What money? That’s the question that the government of Lesotho and other stakeholders are asking following US President Donald Trump’s comments during his address to a joint session of Congress on 4 March stating that $8 million had been wasted to promote LGBTQI+ in the African country, ‘which nobody has ever heard of.’

Lesotho’s foreign ministry said it was unaware of the funds Trump mentioned. The ministry’s spokesperson Kutloano Pheko told the BBC that perhaps the money was channelled directly to organisations dealing with LGBTQI+ issues. However, People’s Matrix, the country’s leading LGBTQI+ rights organisation, denied receiving funds from Washington. Spokesperson Tampose Mothopeng said they have no idea where that money has been spent and who received it.

Continued……The US foreign assistance website indicates about $120 million spent on health and population programmes in Lesotho in 2024, with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) managing $44.23 million of the fund and the Millennium Challenge Corporation handling $74.92 million. No information exists on allocations to LGBTQI+ activities.

This comes on the heels of USAID drawing intense scrutiny for its supposedly noble Africa programmes, some of which allegedly funded extremist groups Boko Haram in Nigeria and Al-Shabaab in Somalia. So, who is telling the truth? Let us know in the comments.

Sources

https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/03/05/lesotho-lgbtq-trump/

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/africa/southern-africa/lesotho

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/06/donald-trump-lesotho-us-aid-lgbtiq-comments-congress-speech-response

https://www.reuters.com/world/lesotho-insulted-after-trump-says-nobody-has-heard-country-2025-03-05/

https://foreignassistance.gov/cd/lesotho

https://ustr.gov/countries-regions/africa/southern-africa/lesotho

Illicit counterfeit medications are sold in Mali and across the African continent - and it’s costing thousands of lives each year. Recently, the Malian government stepped in with a big ‘drug bust,’ known as Operation Forajokokili.

Bamako says it’s now seized 35 tonnes of medications that were being marketed and sold to Malian citizens as legit when they were really dangerous knockoffs. The phoney medications were touted as treatments for malaria, bacterial infections, tuberculous, sexual issues and more. According to the World Health Organisation, up to 100,000 Africans die each year due to consumption of these harmful counterfeits.

Continued……While Mali’s revolutionary new leadership has mostly been making headlines for its anti-imperialist posture - kicking out French troops and asserting greater sovereignty over its resources - this crackdown on fake pharmaceuticals is further evidence that Bamako has the people’s interests at heart.

Sources

https://www.wallafricajournal.com/mali-seizes-medicines-in-operation/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHjVl6dZx8o

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/16/last-french-troops-leave-mali-ending-nine-year-deployment

TRAORÉ: 'AFRICA WILL BE SELF-SUFFICIENT, SOVEREIGN, INDEPENDENT'

Despite what imperialist mouthpieces may claim, Burkina Faso is proving that true independence isn't just possible—it's happening. Under President Ibrahim Traoré (@capitaineib226 on X), the country is making major strides in healthcare, education, farming and infrastructure, without bowing to Western control.

In this speech Traoré gave on 3 March during the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) flag-raising ceremony in Ouagadougou's Koulouba neighbourhood, Traoré reminded Burkinabé people that not everyone supports the revolution but that Burkinabé and Africans, in general, must nevertheless continue to push toward sovereignty and unity.

While Burkina Faso and its fellow AES member-states—Mali and Niger—have embarked on a decolonial path toward greater self-determination, Traoré called not just for the Sahel region to unite but for all of Africa to come together.

Continued….. Will other African countries follow in the AES' footsteps? If so, let us know which countries you anticipate will move in this direction soon.

Video credits: @sigburkina, @rtburkina, @faso7_bf

Sources

https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/03/05/sahel-alliance-unveils-new-flag-as-regional-bloc-moves-toward-greater-integration

ALABAMA’S BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED

Sixty years ago today, a pivotal moment unfolded in Selma, Alabama, when police assaulted a group of more than 600 determined protesters advocating for Black voting rights. 

TV stations across the United States broadcast the harrowing scenes of primarily Black people and their white comrades being beaten and tear-gassed, compelling US President Lyndon B Johnson (1908-73) to sign the Voting Rights Act just five months later. 

The march in Selma began on Sunday, 7 March 1965, at Brown Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, making its way to Edmund Pettus Bridge. Pettus (1821-1907) was a Confederate general and ‘grand dragon’ of the white-supremacist group, the Ku Klux Klan. 

Awaiting them were Alabama state troopers. When the marchers refused to retreat from the bridge, the officers on horseback chased and assaulted fleeing men, women and children with whips and rubber tubing wrapped in barbed wire.

Continued……Many required medical attention, including 25-year-old John Lewis (1940-2020), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee chairman and later a congressman, who led the protest.

Just two days later, another march took place in Selma, with the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr (1929-68), urging people from all over the US to join in solidarity. 

The bravery displayed in Alabama reminds us that we must never forget the struggle for justice in the diaspora.

Sources

https://www.history.com/news/selma-bloody-sunday-attack-civil-rights-movement

https://calendar.eji.org/racial-injustice/mar/7

WILL KENYA POLICE BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR KILLING?

