Considered by many as a leading figure of the “new generation” of African leaders, Yoweri Museveni was born into a family of Hima cattle herders, a clan of the Ankole people of southwestern Uganda in about 1944. He was named Museveni in honor of the Abaseveni, those Ugandans who served in the Seventh Battalion of the King’s African Rifles during World War II. Early in Museveni’s childhood, his parents converted to Christianity, and from the age of seven he was sent to school. At Kyamate Primary School, he met Martin Mwesiga and Eriya Kategaya, who were to become two close colleagues in the adult political struggles that lay ahead.
In 1962, while at Ntare Senior Secondary School in Mbarara, Museveni became a born-again Christian, but in 1966 he broke with established Christianity over the missionaries’ refusal to allow the Scripture Union to debate his motion condemning Ian Smith’s Universal Declaration of Independence (UDI) in Rhodesia. For some time, he had been unhappy with some of their biblical interpretations, and in particular, he believed that their stand of evading “worldly” issues and condemning all violence, even as a means of liberation, was immoral.
By this time, Museveni had developed an interest in Ugandan politics. He and his student colleagues condemned the sectarian basis of much of Ugandan party politics: the DP (Democratic Party) and UPC (Uganda Peoples Congress), as they saw it, being primarily divided along a combination of religious and tribal sectarianism. In 1967, Museveni went to the University of Dar es Salaam to study political science.
He preferred Dar es Salaam to Uganda’s own Makerere because he perceived it to be politically more radical, and he saw Tanzania under Nyerere as the one African country that provided clear support for the liberation movements of southern Africa. Finding most of the university’s staff not radical enough, Museveni founded the student discussion group, the University Students’ African Revolutionary Front. He made contact with the Mozambican liberation movement, FRELIMO, and met Eduardo Mondlane, Samora Machel, and Joachim Chissano.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
In 1968, Museveni led a small group of students to visit the liberated zone in northern Mozambique. Contacts made at this time were to prove invaluable in the future when Museveni and his colleagues needed military training in guerrilla warfare. Upon graduating in 1970, Museveni got employment in the President’s Office in Kampala as a research assistant, and he briefly joined UPC. Museveni writes in his memoirs that he cherished a glimmer of optimism during this time period that the UPC could be transformed from inside, despite the fact that he claims to have mistrusted Obote and the UPC ever since the middle of the 1960s.
Idi Amin’s coup in January 1971, with the goal of rallying support for a long liberation struggle. They made their way to Dar es Salaam, but Museveni was unable to win Nyerere’s support for any kind of struggle that did not involve Obote being reinstated as President of Uganda at this time. This setback occurred while they were in Dar es Salaam. Museveni was very active during the 1970s in surreptitiously recruiting followers both inside and outside of Uganda. He also organized military training, mostly in Mozambique, and smuggled guns into the nation.
In September of 1972, he was a participant in Obote’s failed invasion of Uganda. During this conflict and earlier skirmishes with Amin’s forces, a lot of his closest friends were taken out of his life. When the Tanzanians eventually invaded Uganda in 1979, Museveni joined them with a group of well-trained Ugandan exiles under his leadership.
This force was under his command. Museveni participated in the interim governments of Yusufu Lule and Godfrey Binaisa, but he left those positions because he was dissatisfied with the intrigues and the lack of agreement that emerged during those times. In the end, he was in favor of removing both of these interim presidents from office, but he was dismayed to see that the same divisive party politics from the 1960s had returned.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
Museveni quickly organized his own political organization, the Uganda Patriotic Movement, in order to compete with Obote once the latter returned to Uganda in May 1980. Museveni denounced the election as “rigged” after it was determined that Obote had been returned to power as a result of the extremely flawed election that took place in December 1980. He then went into hiding to continue his long-running quest for liberty. The assault on the Kabamba barracks, which are located to the west of Kampala, marked the beginning of the conflict on February 6, 1981.
The assault by twenty-seven armed men did not succeed in taking the armory, and Museveni took his troops to the Luwero Triangle to the north of Kampala in some captured vehicles via a convoluted path in order to get there. The years that followed were filled with war and suffering; but, with Museveni’s leadership and training, a well-disciplined National Resistance Army (NRA) was established from the ground up.
Under Uganda President Yoweri Museveni leadership, a National Resistance Movement (NRM) was established, and a ten-point plan was devised to serve as the foundation upon which the new government would be established when the war was won. When Kenya’s President Moi attempted to mediate a peace deal between the National Resistance Army (NRA) and the Okello regime, which had taken power from Obote in July 1985, Museveni used the Nairobi peace talks to buy his men more time to position themselves for the final assault on Kampala.
This occurred while Moi was in power in Kenya. The city fell to the NRA on January 27, 1986, and two days later, Yoweri Museveni was sworn in as president of Uganda. On coming to power, Museveni placed a high priority on army discipline, national reconciliation, and economic reconstruction. The well-disciplined army soon gained wide respect among civilians, in marked contrast to the fear and contempt that greeted the sectarian and ill-disciplined armies of Amin, Obote, and Okello. Museveni instilled in the army a clear respect for human rights and for the law as well as order.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
Yoweri Museveni was essential in convincing parliament to authorize the return to Ugandan Asians of assets stolen by Amin in 1972. On the economic front, financial discipline and economic liberalization were firmly established, and Yoweri Museveni was instrumental in getting parliament to sanction the return. According to him, they were seasoned businesspeople who had capital and a dedication to Uganda, and as a result, they were an essential component of his plans for the expansion of the economy of the nation.
Yoweri Museveni saw a wide free trade area including eastern, central, and southern Africa as the only way to truly advance the economic and commercial growth of Africa. This was a major tenet of his vision for the future. In order to do this, he played a significant role in the revitalization of the East African Community that took place in Arusha, Tanzania, in the month of January 2001. Yoweri Museveni’s claims of national inclusivity will remain somewhat hollow until the northern half of the country, which is home to Obote and Amin, is brought more fully into sharing the economic advantages of the south.
