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...

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 popu...

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...

 Cocaine is one of the most smuggled drugs in the world. On May 2018, 701 kilograms of cocaine were seized in customs in port Oran in frozen meat containers. They traced the shipment all the way back to Brazil, the initial start point heading to Spain where it was seized in Orien. Official say that the narcotics were not intended for local consumption due to the size of the shipment, but rather for it to spread all around Algeria all the way to Europe and the Middle East being its final destination.   The Oran cocaine bust in Algeria shows a similar seizure in Morocco, where 2.4 metric tons of cocaine were confiscated near Rabat in October 2017 and in February 2018, Moroccan authorities confiscated 541 kg of cocaine in a cargo ship coming from Brazil and directed to Casablanca. Is it possible that Algeria and all coastal states are becoming the cocaine coast? https://issafrica.org/iss-today/has-algeria-joined-africas-new-cocaine-coast