CONNECTING THE DIASPORA: NIGERIA & JAMAICA EXPLORE DIRECT FLIGHTS

Our continent is poised to integrate more closely with the diaspora. Nigeria and Jamaica have begun discussions on establishing direct flights between the two countries. This was agreed during a meeting between Nigeria’s aviation minister, Festus Keyamo, and Jamaica’s ambassador to the country, Lincoln Downer.

Keyamo said the process to finalise the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) would now be fast-tracked - adding that he was ready to visit Kingston to conclude the deal. Downer, meanwhile, stressed growing ties between the two nations, noting that demand for Jamaican products is increasing in Nigeria.

African and diaspora nations suffer from limited air connectivity compared with the ease of travel within Europe. While the EU benefits from seamless movement due to policies such as Schengen and Open Skies, travel between African and Caribbean countries typically involves high costs and indirect routes.

Continued……If successful, the Nigeria-Jamaica agreement will be a boon for pan-African integration, with potential economic and cultural benefits, such as increased trade and tourism.

Let us know what you make of it.

Sources
https://politicsnigeria.com/theres-no-reason-we-shouldnt-have-direct-flights-fg-jamaica-announce-new-move/
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/03/nigeria-jamaica-to-review-bilateral-air-services-agreement-keyamo/

https://www.okayafrica.com/intra-africa-travel-difficult/

https://www.axa-schengen.com/en/visa

https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/aussenpolitik/themen/218432-218432

UGANDA DEPLOYS TROOPS TO SOUTH SUDAN

Uganda has deployed its forces to South Sudan following renewed tensions between government forces and the White Army militia in Nasir, Upper Nile State.

Kampala is a long time ally of current South Sudanese president Salva Kiir. Uganda also sent its forces to fight alongside his government’s troops during his country’s civil war (2013-2020), which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and the displacement of at least 4.5-million. The current deployment of Ugandan forces has intensified fears that the recent clashes will grow into a wider conflict.

The US has ordered the evacuation of its non-emergency staff from South Sudan, while the UN has called on both sides to swiftly find a political solution that safeguards the lives of civilians.

Continued….. According to the UN, nearly 60% of South Sudan’s population (7.7-million people) will face acute hunger - the most extreme form - by July 2025. By April this year, 2-million children are expected to suffer from malnourishment. And floods in 2024 displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Another civil war would only aggravate an already dire humanitarian situation.

Sources

https://apnews.com/article/south-sudan-fighting-ugandan-troops-3e36094b4eaea9247843ea3fad86f03d

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/11/9/nearly-380000-people-displaced-by-south-sudan-floods-un-says

https://www.deccanherald.com/world/sixty-percent-of-south-sudan-population-facing-acute-hunger-un-928942.html

https://www.unocha.org/publications/report/south-sudan/south-sudan-floods-snapshot-1-november-2024

Angola is trying to facilitate direct peace negotiations between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. It’s formally invited both sides to peace talks beginning 18 March.

Angola has been at the forefront of the Luanda Process, a regional effort aimed at addressing the interstate aspects of the ongoing crisis between the DRC and Rwanda. In parallel, the Nairobi Process seeks to mediate a resolution involving the 120 armed groups operating in eastern DRC and the Kinshasa government. However, progress on both initiatives has stalled.

President Félix Tshisekedi has consistently refused to engage in talks with M23, which launched a rapid offensive in late December 2024 following the cancellation of planned peace talks in Luanda with Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Since then, M23 has taken control of Goma and Bukavu, the largest cities in eastern DRC, along with numerous towns in the mineral-rich provinces of North and South Kivu.

Continued……Tina Salama, the spokesperson for President Tshisekedi, confirmed that Kinshasa had received an invitation to the 18 March talks, but did not provide any confirmation regarding attendance. Meanwhile, Bertrand Bisimwa, the political leader of M23, claimed on social-media platform X that the group had successfully pressured Tshisekedi into considering negotiations.

According to the UN, some 1.65-million people in South Kivu (20% of the province’s population) have been displaced by the recent fighting - with around 7,000 fatalities, as reported by DRC’s prime minister Judith Suminwa.

The DRC has been embroiled in a resource conflict for three decades, involving over 100 foreign-backed militia groups vying for control of the country’s estimated $24 trillion in mineral wealth, which includes high-demand resources such as coltan, cobalt, copper and lithium, which are essential for the transition to clean energy.

Sources

https://www.africanews.com/2025/03/13/mediator-angola-says-drc-and-m23-rebels-to-hold-direct-peace-talks/

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/congo-m23-rebels-begin-direct-peace-talks-march-18-angola-says-2025-03-12/?taid=67d1e0c41d5a610001032622&utm_campaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/12/drc-and-m23-rebels-to-begin-direct-talks-next-week-mediator-angola-says

https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/7000-killed-since-january-fighting-drc-says-congo-prime-minister-2025-02-24/

https://x.com/bbisimwa/status/1899864643004182818

U.S. CONGRESSMAN SAYS TO-BE-DEPORTED PALESTINIAN ‘SHOULD GO HOME’

The recent arrest and potential deportation of Syrian-born Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil in the US has sparked outrage. Activists across the country are calling for his immediate, unconditional release. In this clip, women-founded anti-imperialist organisation CodePink’s co-founder Medea Benjamin confronted US Congressman Burgess Owens on 12 March, who only replied that Khalil ‘should go home’ and that ‘he’s a terrorist,’ with no evidence to back that claim.

