Africa This Week
Monday June 22, 2009
Reports about Africa that caught my interest this week:
- The first all-African fashion week is happening in Johannesburg (South Africa) and designers from all across the continent have been strutting their stuff, these images on the BBC News Web Site are gorgeous. Not surprisingly, many of the models are working for agencies in Paris and New York.
- Confederations Cup, an international soccer tournament, is taking place in South Africa right now, and is seen as a practice run for the South Africans hosting the
FIFA World Cup in 2010. European journalists are getting into a tizzy about the Vuvuzela, a trumpet much beloved by South African soccer fans. The Guardian reports: "It sounds like a platoon of ninja bumblebees with a bad mobile signal have left you a 45-minute answerphone message". The BBC is receiving comments by the bucket load about it. But luckily FIFA is standing its ground and will not ban it from the 2010 World Cup.
- Gabon buried its leader of 40 years last week, President Omar Bongo was Africa's longest standing head of state. He died in a hospital in Spain on June 8th. There's an interesting piece written by Ghanaian journalist Elizabeth Ohene, about the tricky issue of announcing the death of a leader of Bongo's caliber, it's called "Big Men Do Not Die". This will strike a chord with anyone who has ever lived in a little African country governed by a big man. There are still some out there.
- More than 250 private villas and cottages were burned to the ground in the popular tourist town of Malindi on Kenya's coast. The fire was thought to have started due to an electrical fault and quickly spread from villa to villa fanned by the strong coastal wind. The fire department's Landrover and single truck were rendered useless. More on this story...
- Ethiopia is making progress updating its railway line. Traveling by rail is a slow but a very scenic way to explore many countries in Africa. The route that's getting an overhaul in Ethiopia will take passengers on a narrow causeway across a volcanic lake and through more spectacular scenery, from Addis Ababa to Dire Dawa. More on this story
Fans blowing the Vuvuzela at the Confederations Cup, Bloemfontein, South Africa, June, 2009 -- © Getty Images/Laurence Griffiths
BBC report about Ethiopia reviving past railway glories by Elizabeth Blunt is a lie.
What is not a lie is that there is a new election in Ethiopia in 2010.
I would like to ask your readers to refer to news around five years back – from 2004 & 2005 – when there was election then.
The people of Ethiopia were promised that there would be – within 3 years – a universal internet access throughout the country. Even an Irish member of parliament was so worried that Ireland will be taken over by “an African country” that he warned the Irish government that Ireland soon will be lagging behind Ethiopia. Now after 4 or 5 years there is absolutely no improvement on Internet access in Ethiopia.
There were many other promises all of which not materialized.
The government of Ethiopia is led by prime minister Meles Zenawi who is in power for the last 18 years. He come to power by force, after removing the then Marxist government. After long pressure by donor countries to democratize, Meles Zenawi was forced to experiment with democracy.
He then promised a free and fair election in 2005. During that election EPRDF – the party of Meles – lost the election.
However, Mr. Zenawi stayed in power after dismantling opposition parties and imprisoning their leaders. In the resulting post election protests and mass demonstrations hundreds of protestors were killed, more than ten thousand opposition activists were imprisoned.