KENYAN STAR BIEN TALKS POLITICS

Art is especially powerful when it is used to hold up a mirror to society. Kenyan artist Bien (@bienaimesol on IG) shared his views on the current state of his home country with US radio show @breakfastclubam (X/IG) on New York’s Power 105.1 FM. In this segment, he highlights the marriage of convenience between Kenyan president William Ruto and former opposition leader Raila Odinga in the face of a movement against bad governance. An example of this unofficial coalition was the state's response to protests against the IMF-backed Finance Bill 2024, which saw arrests, abductions and killings without any immediate political repercussions for Ruto.

Have a watch and please share your thoughts.

Continued……
Sources

https://nation.africa/kenya/news/politics/inside-ruto-raila-handshake-deal-that-has-split-azimio-4685278

https://www.dw.com/en/why-abductions-in-kenya-pose-a-threat-to-national-security/a-71191494

https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/what-s-next-after-kenya-withdraws-finance-bill-amid-protests-4671446

GERMANY RETURNS BLACK PEOPLE’S SKULLS TO NEW ORLEANS

Nearly 150 years after the skulls of 19 Black people had been transported to Germany for pseudoscientific experiments, the University of Leipzig returned the remains to the US city of New Orleans for a proper memorial on 30 May at Dillard University.

The return of these remains reminds us of the widespread use of pseudoscience in the 19th century to justify racial hierarchies that continue to buttress capitalism to this day.

Video credit: @dillarduniversity (IG)

Sources

https://abcnews.go.com/US/remains-19-black-americans-returned-new-orleans-150/story?id=122343834

https://apnews.com/article/namibia-germany-genocide-commemoration-indigenous-herero-nama-abe931fbab90756a8717f1e235871e47

https://www.nature.com/scitable/forums/genetics-generation/america-s-hidden-history-the-eugenics-movement-123919444/

https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/gsc/view/journals/gscj/2/2/article-p168.xml

SNOW AND FLOODS LEAVE TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION IN SOUTH AFRICA

South Africa is grappling with the aftermath of deadly floods and snowfall that have left at least 78 people dead and thousands displaced. The weather disaster has also cut power and washed away bridges and roads, especially in the country's Eastern Cape province, the epicentre of the disaster.

Many residential areas remain submerged in water, forcing residents to spend nights in makeshift shelters that offer very little protection from the cold weather.

The damage to critical infrastructure has hampered search-and-rescue efforts by emergency-response services.

Continued…….. On 12 June, health experts warned that the flooding could also lead to waterborne diseases, such as typhoid and cholera if the government fails to address the situation in a timely manner.

While snow is common in parts of South Africa during this time of the year, it has rarely resulted in widespread damage and loss of life.

Sources

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgqwg9gej7o

https://www.rfi.fr/en/international-news/20250612-death-toll-in-s-africa-floods-rises-to-78

https://x.com/Newzroom405/status/1933400809246515260

Continued….. Kenya's police are infamous for acting with brutality and impunity - much like their colonial-era predecessors, whose job was to protect the British overlords, not native Kenyans. Now as then, they wield surveillance, abductions and executions with impunity. A 2014 study by the Independent Medico-Legal Unit found Kenyans are five times more likely to be shot dead by police than by criminals. According to the Police Reform Working Group, there were 1,264 cases of executions and 237 enforced disappearances. Meanwhile, despite over 10,000 investigations launched by the Independent Police Oversight Authority since 2011, only 33 convictions have been successful.

Swipe through for some pictures of Thursday’s action against police brutality and for justice for Albert Ojwang. Do you think we could be in for another 2024?

Sources

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/12/africa/albert-ojwang-death-kenya-protests-intl

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy3eqpqqnzo

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/06/12/kenya-blogger-protests-alfred-ojwang/

https://deflem.blogspot.com/1994/08/law-enforcement-in-british-colonial.html

https://www.academia.edu/4406247/History_of_the_Police_in_Kenya_1885_1960

https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/african-history/exposing-the-shadows-of-british-colonial-rule-in-kenya-a-legacy-of-atrocities/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/10941227/Kenyans-five-times-more-likely-to-be-shot-dead-by-police-than-by-criminals.html

https://theconversation.com/kenya-police-killings-point-to-systemic-rot-and-a-failed-justice-system-193468

COLOMBIAN MERCS IN SUDAN
PROXY WAR

Amid news that more Colombian ID cards were recently found by the Sudanese army, we take a deep dive into the allegations - which first surfaced last year - that hundreds of mercenaries from the South American country are fighting in the proxy war in Africa. The picture that emerges is of a complex - and deceptive - recruitment scheme allegedly involving a retired Colombian general in cahoots with the United Arab Emirates, which supports the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary in Sudan. Ex-Colombian soldiers are apparently tricked into signing contacts to work as security guards in the UAE, but end up in the k*lling field of Sudan fighting for the RSF. In November 2024, 22 Colombian fighters were reportedly k*lled by a Sudanese army drone strike near El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

Continued…….. Despite the deaths, it’s suspected that recruitment continues - with plans to deploy some 1,500 mercenaries in a contract worth $7.7 million a year. The UAE has a history of hiring Latin American mercenaries, including during the war in Yemen. But their involvement in Sudan exposes how foreign governments are outsourcing warfare to private actors, deepening one of the world’s most catastrophic humanitarian crises.

