Past Features

• “Unrequested fission surplus”: Kent Brockman, meet Jay Lehr
  15 March 2011 | 5:33 pm

    With the miserable news from Japan taking a turn towards a science-fiction level of horror, I’m afraid I can’t get Mr. Burns of the Simpsons out of my head. In one episode, as his nuclear plant goes critical, Mr Burns is giving a phone interview to a local newscaster Kent Brockman, and happily lying [...]

• Niger: Lucky Seven. Can a new president signal more responsive politics in Niamey?
  11 March 2011 | 3:02 pm

  Saturday the 12th of March will see second round voting in Niger’s Presidential elections, marking a return to civilian rule and the beginning of the Seventh Republic.  It seems certain that front runner and PNDS-Tarayya candidate Mahamadou Issoufou will become the first President of the new republic on 8 April when the military junta that [...]

• An Echo of New York’s Unfinished Struggles: A. Philip Randolph, Frank Crosswaith and the Socialist Party
  4 March 2011 | 3:14 pm

  Here’s a fascinating new article on the history of Harlem activists A. Philip Randolph and Frank R. Crosswaith, and their involvement with the Socialist Party (riven by right and left factionalism) in the 1920s. It places them in contrast to Black Nationalism, but highlights the abuse they were willing to put up with at the [...]

• Libya’s “African Mercenary” Problem
  20 February 2011 | 11:07 pm

  As I write this, Saif Gaddafi is speaking to a Libyan people who have seemed to have already moved past his father’s regime.  His late and desperate attempt to scare his countrymen into rejecting a revolution which has engulfed his nation touched one element with which, seemingly, those opposing him might agree.  He blamed “crimes” [...]

• Niger’s Presidential Elections are Underway
  1 February 2011 | 5:09 pm

  The 31st of January saw Niger’s Legislative elections, combined with the first round of the Presidential elections. Results are not yet known, and the top two in the Presidential race will re-run on 14 March. Here’s some tools to follow it. The best immediate updates on the polls and count can be found at the [...]

• A Cairo Revolution
  29 January 2011 | 7:07 pm

  Marching in Imbaba, Cairo, originally uploaded by RamyRaoof. One overlooked media revelations from the Arab Revolutions of 2011 is the amount of material released with reusable copyright. Ramy Raoof in Cairo is releasing his work with a CC Attribution license, meaning popular media, as well as outlets like Wikipedia, have access to images of these [...]

• Shock! South Africa WC not a tourist killing orgy.
  17 June 2010 | 4:29 pm

  As I’ll be spending most of this month tied to a TV or radio, I’ve so far noted one shocking fact: The South African World Cup is not riven by crime, corruption, shoddy workmanship, or terrorism. In fact, things are going swimmingly, the stadiums operations and infrastructure are beautiful, and the only deaths among the [...]

• Niger, Mali: Hunger, famine or both
  27 May 2010 | 7:23 pm

  Hopefully by now everyone knows that parts of West Africa, especially pockets of Chad and Niger, are struggling with the worst food shortages since 2005. Alex Thurston reports that international humanitarian agencies, as well as increasingly concerned governments, are now worried that this crisis is more generalized than first reported (last September), striking areas of [...]

• Niger: Innovative reforms amid famine
  25 May 2010 | 4:14 pm

  From 2005: “Drought has turned farmland into useless dirt…” Image via Wikipedia An unsigned editorial from Le Pays (Ouagadougou): A quite good reflection on the educational and other restrictions coming for future governments in Niger, but tying the famine. The papers in Niamey have little mention of the small farmers and herders Tahoua, Tillaberi, Diffa, [...]

• Niger: Another kidnap in the north
  22 April 2010 | 3:22 pm

  The French press is reporting that a French tourist and an Algerian guide were kidnapped by armed men today in northern Niger, near the well at In-Abangaret. Also spelled Inabangaret, it's a stopping place on the Azzouagh plain's Tahoua/Assamakka/Tamanrasset road. This puts it relatively near the attack of several months ago on the Tahoua/Tillia road, and within reach of the band that carried out the attack on a Tillaberi army post last month. They were traced as far as the hills of west of Tin-Essako in Mali's northern Gao Region. While In-Abangaret doesn't come up in the news much, it is an important seasonal gathering point for some Tuareg communities (there is a "In-Abangaret Cross" in the famed Tuareg armorial tradition), as well as being in the midst a Berabiche transhumance zone. A hand grenade attack on Algerian truckers there in 1997 caused concern, with former members of one of the Arab rebel factions blamed for running a protection racket against long haul transport.