In the southern half of the country, things like national reconciliation, economic growth, and building back up have gone well. Attacks in the north by dissident rebels who operate from bases in Sudan and eastern Congo have put the Ugandan army through harsh testing. Ironically, Museveni had first constructed the Ugandan army out of tiny, mobile bands of guerrilla fighters when he first took power. In 1998, Museveni gave permission for the Ugandan Defense Force to cross into the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC; formerly known as Zaire) and pursue the rebels and their supporters there in response to additional attacks from rebels coming across the western border from the unstable Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
By doing so, Yoweri Museveni drew the army of Rwanda into the current civil war that he had started in Uganda as a result of his actions. Regardless of Uganda’s strategic interests in the civil conflict taking place in its neighboring country, the presence of the Ugandan army in the Congo (up to its departure in 2003) has cast severe doubts on the much-vaunted judgment and integrity of President Museveni. Politically, Museveni continues to oppose multiparty politics on the grounds that it might eventually lead to the rise of sectarianism.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni
Because Yoweri Museveni continues to get strategic and economic backing from Britain and the United States, he is almost the only person in Africa who is not under pressure to adopt the multiparty prescription. This support ensures that he continues to receive it. However, it is highly improbable that his inclusive and nonpartisan “movement” system can survive the last five years of his time as president, which started in March 2001 when Yoweri Museveni was reelected to that office.
The History of How Ancient Egypt Ended has always been fascinating. The ancient Egyptian empire was both one of the first and one of the ones that lasted the longest in the annals of history. The duration of the empire was almost three thousand years. During that period, the empire flourished and collapsed as power passed from one dynasty to the next and as it was occasionally invaded by empires that were located in its immediate vicinity.
After 1100 BC, Egypt began a period of decline, which is consistent with what history teaches us about the fate of even the mightiest civilizations. This happened because of a number of things, including a drop in military power, a lack of natural resources, and political fighting within the country.
The reigns of the final great pharaohs, Ramses II and Ramses III (1,189 BC to 1,077 BCE), are distinguished by Egypt’s might and its capacity to repel foreign aggressors. However, it took a large number of people and resources to fend off these ongoing attacks, and as a result, the economic empire was in a state of disarray as a result of these defenses.
Egypt went through a civil war and ended up being divided into two distinct areas as a result. Because of this, it was easy for the Assyrians to take over in 671 BCE, the Persians to take over in 525 BCE, and then the Greeks to take over in 332 BCE.
The environment changed into one that was more unpredictably turbulent as the Egyptian empire came to an end. The water from the Nile floods was very important for the crops of the Egyptians. However, over the course of about a century, the climate in Egypt became increasingly dry, and there was a severe lack of water.
There were also extended periods of extremely cold weather, which added further stress to the crops and resulted in a significant reduction in the amount of food that was harvested. In addition, crops were ruined as a result of the Nile’s unexpected and unpredictable inundation. Hunger and famine may quickly develop when there is either very little food or none at all for extended periods of time.
The decline of the Ancient Egyptian empire was also fueled by instability in the country’s economy and political system. There was a significant wealth gap between the elites and the rest of the population as a result of the unequal distribution of wealth. A great number of individuals began to have doubts regarding both the government and religious authorities. The never-ending wars cost a lot of money and made it harder for the Pharaoh to use his economic power.
The adoption of the alphabet in place of hieroglyphics was one of the most significant cultural shifts brought about by the introduction of Christianity, which also began to expand throughout Egypt. There was an end to a great deal of old practice, including mummification.
Jacob Zuma, who used to be the president of South Africa, has been let out of prison after serving the rest of his time for disrespecting the court.
In a statement released on Friday, a government official of the country provided this information.
Last year, Zuma was given a sentence of fifteen months in prison for disobeying instructions to take part in an investigation into corruption.
As his dissatisfied followers filled the streets after he turned himself in to the police in South Africa on July 7, 2021, the country saw the worst violence it had seen in years as a direct result of his actions, which led to the beginning of his jail sentence.
According to Reuters, in response to his release from prison, Zuma stated that he was relieved to be a free man and thanked all who had supported him.
“The messages of support on social media and other platforms kept me strong and focused on ensuring that those who wanted to break my spirit and resolve do not succeed,” Zuma said.
In September of 2021, the former president was discharged from office due to a medical ailment. But in December, the Supreme Court reversed their judgment to grant him parole and ordered that he be returned to prison. Zuma appealed the verdict, and he was allowed to stay free while the appeal was being heard.
“Mr Zuma complied with his conditions for medical parole as set out during his placement,” the Correctional Services department said in a statement.
“All administrative processes have now been concluded, and the sentence expiry date marks the end of his serving his sentence under community corrections.”
By the seventeenth century, the Yoruba People had already established themselves as a distinct people thanks to their long-standing customs of holy kingship, urbanization, and sculptural arts. These facets of Yoruba culture are best exemplified by the historical history of Ile-Ife (also known as Ife), as well as Oyo. Nevertheless, Yorubaland was home to a number of other flourishing realms in addition to these well-known kingdoms.
Who are the Yoruba People
The most noteworthy of them were founded among Yoruba-speaking dialectal groupings such as Ijesa, Ekiti, Egba, Ijebu, Igbomina, Ibolo, Awori, Ondo, Akoko, and Okun. Before the eighteenth century, many of these states had acquired varied degrees of authority and influence within the Yoruba nation. The earliest of these was the kingdom of Owu, which eventually gained such prominence that it competed with Oyo for the dominance of central and northern Yorubaland.
This competition continued until the reign of the third alafin (king), Sango, who successfully broke Owu’s stranglehold over Oyo and effectively ended its temporary paramountcy in northern Yorubaland. After that, the kingdom of Ijesa, which was located in the east central part of Yorubaland, rose to prominence. Ijesa was founded by Ajibogun, a son of Oduduwa and the father of the Yoruba people. As it expanded, it absorbed numerous polities to the east of Ile-Ife, such as Ilemure, which was governed by the Ita, and Ilesa, which was dominated by the Onila.
Ijesa is considered the cradle of the Yoruba people. During the reign of Atakunmosa (about 1500), the kingdom extended into the regions of Osun, Ekiti, and Igbomina. This expansion was made possible by a succession of ruthless Owa who followed him. The land that belonged to the Egba people, who did not unify under a single ruler, was located to the west of Ife and south of Oyo. They instead formed a loose confederacy composed of four independent but linked factions, which served as its organizational structure.
These were the Egba Gbagura, which was governed by the agura and was headquartered in Ido; the Egba Oke Ona, which was governed by the osile and was headquartered in Oko; the Egba Ake, which was governed by the alake and was governed by Ake; and finally, the Egba Ageyin, which was governed by the ojoko of Kesi. When the Egba fell under the influence of the Oyo empire in the late seventeenth century, the Alake was the most powerful of these monarchs.
Who are the Yoruba People
After absorbing the Agbeyin group, he was well on his way to emerging as the paramount ruler. In the latter years of the eighteenth century, the Egba, who were led by Lisabi, were able to effectively declare their independence from Oyo and seize control of their own destiny. The kingdom of Ijebu might be found to the west of the Egba river. Ijebu was first discovered by European travelers in the fifteenth century.
