WHY S. AFRICA NEEDS LAND EXPROPRIATION

On 23 January, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law the Land Expropriation Bill, introduced in 2022. This will enable the government to expropriate privately owned (in particular, White-owned) land for public purposes or in the public interest.

The final piece of legislation is a watered-down version of what the country’s opposition Economic Freedom Fighters party (EFF) has for years been fighting for. While the EFF had advocated for zero compensation for the expropriated land, the new law states that this will only be applied as a last-resort measure. That prompted the EFF to reject the new law, describing it as an ‘absurdity’ and ‘an attempt to fool our people.’

Continued…. The party argues that the new law will not be able adequately to address the existing land inequalities caused by centuries of racial oppression of Black South Africans. The EFF is particularly opposed to the ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ clause in the act, which requires consensus between the expropriating authority and the owner of the property on the amount of compensation. (In the event that the two sides cannot agree on the amount, courts have to determine an amount of compensation that is considered just and equitable.)

The debate around land expropriation has raged on in South Africa for decades. In this video from 2018, African Stream Editor-in-Chief Ahmed Kaballo explains why land reform is a non-negotiable requirement for South Africa to address the ever-growing economic and social inequality between Black South Africans and the descendants of White colonial settlers. Kaballo made the remarks back in December 2018, shortly after South Africa’s parliament overwhelmingly passed a committee report recommending amending the constitution to allow for expropriation without compensation.

Video credit: Press TV UK

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNoWJxK9QoY

https://mg.co.za/politics/2025-01-24-newly-signed-expropriation-bill-heading-for-court-cabinet-clearing-house/

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-01-25-tensions-rise-in-gnu-john-steenhuisen-calls-for-urgent-dialogue-following-expropriation-act-signing/?dm_source=top_reads_block&dm_medium=card_link&dm_campaign=top_reads&dm_content=maverick_news

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNoWJxK9QoY

https://x.com/EFFSouthAfrica/status/1882484477949337711
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Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

BOASTFUL RUTO DISPLAYS IGNORANCE OF FRANCE’S HISTORY

Ever eager to project his importance on the international stage, Kenya’s president William Ruto took to X on Monday to say that he’d had a call with Emmanuel Macron about the war in DR Congo - boasting that his French counterpart had given his blessing to regional efforts to end the fighting. But in his eagerness to be seen as a ‘big-league’ player, Ruto - who is also Chair of the East African Community - seems to have forgotten some basic facts.

France is accused of having had a hand in the ongoing instability of the DRC, due to its complicity in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. It supported the genocidal regime, training and arming its soldiers under the guise of a United Nations Security Council humanitarian intervention, dubbed Operation Turquoise. With France’s support, the perpetrators of the genocide were able to escape into DRC.

Continued……. Former French Colonel Guillaume Ancel - in his book ‘Rwanda: End of Silence’ (2018) - admits that when the Rwandan perpetrators escaped to the DRC, they were provided with arms by France in the refugee camps. “I witnessed one of these deliveries in the second half of July 1994,” he writes, adding that “the commanders explained that we were delivering weapons to those who had carried out massacres to prevent them from turning against the French army. It became clear they were following directives from the highest levels of the State.”

Today, France continues to support Rwanda and - by extension - the Kigali-backed M23 rebels, who have committed atrocities against the people of the DRC. Hence, Ruto’s tone-deaf post on X has rightly drawn heavy criticism from Africans questioning why he is even reaching out to France for support, at a time when Francophone countries are cutting ties with Paris and freeing themselves of its neo-colonial influence.

Sources:

https://en.sputniknews.africa/20240225/what-is-frances-role-in-eastern-drc-conflict--tensions-with-rwanda-1065237633.html

https://thegreatlakeseye.com/post?s=France%27s--stance--on--DRC--crisis--a--big--concern--_1327

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/jul/28/why-is-the-drc-wasting-precious-resources-on-an-outdated-testament-to-french-colonial-power

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/02/dr-congo-rwandan-backed-m23-rebels-perpetrating-summary-killings-and-rapes/

https://www.theafricareport.com/373043/what-remains-of-the-fdlr-in-eastern-drc/

CIA MADE AFGHANISTAN A NARCO-STATE

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) played a pivotal role in the creation of the first true narco-state in history, Afghanistan.

In a covert operation known as ‘Operation Mosquito’ during the 1980s, the US plunged into Afghanistan’s drug trade, seeking to destabilise the Soviet occupation by inundating Russian soldiers with narcotics. Alfred McCoy, in his groundbreaking book, ‘Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade,’ exposes how the CIA funnelled an astonishing $3 billion to the mujahideen leaders battling the Soviets, a strategy that ultimately facilitated the rise of the Taliban.

