Here’s my latest link roundup, crossposted as usual from Africa Update. We’ve got Sudanese clones of Nigerian politicians, books on ancient West African empires, the hidden toilet taxes of Tanzania, Uganda’s “herbal Viagra” which is actually just Viagra, and more.
Love this photos series done around Accra by Prince Gyasi
West Africa: Here’s how false information spreads in Nigeria ahead of elections, including rumors that the country’s president has been replaced by a Sudanese clone. Follow all of these female Nigerian political analysts for your election updates. New research in Senegal finds that people who have better political connections benefit more from policies to get informal businesses to register with the government. Senegal and Gambia have just opened the first-ever bridge between the two countries. Liberia is considering a controversial amendment to its citizenship law, which currently states that only people of African descent can become citizens or own land. This was a fantastic summary of the dynastic politics of the Northern Ghanaian kingdoms. Here’s what’s going on with the Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. Read all about urbanization in West Africa with this new report from the Center for Democratic Development.
Central Africa: The government of the Central African Republic has reached a peace deal with 14 major armed groups — the fourth such agreement the country has had since 2014. Ugandan postgrad students must often stay enrolled in their university for months or years after they submit their theses to be examined, as the examiners are not paid for their work on time. The DRC’s contested election ended with Félix Tshisekedi in power even though he lost the popular vote — a result which was rapidly accepted by the United States out of concern that challenging the results would lead to violence.
Here’s a photo of the beautiful Kenyan countryside from a recent trip on the Madaraka Express
East Africa: People with albinism in Tanzania say that beauty pageants and improved media coverage are lessening stigma against them, but they still face the risk of violent witchcraft-related attacks. In the urban markets of Tanzania, male and female traders pay the same market taxes, but women pay up to 18 times more per day to use the toilets. Kenya has banned several companies from producing peanut butter after finding it to be contaminated with aflatoxin, a carcinogenic mold that grows on improperly stored grains and legumes. A new report finds that minority communities in Kenya face greater difficulties getting state ID cards, which are necessary for access to many public services. Muslim students in Kenya may also be forced to remove their hijabs if they want to enroll in public school. Check out this set by the first female Kenyan-Somali comedian in Nairobi. Read about the reintroduction of paper currency in Somalia, after yeras of the exclusive use of mobile money. This was a good article on the regional geopolitics of the fight against al-Shabaab in East Africa.
Southern Africa: Zimbabwe’s government has ordered public hospitals to provide renal dialysis for free, which increased uptake rates but strained the underfunded hospitals. South African law says that schools must provide transport for disabled pupils, but many are being left behind as schools say they live too far away or don’t have maintenance money for their vehicles. This was a fascinating profile of the mineworkers’ trade union in Zambia, which operates more like a business than an advocacy group.
“The Ebola outbreak in DRC is really several distinct outbreaks in different areas,” according to Peter Salama
Public health: Restrictive opioid policies mean that cancer patients or people who need palliative care rarely get sufficient pain relief in African countries, although Uganda is a rare exception. This report finds that nearly 25% of Ugandan women have given birth by the age of 17, and over 50% by the age of 19. In other Ugandan health news, more than half the “herbal” aphrodisiacs in the country are actually mixed with the drug used in Viagra. This was an insightful article about the ways the DR Congo and its neighbors are trying to prevent the spread of Ebola across borders. Read these profiles of activists in six African countries working to end female genital cutting. Listen to this podcast about the politics of abortion in Kenya. Aid agencies and government need to provide better mental health support for refugees in Africa.
Politics and economics: This book looks like a fascinating economic history of pre-colonial West Africa. Check out the latest Afrobarometer report on African citizens’ attitudes towards immigration. African industrialization is unlikely to follow the European experience because of the coercive techniques European countries used to restrict wages at home and forcibly open new markets abroad when they were industrializing. This was an unusually even-handed discussion of China’s multifaceted approach to diplomacy in Africa. China also helped Nigeria build a nuclear reactor for research purposes in the 1990s, and they’re now helping remove the fissile material so that Boko Haram can’t access it. This article points out that internet service providers in African countries have to obey government orders to turn off the internet because their staff might get imprisoned if they don’t do so. Ghana is encouraging members of the African diaspora to relocate to the country in the “Return to Africa” project, on the 400th anniversary of the kidnapping of the first enslaved African people to the US in 1619.
This kanga honors the LGBT community in Tanzania (via Kawira Mwirichia)
Academic updates: Apply to this conference on African feminisms by March 31, and this one on gender and justice in Africa by April 30. Submit a contribution to this edited volume on “The Gambia in Transition.” The University of York is offering scholarships for African students doing the MPA degree. SOAS has scholarships for two African studentsdoing PhDs in the social sciences. Strathmore University in Kenya is offering five PhD scholarships in health management for African citizens. Check out Mawazo’s monthly list of opportunities for African scholars. Nominations are open for the Royal Africa Society Prize for African scientists.