Human trafficking in Zimbabwe

 from the Herald: 

Police, Interpol in human trafficking, smuggling joint op

wikipedia page

also a post on lithium mining

the wars that are ignored in the western press

in central Africa the wars go on:

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then you have the attacks on Christian villagers in Nigeria, which the western MSM pretends is poor cattle herders burning down farmers villages so they can feed their cattle, but in reality it is a persecution of the Christians.

and here is a more up to date report from EWTN News:

Mali, Gold and the Wagner Group

No, I don't know much about Mali, but StrategyPage notes they produce gold, and are using gold to pay for things that foreign aid used to pay for. But of course the common folk aren't getting much benefit. And they note that ordinary folk are doing what we call mom and pop gold mining (They do this in the Philippines, and it is more dangerous and more polluting than professional companies, but, again, I don't know much about this).

But they note the Wagner group, a mercenary group of Russians who are notorious for their work in the Ukraine, are there and trained local soldier to keep the government in place.

and they are paying them in gold.

The article explains that Mali threw out the French and UN peacekeepers partly because they reported on atrocities by the Govt troops and the Wagner group

But the peacekeepers are there to stop Islamic groups who are terrorists and also who threaten the government.

it's the corruption of course

The Mali peacekeeping operation costs about half a billion dollars a month and that is about the only foreign aid Mali gets now that the military government is in control. Most foreign aid was halted because the government was stealing so much of the aid. It is difficult to steal any of the money spent on peacekeepers but the government seems to be trying to do just that.

and of course the problem is that the Islamic terrorists are growing and threatening nearby states

this report from DW last week discusses the good and bad points of the Wagner group

in the past Timbuktu and Mali were a major source of gold. Lecture here discusses.

in other words, it was a civilized area when western Europe was undeveloped.

Religion in Africa: Pentecostal influences

 GetReligion discusses the Islamic vs Christian meme in Africa, as reported in the behind the paywall WSJ.

For later reading.

it notes the charismatic movement in Christian churches is now influencing Islam.

well, nothing new here: Sufi Islam stressed a personal relationship with God, and this was partly due to Hindu (Gita) influence I believe. So a pentecostal revival in Islam might pressure the more rule oriented/terrorist inspiring version of Islam pushed by the Saudis to be less influential. 

I don't know how accurate this report is, since it is by western reporters who believe polls (uh, people will tell pollsters what they want to hear, out of politeness guys, but never mind).... and these reporters seem to think that the Islamic vs Christian wars can be blamed on local Christians (or even local Muslims) whereas it was actually inspired by Saudi/ISIS etc. snf is something new: Islamic slave traders of the Sahel decimated these tribes for centuries (heck, the slave trade goes back to the days of ancient Egypt and is more about cuture than religion per se). 

But I am not an expert here.

Also missing: How African churches are pushing back against the gay agenda in the large Anglican church, and it is local Evangelicals (not the western bigots as the western press always seems to accuse) that is pushing against the US push toward so called gay rights/ birthcontrol/ sex education that approves of premarital sex.

Nigeria has problems

StrategyPage report on Nigeria's many problems.

During the last ten years, over 78,000 Nigerians were killed by Islamic terrorists, bandits, fighting between farmers and herders, and local unrest...

They note the deaths went down after 2014 but are now again rising.

they also many economic problems including problems that stop the oil wealth from being used by locals to improve their lives.