It was founded by three waves of immigrants who came from Ile-Ife in quick succession. Despite their enormous population and the fact that they speak a common language and share a common culture, the Ijebu did not become politically integrated until the eighteenth century. A faction known as the Remo recognized the paramountcy of Ofin Sagamu’s akarigbo as their leader, in contrast to the bulk of people who acknowledged the Awujale paramountcy, which was centered in Ijebu Ode. Due to the strategic position of the city, Ijebu was forced to wage a never-ending battle for its independence from the imperial aspirations of both Oyo and Benin.
The kingdoms of Lagos, Ikale, and Ilaje people were located to the south of Ijebu, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, and south of Ijebu. Lagos, like Ijebu, was founded by successive waves of Awori-Yoruba migrants from central Yorubaland. However, unlike Ijebu, Lagos quickly came to be governed by Benin during its imperial period. This imperial link, on the other hand, did not prevent the region’s development as a major transatlantic slave trafficking entrepôt or its subsequent success in that role.
Before the nineteenth century, a number of powerful kingdoms existed in what is now known as western Yorubaland. Ketu, Sabe, and Idaisa were the most noteworthy of them, and out of the three, Ketu went on to become the most significant. Due to its location between antagonistic and more aggressive neighbors, Ketu spent a significant portion of its history battling to maintain its independence. Ketu fell under the imperial dominion of Oyo at some point during the eighteenth century, despite the enormous and formidable walls that protected it at the time.
In the year 1789, a marauding army from Dahomey raided and devastated the town. The majority of the town’s people were then sold into slavery. The land of the Egbado may be found to the south of Ketu. The Egbado were quickly conquered by Oyo, whose economic and strategic interests led it to reshape the political map of this region beginning in the seventeenth century. The Egbado were loosely organized into numerous and autonomous mini-states such as Ilobi, Erinja, Ado, Ipokia, Igan, Egua, and Aiyetoro.
Who are the Yoruba People
Some of these mini-states include: Ilobi, Erinja, Ado, I The rugged topography of the land of the Ekiti, which is located in eastern Yorubaland, allowed for the emergence and proliferation of several centers of power, many of which eventually developed into kingdoms. This was made possible by the fact that the land was divided into a number of different kingdoms. The names Ado, Ijero, Otun, Aye, and Akure stand out as the most important among the 16 names that are historically gained prominence in oral traditions.
The closeness of these kingdoms to Benin brought them, at different periods and to differing degrees, under the imperial and cultural dominance of the Benin empire. However, all of these kingdoms claimed that their royal ancestry originated in Ile-Ife. The kingdoms of Owo and Ondo were located to the southeast of the Ekiti region. Due to the fact that they were located in a cultural frontier zone, they were subject to significant cultural and political influences from Benin and other Yoruba communities.
The most noteworthy of these prior groups were the seven independent villages of Idasin, which were governed by the Alale, in addition to Iyare and Iso. The founding of Owo by a prince of Ile-Ife included the conquest and incorporation of numerous other preceding tribes. In a similar manner, the establishment of Ondo took place at the expense of the indigenous people, specifically the Idoko, Oka, and Ifore, who had to be conquered and forcefully assimilated into the infant state. This occurred at the expense of the indigenous groups. Groups known as the Ibolo, Igbomina, and Okun-Yoruba made their homes to the north of Ekiti and to the east of Oyo.
By the beginning of the eighteenth century, this area had already been inhabited by a great number of autonomous state institutions. These individuals belonged to the Igbomina people, and their names were Ila, Ajase, Omu, Aran, Isanlu-isin, Iwo, Oro Ora, and Igbaja. Ofa, Igosun, Ijagbo, Ipee, and Igbonna were all constituent states of the Ibolo confederation. The Okun-Yoruba were divided into five large subgroups, including the Owe, Yagba, Bunu, Ijumu, and Oworo.
These five major subgroups were populated by migrants from a variety of different backgrounds, including the non-Yoruba-speaking Nupe, Edo, and Igala. Although there was significant connection between them, and although the Orangun of Ila and the Olofa of Ofa were granted some respect, none of these tribes ever established a single political organization, despite the fact that there was considerable interaction between them. The sociopolitical organization was characterized by the mini-states, which were made up of independent villages in which no right or authority was acknowledged beyond the confines of each of the autonomous settlements.
With a few notable exceptions, the sociopolitical organization was comprised of independent villages. This decentralized sociopolitical existence made the northeastern Yoruba groups particularly vulnerable to the constant military pressures, imperial conquest, and human depredations that were perpetrated by their more powerful and imperious neighbors, such as Oyo, Nupe, and Benin. These neighbors did not hesitate to make short work of their nebulous independence.
African Inventions are very important. The media is an important tool that plays a significant role in forming and influencing people’s perceptions and interpretations of Africa, African people, and individuals of African heritage. We can all agree that Western media perpetuate negative preconceptions about Africa by depicting the continent as one that is beset by poverty, violence, and sickness. This, in turn, contributes to the perpetuation of more negative ideas. The rapidly expanding number of young people in Africa is altering the western world’s narrative and view of the continent. There are millions of people living in Africa who are now making contributions to the continent’s technological industry.
Jerry Issac Mallo, a Nigerian fabrication engineer who is also the Chief Executive Officer of Bennie Technologies LTD, made history by constructing the first Nigerian-made fiber sports vehicle in Nigeria and West Africa. Mallo is 27 years old. In the year 1994, Jerry Issac Mallo was born in the state of Plateau. He attended King’s School in Gana Ropp, which is located in the state of Plateau. This was the beginning of his formal education.
If The African Dream Book is to be believed, After finishing his primary schooling, he continued his studies at the Boys Secondary School in Gindiri, which is located in the state of Plateau. He was awarded a scholarship and attended the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. During his time in high school, he focused on painting. When he wished to take the senior high school certificate test, he made the decision to change his major to one of the sciences. In the end, he decided to attend university and major in Engineering.
Jerry Mallo had a clear goal in mind even when he was just five years old: he wanted to have a career in the motor business. Jerry Mallo began crafting toy vehicles out of rubbish while he was a child living in a rural community in Nigeria. During an interview, he spoke such words to Tayo Aina, a Nigerian YouTuber: “I always wanted my toy vehicles to be the finest among my peer group.” I consistently devoted my time to the process of manufacturing them. At one point, I made the tires out of old slippers that I had lying around. Even my brand-new slippers are put to use on occasion to get the desired effect.
In 2012, at the age of 18 and while he was still attending secondary school, he constructed his first automobile out of rubbish that was “life-size.” He left his studies unfinished in the UK and went back to Nigeria to launch a vehicle manufacturing business there instead. According to him, Africa possesses all of the resources and raw materials that are required in the construction of automobiles, but unfortunately, vehicles are only rarely manufactured in Africa.
