NDNU African Studies 2019

Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, nations that are devastated by Cyclone Idai, considered to be a category four storm. The storm brought weeks of rain which resulted in floods and strong winds which damage infrastructure. Mozambique of all nations suffered the most deaths from the storm, a total of 450 people died compared to Zimbabwe with 260 deaths and Malawi with 55 deaths. An estimate of three million people are affected by the storm,  Antonio Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations considers this storm to be one of the worst weather-related catastrophes in African h istory.  The first cases of cholera have been reported by local health officials in Beira, the World Health Organization is also expecting a spike in malaria cases. Aid efforts are affected by flooded roads and bridges. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/world/africa/cyclone-idai-africa-mozambique-zimbabwe.html

US military airstrikes in Somalia have killed and wounded nearly two dozen civilians reported by an international human rights group, but US Africa Command officials deny the allegation stating that their military has investigated 18 cases of possible civilian casualties since 2017 and found that none were credible. US defense officials state that casualty allegations in Somalia are questionable because al-Shabaab militants make false claims and force local citizens to do the same.  The rate of US airstrikes in Somalia has escalated with the Trump administration, from a total of 47 airstrikes in 2018 to 28 already this year, more than 230 militants have been killed in 2019, compared to a total of 338 killed of 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/19/somalia-us-airstrikes-civilian-deaths-amnesty-international

Africa's history is laced with decades of colonial exploitation, but they have since the early 2000's china has shown a lot of strategic interest. China is after resources such as oil, gas, and metalsin order to meet their quota of energy imports and construction deamnds in order to sustain their manufacturing industry. Many African leaders embrace and promote economic engagemtn with China, it does offer some benefit such as improving the continesnt infrastructure deficite. The problem is many African nations such as  Zambia, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Mozambique, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti are in debt to China forcing many of them to hand over assets or resources since many loans have a form of collateral in the terms of agreement.  In the DRC, in return for the US$9 billion loan to upgrade road and rail systems that connect routes to extractive industries, China gained rights to extract up to 10 million tons of copper and 420 000 tons