the guys in the World tour (aka Top Gear 2) do their last show in Zimbabwe, showing the beauties of the land.
this is a big boost for tourism.
alas, not their best show, and it could have shown more of the country, but it is a welcome change from most of the reporting by western outlets, showing the good part of the country in their trip from Mutare to Botswana.
Instapundit, which usually covers politics and science, took time to do a post about the atrocities in the DRC civil wars.
No, it's not the culture: The culture was destroyed by Arab slave traders (east Africa slave trade was documented by Livingstone, but sort of ignored by the western historians) and later the Europeans who wanted cheap labor, and of course, the desire of everyone to get gold (and now other rare earth metals).
here is the entire post.
Over a decade ago, political leaders and celebrities from around the globe made a high-publicity pledge to put an end the use of rape as a weapon of war. Hillary Clinton, as secretary of state, met survivors in eastern Congo, which amid years of back-to-back and parallel conflicts, had become known as the “rape capital of the world.” The U.K.’s then-foreign secretary, William Hague, who visited Goma, the biggest city on Congo’s border with Rwanda, with actress Angelina Jolie, likened sexual violence in conflict zones, and the world’s quest to end it, to “the slave trade of our generation.”
But it gets worse: Congo’s Forgotten Curse: Epidemic of Female-on-Female Rape. “Rape in conflict zones has long been the subject of news reports and academic study and large amounts of donor funding is channeled to organizations that respond to it. But rape specifically perpetrated by women has received less attention. Recent studies suggest the problem is more widespread than many experts previously believed. In 2010, Harvard academic Lynn Lawry and a team of researchers conducted a survey of human-rights abuses in over 1,000 households in conflict-ridden eastern Congo. It was the same year that Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, dubbed Congo ‘the rape capital of the world.’ Lawry’s study asked victims of sexual violence to specify their assailant’s gender. It found that 40% of the women — and 10% of the men — who said they were subjected to sexual violence were assaulted by a woman.”
Also rape by U.N. “peacekeepers.”
And of course, there’s lots of rape of men in Congo too. “During his escape from the civil war in neighbouring Congo, he had been separated from his wife and taken by rebels. His captors raped him, three times a day, every day for three years. And he wasn’t the only one. He watched as man after man was taken and raped. The wounds of one were so grievous that he died in the cell in front of him.”
LINK Global Voices article:
The ongoing war has severely damaged Sudan’s ability to offer essential public services, including national banking services. The Electronic Banking Services Company (EBS), which oversees governmental e-banking operations, lost the ability to offer clearing services, which disrupted bank-to-bank transactions. Furthermore, the RSF looted banks in several cities in Sudan, leading to long queues at bank offices and further complicating traditional banking operations.
long article about the internet which enables bank transfers, but alas the military on both sides are using it too.
Fear grips east DR Congo as displaced await mpox vaccine https://t.co/npVsWLni6y
— Inquirer (@inquirerdotnet) August 18, 2024
Global voices has a long report
Pro-democracy activists in Zimbabwe are being prosecuted for ‘public disorder’ Detained activists said they were tortured and threatened with rape Go to link (copyrighted article).
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe police have arrested 18 political activists and hauled some of them off a plane, their lawyers said Thursday, in the latest clampdown by the government after warning it would crush opposition protests ahead of its hosting of a meeting of the southern African heads of state this month. The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights group said it was representing the activists, who were detained on Wednesday. Among the activists arrested is Namatai Kwekweza, a 25-year-old pro-democracy campaigner and the inaugural winner of the Kofi Annan NextGen Democracy Prize in 2023. The prize is awarded by the late United Nations secretary-general’s foundation to young people committed to the principles of democracy.and follow the money:
Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe's first lady and others were sanctioned by the United States earlier this year for alleged involvement in gold and diamond smuggling and human rights abuses.
"Even if the Tanzanian government’s concerns about land use pressures on the biodiversity of the conservation area are valid, addressing them should not justify human rights abuses."
