In Case You Missed It: 02/08/16 – 02/15/16

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The most impor­tant in this week’s head­lines out of and con­cern­ing Africa, for those who need help catch­ing up.

In this week’s news, the Oba­ma admin­is­tra­tion fis­cal year bud­get 2017 requests 7.1 bil­lion in assis­tance to the African con­ti­nent, and for­mer Chadean Leader, Hissene Habre, faces life in prison if con­vict­ed for crimes against humanity.

• Oba­ma Admin­is­tra­tion Allo­cates $7.1 Bil­lion in Assis­tance to Africa 

When U.S. Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma released his administration’s bud­get for fis­cal year 2017, there was plen­ty in it, amount­ing to a record $4.1 tril­lion in pro­posed spending.

The Repub­li­can-con­trolled Con­gress has promised a fight with the admin­is­tra­tion to cut back on what it con­sid­ers mas­sive and unnec­es­sary spend­ing. Less than one per­cent of the 4 tril­lion fed­er­al bud­get goes to for­eign aid, accord­ing to NPR News. 

With­in the bud­get, the admin­is­tra­tion allo­cat­ed 7.1 bil­lion towards spend­ing to sup­port ini­tia­tives it is under­tak­ing in the African con­ti­nent. Specif­i­cal­ly, the White House lists a “grow­ing part­ner­ship with Africa” and “sus­tain­ing the president’s devel­op­ment and democ­ra­cy agen­da” as some areas the admin­is­tra­tion would like to focus on vis-à-vis the pro­posed budget.

In the U.S. there are more than 20 agen­cies involved in the fund­ing and exe­cu­tion of for­eign aid activities.

At a Feb­ru­ary 9 brief­ing on the bud­get, Deputy Sec­re­tary for Man­age­ment and Resources at the State Depart­ment, Heather Hig­gin­bot­tom, said requests for the depart­ment will allow them “to con­tin­ue to advance peace, good gov­er­nance, health, and eco­nom­ic growth across the continent.”

Mean­while Oba­ma signed into law, Feb­ru­ary 8, the Elec­tri­fy Africa Act, a week after it was approved by the U.S. House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives. In Sep­tem­ber 2015 the U.S. Sen­ate approved its ver­sion of the leg­is­la­tion which aims to give access to elec­tric­i­ty to mil­lions of cit­i­zens in sub-Saha­ran Africa.

• Final Argu­ments Heard In The Tri­al of For­mer Chadean Leader, Hissene Habre

© 2015 Radiod­if­fu­sion Télévi­sion Sénégalaise

Hissène Habré at his tri­al in Dakar, Novem­ber 2015

In a tri­al marked by non-coop­er­a­tion from the for­mer Chadean dic­ta­tor, Hissene Habre, the clos­ing argu­ments were heard Thurs­day, Feb­ru­ary 11, in Dakar, Sene­gal. We are told the for­mer leader is being tried for crimes against human­i­ty, war crimes and torture.

Habre, 79, led Chad from 1982 to 1990. He was top­pled by cur­rent pres­i­dent, Idris Der­by Itno in a Decem­ber 1990 mil­i­tary coup. Habre is being tried by a spe­cial court known as the Extra­or­di­nary African Cham­bers with sup­port from the African Union.

The case has gar­nered plen­ty of atten­tion and is con­sid­ered extra­or­di­nary because, essen­tial­ly, one African nation is try­ing the for­mer leader of anoth­er African nation.

“The pre­sid­ing judge is from Burk­i­na Faso, and the oth­er two are from Sene­gal. They must decide if the many crimes pre­sent­ed in court can be imput­ed to Mr. Habré,“ accord­ing to The New York Times.

The tri­al began in July 2015. The judge in the case said a ver­dict could come by May 30.