Owens’ reply makes sense when we examine how much money US Congress members accept from pro-Israel lobbying groups. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) boasted in November 2024 that 210 of the 362 pro-Israel congress members and candidates it backed had won their respective seats. According to Open Secrets, AIPAC was Owens’ largest campaign funder, contributing $28,645 in 2024.

Continued……Khalil, a legal permanent resident holding a US green card—who earned a master’s degree in December 2024 from Columbia—was known for organising protests on campus against Israel’s US-funded military onslaught of Palestinians. The first student encampment among many worldwide started on Columbia’s campus in April 2024. Back then, the university administration called the police to arrest student protesters. Interestingly, the former student was also arrested by federal authorities on 8 March in a university-owned apartment building, raising further questions about Columbia’s role in the government’s campaign against activists.

According to US President Donald Trump, Khalil’s arrest is the first ‘of many to come.’ It is especially shameful when Black people like Owens, who should know what it’s like to live under oppression, choose to stand with the oppressor for material gain and to advance their political ambitions.

Video credit: @codepink (X) / @codepinkalert (IG) and @medeabenjamin (X) / @medea.benjamin (IG)

Sources

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/columbia-university-student-mahmoud-khalil-hearing-deportation/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/10/trump-arrest-palestinian-activist-mahmoud-khalil

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/burgess-owens/summary?cid=N00045812&cycle=2024&type=I

https://x.com/AIPAC/status/1805794265299058922

https://apnews.com/article/inside-columbia-protest-movement-0b35ff55f18d0bf4b2c8c0a27b1dbe04

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/22/us/columbia-university-protests.html

https://www.facebook.com/AIPAC/posts/210-aipac-backed-candidates-won-their-election-so-far-tonightwe-are-proud-to-sta/1029600255864448

Continued…..Sources

https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-young-one-reported-among-survivors-rape-during-sudans-violent-conflict

https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/sudan-un-fact-finding-mission-documents-large-scale-sexual-violence-and

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/sudan-civil-war-child-rape-sexual-assault-unicef-army-rsf-rcna194648

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/sudan-civil-war-children-unicef-rsf-rcna130738

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-66317210

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/longform/2023/8/14/dont-let-the-other-soldiers-watch-rape-as-a-weapon-of-war-in-sudan

https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session57/A-HRC-57-CRP-6-en.pdf

HOW LBJ TRIED TO CENSOR CIVIL RIGHTS HEROINE

Today, we pay tribute to Fannie Lou Hamer, an indomitable civil-rights leader and passionate community organiser whose legacy continues to inspire us. She passed away on 14 March 1977, but her fight for justice and equality resonates powerfully to this day.

During the 1960s, Black Southerners came together to organise and resist White-supremacy and systemic violence against African-Americans. Hamer was one of the founders and the vice-chairperson of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, a political force created to challenge the racist mainstream Mississippi Democratic Party.

Continued……In 1964, in a bid to change things, she gave a powerful testimony to the Democratic National Convention, explaining her hardships and why the Mississippi Democrats needed to reform.

This was televised - or it was supposed to be - until President Lyndon B. Johnson cut her off air during an ‘urgent’ TV press conference. This turned out to be a complete distraction - Johnson merely reminded reporters that it had been nine months since Kennedy’s assassination! That gave the game away: LBJ simply didn’t want Hamer’s words to reach the wider nation.

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

THE COLONISER NEVER LEFT

This week, world leaders gathered to celebrate the Commonwealth - a club of 56 nations supposedly united by shared values and mutual prosperity. But behind the fanfare lies a brutal truth - the Commonwealth is simply the British Empire in new clothes. Pan Africanist scholar PLO Lumumba has long called out this illusion. In this clip, he argues that the Commonwealth was simply a way for the British Empire to rebrand while still maintaining the oppressive, exploitative system it benefited from.

Indeed, Commonwealth Day was known as Empire Day before the name was changed in 1958. While the Commonwealth promotes itself as a vehicle for unity and justice, there is nothing ‘common’ in the ‘wealth.’ Britain, like many colonial powers, refuses to atone for historical injustices.

Continued……The Caribbean, for instance, has demanded $24 trillion for Britain’s role in slavery. By some estimates, the UK owes India alone $45 trillion for its colonial-era plundering of the nation. Despite this, various administrations across Britain’s political spectrum have rejected calls for apologies and reparations.

The UK also perpetuates the oppressive status quo left in place after flag independence. It’s one of the IMF’s richest members, yet in 2021, the Fund granted London $27.5 billion in Special Drawing Rights - more than was allocated to all low-income countries combined ($21 billion). The IMF is hellbent on implementing neoliberalism on our continent, cutting funding for critical sectors such as healthcare and education, while deregulating labour and imposing privatisation - to disastrous effect.

Why, then, would any self-respecting sovereign country choose to be a part of the Commonwealth?

Video Credit: Africa Web TV (YouTube)

Sources
Caribbean demands
https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-news/trillions-owed-in-reparations-for-slavery-says-report/

India bill
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2018/12/19/how-britain-stole-45-trillion-from-india/

Rejection of reparation
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65401579
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlnrjd3087o

Britain in the IMF
https://debtjustice.org.uk/news/joint-statement-on-uks-re-channelling-of-special-drawing-rights-sdrs-allocation

IMF in Africa
https://actionaid.org/publications/2023/fifty-years-failure-imf-debt-and-austerity-africa