In this clip, a former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, reveals how, under the eyes of intelligence agents, Afghanistan’s landscape turned into a vast expanse of poppy fields, producing illicit opium that funnelled millions of dollars into the CIA’s shadowy operations, all while evading legal scrutiny.

Continued……. By 1986, the US State Department reported that opium was an ‘ideal crop in a war-torn country since it requires little capital investment, is fast growing and is easily transported and traded.’

As Afghanistan transitioned from a producer of essential food crops to an opium powerhouse, it accounted for a staggering 93 per cent of the global opium supply by 2007 and around 85 per cent in 2020.

Many Afghan farmers, seduced by the low investment and drought resistance of poppy cultivation, abandoned traditional staples like wheat, corn, and rice, causing severe food shortages and a catastrophic rise in heroin addiction, not only within Afghanistan but across Europe, the US, and Asia.

Video credit: @julianddorey (X)

Sources:

https://kabulnow.com/2024/11/un-reports-30-increase-in-opium-production-in-afghanistan-in-2024/

https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Afghanistan/Executive_Summary_english.pdf

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202111/1237798.shtml

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2003/4/24/war-with-drugs

https://unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2024/unisnar1492.html

https://library.fes.de/libalt/journals/swetsfulltext/13640296.pdf

https://history.wisc.edu/publications/the-politics-of-heroin-cia-complicity-in-the-global-drug-trade/#:~:text=The%20first%20book%20to%20prove,the%20Cold%20War%20until%20today.

https://www.transcend.org/tms/2017/08/its-the-opium-stupid-afghan-surge-guarantees-cia-black-ops-budget-boost/

https://news.sky.com/story/afghanistan-money-and-power-drive-afghanistans-opium-production-but-how-will-the-taliban-wean-themselves-off-the-profitable-trade-12385423

https://www.unodc.org/documents/wdr/WDR_2010/1.2_The_global_heroin_market.pdf

https://www.unodc.org/documents/crop-monitoring/AFG07_ExSum_web.pdf

https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Afghanistan/Executive_Summary_english.pdf

https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia/south-asia/afghanistan/340-trouble-afghanistans-opium-fields-taliban-war-drugs

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/21/afghanistan-taliban-opium-climate-change

https://www.dw.com/en/taliban-poppy-ban-leaves-afghan-farmers-angry-jobless/a-70977767

S. AFRICAN TROOP DEATHS IN DRC SPARK ANGER, CONCERN

South Africans are demanding their defence minister’s head roll - after 13 of the country’s soldiers deployed to DRC were killed amid allegations they were ill-equipped for their mission. The men died defending the eastern Congolese city of Goma from the onslaught of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. Reports have been swirling that South Africa’s troops are short on ammo, and that their combat vehicles are breaking down. Critics of the government, including the Economic Freedom Fighters party, say the deaths point to government incompetence. On Sunday, South Africa’s ambassador to the UN slammed Kigali for atrocities in the DRC, urging the UN Security Council to take ‘decisive action.’

Continued….. Sources:

https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/politics/2025-01-26-call-for-angie-motshekgas-head-over-soldiers-deaths-in-drc/
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-01-27-four-more-dead-sandf-force-in-very-tense-situation-as-m23-overruns-goma/?dm_source=dm_block_grid&dm_medium=card_link&dm_campaign=main
https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/carl-niehaus-insists-defence-minister-angie-motshekga-must-resign-after-sandfs-drc-tragedy-45d5a540-7877-45a6-95d1-eedf7d8712f3

https://www.actionsa.org.za/defence-minister-splurges-r10-4-million-on-travel-while-woefully-underfunded-south-african-soldiers-are-left-to-die-in-drc/

https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-01-27-four-more-dead-sandf-force-in-very-tense-situation-as-m23-overruns-goma/?dm_source=dm_block_grid&dm_medium=card_link&dm_campaign=main

KINSHASA: MULTIPLE EMBASSIES ATTACKED

Videos have emerged showing multiple embassies being torched and vandalised by protesters in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa - including the Belgian, French and Rwandan missions. Tires were burned outside the US embassy, with the UN’s headquarters also attacked.

People hit the streets after news that parts of Goma - the capital of North Kivu Province in eastern DRC - fell to Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, who have k*lled, r*ped and terrorised civilians.

Despite overwhelming evidence detailing Rwanda’s support for the M23 militia - which is intent on seizing control of mineral-rich regions of the country - Belgium, France, the UK, and the US continue to support Kigali. Western condemnation has largely been performative, with no real punishments.

Continued….. Moreover, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (MONUSCO) is widely seen as a failure, unable to adequately protect civilians. UN personnel in Congo have also been accused of abuse of power and s*xual exploitation.