• AQIM: More hostage stories
  20 April 2010 | 7:33 pm

  Philomène Kaboré and her husband Sergio Cicala have given interviews regarding their captivity: she having been released some time ago, and he Friday the 16th. They were taken in Mauritania, near the border with Mali, on...

• Mali: Creeping famine in the north
  5 April 2010 | 3:35 pm

  Issikta blog republishes an urgent appeal from the mayors of Adielhoc and Tinzawaten communes in Kidal Region, northeast Mali. In a land where seasonally migrating animal herds are the economic foundation, there are reports of %40 of herds starving for...

• Music: Early Ambassadeurs du Motel with Salif Keita
  22 March 2010 | 1:25 pm

  The Worldservice blog features tracks by Salif Keita & Les Ambassadeurs du Motel, from the first years after he left the Rail Band. I never knew there were such hard feelings. He quotes Salif Keita: "With the Rail Band I learned nothing, we only played what we heard. Les Ambassadeurs were more experienced: we weren't playing modernised folklore. Les Elephants Noirs were intellectuals. Arriving at the group I signed an apprenticeship contract to study music. We really played all kinds of music. We were like a real family, I really felt more at ease with Les Ambassadeurs. We rehearsed and studied the songs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and played them the same evening."
  
  As always, the Dutch DJ behind "WrldServ" provides background you'll find few other places, as well as rare tracks, and in this case, rarer video. Check it out.

• AQIM: Reports of the travels of the Tiloa attackers
  17 March 2010 | 10:11 pm

  Jeune Afrique reports sightings of the AQIM men who attacked the Nigerien army post at Tiloa, in the far north of Tillaberi last week. Apparently the Army knew there was a chance of attack somewhere in the area, having asked for reinforcements two days...

• Togo: the political class fails its people, again.
  15 March 2010 | 3:01 pm

  Jeune Afrique editor François Soudan has a biting new piece on the recent Togolese election. Noting defeated opposition candidate Jean-Pierre Fabre’s neologism “Africaneries” (for “African Inherited rule”, presumably) Soudan turns the tables of blame deftly. “For African oppositions, some of whom, in Guinea and Niger, have been reduced to military coups to break political deadlocks [...]

• Niger: Who’s in and out in the Regions?
  13 March 2010 | 1:58 am

  As I noted on the 10th of March, the CSRD junta in Niger has replaced all the civilian Region Governors with military men to administer local affairs during the transition. We now have the full list, and while I for one hate to see any military governing, a careful look at the men (all men) coming and going in Niger's Regions gives us an opportunity to examine what's going on behind the scenes, and what it augurs for the future. More ...

• Niger: Did the coup sink the AREVA deal? No.
  11 March 2010 | 12:02 pm

  I.S. Gaoh of LE TEMOIN argues that the just announced scaling back of Areva's Imouraren mine schedule shows that backers of the coup (Hama Amadou?) were part of an agreement that AREVA would get a better uranium deal if Tandja was overthrown. This is built on the false assumption that what Tandja said about his deal was accurate, that it was some sort of hardball defense of Niger's interests (a portion of the ore to be sold on the market by Niger, more Nigerien staff). When in fact, the real hardball was likely more cash upfront to Tandja, on top of the 1.2 billion Euros upfront announced. Since the details are not public, we'll never know, unless the CSRD releases them, as they are unlikely to do. This would embarrass Areva (ergo, the French government) and likely mean Niger would have to repay the money Tandja took.
  
  Gaoh then says that the junta must break the deal now, and go after China or other neocolonial patrons to break France's grip before the next (corrupt) government.

• Togo: Oppostion promises “popular uprising”
  8 March 2010 | 3:46 pm

  The headlines from Lome, Togo are tension inducing. For Togolese or those with family there, it must be excruciating. It appears that President and dictator's son Fauré Gnassingbé has been elected, while the main opposition leader vowed struggle: “We will launch a popular uprising until victory is ours.” More ...

• Niger: Even good coups get the blues
  6 March 2010 | 12:22 am

  Nigeriens were - are - undoubtedly pleased that the army stepped in to end a newly installed dictatorship. But criticisms of this so called "good coup" are beginning to appear even amongst its strongest supporters. With many months of transitional rule ahead, these whispers give us some idea of the problems the junta will soon face.

• African Cup Final ’56
  2 March 2010 | 10:33 pm

  One doesn't see much film, let alone color film, of colonial era African football. So you can imagine my delight when I stumbled across clips of a French colonial propaganda newsreel featuring the my favorite African club side wining a colonial cup final from 1956.

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