Tag: Africa

Lagos ban on styrofoam and plastics brings applause and concern | Environment

From trash-strewn pavements to street vendors packing meals in polystyrene containers, plastic waste is a constant menace in the urban landscape of Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital and the continent’s most populous city.

That image could soon change if the local Lagos State government manages to implement its recent ambitious ban on the use of polystyrene and single-use plastics.

The announcement of the ban on styrofoam boxes and single-use plastics, “with immediate effect”, by Tokunbo Wahab, the state’s commissioner for environment, took many Lagosians by surprise, especially those who earn a living in the informal sector.

“Styrofoam boxes are cheaper than reusable plastic ones,”  said Cecilia Mathew, 20, who sells dishes of rice, meat and garri – or cassava flour – on the streets of the popular district of Obalende in Lagos.

“It does not make sense to put food inside poly bag [plastic bag],” said another food vendor, Funmilayo Oresanya, 43.

For environmentalists, the Lagos State move was a welcome one that could not only cut down on waste but also reduce carbon emissions.

But other critics questioned the feasibility of an immediate ban on such commonly used products, especially for businesses.

“It’s too sudden,” said Kehinde Bakare, 61, a polystyrene box seller. “There are people that are using it as a means of living so what will they be doing? How about the production people?” she said, asking that they be offered “substitutes”.

Nigerian fast-food chain Food Concepts, known for its popular restaurants Chicken Republic, PieXpress, and The Chopbox, “applauded” the measure, saying in a statement it was “beginning its transition” to end polystyrene boxes and encouraging its customers “to come with their own containers”.

Bakare Kehinde, a retired principal, holds various types of plastic plates in her store in Lagos. [Benson Ibeabuchi/AFP]

Action plan

Folawemi Umunna, co-founder of the NGO Initiative for Climate and Ecological Protection, said the decision to eliminate non-biodegradable materials was positive if Lagos State properly manages its action plan.

On his X account, Wahab published a video on Tuesday showing health workers carrying out checks in the city.

In 2019, Nigerian MPs passed a law banning plastic bags but it hit a dead end because it did not complete its legislative process. Other African countries have also attempted to ban plastic bags with mixed success.

But in Lagos, a megacity of more than 20 million inhabitants, the issue of waste management is key as rubbish regularly blocks sewers and evacuation routes, particularly during the rainy season, causing floods and encouraging the proliferation of mosquitoes, vectors of malaria, in stagnant water.

Nigeria is Africa’s second-largest importer of plastics, according to the German Heinrich-Boell Foundation, representing 17 percent of the total plastic consumption on the continent, and more than 130,000 tonnes of plastic ends up in Nigerian waters each year.

If nothing is changed, imports and consumption of plastics will exceed 40 million tonnes by 2030, it warned in a 2020 report.

Lagos State Waste Management Authority
Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) staff clean up waste from the roadside in Lagos. [Benson Ibeabuchi/AFP]

‘Socio-economic consequences’

Plastic microparticles are ingested by animals and can be found in human beings, said Temitope Olawunmi Sogbanmu, environmental toxicologist at the University of Lagos, pointing to the “non-degradable” nature of these materials.

But if the ban on polystyrene and single-use plastic is “good news” for climate and sustainability, Sogbanmu says she still worries about “the socio-economic consequences” of this measure on “those whose livelihood depends on this value chain”.

Climate benefits may be offset by the impact on vendors of food and water in plastic bags as well as waste collectors who are part of the informal economy in a country which is already undergoing an economic crisis with a tripling of fuel prices since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to power in May.

The annual inflation rate stood at almost 29 percent in December.

“There will be more people impoverished and it will become even harder for people to get the basic things,” said Sogbanmu, who recommends the implementation of “strategic interventions” especially for the poor.

Environmental activist Oluwaseyi Moejho said the Lagos government took a bold step, but agreed that state officials must ask people what they want and how it can support them.

“There was once a Nigeria without plastic, and we survived it. It is very much possible,” she said. “I understand the convenience of plastics, it’s quite blinding, but convenience at the cost of our lives and future is too expensive.”