Therefore, one of the reasons why he decided to pursue a career in the production of automobiles is so that he might fill that gap in the market. Jerry Isaac Mallo, Chief Executive Officer of Bennie Technologies Limited, created waves around the country in November of 2019 when he debuted Nigeria’s first luxury sports vehicle, the Bennie Purrie.
This event garnered media attention across the country. The Bennie Purrie is not the entrepreneur and automobile engineer’s first significant product; however, it is the first product to be designed using carbon fiber to give it a more durable safety quality.Mallo had for a long time established the Jos-based Bennie as a “machine design, fabrication, and manufacturing firm that streamlines local agricultural operations via mechanization and automation.” This was the company’s corporate identity. In addition, he made news the year before by presenting Nigeria with its first locally manufactured ventilator, which was intended to assist the Nigerian government in battling the COVID-19 virus.
“In Europe, we discovered that creating the automobile is simply half of the difficulty, and selling it is the other half,” he said in an interview with Channels TV. “Africa is normally the target destination to sell these vehicles, so I feel that there’s a great demand for it here.” Regarding the safety features of the material, he explained that the majority of people are crushed and mashed in cars because those cars are made from aluminum or galvanized sheets, which are unable to absorb shocks when traveling at high speeds. The material in question is the one being discussed here.
The sports car owned by Bennie Purrie has a fantastic cooling system, with four radiators to guarantee that the inside temperature is maintained at a comfortable level regardless of the outside weather. This initial model features a 2.0-liter engine that generates around 130 horsepower and has an acceleration time of 12 seconds while going from 0 to 120 kilometers per hour. The “Bennie Purrie” is constructed out of fibers that, in the event of a collision, will shatter in a manner analogous to that of glass or bottles, while the occupants of the vehicle will be protected by the airbags.
This automobile also features a tubular chassis, which makes it capable of withstanding the rough terrain seen in Nigeria. During an interview with Tedge News, he was asked about what drives him, and he gave the following answer: “I studied automotive engineering, that’s the manufacturing of cars, not mechanical, and I’m building agro equipment and other hardware, not because that’s what I studied in school but what I’ve learned. It was self-thought. I learned it online. Google and YouTube are where I spent most of my time and my time in the morning. I learn from there.”
I DON’T EXPECT NIGERIANS TO ACCEPT NIGERIAN PRODUCT AT ONCE. I KNOW AND BELIEVE IT’S A GRADUAL PROCESS. GRADUALLY, YOU’LL HAVE TO GIVE THEM REASONS TO BELIEVE IN IT; YOU’LL HAVE TO PROVE TO THEM THAT IT HAS A BETTER QUALITY, YOU’LL HAVE TO GIVE THEM A REASON TO USE NIGERIAN. OVER TIME, I HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT THE PATRONAGE WOULD GET BETTER.
He is involved in more than just the production of sports automobiles. In addition to it, Jerry Mallo manufactures agricultural machines. Bennie Agro Ltd. is his second business, and it is an agro and industrial machine design and fabrication firm that is based in Jos, Plateau. The firm designs and builds machines that improve the efficiency of agricultural procedures and increase the value of crops.
They achieve this by meeting with farmers, listening to the issues that they face, and developing designs that provide the best solutions to these issues, thus making the farmers’ agricultural operations simpler through mechanization and automation. Tractors, planters, weeding machines, harvesters, and threshers are some of the agricultural machines that are fabricated by Bennie Agro Ltd. The company also produces other types of agricultural machinery. In addition to that, he has invented machines that can process a variety of foods, including rice, maize, cassava, millet, peanuts, and oilseeds.
An African Invention. A young and gifted artisan by the name of Honesty Godwin from the country of Nigeria in West Africa developed an electric wheelchair equipped with an automated obstacle avoidance system. Godwin says that the wheelchair can be folded up and that its design is meant to help people with disabilities move around without help from a third party.
It has been a burden in my heart seeing disabled people being pushed by another person and over time I have hoped for an opportunity to develop something to aid their movement
Honesty Godwin
The continent of Africa is in a league of its own when it comes to producing talented people. Since ancient times, people in Africa have consistently displayed levels of resourcefulness and ability that defy expectations about what they are capable of. From the construction of the enormous Pyramids of Giza in Egypt to that of the Benin Wall and a great number of other wonders. This information has been passed on to the next generation of smart Africans, who are now making positive changes in many fields.
It is designed with a joystick at the handle that is responsible for controlling the movement and direction of the disabled person; it also has ultrasonic sensors to ensure four-axis obstacle detection and avoidance to avoid potholes and slopes. The joystick is responsible for controlling the movement and direction of the disabled person. It is also possible to fold and unfold the wheelchair with the help of a simple knob located at the rear, which will result in a gross size reduction of around 70%.
The construction of such a gadget demands a significant investment of time, effort, patience, and, most importantly, financial resources. On the other hand, Godwin fashioned his invention out of the components that were at his disposal at the time. Godwin had to construct his wheelchair from scratch by making use of resources and garbage that were found locally because of his enthusiasm for and drive for finding solutions to issues.
Building such a device from scratch is not easy, especially because I had to source everything locally here in Nigeria. But despite the depth of it all, I came out victorious!
Honesty Godwin
The young inventor of robots made a public appeal to some of the largest and most successful business people on the African continent, such as Tony O. Elumelu, to invest in him so that he might do much more than he already has. He also stated that it would be wonderful to have the opportunity to work and partner with Nigeria’s largest automobile manufacturer, Innoson Vehicles, as this would enable him to do mass production of his wheelchair and even improve upon it. He said this would be great because it would allow him to improve upon it.
Like any art, African art conveys previous values, attitudes, and thoughts. Studying their work reveals their past. African art can help us solve problems that have long puzzled historians. This article by an African historian answers these questions. It encourages pupils to utilize African art to reflect on African history.
Students of African art must evaluate how Western perceptions of “race” and “racial” distinctions have affected the African past. These notions, which contrast the assumed inferiority of blacks with the superiority of whites, emerged in Western society when Europeans justified their slavery and colonialism of Africa. Historians now understand that racial inferiority fueled the assumption that Africans were savage barbarians. Many of the European works they use to recreate the African past, such as narratives by nineteenth-century missionaries and explorers, are tainted by African inferiority complexes.
This awareness has pushed historians to seek out materials less affected by European racial obsession. Alternative sources include African texts (discovered in just a few parts of Sub-Saharan Africa before 1900), oral tradition, the vocabulary and structures of African languages, and archaeological objects. African art is another source. It helps us comprehend African history from the perspective of Africans, not Europeans.