Last year, when Kenya’s Gen Z flooded the streets of the country to protest IMF-backed tax hikes, they were met with a violent and deadly police crackdown.

Officers shot directly into crowds - infringing upon their constitutional right to peaceful assembly. At least 60 protesters were killed, with another 66 abducted, according to Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR). So far, no police officers have been brought to justice.

Since then there have been further alleged cases of state abductions and attempts to silence dissenting voices.

Although the government denies being behind these abductions, evidence is mounting. For example, former attorney general Justin Muturi, whose son was among those kidnapped, has revealed how the latter was freed by the country’s National Intelligence Service after President William Ruto made a call to its director general, Noordin Haji.

Continued……
In this clip from a recent sit-down interview with Kenya’s majority leader of the National Assembly, Al Jazeera’s Mehdi Hasan asks why Kenyans are yet to see any accountability over the killings and abductions. Do you find the answer Kimani Ichungw’a gives convincing?

Video Credit: @aljazeeraenglish (YouTube)

Sources

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/kenya

https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2025-01-14-cs-muturis-full-statement-to-dci-on-sons-abduction

https://nation.africa/kenya/news/cs-justin-muturi-nis-was-behind-my-son-s-abduction--4889104

https://www.ipoa.go.ke/ipoa/

Continued……The RSF—formerly known as the Janjaweed—has been synonymous with heinous human-rights abuses and war crimes, including g*nocide. The Janjaweed were usually members of nomadic Arab tribes who'd long been at odds with Darfur's darker-skinned, non-Arab African farmers. Now, the RSF’s war against the Sudanese military has created what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with 12.5 million internally and externally displaced and half the country facing acute food insecurity.

Sources

https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/emirati-weapons-found-in-sudan-s-wad-madani-report

https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/197/197-20250306-pre-01-00-en.pdf

https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/197/197-20250306-wri-01-00-en.pdf

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/21/world/africa/uae-sudan-civil-war.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/06/world/africa/sudan-genocide-icj-uae.html

https://www.reuters.com/world/uae-flights-flood-airstrip-un-says-supplies-weapons-sudan-rebels-2024-12-12/

https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/05/09/massalit-will-not-come-home/ethnic-cleansing-and-crimes-against-humanity-el

https://www.unrefugees.org/emergencies/sudan/

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/kenya-turns-uae-railway-funds-after-china-cut-financing-2025-01-15/

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crln9lk51dro

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy2772

https://www.genocidewatch.com/single-post/emirati-weapons-found-in-sudan-s-wad-madani-report

https://www.unrefugees.org/news/sudan-crisis-explained

THE SYMBOL OF EAST AFRICAN FOOTBALL

Africa has produced some of the greatest football legends: Drogba, Salah, Weah, Okocha, Eto’o, McCarthy… but for East Africa, the wait for a football icon was long.

Enter Alexander Isak, the 25-year-old forward who is not just a star for Newcastle and Sweden but a symbol of hope for millions of East Africans. Born to Eritrean parents, Isak is breaking myths and putting East African football on the global map, proving that talent knows no borders.

Beyond his incredible skills, his visits to Eritrea to inspire young players show his dedication to honouring and giving back to his roots.

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

JULIUS MALEMA: ISRAEL BEHIND U.S. ATTACK ON SOUTH AFRICA

In this recent clip, South African revolutionary Julius Malema argued the United States suspending HIV/AIDS funding to South Africa was not because of misinformation about the so-called ‘white g*nocide’ and discrimination against white settlers in South Africa. Instead, Malema said the US is acting on behalf of Israel, which the US has provided the most foreign aid to since World War II. In late December 2023, long-time Palestine ally South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice, accusing it of g*nocide against the Palestinians.

Malema (@julius_s_malema on X, @julius.malema.sello on IG), founder and president of South Africa’s Pan-African political party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (@effsouthafrica), backed up his claim by listing examples of the United States’ long history of strong arming countries that don’t obey the US and walk an alternative path to meet their people’s needs. 

Continued……The US and other Western countries have bankrolled Israel’s military onslaught, which had k*lled as many as 186,000 as of early July 2024, according to the Lancet medical journal.
 
Following President Cyril Ramaphosa recently signing into law a land expropriation bill to address apartheid-era inequities that linger, the Trump administration took on the government of South Africa. White settlers hold over 70 per cent of the country’s agricultural land, but they make up less than 8 per cent of South Africa’s population. Aside from suspending HIV/AIDS funding, the US offered refugee status to South Africa’s white settlers, and South Africa-born Tesla CEO and Trump advisor Elon Musk called Malema an ‘international criminal.’

Video credit: @ParliamentofRSA (X)

Sources

https://dirco.gov.za/south-africa-delivers-evidence-of-israel-genocide-to-icj/

https://nacla.org/sanctions-cuba

https://www.trtworld.com/africa/all-you-need-to-know-about-south-africas-land-expropriation-law-18263403

https://pepfarwatch.org/pepfar-funding-freeze/

https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201802/landauditreport13feb2018.pdf

https://www.cfr.org/article/us-aid-israel-four-charts