Nigeria: Shuttered Opprtunities

NIGERIA Shuttered Opportunities More than half of the schools remain closed in Boko Haram’s Nigerian strongholds, three years after the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls by the jihadist group in the area sparked global outrage. UNICEF said almost 1,400 schools have been destroyed in the northeastern state of Borno during Boko Haram’s eight-year insurgency, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, 57 percent of schools remain shuttered due to damage or the danger of attack, leaving an estimated 3 million children in need of education. Boko Haram, whose name means “Western Education is Forbidden,” is thought to have killed more than 2,200 teachers since 2009. Its effort to topple the government and establish Islamic law has killed more than 15,000 people and displaced some two million others. “In addition to devastating malnutrition, violence and an outbreak of cholera, the attacks on schools is in danger of creating a lost generation of children,” UNICEF said.

800,000 Are On The Verge Of Starvation In East Africa

EAST AFRICA

A Ticking Clock

The global community may only have a matter of weeks to save some 800,000 people in East Africa from starvation.

The conflict in South Sudan and Somalia and prolonged drought across the region have left more than 15 million children in need of food, water, healthcare, education or protection, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, World Vision, a charitable organization active in the region, said Wednesday that Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya have witnessed a spike in hunger levels among children in recent weeks.

“More than 800,000 children remain severely malnourished and are at risk of starving to death,” a World Vision spokesman said. “We have months, maybe only weeks, to stop this from happening.”

Famine struck parts of South Sudan earlier this year, and there is a high risk that it could return there and develop in Somalia. Much of Somalia is experiencing “emergency hunger” – one level below famine on an internationally recognized scale of hunger.

IRAQ

How Cape Town's Zeitz Museum Can Be a Money Spinner For Cape Town and South Africa

How Cape Town's Zeitz museum can be money spinner for city, country

Sep 24 2017 12:28 

Carin Smith

Zeitz MOCAA (Pic: Iwan Baan)

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Cape Town - The new Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (Zeitz MOCAA) in the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town will likely become one of the top three attractions in Cape Town, David Green, CEO of the V&A Waterfront, told Fin24.

The Waterfront team is, for instance, working closely with SA Tourism to gain local and international recognition for the museum.

The museum will provide a big boost to the Cape economy, according to the Wesgro (the official tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape).

In its view, the Zeitz MOCAA will attract potential investors and buyers from across the world who will contribute to economic growth and job creation.  

The Zeitz MOCAA is a partnership between the V&A Waterfront and Jochen Zeitz, who is the former CEO of Puma, co-founder with Sir Richard Branson of The B Team and Founder of the Zeitz Foundation for Intercultural Ecosphere Safety.

The museum has a number of different gallery spaces across 9 floors and is anticipated to be able to handle between 800 and 900 people at a time.

"This eagerly anticipated new Cape attraction promises to solidify Cape Town's position as the continent’s design capital and have a profound effect on the local tourism and knowledge economy," Wesgro said in a statement.

Wesgro's tourism team is working closely with the travel industry to promote the Zeitz MOCAA in order to contribute to its financial sustainability.

• READ: PICS: From grain silo to spectacular R500m African art museum

At the official opening on Friday Western Cape Premier Helen Zille said the Zeitz MOCAA will go down in modern history as one of the most iconic facilities to visit, not only in Africa, but in the world.

“We must also acknowledge the economic value this will add to the province. This iconic museum will attract guests from all over the world. This in turn will create jobs, and grow the economy. According to the latest available figures, the creative sector contributed R90.5bn to the SA economy," said Zille.

"This represents 2.9% of national gross domestic product (GDP). Cultural industries employ more than 440 000 people across the country.”

She commended the key partners including Zeitz and the V&A Waterfront team, for their work in not only creating this world class facility, but making it as accessible as possible to the public.

Cape Town Mayor Patricia de Lille said at the official opening the museum is a symbol of the confidence the city has in being African.

"The museum will be a key attraction to travellers from all over the world and will help us combat seasonality by turning Cape Town into a 365 days-a-year must-see destination," said De Lille.

In her view, art spurs conversations and creates platforms where we can confront our challenges, celebrate our diversity and build bridges.

According to Mark Coetzee, executive director and chief curator of the museum, the focus will also be on skills development and education.

In answer to a question about the accessibility of the museum to the wider SA community, Green said this aspect was actually at the heart of the project.

"It is a misnomer that the V&A Waterfront is not accessible. The V&A is an integrated space with free access to all," said Green.

The Zeitz MOCAA will, for instance, offer free access to those under 18 and the public can buy a ticket valid unlimited access for a year at R250.

Coetzee estimates that only 50% of the visitors to the museum will actually pay entrance fees.  

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World’s largest museum dedicated to African art opens in Cape Town this week

World’s largest museum dedicated to African art opens in Cape Town this week: The world’s largest museum dedicated to contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora has been unveiled at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, and will officially open its doors to the public on Friday. The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) is the V&A Waterfront’s R500-million project aimed at transforming a nearly 100-year-old concrete grain silo into a cutting-edge museum.

Uganda: Too Old For This

UGANDA

Too Old for This

Ugandans took to the streets in the capital Kampala on Thursday in protest of proposed legislation that would extend the rule of the nation’s longtime president, Yoweri Museveni.

Uganda’s constitution currently bars anyone over 75 years old from running for president, the Associated Press reports. Museveni, 73, has ruled the country for more than 30 years and would be ineligible to run for another term in 2021 unless that clause is removed.

The bill faces hefty criticism from civil society, as well as opposition groups and religious leaders who are calling for a national referendum on the matter before the new law goes into effect. They fear it would allow Museveni to rule for life.

