Continued….Traoré has emphasised food sovereignty since the September 2022 military coup that ousted a Western-aligned leader. Burkina Faso imports 11 per cent of food, according to the collective data of the World Bank compiled by tradingeconomics.com. The Ivory Coast, the United States and France account for the most food exports by dollars into the country. The US Agency for International Development says agriculture generates one-third of Burkina Faso’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). About 20 per cent of the population is food insecure, while approximately 50 per cent of rural households are not producing enough food for themselves.

Does your country have a programme similar to Burkina Faso’s? Let us know in the comments.

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ISRAELI AUDIENCE APPLAUDS ‘BURN THE VILLAGE’ CALL

This clip of an Israeli TV audience applauding the call to burn Palestinian villages has gone viral.

The clip, posted on X (formerly Twitter), shows several guests during the 10 March episode of a talk show on Israel’s Channel 14 discussing Israeli soldiers recording themselves singing Israeli artist Kobi Peretz’s song ‘May Your Village Burn.’ One guest said that may be used against Israel in the ongoing South Africa-initiated genocide case at the International Court of Justice.

Continued……The court issued a provisional ruling on 26 January that Israel was ‘plausibly’ committing genocide against Palestinians.

Other guests disagreed with him, applauding Israel burning Palestinian villages. Then, the audience reacted with cheers and whistles.

In February 2024, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said the Israeli military destroying Gaza Strip buildings that are within a kilometre of the Israel-Gaza fence to create a ‘buffer zone’ constituted a ‘war crime.’ The UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees said in February that Israel’s military operation had destroyed 70 per cent of civilian infrastructure since 7 October. The attacks have killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, with about 80 per cent being women and children.

Let us know what you think of the call to burn Palestinian villages.

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YOUNGSTER'S CALL FOR GAZA CEASEFIRE

The truth speaks loudly, no matter who says it. This clip shows a young girl at her city council’s public meeting in Raleigh, North Carolina. Over 200 people packed the chamber calling for their local authority to pass a resolution for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine and Israel. Some council members, including the mayor, were against it. And it prompted this girl to accuse them of: “Supporting Israel solely for the reason that they look like you. Light hair. Light eyes. We all know that the only people who successfully get to cry victim are people who look like that.” She then reels off historical examples of Whites killing natives and stealing land. It’s a powerful speech as she calls on politicians to stop repeating mistakes of the past. Will the message ever get through?

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YOU CAN’T BEAT THE STEALING! ARTWORK PARODIES COCA-COLA

This resistance artwork in London spotlights how beverage giant Coca-Cola profits from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land.

The firm operates an Israeli franchise and has a distribution centre in the Atarot Industrial Zone in East Jerusalem. It’s regarded ‘occupied territory’ under international law, making all Jewish settlements there illegal.

According to the UN, there are up to 750,000 Israeli settlers living in at least 279 Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank. It includes 14 in occupied East Jerusalem, with a total population of more than 229,000 people. At least 147 of these settlements are outposts, illegal even under Israeli domestic law.

Continued…..The fizzy drinks maker was officially boycotted by the Arab League from 1967 to 1991 for building a bottling plant in Israel. In November, 2023, Turkey’s parliament voted to remove its products from shops and restaurants, resulting in a 22% drop in earnings for the year’s last quarter.

PS What words would you add on the artwork, if you could? Let us know.

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AFRICA’S BIGGEST MUSLIM POPULATIONS

Muslims worldwide are observing the holy month of Ramadan, culminating with the Eid al-Fitr festival after one lunar month. It’s an important period for many millions of Africans. In this map, we’ve indicated our continent’s largest Muslim populations - to give you a sense of how significant the Muslim presence is in our continent. You may notice we’ve combined the count for Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. That’s because the three nations are integrating ever more closely via their Pan-African, anti-imperialist Alliance of Sahel States - which looks well on its way to unification. Together, they boast 69.2 million - 84% of whom are Muslim, which would make it the third-largest Muslim population in Africa.

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PALESTINE MURAL GOES UP IN NAIROBI

A mural in solidarity with Palestine went up on 14 March in the poor neighbourhood of Mathare, a collection of slums home to about 500,000 people in Kenya's capital of Nairobi.

Present at the event were Palestine's ambassador to Kenya, Hazem Shabat (@palestinekenya), and members of the grassroots group Women Collective Kenya (womenco_ke) and the Mathare Social Justice Centre. The mural also contains a social media handle for graffiti artist Wama (@artbywama).

Heavily African-inspired, this mural shows people raising the victory sign with their fingers and waving a Palestine flag through a heart-shaped hole in a wall. So far, Israel's military operation since 7 October has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Continued….Mathare has long been a hub for progressive politics, hosting events about Sudan's civil war and Kenya's independence-era heroes, among other issues. It's also home to a vibrant social justice centre.

