ZAMBIA 1993 PLANE CRASH: FROM TRAGEDY TO GLORY

Today, Zambia remembers its golden generation of footballers - killed in a plane crash thirty two years ago. On 27 April 1993, the country was only one game away from qualifying for its maiden FIFA World Cup tournament. Carrying the dreams and aspirations of an entire nation, the team flew out to Senegal to play that crucial fixture. They never arrived as their plane crashed off the coast of Gabon’s capital, Libreville, where they had stopped to refuel.

Continued……. Three decades later, the nation still mourns loss of the side widely considered the best to have worn the national jersey. But their memory has inspired future generations. In a symbolic and poignant fashion, Zambia won the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations held in Libreville, a few miles from the crash site.

Sources

https://www.impactnetwork.org/latest-news/it-was-written-in-the-sky

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/czrgm6grxvlo

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/feb/14/weekly-sports-diary-17-february

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-04-30-the-30th-anniversary-of-the-1993-plane-crash-that-ended-the-dreams-of-zambias-national-soccer-team/

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/czrgm6grxvlo

This week's proverb highlights the strength found in community, collaboration and unity. There is undeniable power in coming together. A fine example is the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). By presenting a united front, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have arguably been better able to stand up to the West - breaking exploitative agreements and booting out foreign militaries. They are just three countries. Think how much ‘jingle’ there’d be if all of Africa came together!

THREE DECADES OF 'FREEDOM' THE SOUTH AFRICA OF TODAY

On April 27th 1994, there was excitement across South Africa as millions of South Africans queued up outside polling stations to participate in the country’s first democratic election, in which citizens of all races were allowed to participate.

It was more than just an election. Many saw it as the final nail into the coffin of a system that had oppressed Black South Africans since 1652 when Dutch colonialist Jan Van Riebeck arrived at the shores of modern-day South Africa.

As widely expected, the African National Congress (ANC), the country’s most prominent liberation movement, convincingly won the election.
After decades of bloody struggle, the ANC finally transitioned from a liberation movement to the country’s new rulers.

Hopefulness was in the air, free at last, or so they thought!

Continued…….. Three decades later, many are asking if that transition delivered and met the hopes and aspirations of the masses who stood in the long queues outside voting booths in 1994.

African Stream has been on the ground in South Africa, examining the country’s painful past and the long road to freedom and how its indigenous population feel three decades after the end of apartheid. Please watch and give us your thoughts in the comments.

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

FATHER OF AFRICAN FILM

Senegal’s Ousmane Sembène (1923-2007) is widely regarded as the father of African cinema.

He started out as a writer addressing social issues in his books. However, he began to believe that film could serve as a more powerful instrument for activism. ‘To encapsulate history through our oral traditions,’ he stated, ‘cinema is a vital tool for us.’

As a filmmaker, Sembène aimed to confront colonial practices in film production and storytelling. He directed films in several African languages, including Wolof, Fulfulde and Mandinka. His decision to use indigenous languages was a conscious effort to reflect Africa’s diverse cultural and linguistic heritage. This choice aligned with his larger goal of decolonising African cinema and fostering authentic narratives grounded in local realities.

Continued……
In this clip, he shares a vital message for contemporary African artists: Europe (and the wider West) should not be the focal point of our existence.

Video credit - ‘African Cinema: Filming Against the Odds’ (Férid Boughedir, 1983)

KAUNDA: UNSUNG HERO OF AFRICA’S FREEDOM STRUGGLE

On 28th April, 1924, one of Africa’s liberation heroes - Kenneth Kaunda - was born in northern Zambia. Kaunda Day is officially commemorated on this date in Zambia, honouring both his birthday and his towering contribution to African freedom. Fondly known as KK and Super Ken, he was not only Zambia’s founding president but a pan-African icon who gave the best of his 97 years of life to ensuring that every single inch of African land was free of colonialism. As President of Zambia, Kaunda led other African leaders to form the coalition of Frontline States, a collection of countries in southern and East Africa that had gained their independence in the early 1960s.

Continued……. The group played a key role in mobilising resources and support for the armed struggle against racist and colonial regimes in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Namibia, Mozambique, Angola and South Africa. These efforts helped to ensure that, by the 1990s, most colonial regimes in Africa had collapsed or were on the verge of collapsing. The contribution of less widely known heroes such as Kaunda must never be forgotten.

Kaunda’s bravery in the face of adversity carries lessons for the present. In 2023, when a popular coup in Niger deposed Western favourite Mohamed Bazoum, Burkina Faso and Mali rallied in defence of Niamey and showed solidarity amid Western-backed invasion threats from regional states.

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

BURKINA FASO AWARDS GOLD MINING PERMIT TO RUSSIAN FIRM

With gold prices up 25 per cent this year, Burkina Faso, the fourth-highest gold producer on the continent, has awarded a gold mining permit to Russian firm Nordgold. 

The Niou gold deposit, located in the Kourweogo province of Burkina's Plateau-Central region, is expected to yield approximately 20.22 metric tonnes of gold over its eight-year lifespan.

Under the agreement, Jilbey Burkina, a subsidiary of Russia's Nordgold, maintains an 85 per cent ownership stake, and the Burkinabé government holds the remaining 15 per cent without financial contribution, in compliance with the country's 2024 mining code, a reform aimed at tightening national control over resources.

The project is set to contribute 51.5 billion CFA francs ($89 million) to the country’s budget and 7.06 billion CFA francs ($12.23 million) to its mineral wealth fund. It will create 204 direct jobs and potentially 300 indirect jobs. 

Continued……Mining accounts for about 15 per cent of the country's GDP and 75 per cent of its foreign reserves, with mining revenues under the 2024 fiscal policy allocated mainly to security and infrastructure development, reflecting a necessary pivot toward reclaiming African wealth for African stability, in a region long destabilised by external meddling. The recent rise in gold prices may bode well for Burkina Faso. Additionally, Nordgold supports local economic development through a $20 million local supplier program initiated in 2023.

Sources
https://www.trt.global/afrika-english/article/0b03c85cc7f0

https://discoveryalert.com.au/news/burkina-faso-mining-lease-nordgold-2025-economic-impact

https://www.gold.org/goldhub/data/gold-production-by-country

CHINA ENVOY SLAMS U.S. FOR HAITI DESTABILISATION

On 21 April, China’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Geng Shuang (@chinamission2un on X), reminded the UN Security Council that Haiti’s foreign-instigated violence, which had displaced 1-million people by January 2025, is a direct result of more than a century of US intervention. He argued that the US should be brought to account for consistently undermining Haiti’s sovereignty, not only through past invasions but also by neocolonial sabotage.

Since Haiti’s independence in 1804 following a historic revolution that established the world’s first Black-led republic after defeating French enslavers, the Caribbean state has endured relentless foreign aggression.