cultural knowledge and understanding of their ecological landscapes, it also reduces production of local nutritious foods and medicines.

She says, “By forcing communities into large-scale industrial mono-crop farming practices, they become more vulnerable to pervading political and economic currents, leaving them with less resources to deal with current and future global crises like Covid-19 and climate change. Faith leaders are witnessing the negative impact of industrialised farming to the land and in their communities and have come together in this letter to say to the Gates Foundation, please re-think your approach to farming in Africa.”

Dr. Million Belay from the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) says, “This is part of the bigger plan to transform African agriculture into corporate-driven industrial agriculture. The main reason the agents disparage our seeds, recommending poisons for our soils and plants, and pushing for market-based agriculture, is to make us weak and be their future markets. The purpose is obvious now. What Gates and the range of companies and governments supporting his agenda are doing is leading African agriculture into the path of no return, where dependence on their products and ideas is the only way to go. Faith communities in Africa stand with and support our African food producers and citizens. We denounce Gates Foundation for what it is doing.”

Belay says, “It is important to understand the background of the ‘Green Revolution’ that is underway in Africa since it has led governments, in the name of food security, to give priority to business and profits over the wellbeing of their people and the environment. Agriculture profiteers have to win the minds of policy makers, decision makers and populations, in order for them to implement their harmful business model and earn higher profits. The narrative that there is not enough food to feed Africa’s people was developed to drive the need for this industrial-style farming. This then affects policy and spending decisions.”

“What I find most worrying is that part of this narrative includes disparaging seeds from local communities, saying farmer seeds are part of the problem and therefore must be replaced with patented hybrids. We now need to buy seed from these companies because our seed – that we have used for generations – is considered backward. And yet, we have seen and should learn from the negative impact this approach to farming has had for farmers around the world. Forcing us to farm just one type of crop, which may not even be the best quality seed for that crop, will have devastating impacts on our soil quality, exposes us to the risks associated with mono-cropping, just to name a few adverse effects,” says Belay.

SAFCEI Board Director Kirtanya Lutchminarayan says, “What we are calling for in this open letter to the Gates Foundation are agricultural models that are based on farming in harmony with nature. Concepts such as agroecology, permaculture and organic farming are regenerative. These practices support the sustainable and non-extractive use of water, land and soil, in service of people now and for generations to come. There have been publications on transforming agricultural practice with a moral imperative. Monoculture farming is simply not sustaining our people for the long term.”

Faith-based and civil society organisations are not the only ones concerned about an industrial approach to food production. The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, also believe that a transition to more sustainable food systems are needed. These systems should have more socio-economic benefits for the people and should have less consequences for the environment.

Link:
https://furtherafrica.com/2021/08/0...n-to-stop-pushing-for-industrial-agriculture/

 

[loyola llothta]

4 August 2021
Report: 14 Countries to Form Block Against Israel’s Membership of African Union
By Middle East Monitor



Israel’s return to the African Union (AU) as an observer state has sparked a huge backlash in the continent with as many as 14 countries said to be ready to form a block to reject the occupation state’s membership.

Online newspaper Rai Al-Youmreported that Algeria has agreed with South Africa, Tunisia, Eritrea, Senegal, Tanzania, Niger, ‌the Comoro Islands, Gabon, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Liberia, and Seychelles to expel Israel from the AU.

It’s reported that the new block will reject the decision to include Israel in the AU to preserve the principles of the union and support the Palestinian Arab state.

Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra is expected to discuss the issue of Israel’s membership in the African Union in his upcoming trips to Tunisia, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt. He has previously stressed that Algeria will not stand idly by while Israel is allowed to join the block with the consent of its members.

Though Rai Al-Youm did not include Namibia on its list of countries to have agreed with Algeria to block Israel’s admission, the southwest African state’s ministry of international relations released a strongly worded denunciation of the AU’s decision to grant observer status to the occupation state.

“Granting observer status to an occupying power is contrary to the principles and objectives of the Constitutive Act of the African Union,”Penda Naanda, executive director of Namibia’s Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, said in a statement.

Naanda said it was wrong to grant Israel observer status, particularly at this time, when the state of Israel is increasing its acts of oppression in total violation of international law and disregard for the human rights of the Palestinian people. He stressed that the AU Commission’s decision was against the usual firm and solid commitments made by several African heads of state and government who unequivocally support the Palestinian cause.

“Namibia, therefore, disassociates itself from granting observer status to the state of Israel,” the statement said.

South Africa was one of the first countries to express condemnation of the AU’s decision. It said that it was “appalled” by the decision to grant observer status to the 55-country block.

Link:
Report: 14 countries to form block against Israel's membership of African Union

 

[Yehuda]

Chinese Parts Help Jet Motors Assemble First EV Vans in Nigeria

Source: Getty Images

By Emele Onu
29 July 2021

A Nigerian vehicle assembler is importing parts from China to build electric cars in the nation, undeterred by the chronic power shortage in Africa’s biggest economy.