Being the oldest and second-largest of Kenya's urban slums, Mathare's legacy predates Kenya's independence, as it was through here that weapons found their way into Mau Mau independence fighters' hands in the mid-20th century.

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REMEMBERING OYINKANSOLA ABAYOMI

It’s been 34 years since Lady Oyinkansola Abayomi passed away. But her gallant efforts in championing the development of women in Nigeria have not been forgotten.

She was a feminist and nationalist and campaigned for their education. She also founded Nigeria’s Women’s Party which fought for equal rights and opportunities.

Born in 1897; her parents may have had an inkling she was going to stand out from the crowd and gave her six names: Ajibati,Ajibike,Morenike,Moronkeji, Olaosebikan and Oyinkansola.

She travelled to London in her early life and studied music at the Royal Academy of Arts. While in the UK she also joined the Girl Guides and later became the chief commissioner of the organisation in Nigeria.

Continued….The following decades saw Lady Abayomi embark on a political career. Her campaigning for women saw her knighted by the Queen of the United Kingdom in 1954. Oyinkan was also honoured at home with five chieftaincy noscripts, including Iya Eko of Lagos and Iya Abiye of Egbaland.

She died at the ripe age of 93 on March 19th, 1990.
We remember you, Oyinkan. May you continue to rest in peace.

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HAITIANS CONDEMN U.S DESTABILIZATION OF ISLAND

Kenya’s President Ruto is charging ahead with the planned deployment of Kenyan police to occupy Haiti on American orders. He calls it a duty to a brotherly African nation. Haitians are having none of it, however. Watch as they state their reasons for wanting the US as far away from Haiti’s affairs as possible.

From the deaths of more than 10,000 due to a cholera outbreak caused by UN troops, theft of Haiti’s resources, regime change operations and fatherless children left behind, the island has seen it all. Previous interventions have been disastrous for Haitians, but profitable for the West. American organisations, for example, reaped billions of dollars in the name of charity after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. For the millions of Haitians, their lives did not improve as a result.

Continued….This new foray into the Caribbean under the guise of Pan-Africanism has received condemnation both in Kenya and Haiti. Listening to Haitians speak on the legacy of previous foreign occupations, it’s a puzzle why the international community and African Union, most unfortunately, are allowing it to happen.

Have a watch and let us know what you think.

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MEDIA HIDES LIBYA FLOODS CONTEXT

Today marks 13 years since NATO attacked Libya in response to warfare that kicked off in 2011 between the Libyan government and militants.

However, the effects of that intervention still haunt what was once Africa’s most prosperous country.

In September 2023, Libya suffered one of the deadliest natural disasters of recent times when about 11,300 people died and about 10,100 went missing after Storm Daniel landed on 10 September, dumping 414 millimetres (16 inches) of rain in 24 hours. The rainfall in the eastern port city of Derna caused two dams to burst, wiping out whole neighbourhoods and destroying civilian infrastructure.

Continued….In this clip, Max Blumenthal, founder of independent media outlet The Grayzone, said that former Information Minister Moussa Ibrahim Gaddafi had mentioned the dams were due for a 2012 inspection. However, after the US-led coalition attacked Libya in 2011, it was impossible to follow through with needed infrastructure work.

Blumenthal commented that US war hawks, such as Samantha Power, who worked as a senior aide at the US National Security Council, and President Barack Obama, are responsible for Libya’s 2011 destruction and its aftermath. He added they must be held accountable for the flooding deaths.

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ISRAELI POLICE KILL BOY LIGHTING FIREWORK

On March 12th, Israeli police shot dead a 12-year-old boy who lit a firework during Ramadan in the West Bank. Rami Hamdan al-Halhouli was branded a terrorist by Israel’s National Security Minister, who claimed he’d aimed the fireworks at officers. However, footage shows them being let off into the sky.

Rami’s grieving father described his son as a smart student who wasn’t a troublemaker. He says that night he’d simply broken his fast and gone outside to light a firework to celebrate.

Over 400 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since on October 7th’s escalation in the conflict.

Will Rami ever get justice?

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MUSEVENI: HOW NATO SCUPPERED AFRICAN MISSION TO SAVE LIBYA

Thirteen years ago today, NATO doomed Africa’s richest nation to failure - as it launched its intervention to topple Pan-African leader Muammar Gaddafi from power. This didn’t just spell disaster for Libya, which was eventually overrun by extremists who brought back open slave markets, but for the wider region as well, as the security crisis spilled over into the Sahel, leaving a trail of tens of thousands of African bodies. To this day, the likes of Burkina Faso and Mali are having to fight jihadist insurgents as a result of NATO’s 2011 regime change.

The worst of it is that it could all have been prevented - if, as Uganda’s president explains in this clip, Africans had been left to their own devices.