THOUSANDS FLEE M23 RESURGENCE IN GOMA

East DRC is witnessing a mass exodus, amid fears the M23 rebels will capture the region’s biggest city, Goma. In the last few days, thousands have abandoned their homes and fled, while rockets have been raining down on the city’s outskirts. The Congolese army appears to be on the back foot but the government has vowed it will hold the city.

M23 - allegedly armed by Rwanda (something Kigali strongly denies) - has been making gains recently in the country’s mineral-rich provinces of North and South Kivu. The conflict, decades old, has seen over a million Congolese leave the country, and over 7 million internally displaced - in the grip of a humanitarian disaster.

It’s feared the intensifying conflict could draw in neighbouring countries in the Great Lakes region if the violence is not decisively quelled fast.

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NIGERIA IN AFCON FINAL FANS GO MAD

Nigerian football fans are dreaming of a fourth AFCON noscript after beating rivals South Africa to reach the final. Wild celebrations lasted long into the night, as you’ll see from these pictures from Lagos.

It’s been over a decade since the Super Eagles were last crowned African champions. But the penalty-shootout win has got everyone believing another noscript is within their grasp. They’ll play hosts Ivory Coast in Sunday’s final.

Win or lose, the tournament has been a much-needed tonic for many Nigerians. Inflation topped 26 per cent last year and a cost-of-living crisis has been sharpened by government subsidy cutbacks.

Check out the reaction of these fans after substitute Kelechi Iheanacho slotted home his winning spot kick to decide the tie which had finished 1-1 after extra time.

There’s nothing like success on the pitch to lift the spirits of a nation!

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IVORY COAST AFCON DREAM CONTINUES!

The footballing fairytale continues for AFCON hosts Ivory Coast who’ve reached Sunday’s final. In fact, their fans probably have to keep rubbing their eyes to believe what’s happening. They beat DR Congo 1-0 to set up a showdown with Nigeria in what’s been an amazing turnaround.

Just days ago, the Elephants were on the brink of elimination from the group stage and sacked their coach. They were in complete disarray with few giving them any chance of progressing. And yet, here they are, just a few days later, in the final after Sebastien Haller popped up to score last night’s winner.

Ivory Coast fans have gone mad! Who can blame them? And who’d bet against them from beating Nigeria to claim a third AFCON noscript? Would you?

AFRICAN STREAM ON GROUND AS NIGERIA HEADS TO FINALS

On 7 February, African Stream journalist Inem Richardson, herself of the Nigerian diaspora, was on the ground in Bouaké, Ivory Coast, for a tense, yet exciting, Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) match. It ended 4-2 in penalty kicks against South Africa, sending Nigeria to the AFCON finals against the host country, Ivory Coast. We send cheers to the final contenders!

ISRAEL WANTS CONTROL OF EGYPT-GAZA BORDER

Tensions between Egypt and Israel are reaching breaking point, with Cairo rebuffing Tel Aviv’s request - in violation of a peace treaty - to control the so-called Philadelphi Corridor (aka, the Egyptian-Gazan border), as well as refusing to allow any relocation of Palestinians to the Sinai Desert. It’s got so bad, el-Sissi’s stopped taking Bibi’s calls! African Stream’s Ahmed Ghoneim breaks it down in 90 - no, this week, 60! - seconds.

A MOVING PLEA FROM CONGO'S CHILDREN

Children should never have to plea for their lives. But in DRC, they are being killed, maimed, dangerously exploited, and denied real childhoods and futures.

So the children of DRC are pleading with the world. To stop swindling the country of its mineral wealth, to stop aggravating the genocidal conflict there, to stop sending children and their parents into dangerous mines for a pittance, to stop ignoring the humanitarian crisis affecting millions.

In this moving video, they ask the simple question - what did we do? Please share their massage.

https://linktr.ee/gnzowo

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PANDOR CHANNELS HADITH ON OPPRESSED AND OPPRESSORS

South Africa’s foreign minister Naledi Pandor - who’s been vocal and active in her support of Palestinians, and relentless in her attempts to end Israel’s war in Gaza - has addressed the Al-Quds Mosque in Cape Town.

