LESOTHO PUNISHED FOR TRADE SUCCESS

Picture facing penalties for your achievements!

That’s the predicament Lesotho finds itself in after US President Donald Trump imposed a staggering 50 per cent import tax on 2 April on this landlocked African country’s exports to the US, primarily affecting textiles and diamonds.

Many have hailed Lesotho as a success story under the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), a US trade initiative that allows 32 African states to export goods to the US without tariffs.

Lesotho has capitalised on AGOA by establishing garment factories that provide denim jeans to US retailers, such as Calvin Klein, GAP, Levi’s, Old Navy and Walmart. Approximately 30,000 factory workers, predominantly women, are employed, benefiting many of Lesotho’s 2.3 million citizens.

Continued……. According to the World Bank, with a GDP per capita of $1,106, Lesotho struggles to purchase many US products to satisfy Trump’s reciprocal trade demands. In 2024, it exported $237.3 million in goods to the US but only imported $2.8 million worth of US goods. This perceived trade imbalance has drawn Trump’s ire towards a nation he recently remarked ‘nobody has ever heard of.’

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8dgmyzqr6do

https://www.africanews.com/2025/04/05/lesotho-textile-industry-hangs-in-the-balance-following-new-us-tariffs

https://archive.ph/kVXeH

https://archive.ph/OkSDs

https://agoa.info/data.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67284812

https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2024%20List%20of%20AGOA%20Eligible%20and%20Ineligible%20Countries%2011162023.pdf

https://www.timeslive.co.za/lifestyle/2025-03-06-does-trump-really-not-know-about-lesotho-this-shirt-might-prove-otherwise

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/apr/04/lesotho-garment-workers-reel-trump-tariffs

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/lesotho/overview#:~:text=Lesotho%20is%20a%20small%2C%20mountainous,from%20Britain%20in%20October%201966.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250403-lesotho-hardest-hit-as-new-us-tariffs-rattle-africa

https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/2024%20List%20of%20AGOA%20Eligible%20and%20Ineligible%20Countries%2011162023.pdf

Some situations are too easy to read.

On 8 April, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) handed over to US custody three US citizens jailed over a coup attempt, following high-level talks in Kinshasa between Massad Boulos, US State Department senior advisor for Africa and Trump’s son-in-law’s father, and DRC President Félix Tshisekedi, on mining and security deals.

Tshisekedi spokesperson Tina Salama said commuting the death sentences and releasing Tyler Thompson Jr, Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, and Marcel Malanga ‘shows that the collaboration and cooperation between the two states is growing stronger and stronger.’

But make no mistake: This wasn't justice. It was negotiation. Washington wanted its men back, Kinshasa wanted a security guarantee and Congo's minerals were the price.

Continued……Over the past few months, the DRC has attempted to win the Trump administration’s attention following the M23 militia group rapidly seizing mineral-rich eastern DRC territories beginning in January, displacing more than 700,000 people and k*lling at least 8,500, as of late February. However, countries like the United States have had their hands in the three-decade-long war over the DRC’s estimated $24 trillion in mineral reserves. Just in 2024, a US court ruled against former child miners who accused five US tech companies—Apple, Dell, Google, Microsoft and Tesla—of supporting child labour. Further, in 2024, news reports said the US considered removing sanctions off Israeli mining magnate Dan Gertler, who reportedly earns $200,000 daily in mining royalties.

Washington has helped destabilise the Congo for decades, first by orchestrating the assassination of its Pan-Africanist leader and first prime minister, Patrice Lumumba (1925-61), and then by propping up Western-aligned leader Mobutu Sese Seko (1930-97). Meanwhile, US allies Rwanda and Uganda both arm and train the destabilising M23 militia.

