Coup in Eritrea?! Nope.

What do you know about North Korea?

What do you know about Eritrea?

Probably, what you know about one is extremely similar to the other. If there was an attempted coup in North Korea, the western world would go crazy. Coup in Eritrea? Somewhat less interested. But interesting nonetheless, for you, reader of this blog!

Known as the "North Korea" of East Africa, Eritrea has been ruled by President Isaias Afwerki since its independence from Ethiopia in 1991. While the country was said to be peaceful and a bastion against Soviet-back Ethiopia, the country has taken a sharp right turn towards authoritarianism. It is North Korea not just in the authoritarian sense, however. It's also NK because no one knows what the heck is happening there. People don't go in and people can't get out. The youth of the country have forced military service, followed by required service to the government, often until they are as old as 40. Some get full scholarships to US universities and are then thrown back into military service, forbidden from leaving the country. The government's argument is that the country has a highly militarized situation with Ethiopia on the border. Eritrea has also been suspected of supporting militants in Somalia.

Eritrean President Afwerki

The supposed coup reportedly consisted of ~100 military members storming the Ministry of Information, taking over EriTV, the state-run television station, and forcing the director to read a statement calling for the release of political prisoners. There are tons of political prisoners in the prisons of Eritrea, as President Afwerki threw most dissidents in jail upon taking power. An Eritrean diplomat told the African Union that no coup happened. He acknowledged some "terrorist acts" but no coup.

Random Kate Thoughts: What a mess! What a crazy, crazy mess. "The west" is calling this purported coup a warning bell for the end of Afwerki's reign. Of course, Afwerki's people will deny any weakness in the government. That, of course is if all of this is true. I found an interesting article on counterpunch that basically says this is all a conspiracy--the coup, all of it. It reads like conspiracy-talk, which I inherently doubt, but you never know. Could it all be a CIA conspiracy? A Western one? Who knows. Eritrea is so shrouded in mystery, it's hard to tell what on earth is happening there. It is another one of those tiny African countries led by a dictator who manages to control all information in the country, and therefore all of his citizens. If the "west" cared, maybe they could do something about it. But see my article on Guinea-Bissau about its coup and the cocaine trade, and then decide what the west will do about a country under oppressive rule. Not much, sadly.

US Recognizes Somalia

Last Thursday, the United States Government recognized the Somali government for the first time in over 20 years. Somalia, known as one of Africa's most horrifically failed states, seems to be on the upswing, with a new Parliament electing a new President in September and quite a few AU troop successes pushing out Islamist forces from the capital and elsewhere.

Somalia

Over the past four years, the US has provided over 1 billion USD in indirect aid to Somalia. This now means that US aid can go directly to the country, in a strong show of support for the administration of President Mohamud.

President Mohamud

Random Kate Thoughts: I wrote about Somalia and President Hassan Mohamud several times back in September, for when he was elected, almost assassinated, and then inaugurated. It is great that his government has done enough to prove to the US that this is the one to support. American recognition of a country is one of the most important things a state can get. We recently enrolled our first student ever from Somaliland, a self-governing autonomous region within Somalia, which is not recognized by the US. That lack of recognition from the international community has weakened the country greatly, even though it is a relatively well-functioning and well-governed region, unlike the rest of the country. That lack of recognition delayed our student for FIVE MONTHS, because his Somaliland passport created a huge amount of confusion here in South Africa. Apparently Somaliland passports are counterfeited in Yemen, which means that "real" ones are rarely taken seriously. After five months, our student finally made it to school. And we're not giving him back. If the US recognized Somaliland, and another high-functioning region within Somalia called Puntland, we would potentially do a great deed for the people there and support functioning governments there. That said, I hope that President Mohamud manages to unite the country. It's a big task ahead of him, and the US definitely does not want another Black Hawk Down.

Somali child wrapped in US flag

Guest Post: Cameroonian Athletes Still At Large

Guest Post: Gana from Cameroon

The search for the seven Cameroonian athletes that disappeared from the Olympic Village continues into the New Year.

