Sub-Saharan Africa: They're Conflict Minerals, Marie

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PawParole: Nov 16, 2019

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/06/ethiopia-benishangul-gumuz-violence-gerd-western-front/

article about the massacre in Ethiopia. Note that the source is heavily neoconservative, so keep the bias in mind

# ? Jan 7, 2021 14:22

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# ? May 24, 2024 21:56

Count Roland: Oct 6, 2013

PawParole posted:

https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/01/06/ethiopia-benishangul-gumuz-violence-gerd-western-front/

article about the massacre in Ethiopia. Note that the source is heavily neoconservative, so keep the bias in mind

Is FP heavily neocon? The second story I see on their front page reads

quote:

It Happened Here
Trump’s movement is a uniquely American fascism, built on a century of American imperialism.

# ? Jan 10, 2021 13:43

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

FP is a centrist "washington consensus" magazine, foreign affairs is conservative

i say swears online fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Jan 10, 2021

# ? Jan 10, 2021 17:46

kustomkarkommando: Oct 22, 2012

So what percentage of the vote do we think Museveni will let Bobi Wine get and will this complete charade finally result in the US breaking ties with him?

# ? Jan 13, 2021 16:03

Grouchio: Aug 31, 2014

kustomkarkommando posted:

So what percentage of the vote do we think Museveni will let Bobi Wine get and will this complete charade finally result in the US breaking ties with him?

I know too little about Uganda (and I have many ebooks to read) to be able to answer that question. Have living standards improved since Idi Amin?

# ? Jan 13, 2021 16:11

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

uganda is fairly stable and prosperous compared to its larger neighbors

# ? Jan 13, 2021 18:16

butros: Aug 2, 2007; I believe the signs of the reptile master

https://twitter.com/netblocks/status/1349401343765721091

I was on a call with some colleagues based in Kampala a few hours ago and they all dropped all of a sudden.

# ? Jan 13, 2021 18:31

KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD: Jul 7, 2012

kustomkarkommando posted:

will this complete charade finally result in the US breaking ties with him?

Of course not.

# ? Jan 13, 2021 19:48

kustomkarkommando: Oct 22, 2012

https://twitter.com/HEBobiwine/status/1350074095447117824?s=19

https://twitter.com/Smith_JeffreyT/status/1350085702751576065?s=19

# ? Jan 15, 2021 17:09

V. Illych L.: Apr 11, 2008; ASK ME ABOUT LUMBER

that seems ominous. any indication as to why they're acting this drastically?

# ? Jan 15, 2021 19:11

kustomkarkommando: Oct 22, 2012

V. Illych L. posted:

that seems ominous. any indication as to why they're acting this drastically?

In general Museveni has become incredibly more brazen in suppressing the opposition since about 2017, especially since scrapping the upper age limit on the presidency to let him to run again this year. In part this may be because of Uganda's continued rule in South Sudan and elsewhere in the region as an aspiring political broker giving him a sense of security to act with minimal international blowback but the emergence of Bobi Wine as a undeniably popular voice of opposition definitely has rattled him somewhat (this isn't the first time his house has been surrounded and he's taken to wearing a bullet proof vest in public after getting shot at).

Bobi Wine has really successfully positioned himself at the forefront of the generational schism between the ruling "old men of africa" and the ambitious, digitally connected and increasingly vocal youth which has begun aggressively bubbling up throughout Africa for a while and has begun violently erupting with things like the whole EndSARS protests in Nigeria. There's a couple of other similar figures like Malema in SA and Omoyele Sowore in Nigeria but Bobi is probably the most succesfull due to his relative lack of political baggage and the fact Museveni's complete inability to relinquish personal power has become increasingly farcical to the degree where he actually attempted to float on social media that he may have been three years younger than he previously thought and thus below the presidential age limit (of course he denied he was trying to do.this once social media rounded on him)

There's a lot of people outside Uganda on the continent watching him closely for sure.

# ? Jan 15, 2021 19:44

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

i have friends in south africa who have split with malema and the EFF for being too shy in attacking the ANC, starting their own party in KZN. the youth are mad lol

# ? Jan 15, 2021 19:51

Guavanaut: Nov 27, 2009; Looking At Them Tittys
1969 - 1998; Toilet Rascal

kustomkarkommando posted:

There's a lot of people outside Uganda on the continent watching him closely for sure.

Also outside the continent, he seems to have picked up a following from African Caribbean people with an interest in pan-Africanism, especially after the China airlift thing last year.