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What’s behind the renewed violence on South Sudan’s border with Sudan?  | TV Shows

More than 50 people were killed in the violence along the border between Sudan and South Sudan.

The disputed Abyei region along the border between Sudan and South Sudan is under curfew after attacks by a South Sudanese rebel group.

More than 50 people were killed in the violence, including women, children and UN peacekeepers.

The area has been volatile for many years, with inter-communal conflict and competing claims by the neighbours.

International peace efforts have essentially stalled since the conflict in Sudan began last year.

South Sudan gained its independence in 2011, but quickly plunged into war.

A peace deal was reached in 2018.

Will this latest violence threaten that agreement? And what’s the effect on the people?

Presenter: Sami Zeidan

Guests: 

Kennedy Mabongo – Country director for the aid agency Norwegian Refugee Council in South Sudan

Douglas Johnson – Scholar on Sudan and South Sudan who served on the Abyei Border Commission

Joshua Craze – Researcher on Sudan and South Sudan who’s been in contact with parties to the conflict in Abyei in the past few days

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Ethiopia’s dangerous game in East Africa could spark conflict | Opinions

On January 1, a controversial memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Muse Bihi Abdi of Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia.

Purportedly, this agreement grants landlocked Ethiopia a 20km piece of coastal land for establishing a naval base and the right to build a commercial port. In return, Ethiopia said it intends to recognise Somaliland as an independent country, making it the first nation to do so.

Ethiopian leaders have said that this move is aimed at correcting what they frame as a “historical mistake” of not having access to the sea. But Somalia holds no responsibility for this supposed historical injustice; Ethiopia lost its coastline after Eritrea gained its independence in 1993 following a three-decade-long war. Moreover, Ethiopia’s claim that it needs access to the sea to grow its economy conveniently ignores the fact that its economy became the fastest growing in the continent after it became landlocked.

Now Addis Ababa’s actions are threatening to spark yet another war in East Africa. Unless forces of reason prevail among Ethiopian leaders, the whole region could be dragged into conflict.

Two desperate leaders

By all accounts, this provocative move is rooted in the profound domestic crisis confronting the leaders of both Ethiopia and Somaliland. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, governs a fractious Ethiopia, grappling with widespread ethnic conflicts and increasingly intensifying armed rebellions.

Ethiopia’s government, emerging from a devastating civil war in the Tigray region, faces fresh pogroms by rebel forces from the Amhara and Oromo communities – the two largest ethnic groups – challenging the authority in Addis Ababa.

Regionally, Ethiopia is in a precarious position. The détente with Eritrea is crumbling as mutual acrimony between Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and President Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea intensifies. Tensions with Egypt over the Renaissance Dam are reaching a boiling point, as Cairo recently withdrew its representative from a platform for negotiations on how to share the waters of the Nile River. Relations with neighbouring Sudan are not at their best since December, when PM Abiy extended a red carpet welcome for the leader of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, a staunch foe of the Sovereign Council that rules Sudan.

Economically, Ethiopia is experiencing severe financial strain. Last month, the government failed to pay $33m in interest  on its international government bond and in recent years, it has struggled to maintain sufficient hard currency, restricting the movement of United States dollars out of the country. The official exchange rate is considerably lower than that of the black market, a reliable indicator of deep financial woes.

For Abdi, the leader of the Somalia breakaway region of Somaliland, the situation is equally dire on the domestic front. Last year, he lost approximately a third of the erstwhile “British-Somaliland” territory to SSC-Khaatumo, a regional administration recognised by the Federal Government of Somalia.

Other communities, notably in the Awdal region, are also rising up as a result of the MOU with Ethiopia. Last week, the defence minister of Somaliland, who hails from the same region, resigned in protest of the MOU.

On top of that, President Abdi’s five-year term expired more than a year ago. An unelected senate, known as “Guurti”, extended his term by two years, to the objection of Somaliland’s opposition parties in the elected lower house of the regional parliament.

