Our African proverb of the week comes from the Yoruba people in West Africa. It reminds us we should enjoy our lives right now, rather than be anxious about the future or depressed about the past.

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GOOGLE SNUBS GREAT AFRICAN THINKERS

So, if we do a quick google search on who the world’s best scientists are, this is what comes up: Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, Galileo. This list is highly Eurocentric and doesn’t actually reflect scientific discovery or significance across the history of mankind. African Stream’s Ahmed Ghoneim provides an alternative decolonised list!

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'NO SUCH THING AS NON-RACIAL CAPITALISM'

'Nonracial capitalism' isn't a thing, says historian Robin D.G. Kelley, in this clip from several years ago at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA. The academic said capitalism is inherently race-based.

What do you say? Let us know below.

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IS RELIGION HOLDING BACK AFRICA?

The oft-quoted Jomo Kenyatta saying goes something like, ‘When the white man came, he had the Bible. We had the land. He told us to shut our eyes and pray. When we opened them, he had the land. We had the Bible.’

Pan-African scholar PLO Lumumba used the first Kenyan president’s line as a response to a question in this clip about whether religion is holding back Africa.

While we cannot dismiss the ancient grassroots history of Christianity in Africa, the European version of the cross came before the flag, with missionaries paving the way for European settlers to permeate the continent. Initiatives like missionary education for the natives supported the colonial project and created a class of African elites to govern us after ‘flag independence’ in the mid-20th century.

What do you make of Lumumba's remarks?

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AFRICAN STREAM TALKS SUDAN ON TRT WORLD

Today marks one year since the start of the bloody conflict between the Sudanese army and the Rapid Support Forces over who can control
Africa’s third largest country- Sudan.

Very few English-speaking media outlets are shining a spotlight on Sudan’s catastrophic humanitarian situation - which has killed at least 13,000–15,000 people and injured over 33,000 others. However, those numbers are believed to be seriously underestimated.

African Stream’s editor-in-chief, Ahmed Kaballo - himself Sudanese - was recently interviewed by TRT World as part of their coverage of the conflict. He laid out the true extent of the crisis and explained how severe difficulties in getting aid aggravate it.

Continued…. Global news outlets have largely lost interest in Sudan - especially in the wake of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and amidst ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Eastern DRC.

The UN says Sudan is in the grip of the world’s largest displacement crisis, with nearly 9 million internal refugees - half of them children - and 2 million people having fled abroad. Intense violence and restrictions on movement have blocked the delivery of humanitarian assistance, leading to mounting cases of severe malnutrition and hunger. A Ramadan truce proposed by the UN Security Council in March fell apart after the army demanded the RSF’s exit from public and civilian sites.

Let’s keep Sudan in the news. Your thoughts and insights matter to us - please share them in the comments.

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Nigeriens have been out the streets demanding US troops leave their country. Hundreds gathered in the capital on Saturday April 13th to make their feelings heard. It comes after Niger’s military rulers ended a military agreement with Washington in March.

Scrapping the deal means two US bases that host around 1,000 soldiers and civilian contractors will close. Most of them are located near the town of Agadez at Air Base 201 on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. Known to locals as ‘Base Americaine’ it’s been used for manned and unmanned surveillance flights and other operations.

Demonstrators waved Nigerien flags and placards with a simple message: ‘You leave, you move, you vanish.’ It was reminiscent of massive rallies last year that forced out French troops following the coup that ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.

Continued…. In another visible sign alliances have shifted, dozens of Russian military instructors have arrived in Niger as part of a new agreement.
Nigerien state media report they will install a new a state-of-the-art air defence system and teach Niger's army how to use it.

Since seizing power, Niamey’s revolutionary military leaders have been busy reshaping geopolitics in the region. They’ve formed a joint defence pact with neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso and all three are now part of a new Sahel Alliance. The trio have also exited the regional bloc ECOWAS. Will these moves help bring peace and security to West Africa?

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SUDANESE: END THE WAR MILITARILY

It’s been a year since the brutal war in Sudan started in April, 2023. The conflict between the Sudan Army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group has brought the country to its knees.

The UN says at least 13,000-15000 people have been killed to and around 8.5 million people have fled their homes, with the true figures likely to much higher than that. That’s seen neighbouring countries like Chad receive the largest influx of refugees in its history. The humanitarian situation within Sudan is getting worse with widespread shortages of food and medicine. It’s been dubbed the forgotten war, with international media and politicians giving it little attention.

In this short clip, we get the views of three Sudanese. All of them frustrated and confused about why they, the sudanese citizens, have been the ones made to suffer.

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In a message that could have been drafted at the White House or 10 Downing Street, Kenyan President William Ruto has defended Israel, accusing Iran of violating international law over what he termed as Tehran’s ‘act of aggression’ against Israel.

Posting on his X (previously known as Twitter), Ruto said Iran’s retaliatory drone and missile strikes on Israel on 13 April ‘represents a real and present threat to international peace and security, contravenes the Charter of the United Nations.’