As historians see the folly of Western assumptions about racial inferiority, they seek new methods to compare African and European history. Many historians understand African history by combining differences and similarities. They may think African cultures provide uncommon solutions to global challenges. Basil Davidson thinks that Africans avoided tyranny by limiting kings’ authority and strengthening small-community autonomy. Other historians explain differences not based on race, but on other social causes.
John Iliffe, another British African historian, uses a similar technique. Iliffe says the African environment greatly shapes African civilizations. Iliffe thinks Africans live in an arid, disease-ridden environment. He envisions Africans overcoming these obstacles via agricultural ingenuity and hard labor. Alternative historians disagree with Davidson and Iliffe and seek other elements to explain Africans’ distinctiveness from other human groups. When they look at African art, students must decide if they see unique ideas and values or a common human spirit.
Africa’s history is vast. Arheological and genetic evidence supports the notion that Homo sapiens evolved in Africa. The Australopithecines split from their chimpanzee ancestors four to six million years ago. 4.4 million-year-old Australopithecine fossils were found in northern Ethiopia. Australopithecine footprints left by a father and child around 3.5 million years ago in Laetoli, Tanzania, provide additional vivid evidence. Homo habilis, who made stone tools, lived around 2 million years ago. Soon after that, Homo erectus, which got its name because it walked upright, developed more advanced skills, which may have included fire.
Early Homo sapiens existed in Africa 400,000 to 300,000 years ago, but anatomically modern humans didn’t arrive until 140,000 years ago. Homo sapiens sapiens moved quickly over Africa and the rest of the planet, reaching Europe 40,000 years ago and America 15,000 years ago. Modern humans colonized huge areas more successfully than previous hominids and developed language, stone-tool technology, and art.
As they moved around the globe, modern humans adapted to varied circumstances by generating tiny genetic variances that generated distinctions in skin color, hair, body type, and facial characteristics. Cavalli-Sforza thinks that cereal-eating northerners acquired fair skins to absorb vitamin D from sunshine. Other groups, like the fish-eating people of the northern hemisphere and the Africans, didn’t benefit much from having lighter skin, so they got darker skin to protect themselves from the sun.
Early Homo sapiens groups hunted, fished, and gathered wild plants. Climate change appears to have transformed African human existence. As Africa (particularly the Sahara desert and eastern Africa) became wetter, Africans evolved new means of survival. Humans congregated near growing lakes and rivers. Initially, they fished, gathered plant meals along lakeshores, and hunted animals near water. When these civilizations outgrew their food supply, they gradually learned to farm and domesticate animals.
Farming and livestock raising supplied a more abundant and stable food supply and sped up population expansion. These strategies were presumably adopted in reaction to environmental degradation or population increases. Farming and livestock-keeping were accepted hesitantly since they required more effort. These new food production methods expose people to new ailments, particularly animal-borne infections.
Archaeological evidence of early farming and animal domestication is hard to find and analyze, so scientists argue over when food production began and how it began. They argue over whether agricultural and livestock-keeping techniques came from elsewhere (especially the Middle East) or if Africa acquired them independently. Most experts agree that northern Africa had farming and cattle by 7000 B.C. After 3000 BC, when the climate in Africa changed again, making it drier, people who farmed moved south into wetter areas, taking farming and caring for animals with them.
The retreat of agricultural peoples from the harsh Sahara led to the rise of Egypt around 3100 BC to 332 BC. The Ancient Egyptians were Africans. Ancient Egyptian speech belonged to the Afroasiatic language family, which developed in the southeastern Sahara. It comprises ancient Egyptian, Berber, Hausa, Arabic, and Hebrew.
Egypt was populated by farmers who came from locations west of the Nile and created extremely productive agriculture in flood-moistured plains. Egypt’s cultural and material triumphs were based on agriculture. It had a lot of farms, so a lot of its people didn’t have to worry about making food. This freed them up to build big things (like the pyramids) and take part in political, military, and religious activities.
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Whether ancient Egypt influenced Africa is debatable. Cheikh Anta Diop of Senegal, one of Africa’s most prominent 20th-century intellectuals, believes that ancient Egypt was the origin of African civilization. Others agree that Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa have similar languages, religions, and art. Other researchers find such similarities unpersuasive and highlight distinctions between ancient Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ancient Egypt was highly centralized, but African civilizations preferred local liberty. These researchers want to regard Sub-Saharan African culture as western, eastern, and southern Africa’s indigenous achievement.
Similar population migrations brought agriculture to western and eastern Africa when African farmers fled drier regions. Nilo-Saharan speakers traveled to East Africa’s Rift Valley and highlands. In what is now eastern Nigeria and western Cameroon, speakers of Niger-Congo languages developed a novel kind of farming that focused on yams and plantains (bananas), which thrive in damp, humid settings. Niger-Congo speakers moved west via Nigeria. Another branch of the Niger-Congo family, the “Bantu” languages, extends into central, eastern, and southern Africa.
Few themes in African history are as controversial as the so-called “Bantu exodus,” although historians formerly thought its tale was simple. They felt the people of the Niger-Cameroon borderlands possessed a “tool kit” of talents, including the capacity to grow forest foods and operate with iron. Metal artisans of the Nok civilization (renowned for its terra-cotta busts) in central Nigeria improved iron-working knowledge between 500 and 300 BC, they claimed. Historiographers think Bantu speakers conquered the southern part of the continent with this “tool kit.”
Today, historians doubt this account. The spread of Bantu languages, which began around 3000 BC, was a lengthy and arduous process. It presumably happened through Bantu-speaking migration and the adoption of Bantu languages (possibly as a commercial lingua franca) by existing groups. The migration itself was more difficult than historians had formerly assumed. They used to think that conquering colonists would move quickly, but now they say that farming communities looking for new land will grow generation by generation.
Scholars say the early Bantu-speaking civilizations didn’t make iron. Bantu groups may have learned ironworking in Rwanda and northeastern Tanzania as early as 800 BC. If this chronology is right (not all archaeologists agree), East African iron-working originated without Egyptian or Eurasian influence. Iron-working helped Bantu-speaking farmers spread over eastern and southern Africa.
Iron tools allowed farmers to chop grain-bearing heads off of millets and sorghums, Sub-Saharan Africa’s most significant grains, before the 20th century. By 400 AD, Bantu-speaking farmers and ironworkers were well-established along the East African coast (where Mediterranean mariners recorded several Bantu terms) and in South Africa.