This MOU, therefore, is widely seen in Ethiopia and Somaliland as a desperate attempt by their leaders to deflect attention away from their deep domestic troubles. However, the global response and domestic reactions have been remarkably swift and consistent.

Diplomatic backlash

The MOU has been met with a swift and unanimous international response, affirming the inviolability of Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Major global and regional powers, including the African Union, the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the European Union, China, the United Kingdom and the US, among others, have stood firm against Ethiopia’s violation of the sovereignty of Somalia.

China’s strong response is particularly significant given Somaliland’s ties with Taiwan and Somalia’s historic support for the “One China” policy. Russia, on the other hand, has remained silent, possibly seeing an opportunity to further its strategic interests in the region.

On the African front, Ethiopia could find itself in isolation if it proceeds to recognise Somaliland and violates a founding principle of the African Union, which is to safeguard the territorial integrity of member states.

Ethiopia’s reckless action could lead to a campaign to move the AU headquarters from Addis Ababa, as it would be deemed inherently unfit to host a union built on respecting the sovereignty of all member states. Moreover, the vast majority of AU member states are principally and politically opposed to recognising secessionist movements as that would open a can of worms across the continent.

Regional stakes

The MOU threatens to reignite historical hostilities between Ethiopia and Somalia. The two nations have a history of conflict, notably the 1977-1978 war, and the 1,600km (994-mile) border between Somalia and Ethiopia remains officially disputed. This latest move by Ethiopia is by far the most significant violation of Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity since its independence in 1960.

Should Ethiopia proceed with establishing a naval base in Somaliland, Somalia’s strategic response would be multifaceted and equally dramatic. Among the proportional countermeasures it may undertake, Somalia would almost immediately sever diplomatic ties, eject all Ethiopian forces from Somalia and suspend virtually all commercial transactions. That might include banning Ethiopian Airlines from using the Somali airspace — a move that would almost certainly cripple Africa’s biggest airline and the largest source of hard currency for Ethiopia.

Additionally, Somalia might seek to sign strategic defence pacts with Egypt, Eritrea and other countries as part of its long-term territorial fortification strategy. Such moves would not sit well with Ethiopia, and the resulting escalation could trigger a regional conflagration in the Horn of Africa, already one of the most volatile regions around the world.

Perhaps more ominously for regional stability, the Ethiopian action could radicalise tens of thousands of young Somalis who are already outraged by what they view as a historic enemy dismembering their country.

Coincidently, it was Ethiopia’s 2006-2008 invasion of Somalia that gave rise to al-Shabab, the most violent militant group in Africa today. This MOU would be the most poignant recruitment tool for violent extremist groups as well as for irredentist movements.

Options for de-escalation

In signing this MOU with Somaliland, Ethiopia gambled on a rules-based international world order, weakened by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. However, the response from Somalia and across the world has been firm and has reflected strong support for its sovereignty.

Rather than pursuing this dangerous path, Ethiopia should engage directly with the Federal Government of Somalia to discuss cooperative arrangements, such as the utilisation of existing Somali ports, following the model between Djibouti and Ethiopia. This approach would be more conducive to regional stability and respect for Somali sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity.

Somalia has repeatedly affirmed its willingness to engage constructively with Ethiopia on mutually beneficial trading arrangements that include the usage of its ports by its larger neighbour to the south. And Ethiopia has many things to offer to Somalia, such as cheap electricity and transportation and logistics hubs.

But the path that Addis Ababa has taken with this MOU assures a mutually destructive outcome for both countries. The only difference is that, more than most countries around the world, Somalia knows how to survive – and even thrive – under a comprehensive state failure. Ethiopia, on the other hand, wouldn’t be able to cope with the resulting conflagration.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

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Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso announce withdrawal from ECOWAS | Military News

The three nations, led by military governments, accused the regional bloc of becoming a threat to member states.

Three military-led West African nations have announced their immediate withdrawal from regional bloc ECOWAS, accusing the body of becoming a threat to its members.

Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso “decide in complete sovereignty on the immediate withdrawal” from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), read a joint statement published on Sunday.

