BURKINA FASO’S TRAORÉ: PRESIDENT FOR 5 MORE YRS

The people cheered as a charter granted President Ibrahim Traoré a 5-year extension in office, starting on 2 July. His noscript has changed from ‘President of the Transition of Burkina Faso’ to ‘President of Burkina Faso.’

On May 25-26, the landlocked African country held ‘Les assises nationales’ or ‘The National Conferences,’ when representatives from Burkina Faso’s 13 regions convened meetings to determine the country’s direction. The process included government officials, as well as representatives from civil society organisations and trade unions. 

Continued….. This extension comes almost 20 months after a military coup that ousted a Western-aligned leader. Since then, the population has poured into the streets to express support for the new government, which has taken over areas once held by terrorist groups, kicked out widely unpopular French troops and media, nationalised local industries, and embarked on a pathway to industrialisation and job creation with new refineries and plans for new energy facilities.

While political parties boycotted this past weekend’s decision-making process, party members decided to attend anyway to express their opinions as individuals. Such was the case with Moussa Diallo of Ex-Chef De Fil de L’opposition (Ex-Leader of the Opposition political coalition in English), who said to local TV news station Faso 7, ‘I told myself that, as a patriot, it was my duty to come here.’ The same was the case with Ali Badra Ouédraogo, former president of Rassemblement des Patriotes pour le Renouveau (Rally of Patriots for Renewal), who voiced satisfaction with the process.

Many ordinary Burkinabè people we spoke to outside the conference hall are satisfied with the five-year extension. However, a visible segment of the population hoped for a 10-year transition period.

Here is what they had to say.

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DRC FLAG HELD UP DURING ‘GEN*CIDE JOE’ SPEECH

Hats - or academic caps - off to the faculty at Morehouse College who held high a DR Congo flag during a recent speech by Joe Biden, who was at the Black liberal US arts institution congratulating graduates, but also no doubt trying to secure a few extra African-American votes in the upcoming presidential race.

Continued….. Biden - who’s earned himself the nickname ‘Genocide Joe’ for his continued support for Israel in the face of mounting evidence of atrocities in Gaza - has also arguably been contributing to the genocide in DRC. Although US military aid to Rwanda - which is widely suspected of actively supporting rebels in DRC’s east - was frozen last year over the use of child soldiers, the fact remains that Washington has bolstered Kigali’s (and thereby the rebels’) military capacities. And US aid of other kinds still flows into Rwanda, while the White House remains mostly silent about the atrocities across the border.

African Stream’s Wambura Mwai breaks down why, and walks us through the protest at Morehouse. What’s your reaction?

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OUTRAGE AS ISRAEL DEFIES ICJ RULING

WARNING-DISTURBING IMAGES

The Israeli air strike on a tent camp for displaced people in Rafah killed at least 50 people, according to Gaza Health Ministry. Most of the victims were women and children, with many trapped in flaming debris.

Just two days before Sunday's massacre, Israel was ordered to stop its attacks on Rafah by the International Court of Justice. However, despite warnings it’s breaking international law, Israel continues to plough on with its assault.

It insists the latest atrocity targeted a Hamas compound, although The Palestinian Red Crescent Society says it hit a zone Israel had designated a ‘humanitarian area.’ Videos circulating the internet show beheaded children, burning of bodies and mass destruction of homes in Rafah, where one million Palestinians had taken refuge.

International pressure on Israel is mounting.

Continued….. The EU is threatening sanctions against the country if it doesn’t comply with the ICJ.
The court earlier stated plausible g*nocide is taking place in a case brought by South Africa in December.

Meanwhile, The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor is seeking an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister, along with three H*mas leaders.

Despite the outrage, the slaughter continues. Maybe it’s time the world’s top courts also target the US for arming and bankrolling Tel Aviv? Tell us what you think in the comments.

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TRAORÉ: NGO LIED ABOUT LIBYA, NOW IT LIES ABOUT BURKINA FASO

On 25 April, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report claiming Burkina Faso's military massacred 223 civilians. The report circulated rapidly in mainstream Western media. The United States and the United Kingdom referenced the report in a joint declaration calling on the Burkinabé government to investigate the alleged killings. Burkinabé citizens responded by organising mass demonstrations in support of the new government, held sometimes in front of the US embassy.

However, the United States and the United Kingdom did not issue a denouncement after ally Nigeria admitted to accidentally bombing 85 civilians five months ago.