During her speech, she cited two hadiths (sayings by the Prophet Muhammad) about how we should act towards the oppressed and their oppressors.

Her message was a reminder to Muslims of their duties during this time of trouble in the Middle East. But it’s one that will resonate strongly with non-Muslims as well. Indeed, it’s one that the backers of Tel Aviv’s terrible war - the US and co. - would also do well to learn from.

What do you think?

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CESSATION OF DEPLOYMENT OF KENYAN POLICE TO HAITI

Kenya’s High Court has ruled plans to send Kenyan police forces to Haiti to provide security there unconstitutional.

The envisioned deployment was widely criticised as an attempt to win favour with the US (by offering up Kenya as the ‘blackface’ of US imperialist ambitions on the island nation), an infringement of Haitian sovereignty and a misuse of resources desperately needed at home - though supporters of Kenyan President William Ruto tried to sell it as a sign of African solidarity and brotherhood.

African Stream has been opposed to the policing plans from the get-go. But our CEO Ahmed Kaballo was not overly jubilant about the High Court’s decision. He explained why to community organiser Salifu Sanni, who put a more positive spin on that ruling.

What do you think?

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ECOWAS WAS WARNED?

Perhaps this was Niger’s final warning to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) before it, Burkina Faso and Niger pulled out the regional bloc.

After the July coup in Niger, which deposed then-President Mohamed Bazoum, ECOWAS imposed the strictest set of sanctions in its history against a member-state. ECOWAS, along with the eight-member West African Economic and Monetary Union, agreed to close their borders with Niger, suspend financial transactions, freeze the country’s assets in external banks and suspend financial assistance with regional development banks. The sanctions would be lifted if the coup regime reinstated Bazoum.

The sanctions, indeed, have caused hardship in Niger. However, surrounding countries also experienced adverse boomerang effects.

Continued….Livelihoods were disrupted in the formal and informal economies straddling Niger’s 1,608-kilometre (999-mile) border with Nigeria. Sanctions also exacerbated humanitarian crises.

The three states seemed unbothered, however, as they went on to establish a mutual defence pact in the form of the Alliance of Sahel States on 16 September.

Taking a look at this clip from December, do you think ECOWAS got a fair warning of the three states’ 28 January announcement to exit the regional bloc?

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CONGOLESE AND IVORIAN BROTHERHOOD AT AFCON

On rare occasions, adversity sees rivalries between football fans put to one side. And AFCON gave us the perfect example with Ivory Coast and DR Congo fans embracing each other after Wednesday’s semi-final.

Even though the hosts beat Les Leopards, there was no animosity. Only an acknowledgement and understanding of the horrific massacres taking place in the Central African country.

For decades armed groups have been fighting to control the nation’s mineral-rich eastern region. Millions of civilians have been killed and displaced as a result. DRC players silently protested on the pitch before the game kicked off.

Continued…..And after the game, Ivory Coast fans showed they also cared with respect and unity on the streets of Abidjan. A moment of African camaraderie and a moment to remember.

The Elephants now head to Sunday’s final, where they take on Nigeria. But whatever happens there, the home fans have shown their class. Thank you.

If you also liked what they did, let us know in the comments.

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Judge Julia Sebutinde made headlines for her dissenting opinion on South Africa's genocide case against Israel.

And, as of 6 February, she is the International Court of Justice (ICJ)'s Vice-President.

She will deputise Lebanese Judge Nawaf Salam, who was elected president. Their ICJ peers voted by secret ballot for each judge to serve 3-year terms, effective immediately.

Sebutinde, the first African woman to serve on the ICJ, was the only judge to vote against all provisional measures that the 17-member ICJ panel adopted 15-2 on 26 January. They ordered Israel to implement measures to prevent the genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. A day later, the Ugandan government released a statement saying her vote did not reflect its position.