Sources

https://www.reuters.com/world/three-americans-jailed-over-failed-congo-coup-are-now-us-custody-us-diplomats-2025-04-08

https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/02/africa/americans-death-sentence-commuted-drc-intl/index.html https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/01/drc-president-tshisekedi-must-halt-plans-to-carry-out-mass-executions/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/2/dr-congo-spares-three-convicted-us-coup-accomplices-of-capital-punishment

https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-mineral-deals-could-bring-peace-congo-opinion-2048698

https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war/

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-democratic-republic-congo

https://reporting.unhcr.org/operational/situations/democratic-republic-congo-situation

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/over-8-500-people-killed-since-january-in-fighting-in-eastern-democratic-republic-of-congo/3495683

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/02/us/politics/dan-gertler-biden-congo-sanctions.html

https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-court-absolves-top-tech-companies-congos-child/story?id=107839639

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-exploring-limited-easing-sanctions-israeli-billionaire-dan-gertler-2024-05-16

APARTHEID FLAG STILL FLYING ON S. AFRICA’S LAND?

Many White South Africans are unwilling to embrace South Africa as it is today, betraying an apparent a nostalgia for what some of them refer to as 'the good old days' of the apartheid regime - for instance, by clinging on to memorials and symbols of apartheid. In a 2023 poll by the South African Reconciliation Barometer, only 45% of White South Africans supported the removal of memorials and other symbols of colonialism and apartheid. Our video includes a 2015 clip of a group of Afrikaners (White settlers of Dutch descent) burning a South African flag and holding up an apartheid-era flag.

Continued……Post-apartheid, many White South Africans are fiercely opposed to progressive policies that would benefit Black South Africans. For instance, after the recent introduction of a new land-expropriation law - which seeks to create equality in land ownership in South Africa - many Afrikaners denounced the new policy, falsely alleging discrimination against them. This is ironic, as, during apartheid, Afrikaners widely supported the racist regime that repressed the country’s Black majority, including forcing them to live in segregated townships and rural ‘homelands.’

Sources

https://mg.co.za/article/2019-12-06-00-white-people-accept-the-past-still-matters/

https://www.ictj.org/node/35024

https://time.com/6087699/south-africa-wealth-gap-unchanged-since-apartheid/

https://businesstech.co.za/news/wealth/121059/black-vs-white-millionaires-in-south-africa/

https://newafricanmagazine.com/21207/

https://www.ijr.org.za/home/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/SA-Reconciliation-Barometer-2023_Final.pdf page 25

Continued……. Chief among these allies is RSF weapons supplier the United Arab Emirates (which London has been offering diplomatic cover for), with Kenya and Chad also among the offending invitees.

Swipe through for a breakdown of why Sudan is indignant.

Sources
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg815277g5o

https://sudantribune.com/article298961/

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/uk-tries-to-block-critics-of-uae-s-weapon-supply-to-sudan-wa

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sudan-condemns-uk-excluding-it-summit-while-including-uae

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/apr/15/uk-foreign-office-holding-secret-talks-with-sudans-rsf-paramilitary-group

https://www.geeska.com/en/chads-role-sudans-civil-war

https://www.geeska.com/en/chads-role-sudans-civil-war

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3w1nzpg5dgo

NIGER SAYS ‘GOODBYE FRENCH, HELLO HAUSA!’

Niger has broken free from another colonial chain - the French language - by adopting Hausa as the country’s new national idiom. Hausa is indigenous to, and widely spoken in, West Africa. Along with fellow Alliance of Sahel States members Burkina Faso and Mali, Niger also recently ditched the body representing La Francophonie - i.e., the ‘French speaking’ world (or rather, those parts of the world that had French imposed on them by colonial France). Hausa is one of the most commonly spoken African languages. More Nigerians speak Hausa than French. In 2012, only 20% of Nigerians were literate in French. Switching to Hausa is a powerful affirmation of African heritage, identity and sovereignty.

Sources

https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/lifestyle/niger-downgrades-french-as-it-distances-from-its-colonial-past-with-a-new-official/xl6ldbr

https://www.odsef.fss.ulaval.ca/sites/odsef.fss.ulaval.ca/files/odsef_rr_alphab_niger_2015_final2.pdf

Continued……Some have even claimed that the murder was the work of ANC leaders who were clandestinely working for the apartheid intelligence establishment.