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) August 12, 2024
— #AJOpinion by @OryemNyeko and @NnokoMewanu. https://t.co/1brhGa4nhT
maybe because the infrastructure for drinking water is lacking
this is from 3 years ago:
and this is from 9 years ago:
the movement of population from villages to the city outstrips the ability to provide services such as water.
a restricted article on the background:
Even if people can afford to pay the bills, the provision of urban services by state actors (or commissioned firms) is erratic and often not available. The daily infrastructure provision remains the responsibility of individuals and groups, mostly organised in complex yet fragile and changing networks. Drawing from the research on the existing, largely informal water supply in slum communities, this article argues for the recognition and pro-active implementation of hybrid approaches in the planning, implementation and administration of urban infrastructure. It calls for co-production and ‘hybrid water governance’.
here is another recent article:
the more recent articles blame global warming of course, but what is not mentioned: Corruption. How bad is corruption? So bad that it has a wikipedia page about it.Nigeria ranked 145th among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector.
2021 BBC article.
Replacing aging infrastructure is often low priority even in the USA, but when aid money is easily diverted or shoddy work on the infrastructure is done, the result is disease. I cannot prove how much this contributes to the cholera epidemic, but in Harare and even parts of the Philippines, it was a major cause of cholera.
I worked with Ojibwe in northern Minnesota, but was aware of the large Hmong refugee population of Minneapolis, and later the resettlement of thousands of Somalis, who by the way did not assimilate with the small native African Americans who were living there.
However, on looking into why they were settled there as refugees, I found that many of them were actually Bantu Somalis: Webpage here.
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| https://somalibantumaine.org/somali-bantu-background/ |
When civil war broke out in Somalia, the Somali Bantus were sent from their homes and farms by armed people of the Somali clan. The legacy and stigma of slavery made the Bantu population particularly vulnerable and many Somali Bantus were killed, tortured, and raped by the ethnic Somalis as the famine increased. The ones who were able to flee walked anywhere from two to four weeks to reach the Kenyan border.
a long complicated history there about slavery, assimilation, the various tribes in Somalia, and the civil war (including the pasturalist vs the SomaliBantu agricultural workers being part of the background) and a report on how many ended up fleeing to nearby countries.
So how did a lot of them end up in Minneapolis?
The US State Dept resettled them as refugees.
the refugee program has come to be shaped by a global human rights agenda, divorced from the previous grounding in foreign policy and national interest. The most recent evidence for this is the decision to resettle a tribe known as the Somali Bantu from UN refugee camps to the United States, rather than explore the very real possibility of solutions within Africa itself.
... Under this new model refugees to the United States are more likely to be direct referrals from UN-run refugee camps. The U.S. State Department has committed to taking at least 50 percent of those refugees, ... Since 1992, 77 percent of refugees who were resettled permanently in industrialized countries came to the United States.
The UNHCR has three options for dealing with the refugees in its care, who by definition have fled their country of origin to another country of “first asylum.” Besides maintaining the supposedly temporary camps where the refugees reside, the UNHCR pursues “durable solutions” which include 1) voluntary repatriation — return to the country of immediate origin; 2) integration and permanent residence in the country of “first asylum;” or 3) resettlement to a third country. Repatriation is by far the most commonly used solution.
so who are the Somali Bantu?
The Somali Bantu, which comprise several tribes, are viewed as two subgroups in their relationship to Somali majority society. One group’s ancestors migrated to modern-day Somalia roughly a thousand years ago and consider themselves to be Somalis. The other group, numbering about 300,000 to 400,000 are descendants of Bantu brought to East Africa by Arab slavers in the 19th century. Severely discriminated against by ruling class or “dominant clan” Somalis, part of this group, also known as Mushungulis, sought refuge in neighboring Tanzania and Kenya with over half of those who fled winding up in UN refugee camps in Kenya.
It is the Somali Bantu in Kenyan UN refugee camps that the United States has agreed to admit on its refugee program.
the article discusses the decision of resettling far away instead of what would be cheaper and better for all involved: Resettle in nearby countries.
a book on their resettlement in Maine.
but the part I want to quote is this, and I wonder how China managed to control their mineral wealth.
Just defeating Kabila in an election was a remarkable feat because the former president had enriched himself with corrupt dealings. The worst corruption was in eastern Congo (Ituri, North and South Kivu provinces) and southern Congo (Katanga province). These provinces are where foreign firms mine and export valuable minerals.
what it comes down to is that China is investing in the cobalt mining, and it's easy to bribe and let authorities steal the profit (and probably the Chinese firms will also divert some of that money).