# ? Jan 15, 2021 19:52

V. Illych L.: Apr 11, 2008; ASK ME ABOUT LUMBER

so museveni thinks he has a winning hand and is probably just going to keep doing this until it blows up in his face or he keels over? grim

# ? Jan 15, 2021 20:34

KOTEX GOD OF BLOOD: Jul 7, 2012

V. Illych L. posted:

so museveni thinks he has a winning hand and is probably just going to keep doing this until it blows up in his face or he keels over? grim

welcome to Africa

# ? Jan 15, 2021 22:45

kustomkarkommando: Oct 22, 2012

https://twitter.com/rakidi/status/1350424244560265218?s=19

Seems legit...

# ? Jan 16, 2021 16:25

PawParole: Nov 16, 2019

https://twitter.com/MapEthiopia/status/1350694423471009794

# ? Jan 17, 2021 18:10

Fuschia tude: Dec 26, 2004; THUNDERDOME LOSER 2019

There's been a lot of reporting this weekend of the extent of the humanitarian crisis in Tigray, as the survivors face starvation with nearly all infrastructure and hospitals destroyed and shops looted or sold out across the region. The first aid workers in say 90% of the 5 million population require emergency food aid, but the UN says aid has been able to reach very few people.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/extreme-urgent-starvation-haunts-ethiopias-tigray-75306648

# ? Jan 18, 2021 01:45

Grouchio: Aug 31, 2014

Fuschia tude posted:

There's been a lot of reporting this weekend of the extent of the humanitarian crisis in Tigray, as the survivors face starvation with nearly all infrastructure and hospitals destroyed and shops looted or sold out across the region. The first aid workers in say 90% of the 5 million population require emergency food aid, but the UN says aid has been able to reach very few people.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/extreme-urgent-starvation-haunts-ethiopias-tigray-75306648

Did the Ethiopian army really have to go full scorched earth if this TPLF operation was supposedly swift and surgical? Isn't this just an occupation by now? And why are they fighting Sudan besides the TPLF?
And yeah, sucks that this had to happen during a pandemic year.

# ? Jan 18, 2021 06:54

Jaxyon: Mar 7, 2016; I’m just saying I would like to see a man beat a woman in a cage. Just to be sure.

Is there a good primer in article form about Zimbabwe?

Granted, there's probably several large books worth there, but I wanted something to get started.

edit: Specifically post-colonial

Jaxyon fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Jan 20, 2021

# ? Jan 20, 2021 04:29

Vivian Darkbloom: Jul 14, 2004

The Ethiopian army killed Seyoum Mesfin, who was the country's foreign minister 1991-2010. I can see this getting a lot worse.

# ? Jan 22, 2021 23:01

PawParole: Nov 16, 2019

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/hundreds-reportedly-dead-after-massacre-at-oriental-orthodox-church-in-ethiopia-51752

Locals have said they believe the church was targeted by raiders of the lost ark. The church is thought to contain the original Ark of the Covenant, a sacred golden chest first mentioned in the book of Exodus that carried the 10 commandments, parts of sacred scripture, Aaron�s rod, and a pot of manna. They believed the attackers wanted to steal the Ark of the Covenant and take it to the capital city of Addis Ababa, the Church Times reported. This ark is guided by a single priest who never leaves the compound, and it is not allowed to be seen by anyone else, so whether it is really the true Ark has been debated by historians for centuries.

PawParole fucked around with this message at 00:04 on Jan 23, 2021

# ? Jan 22, 2021 23:53

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

the brotherhood of the cruciform sword has sabotaged that link with an ellipsis so we don't find the truth

# ? Jan 22, 2021 23:59

PawParole: Nov 16, 2019

i say swears online posted:

the brotherhood of the cruciform sword has sabotaged that link with an ellipsis so we don't find the truth

sorry. fixed it.

# ? Jan 23, 2021 00:04

i say swears online: Mar 4, 2005

oh christ that's way worse than i was expecting

# ? Jan 23, 2021 01:04

Grouchio: Aug 31, 2014

Vivian Darkbloom posted:

The Ethiopian army killed Seyoum Mesfin, who was the country's foreign minister 1991-2010. I can see this getting a lot worse.

Now what did he do besides being Tigrayan to deserve death?

# ? Jan 23, 2021 01:34

Saladman: Jan 12, 2010

Reports are coming out of other areas of Tigray now too, like from expat Ethiopians who have since been able to escape. For instance, the account of an Ethiopian-American woman who was in Hawzen visiting her mother and got stuck there. Hawzen is a popular tourist destination in the countryside 3-ish hours away from Mekele and it is famous for its inaccessible churches, particularly Abuna Yematah Guh ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJCy64adY3Y )

Here's her report:

https://apnews.com/article/international-news-eritrea-ethiopia-only-on-ap-kenya-2bdd10888f7717690847ad117f09f2d4

quote:

She first saw the Eritrean soldiers in mid-December. She had fled with others into the mountains as fighting approached, leaving her mother, too frail for the journey, behind. Twelve days later she returned to the town of Hawzen, needing to know whether her mother had survived.