ECOWAS “under the influence of foreign powers, betraying its founding principles, has become a threat to its member states and its population”, read the statement.

The three countries accused the regional body of failing to support their fight against “terrorism and insecurity”, while imposing “illegal, illegitimate, inhumane and irresponsible sanctions”.

ECOWAS said in a statement that it had not been notified of the countries’ decision to quit the bloc. Its protocol provides that withdrawal takes up to one year to be completed.

“Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali remain important members of the Community and the Authority remains committed to finding a negotiated solution to the political impasse,” it said.

Widely seen as West Africa’s top political and regional authority, the 15-nation bloc of ECOWAS – formed in 1975 to “promote economic integration” in member states – has struggled in recent years to reverse rampant coups in the region where citizens have complained of not benefitting from rich natural resources.

Military power grabs took place in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and in Niger in 2023.

The regional body reacted by suspending all three countries and imposed heavy sanctions on Niger and Mali.

On Friday, Niger tried to amend ties with ECOWAS by inviting its representatives to the capital Niamey, but only representation from Togo showed up.

“There is bad faith within this organisation,” lamented Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, Niger’s army-appointed prime minister.

Military leaderships in the three nations have vowed to tackle the rise of violent armed groups in their countries and have joined forces in the so-called “Alliance of Sahel States”.

The three countries have cut military ties with France, the former colonial power. France once had a strong presence across the Sahel, but announced the withdrawal of its troops from the three countries after the coups.

The French military withdrawal and economic sanctions on already fragile economies have heightened concern that armed groups could spread southwards towards the relatively stable coastal countries of Ghana, Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast.

West Africa recorded more than 1,800 attacks in the first six months of 2023, resulting in nearly 4,600 deaths and creating dire humanitarian consequences. According to an ECOWAS top regional official, this was just “a snippet of the horrendous impact of insecurity”.

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Could Red Sea attacks push up prices and fuel inflation? | Business and Economy

Houthi rebels have attacked vessels transporting goods through Bab al-Mandeb strait that they say are linked to Israel.

Inflation was expected to ease in 2024 after more than 18 months of interest rate hikes by central banks. The most aggressive monetary tightening in decades.

But attacks by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea are threatening to push up the cost of living again.

Geopolitical tensions have disrupted global trade, sending shipping and insurance costs soaring.

A widening war in the oil-producing Middle East region could further worsen people’s finances.

Africa’s mounting debt is crippling the continent’s development.

Plus, we look at how sleep has turned into a multibillion-dollar business.

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‘Stop killing us!’: Thousands march to protest against femicide in Kenya | Women’s Rights News

Thousands of people have gathered to protest in cities and towns in Kenya against the recent slayings of more than a dozen women.

The anti-femicide demonstration on Saturday was the largest event ever held in the country against sexual and gender-based violence.

In the capital, Nairobi, protesters wore T-shirts printed with the names of women who became homicide victims this month. The crowd, composed mostly of women, brought traffic to a standstill.

“Stop killing us!” the demonstrators shouted as they waved signs with messages such as “There is no justification to kill women.”

The crowd in Nairobi was hostile to attempts by the parliamentary representative for women, Esther Passaris, to address them. Accusing Passaris of remaining silent during the latest wave of killings, protesters shouted her down with chants of “Where were you?” and “Go home!”

“A country is judged by not how well it treats its rich people, but how well it takes care of the weak and vulnerable,” said Law Society of Kenya President Eric Theuri, who was among the demonstrators.

Kenyan media outlets have reported the slayings of at least 14 women since the start of the year, according to Patricia Andago, a data journalist at media and research firm Odipo Dev who also took part in the march.

Odipo Dev reported this week that news accounts showed at least 500 women were killed in acts of femicide from January 2016 to December 2023. Many more cases go unreported, Andago said.

Two cases that gripped Kenya this month involved two women who were killed at Airbnb accommodations. The second victim was a university student who was dismembered and decapitated after she reportedly was kidnapped for ransom.

Theuri said cases of gender-based violence take too long to be heard in Kenyan court, which he thinks emboldens perpetrators to commit crimes against women.