However, what Ruto neglected to state was that Tehran’s attack was a response to a deadly 1 April Israeli attack on Iran’s consulate in Syria, which killed 16 people, including two Iranian military officials, seven Iranian soldiers and others. Ruto did not condemn that attack, an act in contravention of the Vienna Convention, which lays out how diplomatic buildings should be protected.

Most social media users who responded to Ruto’s post accused him of being biased and trying to appease the West.

NIGERIENS WANT U.S. OUT ASAP

People marched in protest though Niger’s capital - demanding that US troops quit their country immediately. A month ago, Niamey terminated a military deal with Washington under which American forces had been allowed to operate two bases in Niger.

The demonstrators waved flags, reminiscent of anti-French protests last year. Last year’s military coup shifted alliances, with Niger previously a key partner of France and the US in countering terrorism in the Sahel region.

But the country is now apparently looking to Moscow for security collaboration - with Russian military instructors and equipment arriving on Wednesday.

How do you see Niger’s new posture? Are you glad it’s getting rid of US boots on its ground? And what about its new partnership?

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A LETTER & A BANKING FAMILY THE CREATION OF ISRAEL

The creation of Israel in Palestine owes much to a 1917 letter from then-British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour addressed to Walter Rothschild, the 2nd Baron Rothschild, of the wealthy banking family.

To commemorate the letter’s 100th anniversary, Daniel Taub, former Israeli ambassador to the United Kingdom, sat down in 2017 with the family’s 4th baron to delve into what is today known as the ‘Balfour Declaration.’ Listen as Jacob Rothschild (1936-2024) reveals how Eastern European Zionists influenced the British government by using his family’s connections to support a settler colony in Palestine.

Continued…. Jacob’s uncle, Walter (1868-1937), a Zionist, was chosen thanks to his wealth and political connections. Note the reference in the letter to ‘civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.’

The Balfour Declaration altered the course of West Asian and African history by helping impose a settler occupying force on land already inhabited by Semitic-speaking peoples. From its creation in 1948, Israel has violated the rights of Palestinians, displacing 750,000 people at the time and—with Western support— subjugating a nation of people for the next almost 76 years.

Does a foreign minister’s letter to a wealthy family warrant the dispossession of a whole nation?

Let us know your thoughts.

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MSF: WORLD’S LOW SUDAN AWARENESS ‘UNACCEPTABLE’

It’s a grim anniversary for Sudan - whose brutal civil war has now raged for a whole year. Astonishingly, the world seem to have largely lost interest in what’s happening in the country and to its people - despite a mounting humanitarian catastrophe. Thousands have been killed, but also millions displaced - and there are severe shortages of food and basic medicines.

The charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) is doing its bit to try and get global attention back to Sudan. They’ve just released a clip where one of their team explains the extreme urgency of the situation.

Have a watch and share your reactions in the comments.

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IRAN: ISRAEL A THREAT TO INTERNATIONAL PEACE

‘Stop Israel before it sets the whole region on fire.’

That was Iran’s message to the world during a heated UN Security Council emergency session that Israel called to discuss Iran’s retaliatory strikes on Tel Aviv.

Tehran’s envoy to the UN, Amir Saeid Iravani, called on the body to take action against Tel Aviv’s ‘destabilising and irresponsible actions.’ He said Israel’s recent acts, such as the 1 April attack on the Persian nation’s consulate in Syria, can potentially engulf the entire region in a bloody war. Iravani warned that the UN’s failure to hold Israel accountable in the past has only emboldened Tel Aviv to continue on its path of aggression.

Continued…On 13 April, Iran launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Israel to retaliate against Tel Aviv for attacking its diplomatic station in Damascus, killing 16 people, including two senior Iranian generals. Embassies and consulates are considered the sovereign territory of respective countries. Proportional retaliation is a right per international law.

The incident has brought Iran and Israel to the brink of war. That would negatively affect Africa because it would take place on the doorstep of Egypt, which shares a border with Israel. Other African countries such as Sudan, Djibouti and Eritrea would also be affected as they sit on the Red Sea, which would inevitably turn into a theatre of war.

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U.S. DOUBLE STANDARDS ON PALESTINE VS. ISRAEL

Pan-Africanist Malcolm X once said, ‘And, when I speak, I don’t speak as a Democrat or a Republican nor an American. I speak as a victim of America’s so-called democracy. You and I have never seen democracy. All we’ve seen is hypocrisy.’

US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby perhaps epitomises the hypocrisy of the United States’ so-called democracy. These two clips, just days apart from each other after the 7 October escalation in the 75-year Israeli occupation of Palestine, make that clear. On 9 October, Kirby appeared upset and unable to speak fluidly in discussing the deaths of US and Israeli citizens. But on 24 October, Kirby excused Israel’s military killing Palestinians using US weaponry.