In the darkness, she said, she stumbled over bodies, including around 70 she later realized she knew as they were identified.

A neighborhood boy, just 12, had been recruited by soldiers to do errands and then killed.

�I was more heartbroken and surprised to see the Eritreans doing that because I felt a connection, speaking the same language,� Zenebu said. �I felt we shared more of the same struggle,� while others �don�t know us like the Eritreans do.�

Residents tried to survive as food supplies dwindled. Electricity for grinding grains was gone, and medical supplies ran out. �People are starving to death,� Zenebu said.

It was worse, she said, than in the 1980s, when famine and conflict swept through Tigray and images of starving people in Ethiopia brought global alarm and she fled to Sudan.

Then, �there wasn�t house-to-house looting of civilians, weaponizing hunger, the merciless killing,� she said. �It�s worse than before.�

I would have never expected Eritrean soldiers to be as far as Hawzen, several hours' drive from the border. Abiy is hosed. I was hoping that the capture of Mekele would mean a quick end to the worst abuses of war, but I can't even imagine what is going on in his head that would justify getting Eritreans anywhere other than border towns and allowing such slaughter.

I messaged everyone I spent significant amounts of time with when I spent a couple weeks in Tigray a year ago, and never heard back from anyone in Tigray, unsurprisingly, where WhatsApps didn't even ever get to "received". I did hear back from the guy who showed us around Lalibela and our guide for Simien, both of which are pretty close to Tigray, but they said everything is fine and normal where they are.

It's going to be 10+ years before Tigray is even close to back to normal...

# ? Jan 25, 2021 12:18

PawParole: Nov 16, 2019

https://mobile.twitter.com/MapEthiopia/status/1353853399842738177

Eritrean soldiers looting

# ? Jan 26, 2021 03:58

Toplowtech: Aug 31, 2004

Saladman posted:

I would have never expected Eritrean soldiers to be as far as Hawzen, several hours' drive from the border. Abiy is hosed. I was hoping that the capture of Mekele would mean a quick end to the worst abuses of war, but I can't even imagine what is going on in his head that would justify getting Eritreans anywhere other than border towns and allowing such slaughter.

Covid and locusts and civil war and now foreign soldiers. Yeah it's starting to make a lot.

# ? Jan 26, 2021 06:08

mila kunis: Jun 10, 2011

My half-baked understanding is that Eritrea is also majority ethnically Tigrayan, and the ruling clique of Eritrea saw the TPLF as potential rivals for power/influence in their country?

# ? Feb 2, 2021 00:08

Electric Wrigglies: Feb 6, 2015

Our operations are gearing up to respond to the latest Ebola outbreak that is kicking off in West Africa. Definitely in Guinea and I heard as well in Mali. I am hoping that the stockpiled vaccines are effective because I am sure the WHO and CDC is more stretched then last time. It will be interesting to see how much Africa gets closed off from flights (more than it already is due to Covid) through this.

# ? Feb 15, 2021 11:02

PawParole: Nov 16, 2019

https://twitter.com/addisstandard/s...ghtmode%3Dfalse

# ? Feb 20, 2021 07:41

punk rebel ecks: Dec 11, 2010; A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.

Grouchio posted:

I know too little about Uganda (and I have many ebooks to read) to be able to answer that question. Have living standards improved since Idi Amin?

I was only in Kampala, but speaking with people there, they say there have been lot of infrastructure improvements (new roads, schools, malls, churches, etc.), but a lot of people still live in essentially shacks though. It definitely didn't seem as developed as Kenya. There were also a lot of little hints that the "president" was more of a dictator.

# ? Feb 20, 2021 08:50

Vivian Darkbloom: Jul 14, 2004

quote:

NAIROBI, Kenya � Ethiopian officials and allied militia fighters are leading a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in Tigray, the war-torn region in northern Ethiopia, according to a confidential United States government report obtained by The New York Times.

The report, written earlier this month, documents in stark terms a land of looted houses and deserted villages where tens of thousands of people are unaccounted for.

Fighters and officials from the neighboring Amhara region of Ethiopia, who entered Tigray in support of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, are �deliberately and efficiently rendering Western Tigray ethnically homogeneous through the organized use of force and intimidation,� the report says.

�Whole villages were severely damaged or completely erased,� the report said.

