French Departure From Niger Underscores Fading Influence

African News Review, VOA News AfricaLeave a comment

https://gdb.voanews.com/f83656b4-3034–4dec-bc4c-92d469468139_cx0_cy8_cw0_w800_h450.jpgPARIS — France clos­es 2023 with a dimin­ished pres­ence in Africa’s restive Sahel region, after with­draw­ing troops from three once-staunch allied coun­tries col­lec­tive­ly fight­ing an Islamist insur­gency, and see­ing its influ­ence increas­ing­ly replaced by oth­er pow­ers, includ­ing Rus­sia. The last French sol­diers left Niger ear­li­er this month, with Paris tak­ing the unusu­al step of clos­ing its…

The rise and fall of geopolitical Europe

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Nathalie Toc­ci is direc­tor of the Isti­tu­to Affari Inter­nazion­ali, a part-time pro­fes­sor at the Euro­pean Uni­ver­si­ty Insti­tute and a Europe’s Futures fel­low at the Insti­tute for Human Sci­ences. Her lat­est book, “A Green and Glob­al Europe,” is out with Poli­ty. As the Euro­pean Union’s lead­er­ship enters its last lap, with the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment elec­tions scheduled…

Uganda Anti-Gay Law Met with Condemnation from US, UN

Culture and Society, East Africa, Headline

On June 1, Pres­i­dent Yow­eri Musev­eni, the auto­crat­ic and long-serv­ing leader of the African nation of Ugan­da, signed what is con­sid­ered one of the harsh­est anti-LGBTQ laws glob­al­ly. Some of the pun­ish­ments in the new law for Uganda’s found break­ing the law include a 20-year sen­tence, and cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment for repeat offend­ers and oth­er individuals…

Sierra Leone Independence Day

Coloradans Gather for Sierra Leone’s Independence Day Celebration

Africans and African Americans, Africans in Colorado, Culture and Society, Headline, West Africa

April 27 marked 62 years since the African nation of Sier­ra Leone attained its inde­pen­dence from Great Britain.  The local com­mu­ni­ty of Sier­ra Leoneans in Col­orado did not want this impor­tant his­tor­i­cal event to pass by silent­ly. So, they sent out invi­ta­tions, pre­pared dish­es, ordered a vari­ety of drinks, and gath­ered in the halls of…

The old guard: Joe Biden seems like a spring chicken compared to some of these guys

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When the U.S. pres­i­dent on Tues­day announced that he would seek reelec­tion in 2024, atten­tion quick­ly turned to his advanced age.  If elect­ed, Joe Biden would be 82 on inau­gu­ra­tion day in 2025, and 86 on leav­ing the White House in Jan­u­ary 2029.  POLITICO took a look around the globe and back through his­to­ry to meet…

Nigerian Agency Says Malaria Vaccine Could Protect Millions

African News Review, VOA News Africa, West AfricaLeave a comment

https://gdb.voanews.com/09d40000-0a00-0242-b82e-08da91ad6f07_w800_h450.jpgNige­ri­a’s Nation­al Agency for Food and Drug Admin­is­tra­tion and Con­trol, NAFDAC, announced a pro­vi­sion­al approval of the R21 vac­cine dur­ing a media brief­ing on Mon­day. The reg­u­la­to­ry agen­cy’s con­sent came days after Ghana approved the vac­cine. NAFDAC said the vac­cine is 70 to 80 per­cent effi­cient in pre­vent­ing the mos­qui­­to-borne dis­ease and could pro­tect millions…

‘Keep your head down’ — Americans in Russia tread carefully after arrest of US journalist

FactCheck, Journalism, Journalism.org, Politico EULeave a comment

MOSCOW — If Amer­i­cans in Rus­sia were wor­ried before, they now have an extra rea­son to be con­cerned.  The arrest of the Wall Street Jour­nal reporter Evan Ger­shkovich has sent rip­ples of alarm through the com­mu­ni­ty of Amer­i­can jour­nal­ists in Rus­sia, leav­ing many in the coun­try won­der­ing who, if any­one, might be next.  Ger­shkovich was seized by FSB security…

Demonstrations in Kenya: Important Details You Need to Know

African News Review, East Africa, Media

“We shall now hold protests every Mon­day and every Thurs­day begin­ning next week,” said Raila Odin­ga, oppo­si­tion par­ty leader who lost to Pres­i­dent William Ruto in Kenya’s last pres­i­den­tial elec­tions. A for­eign source cov­er­ing the recent Kenyan demon­stra­tions said Kenyans are angry Ruto lied to them. Police arrest­ed over 200 peo­ple dur­ing a March 20…

Niger Credited With Negotiating Release of US Aid Worker, French Journalist

African News Review, VOA News AfricaLeave a comment

https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000–0aff-0242–9f75-08db2a33a90b_cx0_cy8_cw0_w800_h450.jpgThe gov­ern­ment of Niger says it nego­ti­at­ed the release of a U.S. aid work­er and a French jour­nal­ist who were held cap­tive by Islamist mil­i­tants in the Sahel region. Aid work­er and mis­sion­ary Jef­fery Wood­ke was held for more than six years, while reporter Olivi­er Dubois spent near­ly two years in cap­tiv­i­ty. Kid­nap­pings in the…