The 30-year proxy war over minerals in Congo has resulted in approximately 6 million deaths and the displacement of over 7 million people.

Sources:

https://www.thetimes.com/world/africa/article/congo-the-fight-for-blood-minerals-found-in-every-mobile-ssm0phr80

https://apnews.com/article/congo-goma-m23-rebels-rwanda-3b4f2e66da0743dadc7bd5eae855d8f0

https://apnews.com/article/sexual-exploitation-congo-united-nations-peacekeepers-d8a767eb32da0da7be6ecc6af2cd11fb

https://apnews.com/article/congo-goma-m23-rebels-residents-abac3115088f0c7591c69d495a3769ae

https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker/conflict/violence-democratic-republic-congo

https://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/congo

https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/118/80/pdf/n2411880.pdf

In this week's ‘Wednesday Wisdom,’ Argentina-born Cuban revolutionary and ally to the African struggle for liberation, Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara (1928-67), reminds us that the Congo problem is a collective problem.

With the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) only worsening following ongoing escalations and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels recently seizing parts of Goma city, Guevara's words couldn't be more timely.

Between 1998 and 2010, over 6 million Congolese died in the DRC, considered the world's most resource-rich country. While foreign companies, the West, African elites and other individuals benefit from its riches, the DRC’s people remain impoverished, with 73 per cent of its population living on less than $2.15 a day.

Seeing the Congo exploited for decades reminds us that the global systems of oppression and imperialism have made human life in the Global South dispensable.

Continued….. However, if we do not act collectively, our silence, which normalises imperialism in the Congo, will have far reaching consequences for all people of the Global South.

Sources:

https://syracuse.ecampus.com/african-dream-diaries-revolutionary-war/bk/9780802138347

https://www.caritas.org/2010/02/six-million-dead-in-congos-war

https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025/1/27/photo-residents-flee-goma-as-m23-rebels-enter-drcs-largest-eastern-city

AFRICA’S VISA RESTRICTION NIGHTMARE

Why is the free movement of Africans across the continent so challenging? For years, there have been appeals for African countries to relax their visa restrictions, enabling us to travel more easily within Africa. Currently, only Benin, The Gambia, Rwanda, the Seychelles and Kenya have taken the progressive step of allowing visa-free entry to Africans. You’d have thought there’d be more such countries, given the clear advantages associated with unrestricted movement - such as enhanced intra-African trade and the promotion of pan-African unity.

And speaking of pan-African unity, the Alliance of Sahel States has declared that it will begin issuing joint passports starting 29 January. This new biometric ID will grant free movement between the three member nations (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger).

Continued……. Let’s hope other African states follow their example!

Sources:

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/junta-led-sahel-states-ready-joint-force-5000-troops-says-minister-2025-01-22/

https://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/november-2024/easing-travel-restrictions-boost-intra-african-trade#:~:text=Free%20movement%20is%20key&text=Yet%20only%20four%20African%20countries,for%20it%20to%20take%20effect

https://www.visaopenness.org/visa-openness-in-africa-2024-findings-2/

WEST USING PROXIES TO CARRY OUT WAR IN CONGO

The conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has boiled over in recent days. 

The M23 rebels, backed by Uganda and Rwanda, encroached on Goma city on 27 January, forcing hundreds of thousands of residents to flee to safer areas. Then, in the capital, Kinshasa, anger over the escalation erupted on 28 January as protesters attacked several embassies. The collapse of the December 2024 peace talks between the leaders of Rwanda and the DRC has only intensified the crisis. 

Continued….. During a 2 April 2024 episode on African Stream’s flagship podcast, ‘Pan-African Attitude,’ Pan-Africanist scholar PLO Lumumba highlighted how international powers have never wanted to help resolve Congo’s conflict. Lumumba added that Western governments have always used Africans to sow division in the mineral-rich Congo to facilitate the exploitation of its resources. He gave an example of how US and Belgian intelligence services groomed the DRC’s longtime president, Mobutu Sese Seko (1930-97), to overthrow revolutionary leader Patrice Lumumba (1925-61) and take power from 1965 until 1997. Lumumba also said the West has used proxies throughout modern times.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyv4606y4jzo

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c134kgdpd6do

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/9/uganda-backed-m23-in-drc-rwandas-de-facto-control-on-group-un-experts

https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/118/80/pdf/n2411880.pdf

https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/50/5040402_-africa-rwanda-drc-kagame-s-hidden-war-in-the-congo-.html

KAGAME ADMITS DRC PLUNDER GOES THROUGH RWANDA

With the Kigali-backed M23 rebels making rapid gains in eastern DRC, here’s a flashback to 2022 - when Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, openly admitted that plundered loot from the neighbouring Congo went through his country. But instead of taking responsibility, he attempts to deflect blame.

