In Case You Missed It 9/1/15 – 9/6/15

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

This week we look at the threat posed by reli­gious rad­i­cals in a Cen­tral African nation, the effects of tech­no­log­i­cal inno­va­tion in many African coun­tries, and a sport­ing extrav­a­gan­za begins in Brazzaville.

1. Reli­gious rad­i­cals risk insta­bil­i­ty in Cameroon 

Despite the recent trou­bles caused by Boko Haram, the African nation of Cameroon is known to be a place of peace around the Lake Chad region of Africa.

For one thing, the coun­try, unlike its neigh­bors, Nige­ria and the Cen­tral African Repub­lic, has nev­er expe­ri­enced mas­sive desta­bi­liza­tion caused by rad­i­cal reli­gious groups.

This pic­ture may be chang­ing, accord­ing to the Inter­na­tion­al Cri­sis Group, a Brus­sels-based non- gov­ern­men­tal orga­ni­za­tion which spe­cial­izes in risk assess­ment and the poten­tials for con­flict in coun­tries around the world.

In the Africa Report No 229, the group warns that the rise of Chris­t­ian revival­ist move­ments, or so called born-again Chris­tians, as well as Mus­lim fun­da­men­tal­ists move­ments in the north­ern part of the coun­try, espe­cial­ly pose a great risk to Cameroon’s stability.

With rapid changes tak­ing place with­in these groups, the Cameroon gov­ern­ment, the Cri­sis Group says, must take action to stem the desta­bi­liz­ing effects that are becom­ing visible.

“The strug­gle against the threat of reli­gious rad­i­cal­ism in Cameroon requires a coher­ent and com­pre­hen­sive strat­e­gy includ­ing a bet­ter under­stand­ing of the cur­rent reli­gious changes, sup­port for a char­ter on reli­gious tol­er­ance, the cre­ation of rep­re­sen­ta­tive bod­ies for the Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ties and Revival­ist Church­es, and the eco­nom­ic and social devel­op­ment of frag­ile regions.”

2. “The future Is African” 

Even as there is a slow-down in the economies of many African coun­tries, the tech­no­log­i­cal changes sweep­ing across the con­ti­nent con­tin­ue unabated.

Tech­nol­o­gy has tak­en off in Africa, we are told.

“With smart­phone prices plum­met­ing, with ever-afford­able, and fast, mobile data and with increas­ing­ly user-friend­ly ser­vices, tech has tak­en off in Africa.”

This analy­sis comes from Bar­ret Nash, a con­trib­u­tor for Tech Crunch, a lead­ing U.S. tech­nol­o­gy firm that pro­files star­tups. Writ­ing what he says is a “call to action”, Nash, CEO of Safe Motors, states:

“Until the world’s best and bright­est decide to stay in Africa, instead of ignore it or flee it, there will be lit­tle head­way in cre­at­ing a tech ecosys­tem that inno­v­a­tive­ly con­fronts the oppor­tu­ni­ties and chal­lenges of the con­ti­nent — because no one under­stands them.”

Nash, who has spent a sub­stan­tial amount of time on the con­ti­nent, is ask­ing Amer­i­can tech entre­pre­neurs, those he calls the dream­ers, not to build the next Face­book or What­sApp in Amer­i­ca, but instead to do that in Africa.

3. 11^th All Africa Games kick-off in Brazav­ille, Congo 

Hav­ing host­ed the first games in 1965, the Con­golese cap­i­tal is host to the 2015 All Africa Games, a con­ti­nen­tal mul­ti-sports event orga­nized every four years by the Supreme Coun­cil for Sports in Africa.

Lyon-based Euronews, a mul­ti­lin­gual Euro­pean news chan­nel says, “ The eyes of the sport­ing world will be on the cen­tral African coun­try which in the past has made head­lines beyond the sport­ing pages.”

The two-week event, from Sep­tem­ber 1 to 18, involves all 53 mem­ber coun­tries of the Asso­ci­a­tion of Nation­al Olympic Com­mit­tees of Africa (ANOCA). This year, 49 coun­tries are par­tic­i­pat­ing, accord­ing to Euronews.

Read more: Pope Fran­cis sends good wish­es to All Africa Games