Police responded to protesters Thursday with teargas. Dozens were arrested, including the mayor of Kampala, Erias Lukwago, a prominent government critic. Police also raided two NGOs accused of supporting the anti-government protests.

Ironically, Museveni claimed in the past that problems on the African continent are due to leaders “who want to overstay in power.” He later said he was only referring to those who weren’t democratically elected.

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How An International Consulting Firm Ripped Off Eskom For R1.6 billion

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Tunisia-The Second Battle

TUNISIA

The Second Battle

The Arab Spring of 2011 saw entrenched authoritarian regimes across North Africa buckle under the pressure of popular uprisings.

Six years later, only in Tunisia, where the Arab Spring began, is there a functioning representative democracy after decades of dictatorship, Stratfor comments.

But reforms are still needed to usher this developing nation over the finish line.

Tunisia is the Maghreb region’s most secular state and most ardent proponent of women’s rights, writes the BBC. Both were ideologies spearheaded by the nation’s founding father, Habib Bourguiba.

But progressive social politics come with a brutal authoritarian streak in Tunisia, writes Al-Fanar. Bourguiba often jailed and tortured political opponents, a tactic continued by his successor, President Zine El Abdine Ben Ali, a perceived-reformer turned corrupt autocrat.

Ben Ali was forced to resign in 2011 during the nation’s bloodless Jasmine Revolution, and political elites set about piecing together a democracy where none had existed before.

Political Islam became – and remains – a delicate and divisive issue. Tunisia’s arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, Ennahda, banned under prior regimes, drew support from fringes of society and grew in prominence. The party quickly secured a plurality in the nation’s first free elections.

But in secular Tunisia, the party and its hardline Islamic platform soon faced public condemnation, writes Haaretz.

Rather than digging in its feet and holding on to power, Ennahda learned from the mistakes of other failed Islamic uprisings: It split its religious and political wings. Ennahda now declares itself a party of Muslim Democrats and shares power with secularists, the Economist writes.

Such concessions serve as an example for other Arab states going through democratic transitions. But democratic political parties alone don’t make a successful state.

Tunisia’s economy was left in tatters after the uprising, and the government, preoccupied by constitutional reforms, has been slow to act. Official unemployment rates hover around 15 percent, but analysts say the real amount is far higher. In rural areas, where citizens frequently demand better representation and more opportunity from the nation’s energy companies, unemployment is double the national average, writes Stratfor.

In need of outside loans to stay afloat, Tunis recently pushedthrough a package of austerity measures at the demand of the International Monetary Fund. It will prove to be a tough battle given Tunisia’s strong unions and social welfare state, as well as mass protests against benefit cuts.

After establishing democracy, now the real battle will begin to keep it running.

“This government would be like a war cabinet, in a war against the corruption, against rampant unemployment and a war to save the economy,” said Prime Minister Youssef Chahed recently.

Like the beacon that inspired millions across the region to take to the streets six years ago, many hope Tunisia will be a trailblazer once again and win this war. Observers say at the very least the nation has a fighting chance.

Kenya: The Stunning Do Over

KENYA

The Stunning Do Over

Kenya’s supreme court Friday annulled presidential election results and ordered a repeat poll within 60 days.

It was a precedent-setting step for the country and the African continent, where autocrats keep winning unfair or rigged elections, often to rule for decades, the Guardian reported.

The court found that the “transmission” of the polls to election authorities, not the voting and counting at polling stations, raised concerns.

“Irregularities affected the integrity of the poll,” said Chief Justice David Maraga.

Kenyans – and others watching around the world – were stunned.

“Wow! Big step for the rule of law in Kenya,” tweeted Human Rights Watch Executive Director Kenneth Roth. “And a blow to electoral “’irregularities.’”

But the ruling itself was only part of the surprise. How it came to pass and how politicians responded to it have also been remarkable.

The ruling reflected widespread eyebrow-raising among international monitors, suggesting the court took third-party arguments into consideration.

“As the tallying was going on and forms needed to be uploaded there were some challenges,” EU Election Observer Marietje Schaake, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, told the BBC.

Incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta, who won the Aug. 8 election, criticized the ruling. “Millions of Kenyans queued, made their choice, and six people have decided that they will go against the will of the people,” he said.

But ultimately he accepted the decision, calling for “peace, peace, peace.”

He will now run against opposition leader Raila Odinga for a second time. Odinga received 44 percent of the Aug. 8 vote. He asserted that as many 7 million votes had been stolen, said the New York Times.

It’s possible Kenyatta relented because he was honestly thinking about the violence that might explode if he rejected the court ruling.

Shortly before the election, the Kenyan election commission’s IT expert, Chris Msando, was tortured and murdered. Odinga supporters said Kenyatta was to blame, USA Today explained.

After the Aug. 8 poll, riots resulted in 24 dead after Kenyatta was declared the winner with 54 percent of the vote.

That was tame compared to the contested 2007 election, when more than 1,000 people died and 600,000 were displaced following Odinga’s loss amid irregularities.

Odinga and his followers unsurprisingly reveled in the court’s move but even they were stunned. “For the first time in the history of African democratization, a ruling has been made by a court nullifying irregular election of a president,” he said.

Kenyan human rights activist Tina Alai told the Washington Post that the new election could help her fellow citizens get over ethnic differences that usually result in fighting. Members of the Kikuyu tribe and their allies support Kenyatta, while Luos and their friends vote for Odinga.

If Kenyan elections are free and fair, they “will cease to be the opportunity where politicians can prey on these divisions among us,” she said.

That would be the best result of all.

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