“As we speak right now, we have a shortage of about 100 judges. We have a shortage of 200 magistrates and adjudicators, and so that means that the wheel of justice grinds slowly as a result of inadequate provisions of resources,” he said.

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Packed Tanzania protests offer hope but reforms remain a distant dream | Protests

Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania – As thousands of supporters carrying placards stating their demands marched through Dar-es-Salaam on Wednesday, opposition party Chadema deputy chairperson Tunde Lissu declared to reporters that the rallies were the beginning of a mission to get a new constitution and get the electoral commission truly independent.

Deemed the biggest public demonstrations since President Samia Suluhu Hassan lifted the ban a year ago, they served as a platform for the opposition to dispute a raft of contentious electoral reforms set to be debated in parliament next month.

“We have been asking for these constitutional reforms for 30 years, now we’ll demand them on the road,” said Lissu. “If it’s not possible to get a new constitution over dialogue, it will be obtained in the streets.”

But even as the rallies were deemed successful by onlookers, the big question in Tanzanian politics is how far the government will go to heed Chadema’s demands.

Since taking office in March 2021 with the stated goal of implementing democratic reforms, Hassan has kept observers guessing on what would be her next move.

Her predecessor John Magufuli was different: nicknamed The Bulldozer for his dictatorial tendencies, he governed ruthlessly.

He muzzled the media and banned rallies and public gatherings, forcing opposition politicians like Lissu into exile and others into hiding. Between 2015 when he came into power and 2021 when he died in office, Magufuli also shunned the West and was infamously a COVID-19 denier and vaccine sceptic.

Hassan overturned the ban on rallies and public gatherings in 2023, paving the way for Lissu to return from exile. She also reinstated members of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi who had been expelled from the party.

But during her tenure, there have also been accusations of stifling dissent: Chadema leader Freeman Mbowe was imprisoned for seven months on “terrorism” charges after being arrested during a night-time police raid a day before the party was to hold a forum pressing for constitutional reforms.

Dissent and determination

Even on the eve of the rallies, there was uncertainty about whether they would take place at all.

Two weeks ago, when Chadema announced plans for the rallies, the Dar-es-Salaam regional commissioner declared that government officials and the army would be holding a sanitation exercise in the city streets on the same day. The official’s statement was quickly interpreted as aiming to obstruct the rallies from taking place.

The police also issued a statement threatening to intervene if the rallies were not peaceful. But some analysts say Chadema was determined to go ahead, regardless of whatever challenges security agencies would pose.

“I don’t think we credit them enough for putting not just their money but their bodies where their mouth is,” said columnist and commentator Elsie Eyakuze. The authorities’ decision to let the rallies take place is part of the healing process from the Magufuli era in which there was no room for dissent, she added.

Rights activist and political commentator Baruani Mshale agreed, saying Chadema deserves credit for being bold enough to go ahead with the rallies, and not Hassan and her government for not blocking them.

“I sensed the determination from Chadema’s side that come what may, they will hold the rallies. The only surprising thing was the cooperation that the police granted them,” he told Al Jazeera.

A season of demands

Thirty years ago, when Tanzania decided to move from one-party rule to a multiparty democracy, calls for amendment of the existing constitution, forged in 1977, began.

They bubbled to the surface again after Magufuli’s election in 2015 as opposition supporters cried foul, saying the vote had been rigged by the machinery of state working in tandem with the governing party.

The government has proposed to change the composition of the committee that selects commissioners to the electoral body and that appointment of the chairperson and vice chairperson of the electoral commission be made by the president.

But opponents of the bill say the choices of the president, who doubles as chairperson of the governing party, ought to be vetted by an independent committee.

They also want the scope of the bill which currently focuses on presidential, parliamentary, and ward executive elections to be widened to accommodate elections for chairpersons of streets, villages, and hamlets which are currently administered by the Ministry for Regional Administration and Local Government and not the electoral commission.

Chadema in particular has gone a step further in demanding for the bills to be drafted afresh.