The entire boxing team, a swimmer and a female football player have all been missing since the last day of July 2012. They should have been travelling back with the team on the twelfth of August.

A goalkeeper from the female football team had disappeared after the final pre-games warm up match after she was cut from the final team selection of 18. Paul Ekane Edingue, the first official Olympic disappearance, was scheduled to compete in the 50m freestyle, but did not fulfil his event. The five boxers were all eliminated from their respective competitions in the first round, and left a few days afterwards.

The boxing team has since claimed asylum in the UK, claiming that they were promised bonuses that were subsequently halved and that living in Cameroon was a hindrance to their careers. Boxer Thomas Essomba said that there was no support for athletes in Cameroon, adding: ‘We are not staying here because we don’t like our country, but [because we] want to practise the sports we love. We want to become professional. We cannot return to Cameroon... if we return, we will not practise any more.’  There is no news on the other two athletes.

The action of deserting the Olympic village and staying on in England was not illegal in itself, as the athletes had visas to remain in the UK until late November. However, as the athletes are still missing in the New Year, there is no doubt that the intention of the other two athletes is also to seek asylum.

Whilst sixty athletes competed in the games, not a single one participated in the closing ceremony.

Cameroonian Athletes Still At Large

Random Gana Thoughts: Although Cameroon was not the only nation that experienced such problems after the Olympics in London, ours were the most high profile. Cameroon’s conduct at the Olympics was quite frankly embarrassing; we were also lacking the funding and organisation to keep our enclose open at Africaland in Hyde Park for the general public to enjoy. Coupled with the fact that we did not win a single medal for the first time since 1966, this past summer was not the best advert for the country!

Guest Post: Can We Eat Fireworks?

Guest Post: Anna from Senegal

The city of Dakar in Senegal decided to end 2012 with a bang, and a literal one at that. The mayor, with great support from several companies, invested in fireworks for the New Year. At midnight on the 31^st of December, the capital city was illuminated, following such models as “Paris, London and Rio.” There are different reports of how much money city hall actually put into the event. The official story, as explained by the mayor Khalifa Sall himself, is that the city provided 196.5 million Cfa (about USD 393,000) of the 1.5 billion Cfa (about USD 3,000,000) the fireworks cost.

Dakar, Senegal

Not everyone is happy about this, though. Inevitably, questions emerged regarding the importance of the celebration over providing for the poor. One man, Massokhona Kane, president of SOS Consommateurs, was particularly vehement on the subject. He wrote a letter to the Mayor condemning the frivolous use of money that would have been better used to “cure the ill, pay the teachers, feed the poor.”

Random Anna Thoughts: While I understand that this was another plot to make Dakar an attractive metropolis where people want to hold events and conferences, I believe there are less expensive and more useful ways of doing so. A city where a man’s desperation pushes him to burn himself in front of the presidential palace, where child beggars are legion and where electricity is rarely a given cannot allow itself to ‘shine,’ so to speak. Twenty minutes of fireworks was unnecessary. They are a luxury for people who lack necessities. I quite enjoy the idea of Dakar becoming a hub for tourism, commercial activities and intellectual gatherings. I just cannot see it becoming that while so many people are suffering and money is wasted on unhelpful celebrations which seem to exclude a majority of the population.

Kenyan Parliament $$ Debacle Take 2

For those of you who do not follow Kenyan politics, it is one of the craziest political scenes that I have ever encountered. After the 2007 election, violence in 2008 followed. The Parliament that was elected in that election tried this past October to raise their pay.

Kenyan Parliament

Keep in mind that Kenya has some of the best-paid politicians in the world. In October, the Parliament voted to award themselves a bonus of over $105,000. To give some perspective, a regular worker at minimum wage in Kenya would have to work for 61 years to earn that bonus.

Luckily, in October, the President, Mwai Kibaki, had the common sense to veto the package.