Continued….. On 23 May, President Ibrahim Traoré said his government would lodge a complaint against HRW, as it has in the past created what he referred to as 'false reports' that fueled the uprising against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, which helped justify the 2011 NATO-led invasion and Gaddafi's ousting. From there, he said, arms flooded the Sahara Desert and the arid zone south of it called the Sahel. Since 2011, terrorism has spiked in Sahelian states.

According to a Jacobin magazine article, HRW has violated its alleged neutrality by participating in Washington's 'revolving door,' whereby high-ranking government officials allegedly responsible for what could amount to war crimes hold board-level and advisory roles at the organisation and vice versa.

Traoré pointed out HRW's funding does not reflect the standards of a non-governmental organisation, as it has come under fire for accepting government funds, including 3 million euros from the Qatari government. Other funding sources include the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), whose co-founder Allen Weinstein stated, 'a lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.'

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CHILDREN GO HUNGRY IN MANDELA'S BACKYARD

As millions of South Africans head to the polls in the country's sixth general election since the end of apartheid, questions about how far the country has moved since the fall of that regime linger.

White-supremacist rule did not only deny Black South Africans political and human rights, but also economic and social ones. Black people lacked adequate access to basic services such as housing and water. Naturally, many had hoped that the end of apartheid would lead to a significant improvement in the availability of such services to Black communities.

Unfortunately, the reality is very different - even, as this Sky News report shows, in the backyard of struggle stalwart and first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela.

What went wrong?

(Link to original: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7f9QcQtmhl/)

Video credit @skynews

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TUNISIANS PROTEST SHOCKING RAFAH ATTACK

Tunisians have voiced their anger over Israel’s bombing of a camp for displaced people in Rafah. Hundreds took to the streets after Sunday’s attack killed at least 50 people and injured many more. Most victims were women, children and the elderly.

Just days before, the International Court of Justice ordered Tel Aviv to stop its assault on the region in southern Gaza. South Africa filed the request over fears the attack would endanger the lives of over 1.4 million Palestinians in the city. ICJ judges ruled 13-2 in favour, but Tel Aviv has ignored the UN’s top court and says its bombardment will continue.

The latest atrocity has sparked an international outcry, with EU leaders threatening to sanction Israel. Over 35,562 Palestinians have been killed and 79,652 injured in what Israel says are operations against H*m*s. Most of the dead are women and children.

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DID MANDELA SELL OUT?

South Africans are heading to the polls to elect a new government, the sixth time they’ve done so since the end of apartheid in 1994. But one issue during those thirty years has never gone away, South Africa’s massive wealth gap.

The majority-Black population has remained poor three decades after Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) took over the reigns of power. Many factors are blamed, including the claim Mandela and other ANC leaders sold out to White elites.

The accusation isn’t disputed by Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters party. During this appearance at the UK’s Oxford Union, in 2016, he said Mandela was close to the White elite that ran the country and was a different man to the one everyone knew, when he left prison. However, we shouldn’t dwell on the past, says Malema. Instead, the new generation’s task is to accomplish what Mandela failed to do.

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SOUTH AFRICA ELECTION: WHO’S WHO?

All eyes will be on South Africa as some 28-million voters head to the polls to choose new leaders at national and regional levels. The election has been dubbed the most competitive and crucial since the country’s first democratic one 30 years ago.

The African National Congress (ANC) convincingly won subsequent elections and has dominated the national political landscape ever since. However, according to several opinion polls, that dominance could be significantly eroded by the 29th May vote.

A survey conducted by Pan-African research group Afrobarometer suggests that the party is likely to garner less than 40% of ballots - way below the 50% share it needs to form a government.

Continued….. The decline in support for the liberation movement-turned-ruling party is seen as a verdict on its governance record, which, according to many South Africans, has failed to improve the welfare of the majority-Black population.

While dozens of parties will appear on the ballot, the ANC’s chief competition comes from three political parties - two of them being ANC offshoots.

African Stream takes a deep dive into what they’ve got to offer. Do you think we’ll see a coalition? Between whom?

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ABORIGINALS: WE LOVE ALL AFRICANS

This uplifting video highlights a bond between Aboriginal people and Africans. It was shot by YouTuber, Jouhzu, in Darwin and the Tiwi islands, just off Australia’s north coast. He asks a simple question: What do Aborigines think of Black people? And the warmth of their answers might surprise you.

