1 ktt2.com/burkina-fasos-military-seizes-power-in-a-coup-detains-president-32511270

&

2: ktt2.com/military-coup-in-burkina-faso-32533285/1#latest

Damn

@Scratchin_Bandit

u been keeping up with Ethiopian news? I don't know much about this site specifically and what their slant may be I just wanted to add something to this thread

africanews.com/2022/09/30/airstrike-in-ethiopias-tigray-region-kills-civilians

An airstrike in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region killed at least five civilians earlier this week as the revived war continues, according to humanitarian workers and an internal document seen by The Associated Press.

The airstrike hit the town of Adi Daero in northwestern Tigray on Tuesday morning, also injuring 16 civilians and destroying several homes, the document by a non-governmental organization said.

Humanitarian workers in the Tigray capital, Mekele, and the region's second-largest city, Shire, confirmed the deadly attack. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

On Friday, an Ethiopian government-run Twitter account accused the rival Tigray forces of "hiding its arms" in residential areas and said Ethiopia's air force recently targeted the forces' "military equipment and arsenal" in Adi Daero.

In a statement Thursday, Tigray forces accused the air force of neighbouring Eritrea of striking Adi Daero and killing "a number of civilians." Eritrean forces are fighting alongside Ethiopia's military in Tigray.

The AP was unable to verify who was responsible for the strike. Satellite imagery shared this week by Maxar Technologies showed a military buildup inside Eritrea near the border with the Tigray region.

Several airstrikes have been reported in Tigray since fighting resumed in August after a months-long lull in the fighting.

Humanitarian aid to the long-blockaded region of more than 5 million people has again been cut off.

"We're not moving any trucks in presently" and no staff has been able to enter or leave Tigray since Aug. 24, the World Food Program's regional director for East Africa, Michael Dunford, told a think tank on Thursday, adding that there is a "real need for the offensive to end, for the fighting to stop."

He said 89% of people in Tigray have limited food capacity and more than 40% are "acutely food insecure."

Dunford said diplomats are better placed to advocate for a humanitarian truce.

Uganda + Ebola outbreak

africanews.com/2022/09/23/safrica-teens-build-solar-train-as-power-cuts-haunt-commuters

For years, students in a South African township have seen their parents struggle to use trains for daily commutes, the railways frequently hobbled by power outages and cable thefts.

To respond to the crisis, a group of 20 teenagers invented South Africa's first fully solar-powered train.

Photovoltaic panels fitted to the roof, the angular blue-and-white test train moves on an 18-metre-long (60 feet) test track in Soshanguve township north of the capital Pretoria.

Trains are the cheapest mode of transport in South Africa, used mostly by the poor and working class.

"Our parents... no longer use trains (because of) cable theft... and load shedding," said Ronnie Masindi, 18, referring to rolling blackouts caused by failures at old and poorly maintained coal-powered plants.

The state power company Eskom started imposing on-and-off power rationing 15 years ago to prevent a total national blackout.

The power outages, known locally as load-shedding, have worsened over the years disrupting commerce and industry, including rail services.

Infrastructure operator Transnet has struggled to keep rail traffic flowing smoothly since the economic challenges of the pandemic fuelled a surge in cable theft.

By 2020, rail use among public transport users was down almost two-thirds compared to 2013, according to the National Households Travel Survey with many commuters turning to more expensive minibus taxis.

Masindi said they decided to "create and build a solar-powered train that uses solar to move instead of (mains) electricity".

The journey has not been without its challenges.

A lack of funding delayed production of the prototype locomotive, and the government later chipped in.

"It was not a straight line," said another student, Lethabo Nkadimeng, 17. "It was like taking a hike to the highest peak of the mountain."

The train, which can run at 30 kilometres (20 miles) per hour, was showcased at a recent universities innovation event.

For now, the prototype can run for 10 return trips on the track installed on the grounds of a school.

It will be used for further research, and eventually presented as a model the government could adopt.

Fitted with car seats and a flat-screen TV to entertain passengers, it took the students two years to build.

"What we have realised is, if we you give township learners space, resources and a little mentorship they can do anything that any learner can do around the world," said Kgomotso Maimane, the project's supervising teacher.

Dope af

reuters.com/world/africa/ethiopia-government-tigray-forces-establish-hotline-following-truce-obasanjo-2022-11-07

NAIROBI, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The Ethiopian government and Tigrayan forces have established a telephone hotline to help maintain a ceasefire struck last week, and both sides met in Kenya on Monday for a new round of talks on implementing the truce.

Ethiopia's government and regional forces from Tigray agreed last Wednesday to cease hostilities after talks mediated by the African Union (AU), a diplomatic breakthrough two years into a war that has killed thousands and displaced millions.

The truce has raised hopes humanitarian aid can start moving back into a region where hundreds of thousands face famine.

Representatives of Ethiopia's military and government and forces from Tigray are in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to discuss how to begin implementing the ceasefire, with the talks set to last three or four days.

30-DAY DISARMAMENT
Making the ceasefire stick may be challenging given concerns about some skirmishes on the ground since the truce, unsettled political and territorial disputes and an ambitious disarmament timeline.

The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the party that dominates the region, pledged to disarm its fighters fully within 30 days under the agreement.

In a statement, the AU said that expected outcomes of the talks included "modalities for silencing the guns, humanitarian access and the restoration of services in the Tigray region".

Officials this week also want to agree membership of an African Union-led panel of experts for monitoring, verification and compliance of the ceasefire, the source familiar with the talks said.

Former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, co-mediator at the talks, said he hoped the parties would work together to create a permanent resolution of the conflict.

"We started in Pretoria, we are inching our way closer. We are now in Nairobi, we are very hopeful next time we will be in Mekelle for our (next) meeting and ultimately celebrate together in Addis Ababa," Kenyatta said, referring to the capitals of South Africa, the Tigray region and Ethiopia respectively.