One of the ANC leaders around whom suspicions linger is the country’s former president, Jacob Zuma - who headed the ANC intelligence wing during the liberation struggle. Certain ANC figures have insinuated that he could have been a regime collaborator and, conceivably, part of a plot by the establishment to kill Hani, whom they saw as uncompromising.

Reports that Zuma paid a prison visit to Derby-Lewis have only intensified speculation that the veteran intelligence supremo could have had prior links to the assassin’s accomplice, and to Waluś. Zuma’s supporters, however, dismiss this allegation as the work of his enemies in the ANC, whom they say are the ones who actually worked for the apartheid intelligence apparatus.

Sources

https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/derby-lewis-complains-about-zuma-visit-report-285941
https://x.com/Newzroom405/status/1883971168853532696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1883971168853532696%7Ctwgr%5E75c36f83ef95d9f81b03ddafbb2b8631d3cb73c8%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbriefly.co.za%2Fpolitics%2F208558-mk-party-jacob-zuma-obliged-explain-meeting-clive-derby-lewis-mzansi-suspicious%2F
https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/anc-unaware-of-zuma-visits-to-hanis-killer-286220
https://www.citizen.co.za/news/zuma-promised-hani-killers-pardon-report/

https://www.news24.com/citypress/news/zuma-broke-his-promise-to-hani-murderers-witness-20250131

https://www.africaninsider.com/politics/zuma-allegedly-promised-pardons-to-chris-hanis-killers-report/
https://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media/1997/9711/s971107a.htm
https://sundayworld.co.za/news/jacob-zuma-was-on-robben-island-as-an-agent-of-enemy-forces-mbeki/
https://sundayworld.co.za/news/mbalula-warned-of-apartheid-era-spies-still-operating-within-anc/

KENYAN EX-VP ALLEGES RUTO’S HAND IN SUDAN WAR

Kenya’s former vice president, Rigathi Gachagua, who was ousted from his position following impeachment in October 2024, has made explosive claims that President William Ruto is implicated in the ongoing two-year proxy war in Sudan.

Gachagua asserts that, in 2023, Ruto pressured him to host Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemedti’ Dagalo, the head of the United Arab Emirates-supported paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in Kenya. This visit occurred on 3 January 2024, at State House in Nairobi, which sparked condemnation from the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) government, then located in Port Sudan, leading to the recall of Sudan’s ambassador.

Once a key member of Ruto’s administration, Gachagua has since become a vocal critic. His fallout with Ruto has turned him into a source of much fodder for political discourse thanks to his blowing the whistle on issues bedevilling the country.

Continued……Ruto has been criticised for hosting the RSF in Nairobi, meeting its leaders and recently allowing them to hold a signing ceremony for a parallel government in parts of Sudan they control.

Gachagua has also alleged that the RSF is involved in gold smuggling through Nairobi to the UAE, using the proceeds to fund weapons purchases.

In January 2024, a UN expert panel reported ‘credible’ claims that the UAE was supplying military equipment to the RSF via an airstrip in Chad.

The proxy war in Sudan has led to the displacement of 12.9-million people and left nearly 25 million facing acute hunger, according to the UN. In May 2024, US special envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello indicated that up to 150,000 people may have died in the first year of conflict, with the actual number likely higher due to the collapse of the healthcare system, which has made accurate reporting difficult.

Sources

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/18/kenya-deputy-president-rigathi-gachaguas-impeachment-why-it-matters

https://apnews.com/article/kenya-sudan-rsf-9d80a4306c39c2d8936903a0e241b07f

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8j9j72lvdvo

https://sudantribune.com/article299377/

https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20250222-sudan-recalls-ambassador-from-kenya-as-nairobi-hosts-meeting-with-rivals-rsf

https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/sudan-s-booming-wartime-gold-trade-flows-through-the-uae