Sources

https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA818598174&sid=sitemap&v=2.1&it=r&p=IFME&sw=w&userGroupName=anon%7E9f012134&aty=open-web-entry

https://x.com/SudaneseEcho/status/1896719887055442283

https://www.theafricareport.com/380870/desert-wolves-how-colombian-mercenaries-operate-in-sudan/

https://apanews.net/colombian-mercenaries-fighting-in-sudan-civil-war-report/

https://apanews.net/colombian-mercenaries-fighting-in-sudan-civil-war-report/

https://adf-magazine.com/2025/02/colombian-mercenaries-in-sudan-show-internationalization-of-conflict/

https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/12/13/colombian-mercenaries-in-transit-to-sudan-via-libya-what-do-we-know/

https://www.wsj.com/world/africa/sudan-colombian-mercenaries-global-security-services-9ff2a201

https://www.lasillavacia.com/silla-nacional/me-quiero-devolver-hay-mas-de-300-exmilitares-colombianos-en-la-guerra-de-sudan/

https://www.lasillavacia.com/silla-nacional/me-quiero-devolver-hay-mas-de-300-exmilitares-colombianos-en-la-guerra-de-sudan/

https://www.lasillavacia.com/silla-nacional/el-engano-del-coronel-quijano-asi-envian-a-exmilitares-colombianos-a-sudan/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/10/15/sudan-war-weapons-uae-iran/

ALLIES AT ODDS: LIBYA-EGYPT-UAE TRIANGLE IN SUDAN'S PROXY WAR

On 10 June, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) accused Libyan forces loyal to Commander Khalifa Haftar of colluding with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) by launching cross-border attacks against SAF border posts amidst Sudan's two-year foreign-backed proxy war. 

Haftar, a former CIA asset since he relocated to the US in 1990, has controlled a large part of Libya since 2017-18, amidst the chaos that ensued following the 2011 US-led NATO invasion of Libya.

It is not the first time Sudan has lodged accusations against Haftar. In June 2024, Sudan's representative to the UN Security Council, Al-Harith Idris, accused Haftar of providing logistical support to the RSF. Then, in October, reports surfaced that the SAF had seized weapons originating in the Libyan coastal city of Benghazi.

Continued……. While the SAF receives support from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) bankrolls the RSF, a paramilitary offshoot of the Janjaweed militia involved in the Darfur g*nocide between 2003 and 2005.

Haftar, whose Libyan stronghold is reportedly propped up by both Egypt and the UAE, presents a new turn in a war filled with contradictions. Egypt has historically supported Sudan's military establishment while mounting evidence suggests a connection between the UAE and the RSF. Plus, before the outbreak of the proxy war on 15 April 2023, the SAF and RSF were allies, jointly orchestrating crackdowns and atrocities dating as far back as the 2003 Darfur g*nocide and continuing through the 2021 coup that derailed Sudan's democratic transition. Their partnership unravelling in 2023 revealed the fragility of their political and military alliance, all of which has led to the world's largest humanitarian and displacement crises, according to the UN. 

Even more proxy forces getting involved in Sudan's devastating war ultimately means more suffering for Sudanese civilians, who remain at the mercy of both power-hungry military leaders and foreign actors determined to exploit the country's chaos for strategic gains.

Sources

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/10/sudanese-army-accuses-libyas-haftar-of-joint-border-attack-with-rsf

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-65297714

https://energynews.oedigital.com/mining/2025/06/10/sudanese-army-accuses-libyan-haftar-forces-border-attack

https://www.libyanexpress.com/report-libyan-weapons-seized-en-route-to-sudans-rsf/

https://libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/sudans-delegate-un-security-council-accuses-haftar-and-uae-supporting-hemedtis-forces

https://www.newarab.com/analysis/who-khalifa-haftar-libyas-cia-linked-rogue-general-turned-warlord

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2020/07/10/whats-behind-the-war-in-libya

https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/02/1160161

https://hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/darfur/

LIVERPOOL RAMMING EXPOSES FAR RIGHT’S HYPOCRISY

Prominent UK far-right hate-monger Paul Golding recently took issue with the police’s decision to reveal the racial identity of the suspect of a car-ramming incident that left 109 injured during celebrations following Liverpool FC clinching their 20th league noscript. He wondered why the identity was revealed faster than that of the suspect involved in a July 2024 stabbing incident, in which 3 girls died.

The riots that followed that stabbing saw a mosque attacked, hotels housing migrants torched and Southport residents living in fear for their lives.

Goulding’s real concern is not with protecting the identities of suspects - or for the victims in Liverpool and Southport. His real aim is to whip up hatred against migrants. And his differing responses to the two tragedies make this clear.

Continued……Have a watch and let us know what you think.

Video credit: @GoldingBF on X

Sources
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/31/uk/southport-stabbing-vigil-violent-protests-intl-hnk/

https://www.itv.com/news/2024-07-31/it-was-terrifying-southport-mosque-chairman-recalls-being-trapped-during-riot

https://fullfact.org/news/uk-riots-latest-southport-questions-answered/

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/04/uk/uk-riots-rotherham-southport-intl/index.html