It’s widely thought Aboriginal Australians descend from a ‘single wave’ of migration that left Africa 50,000 years ago. Sadly, they also share a brutal colonial history. European powers arrived in Australia at the end of the 18th century, stole ancestral land and killed tens of thousands of Aborigines. Even today, they still face persecution and are up to 20 times more likely to be arrested than non-Indigenous Australians, according to a 2009 Australian National Council of Drugs report. History connects Aborigines and Africans, and this small clip reveals the strength of the connection.

Return some love in the comments for the Aboriginal people.

EUROPEAN POWERS FIGHTING IT OUT IN DRC

In this 1964 clip, we see Malcolm X pushing back on CBS News reporters.

They asked the chairman of the Pan-Africanist Organization of Afro-American Unity to condemn what the Western media labelled as the ‘massacre’ of European nuns held hostage in October 1964 in the resource-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Malcolm’s reply serves as a stark reminder that the ongoing conflict that has killed more than 6 million since the mid-1990s began with Western powers vying for the Congo’s mineral wealth since the late 1800s.

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FOREIGN TROOPS SWAMP AFRICA MORE THAN EVER

There are more foreign troops in Africa than during the colonial era, and we should be worried. That’s the warning from Senegalese diplomat, Abdoulaye Bathily, who was speaking at the recent Thabo Mbeki Africa Liberation Day lecture in South Africa. And when you look at the numbers, you can understand his concern.

In 2019, the United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) revealed it had 34 U.S military bases and 6,000 troops on the continent. The same year, the French Ministry of Defence admitted to having over 7,500 soldiers based in Africa. But their presence hasn’t led to peace. In fact, the situation has worsened in many regions.

Continued…. Take the Sahel, for example. After NATO armed rebels to overthrow Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the insurgents flooded south, and triggered a horrific wave of terrorism. In 2022 terrorists killed close to 8,000 people in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali. That’s compared to 30 people in 2002. The huge increase happening despite the existence of several American and French military sites and Africa’s most expensive drone base in Niger.

In East Africa, there’s a similar story. The rise of terror group al-Shabaab can be traced to the American-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. Before 2006, the Islamic Courts Union provided the only semblance of stability in the country since the overthrow of Siad Barre in 1991.

So, as Professor Bathily explains in this clip, it’s ‘worrisome’ to put it mildly. Too bad other countries don’t seem to think so, like Kenya. It’s just been designated a major non-Nato ally and in 2023 signed a five-year ‘defence co-operation agreement’ with the US. worth $100m.

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INVESTIGATION: MOSSAD CHIEF THREATENED ICC PROSECUTOR

Mossad’s former director, Yossi Cohen, threatened Fatou Bensouda, former International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, over a probe into war crimes, according to an investigation pursued by three publications: The Guardian, Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Local Call, a Hebrew-language outlet.

The intimidation campaign against Bensouda, a lawyer and Gambian High Commissioner (or official representative) to the United Kingdom since 2022, began when she announced in 2021 that the court would open investigations into possible Israeli war crimes in occupied Palestinian territories.

Continued….. The ICC initially delayed its investigation over deliberations about its jurisdiction regarding the Palestinian territories. Once it cleared that hurdle, the probe went ahead despite Israeli opposition. It culminated on 20 May when the ICC announced it had filed applications for arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over possible war crimes in the Gaza Strip since 8 October.

Cohen, a close ally of Netanyahu, allegedly told Bensouda, ‘You don’t want to be getting into things that could compromise your security or that of your family.’ On a separate occasion, Cohen allegedly told the prosecutor that proceeding with the investigation would severely damage her career.

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SISI GOING SOFT ON ISRAEL?

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi once vowed to ‘wipe off the face of the earth’ anyone coming near his country. It was a stark warning he made in 2016 during a televised speech. So, is it strange Cairo hasn’t reacted more strongly to the spiralling tension with Israel?

An Egyptian guard was killed in a shooting with Israeli forces on May 27 at the Rafah border crossing. Cairo says it will ‘investigate’. Tempers were already strained just days before when Israel seized the Palestinian side of the crossing and Egypt closed its section. However, considering el-Sisi’s ‘wipe off the face of the earth’ pledge, his reaction does seem restrained.

Continued…. Following the money could offer one explanation. It’s worth remembering Egypt has received $50-billion in US military aid since signing a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. It has also received another $30-billion in economic assistance. More recently the European Union gave Cairo an $8-billion aid package to help stem the flow of migrants to Europe.

Not to say Egypt hasn’t backed the Palestinians. It’s pledged to join South Africa’s case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice. However, given what el-Sissi vowed eight years ago in this clip, wouldn’t you expect him to take a firmer stand?

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