NDNU African Studies 2019

A small clinic in the heart of Bangui located in the Central African Republic is changing lives by providing many amputees with prosthetics. Due to the rise of conflict in CAR, many civilians had been in the crossfire of the conflict resulting in the need for prosthetics. The clinic in Bangui is the only place where prosthetics are available in CAR. In the past six years, the demand for prosthetic has risen,  the UN reported that more than six in 10 people in CAR require urgent humanitarian assistance.  Last year 353 patients received an artificial limb, a fraction of the number of amputees who are still waiting for treatment.  Anrac is planning to build new premises this year, which is set to be 15 times as big and will include dormitories for those who travel from long distances, which will be supported by the ICRC and the government. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/feb/19/prosthetics-hope-central-african-republic

Panthers an endangered species but recently has been spotted in Kenya after many reported sightings from locals of these animals in Africa, but, until now, only one had been confirmed, in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, in 1909. From February to April 2018, the research team has recorded footage of a young female black leopard. The recordings showed the female black panther alone in nighttime drinking water from artificial water sources that been set up by the search team or carrying remains of her prey but in the only daytime, she was following an adult female leopard. The reason this is such a surprise because only 11% of panthers are black coated, they are not native to Africa they are native to Southeast Asia but yet they are rare, making them really rare in Africa.  Philipp Henschel leader of the research team stated “I think the biggest threat to the leopard on a global scale is that it’s been just under the radar,” but it not certain just simply because their populati

On January 7, a group of young military officers in Libreville, Gabon, tried to overthrow the gover nment of President Ali Bongo Ondimba, in order to end the Bongo family dynasty.  Africa has had many coups, many of them dating b ack to the immediate post-independence period, to date there has been a total of 204 coups which at some point it was the most common practice in order to have a change of power.  Young people have been responsible for leading some of Africa’s most memorable coups, triggered mostly by dissatisfaction with political governance. Throughout the years it has noted that coups are becoming less common of practice this could be because of  coup leaders, they often become dictatorship who rule with an iron fist and are more brutal than the government before. After noting this a cycle of coups they try changing the power  through their backing of democratic norms and reforms https://issafrica.org/iss-today/do-africas-youth-prefer-the-ballot-to-the-bullet