In southeastern Congo (Lualaba province) the state-owned cobalt monopoly, Entreprise Generale du Cobalt (EGC), had been paying artisanal, or informal, cobalt miners a minimum price of $30,000 a ton for cobalt that was selling for $50,000 a ton. The government contended that unregulated minral brokers paid artisanal miners much less than $30,000 a ton. For a long time these independent miners have produced about ten percent of Congo’s Cobalt. Most of those mineral brokers work with or for Chinese companies which control an estimated 70 percent of Congo’s mineral deposits and mining industry. The Chinese state-owned CNMC (China Nonferrous Metal Mining Company Ltd.) owns huge cobalt and copper reserves in Congo.,,,
Congo is the world’s biggest cobalt producer, each year producing a growing majority of the world’s total cobalt. In 2020 Congo produced about 100,000 tons of cobalt, which was 71 percent of the world total. By 2021 industry sources estimated that Chinese companies controlled around 40 percent of Congo’s cobalt mining capacity.
Why cobalt? China is planning to take over the world with their electric cars.
it is not just exploiting the workers and stealing the profits: It is also destroying the environment and displacing people from their traditional land.
Human rights abuses are well documented
AlJazeerah reportAlJazeerah report
In the report Powering Change or Business as Usual? published on Tuesday, Amnesty International and the DRC-based organisation IBGDH, or Initiative pour la Bonne Gouvernance et les Droits Humains (Initiative for Good Governance and Human Rights), detail how the expansion of multinational mining operations has led to communities being forced from their homes and farmland.,,“Climate justice demands a just transition. Decarbonising the global economy must not lead to further human rights violations. The people of the DRC experienced significant exploitation and abuse during the colonial and post-colonial era, and their rights are still being sacrificed as the wealth around them is stripped away.”
Amnesty International report:“The forced evictions taking place as companies seek to expand industrial-scale copper and cobalt mining projects are wrecking lives and must stop now,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General.
NPR reports:How 'modern-day slavery' in the Congo powers the rechargeable battery economy
much of the DRC's cobalt is being extracted by so-called "artisanal" miners — freelance workers who do extremelyKara says the mining industry has ravaged the landscape of the DRC. Millions of trees have been cut down, the air around mines is hazy with dust and grit, and the water has been contaminated with toxic effluents from the mining processing. dangerous labor for the equivalent of just a few dollars a day.
even Joe Rogan is publicizing this atrocity:
I hadn't been following the elections in South Africa, since essentially the president was reelected in early June
But the backstory is that the ANC lost it's majority so must join with other parties to form a government.
Tessa Dooms, a director at Rivonia Circle, a think tank in South Africa, said it was a historic result that diminished the ANC’s three decades hold on power. “The election in South Africa is an important watershed moment that fundamentally changes politics,” she said...The ANC will now have to form a coalition government with one or more opposition parties for the first time, to remain in power...
however, will the coalition stand?
,,,,,
Global Voices also has a long analysis from the local blogopshere and quotes a left wing politician as saying the ANC has now partnered with with the DA to form a government, who they claim is the same as joining with white money interests.
observation from Africafeeds:
The radical left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and populist uMkhonto we Sizwe refused to participate in a government that included the DA. “History will judge you and judge you harshly,” Malema said. “This is not a government of national unity. This is a grand coalition between the ANC and white monopoly capital.”
Global voices has more discussion of the pact including social media commentary at the link.
this is not right vs left, but about the corruption in the ANC, and the economic problems making the income disparity there worse.
By the way: China is SA's major trade parner, so how does this affect the economy?
Here, cheap Chinese imports have destroyed local industries, and people resent the Chinese for not hiring locals. So economically the talk of worrying about white money is more complicated: Will this lead to more investment in the South African economy (and maybe lead to SA businesses being able to fight off Chinese competition)?
I have no idea.
We grow organic brown rice here in the Philippines, but a lot of rice is grown in West Africa, and originally that rice , Oryza glaberrima was a slightly different type than Asian rice, and was domesticated 3000 years ago.according to Wikipedia.
In comparison to Asian rice, African rice is hardy, pest-resistant, low-labour, and suited to a larger variety of African conditions.[1] It is described as filling, with a distinct nutty flavour.
