The African Village where every House is a work of Art

By MessyNessy - 10th Jan, 2013

Burkina Faso is by no means an area frequented by tourists, but at the base of a hill overlooking the surrounding sun-drenched West African savannah lies an extraordinary village, a circular 1.2 hectare complex of intricately embellished earthen architecture. It is the residence of the chief, the royal court and the nobility of the Kassena people, who first settled the region in the 15th century, making them one of the oldest ethnic groups in Burkina Faso.
I found these rare photographs of the village from a dedicated Flickr user Rita Willaert who traveled to Tiébélé in 2009 despite all odds (see all her photos of the village here). The village keeps itself extremely isolated and closed to outsiders, most likely to ensure the conservation and integrity of their structures and to protect the local traditions.  There is interest in developing the site as a cultural tourism destination to generate economic resources for conservation but it is a delicate process.

READ MORE.....

African migrants protest Israeli treatment

About 1,000 people, mainly Eritrean and Sudanese, leave open detention centre and march to the border with Egypt.

Al-Jazeera - 29 Jun 2014

About 1,000 African migrants protesting Israel's policy on asylum-seekers have marched out of an open detention centre and are camped out near the southern border with Egypt.
The mainly Eritrean and Sudanese migrants left the Holot camp facility on Friday because Israel had not processed their claims for asylum, a statement by migrant activists said.
"We are going to stay near the border with Egypt until a solution is found so our rights are respected," the statement said.
The sit-in came a day after Israeli soldiers stopped the demonstrators from crossing the border.
The protesters, who are allowed out during the day, said that their march was to protest against their "inhuman and unlimited" detention at Holot.

READ MORE....

Africa: American Aid As a Political Tool - If Uganda, Why Not Egypt?

By Liesl Louw-Vaudran

ALLAFRICA - 26 June 2014

Ugandans are outraged at the United States (US) sanctions against their country, which the Ugandan government says will harm the poorest of the poor and jeopardise crucial joint military exercises. The US sanctions, which were announced on Thursday last week, were in retaliation to the stringent anti-homosexuality bill signed into law by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in February.
Among other measures, the US suspended plans to fund a health institute, cancelled a US-sponsored military exercise and are imposing visa restrictions on 'certain individuals' - without specifying who they may be. The Ugandan shilling plunged this week following the US announcement. Predictably, Ugandan government spokesperson Ofwono Opondo said the country wouldn't be blackmailed into changing the law and that, in any case, it wasn't 'critical' for Ugandans to travel to the US - or any other country for that matter.
The response in Uganda raises the question whether this is really the best way to deal with regimes accused of curtailing their citizens' human rights, be it through legislation or otherwise. Does the US administration offer enough carrots in its carrot-and-stick policy towards Africa? Or has US President Barack Obama simply failed to lure the continent into seeing things his way - something he seemingly won't manage to do before the end of his second mandate? And if sanctions are maintained against Uganda, why not re-impose sanctions against Egypt? Surely the harsh sentences against Al Jazeera journalists, announced earlier this week, is an affront to media freedom and journalism around the world?

READ MORE.....

What Really Happened in Congo

The CIA, the Murder of Lumumba, and the Rise of Mobutu

By Stephen R. Weissman

FOREIGN AFFAIRS - July/August 2014 Issue

It didn’t take long for Congo’s transition from Belgian colony to sovereign state to turn ugly. Both the Soviet Union and the United States were keeping a close eye on the mineral-rich country at the heart of Africa when, on June 30, 1960, it gained independence under a democratically elected government headed by Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba. A charismatic nationalist, Lumumba led the only party in parliament with a nationwide, rather than ethnic or regional, base. Within days, however, Congo’s troops mutinied against their all-white officer corps (a holdover from the colonial era) and started terrorizing the European population. Belgium responded by sending forces to reoccupy the country and helping Congo’s richest province, Katanga, secede. The United States, declining the appeals for help from the new Congolese government, instead threw its support behind a UN peacekeeping mission, which it hoped would obviate any Congolese requests for Soviet military assistance. But Lumumba quickly came into conflict with the UN for its failure to expel the Belgian troops and end Katanga’s secession. After issuing a series of shifting ultimatums to the UN, he turned to Moscow for help, which responded by sending transport planes to fly Lumumba’s troops into Katanga.

READ MORE....

A New Documentary: FRAMED - What's behind the West's fascination with "saving" Africa?

FRAMED

by Cassandra Herrman and Kathryn Mathers 

What's behind the West's fascination with "saving" Africa? 
This film, which asks that question, needs you. 

In American media and pop culture, Africans remain objects of our pity or moral outrage or fascination. The images are deeply disturbing, even enthralling, but they aren’t really about Africans; they’re about us. FRAMED takes a provocative look at image making and activism, following an inspiring young Kenyan photojournalist turned activist who shatters the stereotype of the passive aid recipient. As he challenges American students to focus their efforts close to home, FRAMED turns a lens on popular representations of Africa and Africans, as seen through the eyes of Kenyan writer Binyavanga Wainaina and South African born educator Zine Magubane, who ask a chorus of questions about the selling of suffering.

WATCH THE TRAILER........

Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh orders end of English as official language

Agence France-Presse in Dakar, Senegal - 12 March, 2014 

English will be dropped as the official language of Gambia, according to the latest diatribe against the former colonial power by President Yahya Jammeh.
"We're going to speak our own language," he said, without specifying which of the poor West African country's indigenous tongues would replace English.
The Gambian strongman is often pilloried for rights abuses and the muzzling of the press, and citizens who have fled have set up critical news outlets against the regime.
A video of his latest broadside against Britain, delivered in English during the swearing-in of a new chief justice on Thursday, was uploaded on YouTube.
The country has several languages to choose from as a replacement for English.
About 40 per cent of Gambians speak Mandinka, while Fula or Wolof are used by another 34 per cent. Jammeh himself is from the minority Jula tribe, which speaks a Manding language most closely related to Bambara, spoken in nearby Mali.

READ MORE....