He urges his audience to focus on the final destinations of the stolen minerals - he cites Dubai, Brussels, Tel Aviv - claiming that if Kigali stopped the flow, there’d be trouble for Kigali. But this lame excuse is a calculated deception: Rwanda isn’t merely a transit point, it’s one of the biggest profiteers from Congo’s suffering.

Despite having almost no mineral reserves of its own, Rwanda has become one of the world’s leading exporters of coltan and gold, all of which are overwhemingly mined in the DRC.

Continued….. Moreover, the UN has pointed the finger at Rwanda, saying there is strong evidence it’s backing the atrocities-committing M23, and has sent up to 4,000 of its own soldiers over the border to assist the rebels in their deadly mine-grabbing rampage.

So while Kagame might be right that the buyers of plundered Congolese wealth are guilty of fanning the war, his shameless attempt to pass the buck ignores the fact that Rwanda is a central player in this blood-stained supply chain. His hands are far from clean.

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

DISTRAUGHT CONGOLESE SISTER’S PAIN

As with any long-running war, it’s easy to forget the human reality. But the anguished tears of this distressed young Congolese sister pierce through any reduction of the crisis in eastern DRC to mere stats and figures. She says she was already an orphan, having lost her mum and dad, and now advancing M23 rebels have taken her husband as well and killed him. Her plight is one of many millions: in the last 30 years, 7 million - like her - have been displaced and 6 million - like her husband - killed.

So much sorrow caused by the greed of external actors like Rwanda who don’t care how much misery they inflict on the Congolese people so long as they can get their dirty hands on its mineral wealth.

Video credit: Radiogo FM (Instagram)

Hear Us Roar: https://news.1rj.ru/str/AfricanStream

KAGAME TO U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: 'NEED DRC CEASEFIRE'

The Puppet Olympics are too close to call.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on 29 January, just days after Kenyan President William Ruto discussed the rapidly deteriorating crisis in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The M23 rebel group’s attacks, which began in 2021, have escalated in recent weeks. Reports have emerged that the rebels have entered the North Kivu capital of Goma and seized control of the airport. 

Continued….. Kagame’s insistence that Rwanda does not back the rebel group is at odds with UN experts' June 2024 report claiming between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan soldiers operate alongside the M23. Rwanda’s economic interests in the Congo also cast doubt on Kagame’s alleged desire to address the conflict’s root causes, with the M23, for instance, generating $300,000 a month after the capture of Rubaya.

Kagame thinks Rwanda and the US should deepen bilateral ties pegged on national interests. This, too, while not an admission of guilt, is worrying. While some sources accuse Rwanda of looting Congolese minerals, many accuse US tech giants of using these minerals to build smartphones, electric vehicles and other high-tech items. Last year, a US court refused to hold five tech companies—Google parent Alphabet, Apple, Dell Technologies, Microsoft and Tesla—accountable on child labour allegations on the technicality that they did not have anything more than an ‘ordinary buyer-seller transaction’ with suppliers in the DRC. Legal proceedings have now advanced in Europe against Apple. What mutual interests do Rwanda and the US share?

With all this in mind, how will African states working with US President Donald Trump’s second administration create prosperity and security for the region amidst these allegations? Please share your thoughts.

Sources
https://x.com/PaulKagame/status/1884376209527873784

https://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/108422-ruto-speaks-french-president-emmanuel-macron-over-drc-crisis

M23 - Goma
https://apnews.com/article/congo-goma-m23-rebels-residents-abac3115088f0c7591c69d495a3769ae

4,000 Rwandan troops among M23
https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/The-Resurgence-of-the-M23-EN.pdf

https://documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/n24/118/80/pdf/n2411880.pdf

M23 economic interests in DRC
https://cic.nyu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/The-Resurgence-of-the-M23-EN.pdf

https://www.dw.com/en/congo-violence-m23-raw-materials/a-71417304

US tech giants and Congo minerals
https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/usa-apple-google-tesla-and-other-tech-companies-not-liable-over-alleged-child-labor-in-drc-says-appeals-court

https://www.fairplanet.org/story/congo-lawsuit-apple-minerals-child-labour-iphone

https://abcnews.go.com/International/us-court-absolves-top-tech-companies-congos-child/story?id=107839639

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/society-equity/congo-files-criminal-complaints-against-apple-europe-over-conflict-minerals-2024-12-17

M23 revenues from mining area
https://apnews.com/article/congo-mining-m23-un-security-council-b11207ba887b352d702c3e4603d0c891