Africa

Photo: Demonstrators at an International Women's Day rally in Abidjan on May 8, 2022. Ivorian women's rights groups have denounced a bill legalising polygamy for men. Source: France24

Ivorian Parliament to Review Polygamy in a Blow for Women’s Equality

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A bill before parliament in the Ivory Coast would upend monogamy and restore polygamy—a marriage that includes one husband and at least two wives. Outraged women’s groups call it a return to inequality.

The move mirrors setbacks worldwide, including the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Roe vs Wade. The bill, proposed by Yacouba Sangare of the ruling Rally of Houphouetists for Democracy and Peace, would acknowledge a widespread practice across the country and, therefore, he says, one that should be legally permitted.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 July 2022

Photo: Female lawmakers make up 34.57% of Zimbabwe’s Ninth Parliament. Credit: ZimFact

Why Do Zimbabwean Women Shun Politics?

By Farai Shawn Matiashe

MUTARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Cyberbullying and online sexual harassment are some dilemmas that young women trying to rise in Zimbabwe’s patriarchal and male-dominated political space face.

What started as a debate on the opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), led by young and charismatic politician Nelson Chamisa not having structures, ended up with CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere fighting cyberbullying from the ruling party, Zanu PF sympathisers in courts.

: Africa & ME Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 24 July 2022

Photo: Sir Mo Farah, CBE, is a multiple Olympic, World and European Champion athlete. For many he is Britain’s greatest ever athlete having accumulated 10 global titles which includes the ‘double double’ of gold medals over 5,000m and 10,000m at both the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. Source: MoFarah.com

New Film Shows Eminent Somali Runner Forced into Slavery in the UK

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Somalia-born runner Mohamed Abdi Jama Farah, known as Mo Farah, won 10 gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) for being the second man in history to win long-distance doubles at successive Olympics and World Championships.

But he won much more than that.

He won a platform to tell his story of forced servitude and how he was trafficked to Britain as a child and forced to look after other children.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 July 2022

Image source: Global Information Network

Rwandan 'Genocidaire' Finally Convicted in French Court

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A former senior Rwandan official linked to the deaths of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus has been found guilty of complicity in that nation’s genocide, 20 years after the horrific crime occurred.

Laurent Bucyibaruta is the highest-ranking Rwandan to face trial in France over the 1994 massacres that took place in 100 days of mass killings.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 July 2022

Sharp Rise in Gun Violence Triggers Debate

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | PRETORIA (IDN) — An outbreak of shootings at three different bars over one weekend has rocked the nation. Illegally obtained weapons were blamed for the violence in which 22 people died.

According to police, the gunmen in the Soweto shooting used high-calibre rifles, including AK-47s, leaving 137 empty cartridges on the scene. This has raised concerns about how criminals can access such high-powered weapons. The country’s abundance of guns held illegally is partially to blame for the shootings, community activists said.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 July 2022

Photo: PDP National Headquarters, Abuja.

Multi-Religious Nigeria's Ruling Party Picks 2 Muslims as Top Candidates

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP newspaper based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — If the flag bearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in next year’s presidential election, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, thought a “placeholder” would be a lightning rod and maybe soften the blow of his final decision, he has seen by now that he is mistaken. There is a gathering storm.

Tinubu’s decision on July 12 to choose a fellow Muslim as his running mate has riled many Christians, who make up nearly 49 per cent of the country’s population. They are doubly upset that it took him five weeks after his nomination to decide what they always suspected he would do: pick a Muslim running mate to complete what is now Nigeria’s first Muslim-Muslim ticket in nearly 30 years.

: Africa & ME Editor; OPINION; 16 July 2022

Facebook Blasted for Publishing Amharic Hate Speech

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — A proliferation of incendiary hate speech has turned up on social media’s Facebook for Ethiopia in ads that call for people to be killed, starved or ‘cleansed’ from an area, compare people to animals and call for genocide.

Phrases used are highly offensive and dehumanizing. Several posts amounted to a call for genocide. None of the sentences was dog-whistles or in any way difficult to interpret or mistake.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Quality Education; 11 July 2022

Nigerian Pop Star Takes Down Air Pollution in Latest Hit

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Grammy-award winner Damini Ogulu, popularly known as Burna Boy, has picked a smoking topic for his latest record dubbed “Whiskey”.

“Port Harcourt residents dem no dey breathe fresh air, my people! When you wake up in the morning, you cough black soot,” the song begins.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 11 July 2022

Photo: (left) Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chair of the African Union Commission and (right) Fortune Charumbira, President of the Pan-African Parliament. Source: News Zimbabwe.

Mugabe Supporter to Head Pan-African Parliament

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — As members of the Pan-African Parliament hotly disputed the election of senator and chief Fortune Charumbira as their next president, a familiar figure could have turned the exercise upside down.

The familiar figure was ex-President Robert Mugabe. Charumbira, an unapologetic Mugabe supporter, once faced censure from Zimbabwe’s High Court which ruled that his comments publicly supporting Mugabe’s Zanu PF party were unconstitutional as chiefs are required to be neutral.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Peace & Justice; 05 July 2022

Photo: Protesters on June 29, 2022 (twitter #AriseGhana ). Source: The African Report

Ghanaians Take to The Streets Over Intolerable Living Costs

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — “Mr President, where is our money? The high cost of living will kill us.”

Those were the cries that filled the streets of Accra as the usually peaceful people of Ghana could no longer stop their anger and frustration over intolerable living costs, record inflation, and misleading information about the economy shared by the government.

Over the past week, hundreds of Ghanaians clashed with police and denounced their government’s inaction on the crisis.