In Case You Missed It: 5/9/16 — 5/15/16

Access to social media in Ugan­da was sus­pend­ed before the inau­gu­ra­tion of Pres­i­dent Yow­eri Museveni.

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

In this week’s news, Ugan­da silences social media, South African gold min­ers move for­ward with a law­suit, and res­cued cir­cus lions find new life in a South African preserve.

Social Media Blocked in Uganda

The Ugan­dan gov­ern­ment blocked all forms of social media pre­ced­ing the inau­gu­ra­tion of incum­bent Pres­i­dent, Yow­eri Musev­eni. Sworn in on Thurs­day, May 12, this is Musev­eni’s fifth term as Pres­i­dent of Uganda.

Many, both in Ugan­da and abroad, ques­tion the legit­i­ma­cy of the elec­tion results.

Ugan­da was cut off from social media dur­ing the Feb­ru­ary elec­tions.  The rea­son for the shut out is said to be relat­ed to secu­ri­ty issues, although many are ques­tion­ing why this is necessary.

Min­ers Seek Com­pen­sa­tion for Illness

Thou­sands of South African gold min­ers are mov­ing for­ward with a class-action law­suit against the coun­try’s min­ing firms. The min­ers suf­fer from a dis­ease called sil­i­co­sis, caused by min­ers inhal­ing dust that con­tains silica.

The dis­ease caus­es a wide range of com­pli­ca­tions, includ­ing inflam­ma­tion and scar­ring of the lungs, dif­fi­cul­ty breath­ing, weight loss, fatigue, heart prob­lems, and death. The law­suit aims to pro­vide com­pen­sa­tion for affect­ed min­ers, and to also make con­di­tions bet­ter for min­ers to reduce the num­ber of future cases.

Cir­cus Lions Find Asy­lum in South Africa

Thir­ty-three for­mer cir­cus lions from Peru and Colum­bia have found a new home at the Emoya Cat Sanc­tu­ary in South Africa. Work­ers at the sanc­tu­ary say they are intro­duc­ing the lions to their new habi­tat and to each oth­er in a grad­ual, safe way that focus­es on the safe­ty of the lions.

The lions were res­cued by Ani­mal Defend­ers Inter­na­tion­al, a non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tion, who col­lab­o­rat­ed with the Peru­vian and Colom­bian gov­ern­ments to res­cue the lions. They are now work­ing on laws to pre­vent the traf­fick­ing of exot­ic ani­mals in those countries.