The role of Eritrea, which has not participated in the talks, remains concerning, a***ysts say. Its troops have fought in the conflict on the side of the Ethiopian army.

The ceasefire agreement says Ethiopia's army will safeguard the country against "foreign incursion" but a***ysts are worried about whether Eritrea - the TPLF's sworn enemy - will listen.

Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh declined to comment on the agreement. Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel could not be reached for comment.

Doubt that shyt abt Eritrea tho tbh

ktt2.com/should-west-central-african-countries-start-repatriating-diaspora-32537349

ktt2.com/the-diversity-of-africa-32539207 ~good thread~

Edit: I've just been informed the thread I linked is in fact: not good.

horrible thread, people are being ed in there

Oh well I at least saw some solid posts in OP
I'll edit

"Live as African: On the Relevance of Thomas Sankara's Agenda for Economic Liberation" epub.uni-bayreuth.de/6796

bostonreview.net/articles/dreams-of-green-hydrogen

This is amazing

Nigeria going crazy with the train hijacking

instagram.com/reel/Cok_5AqDnWb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Man

anybody keeping up with the election?

africanews.com/2023/02/19/niigerias-presidential-candidates-stage-last-rallies-a-week-before-presidential-vote

Wish i could embed the 2 minute video from the above it was interesting to watch

Free trade, armed conflict dominate African Union summit in Addis Ababa

African leaders met Saturday to discuss a slew of challenges facing the continent as UN chief Antonio Guterres urged them to do more to bring peace to conflict-hit regions.

Africa is reeling from a record drought in the Horn and deadly violence in the Sahel region and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the two-day African Union summit aiming to address these issues and jumpstart a faltering free trade pact.

Most of the sessions are being held behind closed doors at the AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, with more than 30 presidents and prime ministers in attendance.

But eyes will be on the bloc to see if it can achieve ceasefires in the Sahel and the eastern DRC, where the M23 militia has seized swathes of territory and sparked a diplomatic row between Kinshasa and Rwanda's government, which is accused of backing the rebels.

Guterres called for Africa to take "action for peace", adding that the continent of 1.4 billion people faced "enormous tests... on virtually every front".

"I am deeply concerned about the recent rise in violence by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the rise of terrorist groups in the Sahel and elsewhere," he told the gathering.

"The mechanisms for peace are faltering," the UN secretary-general warned. Nevertheless, he urged the bloc to "continue to battle for peace".

At a mini-summit on Friday, leaders of the seven-nation East African Community pushed for all armed groups to withdraw from occupied areas in the eastern DRC by the end of next month.

Guterres met with several African leaders on Friday, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame, to discuss in particular the crisis in the Congo.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, host of the summit, lauded the bloc for its role mediating a peace deal between his government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) in November to end a brutal two-year year in northern Ethiopia.

• Backsliding of democracy -

Junta-ruled Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, which have been suspended from the AU, cannot participate in this weekend's summit, but have sent diplomats to Addis Ababa to lobby for readmission.

Moussa Faki Mahamat, head of the African Union Commission, told the meeting the bloc needed to come up with new strategies to counter the backsliding of democracy on the continent.

He said "sanctions imposed on member states following unconstitutional changes of government... do not seem to produce the expected results".

"It seems necessary to reconsider the system of resistance to the unconstitutional changes in order to make it more effective," Faki added.

The summit will also aim to accelerate implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) launched in 2020.
The deal is billed as the biggest in the world in terms of population, gathering 54 out of 55 African countries, with Eritrea the only holdout.

African nations currently trade only about 15 percent of their goods and services with each other, and the AfCFTA aims to boost that by 60 percent by 2034 by eliminating almost all tariffs.

But implementation has fallen well short of that goal, running into hurdles including disagreements over tariff reductions and border closures caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The African leaders are also expected to discuss the food crises rocking a continent hit hard by the worst drought in four decades and the knock-on effects of the war in Ukraine that have pushed up the cost of basic goods.

• Debt cancellation call -

Created in 2002 following the disbanding of the Organisation of African Unity, the AU comprises all 55 African countries, with a population of 1.4 billion people.

While the bloc has been credited with taking a stand against coups, it has long been criticised as ineffectual.

Kagame, who has been urging the AU to implement major changes for years, is due to present a report on the reform of the bloc's institutions.

The Rwandan leader has called for the AU to take steps towards financial independence, with the bloc largely dependent on foreign donors.

Comoros President Azali Assoumani, leader of the small Indian Ocean archipelago of almost 900,000 people, took over the one-year rotating AU chairmanship from Senegal's Macky Sall.

Assoumani, 64, called for a "total cancellation" of African debt in his acceptance speech, but did not elaborate on how this would be achieved.

africanews.com/2023/02/18/free-trade-armed-conflict-dominate-african-union-summit-in-addis-ababa

The summit will also aim to accelerate implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) launched in 2020.

The deal is billed as the biggest in the world in terms of population, gathering 54 out of 55 African countries, with Eritrea the only holdout.

African nations currently trade only about 15 percent of their goods and services with each other, and the AfCFTA aims to boost that by 60 percent by 2034 by eliminating almost all tariffs.

@Scratchin_Bandit thoughts?

This Nigerian ting was telling me the other day how the government is phasing out old currency and freezing bank accounts. Now bankers are being harrassed, banks being torched. It's crazy

To add context:the current ruling party’s president passed this rule to weed out terrorists and corruption for using old money (new currency means old currency from victims not good anymore). But that same ruling party’s current presidential candidate is saying he’ll cancel the currency switch and let everything go back to normal so if they should vote for him. Now I’m not saying this is all a conspiracy to manipulate the public to voting for him but…