Perhaps no myth about Africa’s history is more prevalent and inaccurate than the belief that Africans lived in separate “tribes.” This suggests that linkages between cultures, linguistic groups, and geographies are unimportant. It argues that Africans were politically immature since “tribes” were founded on family and genealogy (they might be thought of as very large extended families). Thus, African “tribal” life is ruled not by complex governmental structures but by kinship and affinity.
This “tribal” view of African life implies that violence existed between “tribes” (hence “tribal” combat), but not within tribes.The “tribal” view of Africa’s history makes us miss connections between different parts of the continent, underrate the political sophistication of African civilizations, and ignore struggles between classes, genders, and generations.
Historians have questioned the “tribal” paradigm by studying inter-regional relationships, political institutions, and the multitude of social identities in Africa’s history. Far from living in isolated “tribes,” Africans established structures that preserved political, social, and economic links over broad territories.
Village life, the road, and the market, as well as localized concerns and inter-regional interactions, shaped African identities.This research challenges African art history students. It pushes them to find these features of social life in African art and makes them question the standard ethnic or “tribe” categorization of African art.
The “tribal” paradigm of discrete ethnic groupings could be most applicable in Zaire’s tropical jungle. This enormous, highly forested region is destined to isolate Africa by limiting movement. They were never isolated. Using the Zaire basin’s rivers as roads, they maintained trade and cultural ties over large territories.
Zaire’s people built clever political systems using Bantu culture. The Kuba kingdom produced a governmental system capable of cultural transformation (its institutions changed marital patterns and enhanced agricultural output) and supported a beautiful artistic culture. The “drum of affliction” was an organization that helped people with certain illnesses. It controlled government power and trade in other places.
Southern Africa has similar commercial and political networks. One regional system, headquartered in Mapungubwe, south of the Limpopo River in contemporary South Africa, maintained trade relations between the Indian Ocean coast, where Mapungubwe received glass beads and other Asian imports, and the pastoral villages of the eastern Kalahari Desert. As Mapungubwe’s wealth and power grew after 900 AD, its social elite occupied hilltops and erected towering stone walls to differentiate themselves from the poor people living below.
Great Zimbabwe, in modern-day Zimbabwe, would subsequently develop these ideas. In the early 1200s, Great Zimbabwe rose while Mapungubwe declined. It was a political and trade hub like Mapungubwe. Its monarchs controlled gold exports to modern-day Mozambique and Tanzania. Mapungubwe’s monarchs erected towering monuments to reflect their political and religious dominance. At the shrines where Zimbabweans honored the spirits of their ancestors, spirit mediums spoke out against leaders of the government who threatened the independence of the country.
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Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe’s inter-regional networks are linked to other regional networks. A burial site in the Zambezi Valley (southern Zambia) at Ingombe Ilede shows that in the 14th and 15th centuries, people exchanged the region’s gold and copper for Indian Ocean items. This commerce contributed to the emergence of the Luba nations in Zaire’s savannas.
Mapungubwe and Great Zimbabwe retained East African Coast links. The Swahili emerged around 800 CE along the coast from southern Somalia to Mozambique. Swahili-speaking mariners from northern Kenya set up fishing settlements on islands, inlets, and protected beaches, which became significant trading ports.
As southern Africa’s commerce networks sent their products to the Indian Ocean coast, Swahili communities grew larger and wealthier. They functioned as commercial entrepots, drawing gold and ivory that Arabian merchants traded for cotton textiles, Persian glass beads, and Chinese porcelain. The Swahili towns became the link between eastern and southern Africa and the Mediterranean-to-China Asian trading networks.
In Lamu, Kenya, and Kilwa, Tanzania, an affluent and cosmopolitan culture developed. Its finest achievements were public and domestic architecture using coral stone and mangrove poles. This culture combined local and international elements. While Swahili people gloried in their urbane sophistication and embraced the Islamic faith of their Arab trading partners, they also honored eloquence in their own language, created oral epics, and zealously guarded the independence of their small city-states. Their healing techniques, political organization, and familial ties borrowed substantially from their Bantu roots.
West Africa evolved into an urban, commercially-oriented society, although its largest ports were in the Sahara desert. West African ports attracted North African camel caravans rather than ships and sailors. Arab and African geographers would have seen similarities between Indian Ocean ports and West African desert towns.
In reality, the Arabic term they used for the “Swahili” coast was also used for the “Sahel”—the semi-arid West African region south of the Sahara. These desert-side towns have been reinterpreted by historians. Many historians think that Sahelian towns like Timbuktu arose following 8th-century AD North African commerce with West Africa. Historiographers thought North Africans initiated commerce with West Africans.
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An archaeological study at Djenné, Mali, has changed all this. Djenné was located on the Niger, a navigable river rich in fish, and in its “inland delta,” where yearly floods bring moisture and fertile silt to farmlands. By the 3rd century BC, a settlement had grown here, and it grew to be a trading centre. Around 400 AD, Djenné began attracting traders from remote desert and woodland regions. Djenné has changed the way we think about West African history by showing that trade networks for desert, savanna, and forest goods were already in place before Islamic merchants from North Africa started crossing the Sahara.
But West Africans created large commerce networks whose richness convinced Islamic North African merchants to cross the desert, but they also defended their local sovereignty. Sahelian West Africa saw the development of Ghana, Mali, Songhay, and Kanem-Borno. Each empire was founded on tiny groups of villages that remained autonomous unless the royal cavalry sought payment. The Senegal-to-Cameroon forest and coastal areas created several tiny states, notably Jolof and Waalo in Senegal and Benin in Nigeria. Many civilizations, especially the Igbo of southern Nigeria, resisted governmental centralization.
Politically decentralized civilizations can achieve significant cultural feats. West Africa’s artistic traditions demonstrate this. While Benin celebrates its 15th and 16th century rulers with magnificent brass sculptures, and the Yoruba kingdom of Ife in southwestern Nigeria created a great tradition of naturalistic sculpture in terra-cotta and brass, the politically decentralized Igbo produced the fabrics and bronze artifacts buried with a 9th-century notable at Igbo.
African History cultures promote creative expression and other cultural achievements. Artists praised the aesthetic and ethical qualities of their communities, especially the significance African cultures put on personal success, industriousness, and responsibility. Africa was easy for Europeans to take slaves from because it had many trade routes and a government that wasn’t well run.
Twelve million Africans, from Senegal to Angola, were sent as slaves to the Americas between 1450 and 1880. Millions perished during enslavement in Africa or on the way to the Americas. Most slaves were sent to plantations and mines in the Caribbean and South America; Barbados imported as many as the U.S. When American plantation production grew in the 18th century, almost six million slaves arrived in the Americas.