This rice was the one originally planted in the Southern Unite states, but even in Africa, it has mainly been replaced by the Asian variety which is more productive, but there is a push to continue growing this valuable crop.
more at Atlas Obscura.
If you’ve been paying attention to the growth in interest in West African culinary traditions, you’ve probably noticed the increased popularity of Jollof rice. The name derives from one of the kingdoms of my Ancestors, the Wolof peoples living in modern-day Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania. The Wolof have a great reputation as traders, artisans, musicians, and cooks, forming along with their neighbors the heart of the culture and cuisine of Senegambia...Jollof rice, or benachin, may be from Senegambia, but it spread through Wolof and Mande traders and unfortunately due to colonialism. Different countries have different names and styles of preparation to match. The fiercest rivalry may be between Ghana and Nigeria.
However, Jollof-style rice became the grandmother of Lowcountry red rice as well as jambalaya and rice from Mexico, Brazil, and various spaces in the Caribbean. All you need is tomato, onion, pepper, and spices.
Recipe at link
this video explains how you make it.
this one uses Jasmine rice, since the African rice is not available in most western countries.
This article at FlavorInsider compares Jollof rice and Jumbalaya. Some similarities but not the same.
........the Euroweenies Germans of course are skeptical. The Germans see them as patsies for the USA. Huh?. Why are they going outside of Africa? Uh, fellahs, they were in Croatia as peacekeepers a decade ago. The NWO is trying to stop this from happening of course. I wonder why.
my sarcasm: Well, if the Germans are worried about genocide elsewhere in the world, why don't they see genocide in Haiti as a problem?, why don't they send their troops there?
........
Kenyan peacekeepers have worked elsewhere: such as in the Congo.
more here:
We gave vaccines out in Africa (and America), and I saw how a lot fewer babies died of measles etc.
But after the Dengue vaccine deaths here in the Philippines, we have to realize there might be a problem.
It has been nearly one year since war broke out in Sudan, causing a devastating humanitarian crisis.
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 11, 2024
Here's what you need to know about the war, the peacemaking efforts undertaken since its outbreak, and the current humanitarian situation ⤵️https://t.co/UN0asdGx0e
,,,,,,,,,,,,
:LINK
The two warring parties, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), have continued a longstanding struggle for power. Over the past year, violent clashes have killed nearly 16,000 people and displaced millions.
the Russian mercenaries were arming the rebels but no recent reports on what they are doing now.
this Swiss newsite has a recent summary of what is going on now:
so the Russian mercs (wagner group) are still there, and WTF, the Ukrainians are there hunting the Russian mercs.
For the past year, Sudan has been the scene of a war that has turned the second-largest country in sub-Saharan Africa into a field of rubble. At the same time, Sudan is a geopolitical playground. Many countries are pursuing their interests in the region, generally not in a way that promotes peace. This includes neighboring Egypt, six other neighboring countries with their own concerns, nearby Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Then there is the United States and the European Union. And Russia and Ukraine. Despite this geopolitical jostling, the war has been receiving little media attention. This is in part due to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. And the complexity of the conflict. The main warring parties are the regular Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, a ruthless and well-armed militia that may include as many as 100,000 fighters. The war has taken on vast dimensions. In March, the U.S. State Department described it as «the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.» More than 8 million Sudanese people (out of a total of 45 million) have been displaced. More than 1 million people have fled across the country's borders. The state has collapsed. Only around a quarter of all health care facilities are still functioning.
For the past year, Sudan has been the scene of a war that has turned the second-largest country in sub-Saharan Africa into a field of rubble. At the same time, Sudan is a geopolitical playground. Many countries are pursuing their interests in the region, generally not in a way that promotes peace. This includes neighboring Egypt, six other neighboring countries with their own concerns, nearby Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Then there is the United States and the European Union. And Russia and Ukraine. Despite this geopolitical jostling, the war has been receiving little media attention. This is in part due to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. And the complexity of the conflict. The main warring parties are the regular Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces, a ruthless and well-armed militia that may include as many as 100,000 fighters. The war has taken on vast dimensions. In March, the U.S. State Department described it as «the largest humanitarian crisis in the world.» More than 8 million Sudanese people (out of a total of 45 million) have been displaced. More than 1 million people have fled across the country's borders. The state has collapsed. Only around a quarter of all health care facilities are still functioning.