But that did not stop these sneaky mwizi (thieves). In a last-ditch attempt last week, they voted once again to raise their salaries by approximately the same amount, but added a couple new bells and whistles. For instance, they would get a diplomatic passport, an armed guard, a house allowance, and a state funeral.... AFTER THEY LEFT OFFICE. So they were basically setting themselves up for a life of never working again. Another key difference? This time, they included the President and Prime Minister in the booty.

From the October Protests, but the sentiment is the same

So guess what the President Kibaki did? He line-item-vetoed every bit of the bill for the MPs. And kept his own raise. What a guy. Let's just say he's not getting re-elected.

Random Kate Thoughts: These MPs are also not getting re-elected in March, so they are trying to take advantage of their power to strip an already relatively-poor country of its last tax money. Kenyans I work with are boggled by the lack of ethics displayed by their elected representatives. January is a tough month for everyone, what with Christmas over and budgets stretched, so this was really not the time to become such gluttons. Ask a Kenyan about this and watch their blood pressure will rise. Let's hope that the elections will bring in some MPs who actually care about their country.

Faster-Growing Fish Bred in Egypt, Ghana

The Nile tilapia, a fish native to, you guessed it, the Nile in Egypt, has been bred to grow faster. Without using gene treatment or anything artificial, researchers in Egypt and Ghana have harnessed natural selection to breed two types of the Nile tilapia (oreochromis niloticus) that grow 30% faster than the current commercial breed.

Nile Tilapia

This is very exciting! But what does it mean?

Well, farmers who grow fish will be able to make more profits, as they can grow their fish faster. Not only that, but a stronger fish industry will help local economies grow, as wealth comes into these regions. The third most important result will be that the cost of fish will likely lower, making it available to poorer people. Lack of protein is a huge problem in lower-income areas of the continent and with cheaper fish, comes cheaper protein and healthier people! Sounds like a win-win!

Random Kate Thoughts: I, like many people, am made somewhat uncomfortable by genetically-modified food. But natural selection, on the other hand, is perfectly safe for human consumption. It might sound a bit like the researchers are playing God, and that can sound a little scary. Next thing you know we'll be naturally selecting humans for how fast they run? But natural selection takes a very long time, making it easier to achieve with already-fast-breeding animals like fish, unlike humans. For now, more financial sustainability in western and northern Africa? And more tasty fish in the world? Sounds good to me.

Side note: For you Americans who feel that you might have had Nile tilapia before, you're probably right. It was brought to the Mississippi river and bred there as well, so you've likely had a taste of Africa without even knowing it!

SA Mountain Biker Killed

Last week, South African mountain biker Burry Stander was killed when hit by a taxi while training. For the non-South Africans among you, this probably means that he was hit by a careening mini-bus taxi, not the yellow kind in New York.

NOT this kind

THIS kind

A two-time Olympian and one of the world's best mountain bikers, Burry will be especially mourned by the South African athletic community. He was 25 years old and had finished fifth in the London Olympic Games (so close!).

Burry Stander

Random Kate Thoughts: South African roads are crazy. Like lock you up in a padded room with your palms to your lower back crazy. And no one deserves the white jacket like minibus taxi drivers. Their vehicles are always dented and they drive almost exclusively on the shoulder, except when they are crossing four lanes of traffic only to slam on their brakes in front of you. I avoid those guys as much as I can, because I can just feel the aura of speed over life that they exude. It is extremely sad that Stander lost his life so young, and also when he clearly had so much promise. I hope this becomes a wake-up call to minibus drivers with regard to cyclists on the road, but somehow I doubt it. RIP Burry.

Blog is Back!

Hello again and Happy New Year! Thank you, internet, for allowing me a relaxing holiday. But now I'm back with more African news! I will be doing 3-4 posts per week this year, instead of daily, but hopefully that will still give you your fill of what's happening on the continent and my random thoughts on them.

Looking forward to an exciting year! ~Kate