The fast development of slavery enhanced the prospect of slave insurrection (which was realized when Haitian slaves created the first African-ruled republic in the Americas) and made Europeans more conscious of the inhumanity of the slave trade. Most European governments abolished slave trading in the early 19th century, following Britain’s lead in 1807. After 1800, 3.3 million slaves were transferred to the Americas.
Historians differ on the causes and effects of the slave trade. Few experts dispute Europe’s role. They bought Africans for their American colonies. African historians know that the slave trade needed European and African participation. Europeans were deterred from conquering and capturing Africans by African military prowess and tropical illnesses to which they had no immunity. European slavers depended on African merchants, warriors, and kings to buy slaves at seaports. In his 18th-century autobiography, Olaudah Equiano wrote about how he was taken from his home in southern Nigeria when he was a young child, sold to a series of African masters, and then sold to Europeans.
Why Africans engaged in the slave trade is hotly debated. Historians have suggested that Africans in small-scale political units sought to profit by raiding neighboring societies for slaves, that the lack of centralized political authority prevented internecine conflict, that famine and other disasters drove Africans to enslave themselves and others, and that slavery and slave trading had long existed in much of Africa (though perhaps in less brutal forms). Answering this topic leads us to analyze what is different about Africa and what features Africans share with the rest of humanity. African cultures were divided into rich and poor, male and female, strong and helpless.The powerful regularly exploited the weak, like in other communities.
Less debatable are Africa’s slave trade implications. Some historians say the slave trade caused devastation, depopulation, and political unrest. Others say Africans engaged in this trade since its harm was small. One theory is that the slave trade harmed women since more males were shipped, leaving women to do their work and promoting polygyny. A recent study suggests that while the slave trade did not cause an overall drop in the African population, it stopped the expansion that would have otherwise happened. The slave trade reduced Africa’s population by half in 1850.
The slave trade left Africa underpopulated and moved African labor to the Americas, where it boosted American, not African, economic progress. The slave trade was one stage in Africa’s long-term integration into a European-dominated global economy. As the slave trade faded away after 1807, Africans, instead of abandoning links with Europe, used slaves to produce agricultural commodities for Europe.
Slavery also affected African philosophy and morals. Some historians say the slave trade rendered African nations aggressive, self-absorbed, and indifferent to human life. This problem is crucial, but historians lack oral and written evidence from the slave trade era to address it. African art students must investigate if the slave trade is reflected in art.
Since the 1880s, Africa’s economy has been controlled by Europe. In the late 19th century, Europe grew interested in Africa’s raw commodities and markets. The Congress of Berlin in 1884–1885 set the principles for the European colonization of Africa. All of Africa, save Ethiopia and Liberia, was forcibly annexed within 20 years, despite African resistance. The French and British had the biggest empires in Africa, but the Portuguese, Belgians, and Germans also had colonies there.
African economies were subservient to Europe’s under colonialism. For centuries, Africa was a source of minerals and agricultural goods for European industries. Colonial rulers made few efforts to diversify their economies and promote industry. Modern Africa is nearly totally dependent on foreign manufacturers. Colonial authorities had little desire to offer education or health care to Africans because their economies demanded cheap labor.
Europeans preferred migratory laborers who left their rural homes for short periods to work in mining or plantation districts over permanently urbanized employees. Most local administration in African colonies was provided by African colonial staff and appointees. Colonial rule was not democratic because all public policies were made by Europeans, and Africans had no political rights.
For most Africans (especially women), the colonial period was immensely distressing since they had no chance to learn new types of knowledge or take advantage of the economic opportunity given by colonialism. Instead, they were relegated to menial, poorly paid employment. African discontent was aggravated by the mismatch between colonialism’s universalistic Christian ideals and liberal political concepts, on the one hand, and its discrimination and racism, on the other. During World War II, the British and French pushed their African subjects to contribute military duty and labor to a war effort meant to protect national self-determination. Post-war Africans were denied the rights they and their colonial rulers fought for.
This growing discontent and unfairness led to much of Africa’s independence by the mid-1960s. Western Europe was concerned that its restive African subjects would choose Communism as the Cold War dominated international politics in the late 1940s. Fear was heightened by military revolts (most notably the Mau Mau insurrection in Kenya) and powerful, nonviolent nationalist movements.
The Europeans, persuaded that colonialism could only be preserved through unacceptably costly military and economic investment, more interested in post-war reconstruction of their own economies, and increasingly confident that a Western-educated African elite would have little sympathy for Communism, began to concede independence to Africans in the late 1950s, beginning with Ghana in 1957 under its charismatic president, Kwame Nkrumah.
Much of the continent was free of colonial authority by the mid-1960s, but European dominance in southern Africa remained unshaken until the mid-1970s, when Angola and Mozambique ejected the Portuguese, paving the stage for Zimbabwe’s 1980 victory. In the 1990s, South Africa’s apartheid system remained the most repressive and unyielding example of white dominance in Africa.
Nelson Mandela’s election as South African president in 1994 signified the end of Africa’s battle against white power in the second half of the 20th century. Thus, the 21st century would offer Africans continuous economic and political stability, high population increase, rising environmental degradation, and Western governments and financial institutions’ external dominance. Their track record implies they’ll find solutions.
By Professor James Giblin, Department of History, The University of Iowa
Annually observed throughout the month of February, Black History Month is a time to recognize the significant contributions that African Americans have made to the history of the United States. The celebration, which is often referred to as African American History Month and “Negro History Week,” was originally conceived by eminent historian Carter G. Woodson, along with a number of other famous African Americans.
Since 1976, the month of February in the United States has been officially recognized as Black History Month by every president of the United States. Along with the United States, other countries like Canada and the United Kingdom also set aside a whole month to honor black history.
The Beginnings of Black History Month
In 1915, the first Black History Month event was held. This was exactly fifty years after the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, which ended slavery in the United States.
In September of that year, Carter G. Woodson, a historian with a degree from Harvard, and Jesse E. Moorland, a prominent minister, established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (ASNLH). This organization is committed to researching and promoting the accomplishments of Black Americans and other people of African descent.
The organization that is now known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) first sponsored a national Negro History week in 1926. They chose the second week of February for the event because it coincided with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Today, ASALH is known as the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. The event prompted educational institutions and communities around the country to organize local celebrations, start history clubs, and offer performances and talks.
In the decades that followed, mayors of communities across the country started issuing annual proclamations celebrating “Negro History Week.” These proclamations are still in use today. By the late 1960s, “Negro History Week” had morphed into “Black History Month” on many college campuses. This change was partially a result of the civil rights movement and a rising awareness of the identity of people of African descent.