In a second report, published Friday, Amnesty International said that soldiers from Eritrea had systematically killed hundreds of Tigrayan civilians in the ancient city of Axum over a 10-day period in November, shooting some of them in the streets.

The worsening situation in Tigray � where Mr. Abiy, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize, launched a surprise military offensive in November � is shaping up to be the Biden administration�s first major test in Africa. Former President Donald J. Trump paid little attention to the continent and never visited it, but President Joseph R. Biden has promised a more engaged approach.

In a call with President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya on Thursday, Mr. Biden brought up the Tigray crisis. The two leaders discussed �the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights crises in Ethiopia�s Tigray region and the need to prevent further loss of life and ensure humanitarian access,� a White House statement said.

As far as I can tell there's still no reporters in western Tigray Region. I guess TPLF has sued for peace but that doesn't seem to be a big priority for Abiy.

edited out wrong stuff

Vivian Darkbloom fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Feb 27, 2021

# ? Feb 27, 2021 04:02

Jasper Tin Neck: Nov 14, 2008; "Scientifically proven, rich and creamy."

Meanwhile, the covid-19 crisis in Tanzania is getting worse while its government refuses to remove its head from its rear end.

Bloomberg posted:

Tanzania’s main hospitals have been swamped by patients displaying coronavirus symptoms, intensive-care units are full and funeral masses have become daily occurrences.

Amid the unfolding health-care crisis, President John Magufuli has declared the East African nation free of Covid-19. He’s eschewed lockdowns, discouraged the use of face masks and banned the release of infection data since April, making Tanzania the only country in the world besides insular North Korea that doesn’t release the statistics.

# ? Mar 1, 2021 09:18

kustomkarkommando: Oct 22, 2012

There was an excellent article about that in The Continent last month which gives me a chance to rep it a bit - it's a free magazine put out by the M&G delivered via WhatsApp gathering various different pieces from across Africa that's definitely worth your while subscribing to. PDF copies are available on the site here to read if you prefer but check out - details on how to sign up are there as well

This was from the Feb 6th edition:

quote:

The bars are open in Dar es Salaam. So are the markets, and the beaches, and the churches and concert venues and nightclubs. We may be living through a global pandemic, but no one is wearing masks or social distancing on the streets of the seaside commercial capital.

People are shaking hands in greeting, as is tradition. Life here continues as normal � at least on the surface.

Officially, Tanzania is the only country in the world that has no active cases of Covid-19. Even in New Zealand, the tiny, remote island nation which has set the gold standard for how to respond to the pandemic, there were nine new infections this week.

But Tanzania has not recorded a single new case of the virus since May 2020.

�Tanzania is Covid-free,� says the president.

When the scale of the pandemic became apparent, most leaders on the continent turned to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation for help. But President John Magufuli called on an even higher authority: God. He claims the virus was eliminated after three days of national prayer in June 2020, and has ordered authorities to stop sharing any data regarding the pandemic. The virus �cannot survive in the body of Christ,� he said.

Tanzania�s caseload remains frozen on 509 cases and 21 deaths in its 58-million population, as it was on May 9 last year. Meanwhile neighbouring Kenya, population 52-million, is on 101,000 cases and 1,769 deaths. Something does not add up.

The earthly representatives of Magufuli�s chosen deity, the Catholic Church, do not agree with the president�s approach to the pandemic.

�There is corona,� said the headline of a Catholic church newspaper last month. In a statement, the Catholic secretariat of the Tanzania Episcopal Conference has urged believers to sanitise, wear face masks and avoid large gatherings. �We are not an island,� it said.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in its latest travel warning for Tanzania, says the country�s levels of Covid-19 are �very high�. It gave no further details, but urged against all travel to the East African nation. The discrepancy between the official narrative and the situation on the ground is most evident in hospitals in Dar es Salaam, where doctors and nurses are dealing with an influx of patients showing Covid-like symptoms.

Over the course of three days this week, The Continent visited four of the biggest hospitals in the city. All were trying to take the basic precautions necessary to prevent the spread of the virus � hand-washing booths have been set up, face masks are mandatory, and hand-shaking is forbidden � although compliance from visiting families is low.

And there are many visiting families, because beds in the intensive care units are full of patients on oxygen. These patients may not be counted as Covid patients in official statistics, but doctors are in no doubt. The hospitals are conducting their own Covid tests � both molecular tests that detect the virus�s genetic material, and antigen tests that look for specific proteins � and are keeping their own numbers.

There were 19 �unofficial� Covid patients at the Aga Khan Hospital when The Continent was there; 11 at Hindu Mandal Hospital; and six at Rabininsia Hospital. Figures were not available from Muhimbili Hospital. Numbers have been increasing sharply in the last two weeks, the hospitals said.