Continued…. During a visit to Botswana, a G7 delegation failed to give concrete answers when asked by journalist how the proposed certification system would differ from the KP.

Under the KP, the certification of diamonds is done in Botswana, making it more cost effective for African diamond producers, who contribute more than 60% of the rough diamonds that enter the global market. The certification of diamonds within the continent has helped efforts by African countries to add value to the stones before exporting them - thereby making more profit on them, and also creating more jobs in the continent’s diamond industry

The proposal to move the certification process from Africa to Europe has led to fears that this is simply another ploy by the West to maintain control over African resources and sabotage efforts by African nations to maximise the benefits from their minerals.

What do you think is really at stake here?

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AMERICA’S SLAVE-BREEDING PLANTATIONS

There’s a dark aspect of US history that’s often ignored - the sick practice of ‘slave breeding.’

Slave owners would force male captives to have sex with female ones to impregnate them - in they hope that any offspring could also be sold into slavery for profit. The girls were typically young and selected for their child-rearing potential.

In this interview clip, the issue is brought into the open by rapper Felipe Andres Coronel - better known by his stage name, Immortal Technique. He points out that many White Americans are too ashamed to admit this awful part of their heritage.

Hands up in the comments if you think this should be in the history text books!

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MALEMA: ‘NO TO FOREIGN MILITARY BASES IN AFRICA’

In the last two decades, the African continent has seen a proliferation of foreign military bases, a phenomenon that some stakeholders say puts the security and sovereignty of the continent at risk. Here is Julius Malema, president of South Africa’s pan-Africanist political party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), sharing this view at an EFF Diplomatic Breakfast in August 2023.

Malema’s statements are akin to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent remarks to US journalist Tucker Carlson. In the interview, Putin said the conflict in Ukraine was motivated, in part, by NATO’s eastward expansion.

Continued….He pointed to US hypocrisy in pushing for Ukraine’s membership in NATO, which stands in contrast to the United States’ spirited opposition to the USSR placing missiles in Cuba in the 1960s.

Given US military operations and so-called military partnerships on the continent, might it make sense for Africa to place a military base in the US? Let us know what you think.

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9 February marks the 74th anniversary of US Senator Joseph McCarthy giving a speech noscriptd, ‘Enemies From Within.’ It paved the way for anti-communist paranoia and persecution, referred to as ‘McCarthyism.’

Starting in the late 1940s, the United States attempted to stifle communist sentiment in the United States, which had been gaining traction in Global South countries. Estimates say the US government arrested hundreds of people and caused more than 10,000 people to lose their jobs. Africans were among those targeted.

For example, after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, an FBI official called King the ‘most dangerous Negro … from the standpoint of communism, the Negro and national security.’ His family is suing the government for its role in his 1968 assassination.

With the support of the FBI, the Chicago Police Department murdered Fred Hampton in his bed in 1969.

Continued…The 21-year-old was chairman of the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover referred to the party as the ‘greatest threat to the internal security of the country.’

When actor and singer Paul Robeson refused to recant his political beliefs, the US government confiscated his passport in 1950, and his income plummeted. This followed his visit to the USSR where he remarked at the absence of racism as in the US.

In Africa, with the CIA’s help, the apartheid government arrested Nelson Mandela in 1962. Then, the US government placed the South African freedom fighter on a terror watch list until 2008. It also monitored Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) due to suspected communist ties.

Meanwhile, the US government referred to the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first democratically elected prime minister, Patrice Lumumba, as ‘Castro or worse.’ The CIA claimed the USSR and other states had paid Lumumba for loyalty.

However, McCarthyism never ended. Today, many who do not subscribe to the West’s so-called ‘rules-based order’ are branded ‘China shills’ or ‘Kremlin bots.’

Is it possible for African agency to exist without us being smeared as unwitting pawns of the West’s enemies? Let us know what you think.