In 1976, during President Gerald Ford’s administration, the month of February was designated as “Black History Month,” and Ford issued a proclamation urging the American public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks are just some of the civil rights activists and pioneers that are being honored during this year’s Black History Month. This month is also a chance to honor the contributions and legacies of African Americans in all parts of U.S. history and society, including those who have been important in business, politics, science, culture, and other fields.
A Theme for Black History Month in 2022
Since 1976, every president of the United States has proclaimed the month of February to be Black History Month and has supported a particular theme.
The Black History Month 2022 theme, “Black Health and Wellness,” explores “the legacy of not only Black scholars and medical practitioners in Western medicine, but also other ways of knowing (e.g., birthworkers, doulas, midwives, naturopaths, herbalists, etc.) throughout the African Diaspora. The 2022 theme considers activities, rituals and initiatives that Black communities have done to be well.”
Paul-Henri Damiba was ousted from power by the army commander, Captain Ibrahim Traore, eight months after he grabbed the helm of the country.
Burkina Faso’s military has taken control of the country’s public television and used it to say that they had removed Paul-Henri Damiba as the country’s military commander, dissolved the government, and put both the constitution and the transitional charter on hold.
In a statement that was read on national television late on Friday night, Captain Ibrahim Traore said that a group of officers had decided to remove Damiba due to his inability to deal with a worsening Islamist insurgency. Traore said that the decision was made because Damiba was unable to deal with the situation. He said that all political and civil society activities would start right away, and that all borders would be closed for an undetermined amount of time.
The West African nation has been the target of two coups in the space of eight months. The democratically elected president, Roch Marc Kaboré, was overthrown in a coup that took place in January and handed power to Damiba.
The discontent with Damiba’s leadership has intensified in recent months as his and his supporters’ promises to make the country safer have not been kept. Violence has persisted unchecked throughout the country.
The announcement came after an unpredictable day in which gunshots were heard in the nation’s capital, Ouagadougou.
“In the face of the continuing deterioration of the security situation, we have repeatedly tried to refocus the transition on security issues,” said the statement read aloud on Friday evening by the soldiers. The soldiers promised the international community they would respect their commitments and urged Burkinabes “to go about their business in peace.”
The UN is worried about how unpredictable things are getting and has asked people to stay calm.
“Burkina Faso needs peace, it needs stability, and it needs unity in order to fight terrorist groups and criminal networks operating in parts of the country,” UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said.
People could be seen in the streets of Ouagadougou showing their support for the new leaders of the country.
“We are demonstrating to support this coup, confirmed or not,” said Francois Beogo, a political activist from the Movement for the Refounding of Burkina Faso. “For us, it is already a coup.”
Beogo said Damiba “has showed his limits” during his short time in power. “People were expecting a real change,” he added.
Some of the protesters yelled chants that were critical of France, which was Burkina Faso’s previous colonizer, and proclaimed their support for Russian intervention in the conflict in order to put an end to the carnage. Even though their use has been criticized all over the world, the junta in Mali hired Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group to help keep the country safe.
The previous week, Damiba went to New York, where he gave a speech to the general assembly of the United Nations. In his address, Damiba justified his January coup as “a matter of survival for our nation,” despite the fact that it was “possibly repugnant” to the international community. Damiba said this while acknowledging that the international community may have been wrong. On Thursday, he delivered a lecture at Djibo, which is located in the violent northern region of Burkina Faso.
Following similar takeovers in Mali and Guinea, the coup that occurred in Burkina Faso in January added to the growing concerns about a reversal of democracy in West Africa. Even though Damiba predicted that the transition in Burkina Faso would continue for nearly two more years and none of the other juntas have committed to a date for fresh elections, none of the juntas have either.
As a result of the previous government’s inability to stop Islamist violence, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of people and the displacement of at least 2 million more, many people in Burkina Faso originally welcomed the military coup. However, there has been no discernible decrease in the level of violence in the months after Damiba assumed power. After removing a brigadier general from his previous role as defense minister earlier this month, he also took up those responsibilities for himself.
This past week, a supply convoy was ambushed by armed individuals in the Gaskinde commune of the Soum province in the Sahel. As a result of the incident, at least 11 troops were murdered, while 50 civilians are still missing. Eric Humphery-Smith, a senior Africa analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, described the incident as “a low moment” for the administration of Damiba and said it “certainly had a role in motivating what we’ve seen so far today.” This attack was “a low point” for Damiba’s government.
Chrysogone Zougmore, head of the Burkina Faso Movement for Human Rights, referred to the events that took place on Friday as “extremely sad.” She stated that the instability would not be beneficial in the effort to combat extremist violence.
“How can we hope to unite people and the army if the latter is characterised by such serious divisions?” Zougmore said. “It is time for these reactionary and political military factions to stop leading Burkina Faso adrift.”
Friday in New York, President Buhari bemoaned the fact that corruption has stunted economic expansion across Africa and stained the nations that make up the continent.
According to the President, Africa is still at the bottom of the development index, and the concerted efforts that have been made in the past few years need to be maintained and deepened by good governance and accountability that are guided by the rule of law. He also stated that Africa is still at the far end of the development index.
In a statement that was released on Buhari’s behalf by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Chief Femi Adesina, the president urged African leaders to work tirelessly to rid their continent of the scourge of corruption. He also said it was a direct result of the problem that Africa has stayed near the bottom of the global development index.
At a High-Level side event on “Food Security Response: Combating Illicit Financial Flows and Securing Asset Returns for Sustainable Development,” held on the margins of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the President spoke in his capacity as the African Union Champion on efforts to eliminate corruption on the continent. “Food Security Response: Combating Illicit Financial Flows and Securing Asset Returns for Sustainable Development” was the name of the event.
President Buhari
At the event that was co-hosted by the African Union Development Agency-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (AUDA-NEPAD) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian leader stated that it was an honor for him to serve as the AU Champion on anti-corruption since 2018. He went on to provide his insights on the impact of corruption on the continent and the way ahead.
‘’As you are all aware, this will be my last official participation at the United Nations General Assembly as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
‘’I remain honoured and privileged to have been President of Nigeria for two terms, and I am grateful to the African Union for making me the Continental Organization’s Champion for efforts to eliminate corruption nationally and continent-wide.
‘’Over the years, we came to the painful realisation of how deeply embedded corruption has become in our countries and continents, as well as how corrosive it can be.
‘’Corruption has dwarfed our growth and tainted our nations and continent. Africa remains at the far end of the development index and concerted efforts made in the last few years need to be sustained, and deepened by good governance and accountability that are guided by the rule of law.
‘’I have strong faith that Africa and our national governments can do this with strong resolve and commitment to eliminating Illicit Financial Flows”.