Doctors would not speak to The Continent on the record. It is dangerous to do so. The Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has warned people against sharing information regarding the pandemic, saying it would take stern measures against anyone who contravenes the government position. Saying anything that suggests that Covid-19 may be prevalent in Tanzania is considered unpatriotic and may lead to legal action.

This includes diagnoses. Doctors are forbidden from writing Covid-19 on patient records or death certificates. Instead, they write �acute pneumonia�.

�We tell some very few people, especially close relatives, the cause of death, if it is Covid-19. But it is not allowed. You lose your job and the government may impound your medical registration certificate. It is so dangerous now � we are all fearful,� said one doctor at the Aga Khan Hospital.

Off the record, doctors repeated the same refrain: Covid-19 is in Tanzania, and it is silently killing people at an alarming rate.

�The situation is dire because the sick are being turned away and there are not enough medical oxygen masks and very few ventilators available,� said Maria Tsehai, a civil society activist. �The biggest challenge is that the government refusesto admit that there is a pandemic and that the hospitals are overwhelmed, so the medical staff try to cope. Some of them have fallen ill, with Covid-19 placing a toll on the existing overwhelmed system.�

When asked for comment, the Ministry of Health�s Permanent Secretary Mabula Mchembe said that the reports of patients requiring oxygen in hospital do not prove the presence of Covid-19. �Not everyone with respiratory system challenges or being on oxygen has Coronavirus,� he said.

On Wednesday, the Covax facility � a mechanism established to get vaccines to developing countries � finally released its distribution plan. About 337-million vaccine doses will be sent to 145 countries by the middle of the year, in proportion to population size. This will not be enough to vaccinate entire populations, but should be enough for frontline healthcare workers to receive protection. Kenya is due to receive
4.2-million doses.

Tanzania is not part of Covax. It will not receive any vaccines.

Last week, at a gathering in his home village in Chato, in the northern Geita region, President Magufuli said that Covid-19 vaccines were �inappropriate�, and that their efficacy had not been proven. �If the white man was able to come up with vaccinations, then vaccinations for Aids would have been brought, tuberculosis would be a thing of the past, vaccines for malaria and cancer would have been found,� he said.

The World Health Organisation has urged Tanzania to reconsider its approach, urging the country to �ramp up public health measures such as wearing masks to fight Covid-19. Science shows that vaccines work and I encourage the government to prepare for a Covid vaccination campaign,� said Africa director Matshidiso Moeti.

Instead, the government has sanctioned 10 different herbal remedies made by local producers, which allegedly �cure� Covid-19. No clinical trials have been conducted on these remedies.

�We�re tired of burying loved ones� At a graveyard in the Dar es Salaam suburb of Wazo Hill, a sheikh is conducting a burial ceremony. The Continent did not get his name. �We are tired of burying our loved ones, please take care of yourselves and protect others,� he said. �Corona is real.�

Mourners murmured to themselves about increasing numbers of deaths. On that day alone, three people were buried, which is much higher than usual. In the absence of official statistics, it is anecdotes like these that demonstrate that something is very wrong.

Another one: A prominent radio station, Radio One, has a regular daily programme that airs death announcements. It is usually 10 minutes long. For the past month, the station has allocated 50 minutes to these announcements each day. Despite the government�s restrictions on free speech, Tanzanians on social media have been describing their own experiences. Viral messages are asking people to listen to doctors rather than politicians if they want to survive the pandemic.

�With the restricted civic space, only the internet and social media is left, and that is where a few of us started pushing back on the narrative,� said Tsehai. �The first step was to make sure Tanzanians are aware that Corona is still around � it never left � and people are getting infected

Since Feb though it seems like Magufuli has made a slight change in course after a string of high-profile deaths, calling on citizens to start wearing face masks (locally made of course, not foreign ones which can't be trusted) and organizing another few days of pray against "respiratory illnesses" without making any direct statements on Covid

# ? Mar 2, 2021 19:48

kustomkarkommando: Oct 22, 2012

quote:

Tanzania's President John Magufuli is being treated in hospital in Kenya and is in a critical condition, opposition leader Tundu Lissu has told the BBC, citing well-placed sources.

He has had coronavirus and a cardiac arrest, Mr Lissu said.

Mr Magufuli, who has not been seen in public for 11 days, has faced criticism for his handling of Covid-19.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-56347756

How could this have happened

kustomkarkommando fucked around with this message at 20:05 on Mar 10, 2021

# ? Mar 10, 2021 19:52