Jet Motors, which assembles cars fit to traverse the nation’s potholed roads, is importing the power train of the vehicle from China’s Jing-Jin Electric Technologies Co., the battery from KeyPower, another Chinese firm, while the shock absorber is from Stellantis NV’s Jeep.

Battery-powered vehicles are a novelty in Africa’s most populous country where only about a half of the residents have access to on-grid power supply and most homes and businesses go for days without electricity. Nigeria is able to supply just about a third of its installed capacity because of dilapidated transmission infrastructure. Jet has yet another challenge -- inadequate charging points.

That’s prompted the company to produce just three cars, named Jet Mover EV, a day, compared with eight non-electric JET Mover mini buses, according to Chief Executive Officer Chidi Ajaere. Jet has three charging points in Lagos and a fourth one expected in neighboring Ogun State this year.

Read: Africa’s Electric Motorbike Pioneer Seizes Silicon Valley Funds

There is a growing potential for electric vehicles in the West African nation as President Muhammadu Buhari encourages investment in renewables. The government plans to set aside 10% of the 2.3 trillion naira ($5.6 billion) it is spending to spur an economic revival, toward providing solar power for households. The nation has pledged to cut carbon emissions 20% by 2030 under the Paris Climate Agreement.

The challenge toward migration to electric vehicles is “the proportion of Nigerians that can afford the vehicles is small and the proportion than can afford to purchase and charge electric vehicles is even smaller,” Osato Guobabia, CEO of Enej Insights, an energy information and auto consultancy, said by phone.

The company’s electric vans costs about $90,000, a steep amount in Africa’s most populous country, which is also host to the highest number of people living in extreme poverty globally.

Jet is in talks with private investors, the government’s National Automotive Design and Development Agency and Canada’s Africa Development Capital that previously funded the research for the automobile, to invest in charging points in the country’s highways, according to Ajaere.

Read: Platinum Giants Get Lifeline as Green Economy Boosts Demand

“We will be able to further drive up the demand and appetite for electric vehicles once we get the needed charging infrastructure,” Ajaere said. “We can even use solar energy to charge the battery, which is cost effective, compared to the standard electricity and it preserves the environment.”

KeyPower is producing a 107.6 kilowatt-hour battery, with capacity to run the vehicle for 250 kilometers (155 miles). It charges for two hours, once a day and the batteries can be used for 11 years, according to Ajaere.

Jet plans to ramp up production to 50 vehicles a day over the next three to five years if the charging points are installed in strategic locations in the country, Ajaere said.

The company plans to meet rising demand from transportation and logistics firms turning to the electric cars in Africa’s largest crude producing nation to cushion gasoline costs and other maintenance charges.

“We see immense opportunity for electric car makers to invest in Nigeria, if we look at just the population,” Ajaere said.

Chinese Parts Help Jet Motors Assemble First EV Vans in Nigeria

 

[loyola llothta]

 

[Yehuda]

Facebook, telcos to extend subsea cable to four countries

August 16, 2021 | 7:45 AM -03 | Last Updated 4 days ago

A lock icon, signifying an encrypted Internet connection, is seen on an Internet Explorer browser in a photo illustration in Paris April 15, 2014. REUTERS/Mal Langsdon

The Facebook logo is displayed on a mobile phone in this picture illustration taken December 2, 2019. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/Illustration

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Facebook and a team of African and global telecoms companies will add four more countries to its world's largest subsea cable project, widening the build project in Africa earlier than planned, they said in a joint statement on Monday.

Internet connectivity will be expanded to the Seychelles, the Comoros Islands, Angola and bring a new landing point to south-east Nigeria. This is in addition to the recently announced extension to the Canary Islands, the companies said.

The consortium of the project, called 2Africa, comprises South Africa's MTN (MTNJ.J) GlobalConnect, Facebook (FB.O), Mauritius-based infrastructure provider WIOCC, China Mobile International (0941.HK), France's Orange SA (ORAN.PA), Saudi Arabia's stc, Telecom Egypt (ETEL.CA) and Vodafone (VOD.L).

Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) has been selected to deploy the new "branches", which will increase the number of 2Africa landings to 35 in 26 countries, further improving connectivity into and around Africa, they added.

"Most of the subsea route survey activity is now complete. ASN has started manufacturing the cable and building repeater units in its factories in Calais and Greenwich to deploy the first segments in 2022," the companies said.

The consortium launched the cable, which is expected to go live in late 2023, in May 2020 to connect those countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Subsea cables form the backbone of the internet, carrying 99% of the world's data traffic.

Africa's big economies have a large and fast growing population of internet users, with growth in internet use fuelled by rapidly expanding mobile broadband networks and more affordable phones.

However, with a population of just above 1.3 billion, Africa is still a laggard in internet connectivity, with average mobile internet users at around 26% against a world average of 51%.

The companies said 2Africa will be the largest subsea cable project in the world.

Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; editing by David Evans

Facebook, telcos to extend subsea cable to four countries