“If you look at the size of weakness in these bills, you realise … the only way to fix these bills is by withdrawing them from the parliament and be rewritten after being preceded by the amendment of the 1977 constitution,” John Mnyika, the party’s secretary-general, said after submitting an analysis to the parliamentary committee.

The party also has other demands, including the revival of a bill for a new constitution, regardless of what happens in parliament next month.

For many Tanzanians, there remains a degree of uncertainty about what grounds the government will concede before the 2026 election, especially as opposition talks with the governing party failed to yield its desired results for more than a year.

And that could see Tanzania enter into a season of sustained protests, experts say.

“The fact that most of their recommendations have been ignored shows that all these talks and well-meaning promises from Samia are meaningless,” said Thabit Jacob, a political commentator and postdoctoral researcher at Lund University, Sweden. “The rallies give them a chance to talk about the urgency of the situation as backroom talks have proved ineffective.”

Some believe the president needs more time to deliver, arguing that she represents the progressive element of the governing party and a different order from her predecessors. And there is increasing talk about the opposition needing to temper its demands, seeing as a compromise between both sides seems unlikely in the coming months.

“Let’s be politically mature,” Eyakuze said. “It’s very easy to destroy a system overnight, but building a democracy takes time. Chadema has been opposing this for three presidents now and suddenly we have one march and boom, and we are going to change the constitution. What planet?”

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Who is Julia Sebutinde? The judge against all ICJ rulings in Israel’s case | Israel War on Gaza News

The United Nations’ top court ordered Israel on Friday to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in its military offensive in Gaza, but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.

South Africa alleged that Israel’s campaign in Gaza amounted to genocide in the case and had asked the court to order Israel to halt the operation.

In the anticipated decision, made by a panel of 17 judges, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered six so-called provisional measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza. Those measures were approved by an overwhelming majority of the judges. An Israeli judge voted in favour of two of the six.

But Uganda’s Judge, Julia Sebuntinde, was the only judge who voted against all of them.

Here is what we know about her, and why she voted the way she did:

First African woman to sit on the ICJ

Born in February 1954, Sebutinde is a Ugandan judge serving her second term at the ICJ.

She has been a judge at the court since March 2021. She is the first African woman to sit on the international court.

According to the Institute for African Women in Law, Sebutinde comes from a modest family and she was born during a period when Uganda was actively fighting for independence from the British Colonial office.

Sebutinde attended Lake Victoria Primary School in Entebbe, Uganda. After finishing primary school, she went to Gayaza High School. She later pursued her degree at Makerere University and received a bachelor of laws degree in 1977, at the age of 23.

Later, as part of her education in 1990, at the age of 36, she went to Scotland where she earned a master of laws degree with distinction from the University of Edinburgh. In 2009, the same university honoured her with a doctorate of laws, recognising her contributions to legal and judicial service.

Before being elected to the ICJ, Sebutinde was a judge of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. She was appointed to that position in 2007.

Sierra Leone’s case: Charles Taylor over war crimes

Throughout her professional career, Sebutinde has been no stranger to controversies.

In February 2011, Sebutinde was one of three presiding judges in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes committed in Sierra Leone.

The Special Court found Taylor guilty on 11 accounts, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, terrorism, murder, rape and the use of child soldiers, resulting in a 50-year prison sentence.

On February 8, London barrister Courtenay Griffiths, who represented Taylor, walked out of proceedings after judges declined to accept a written summary of his client’s defence at the end of his trial.

On February 28, a disciplinary hearing to censure Griffiths was indefinitely adjourned because Sebutinde declined to be present, withdrawing “on principle”. This decision came after her earlier dissent from the order requiring Griffiths to apologise or face disciplinary action.

ICJ case in Palestine

Fast forward to 2024, Sebutinde once again captured headlines, this time for being the only judge who voted against all measures sought by South Africa in its genocide case against Israel.

In a dissenting opinion, Sebutinde stated the following:

“In my respectful dissenting opinion the dispute between the State of Israel and the people of Palestine is essentially and historically a political one.”

“It is not a legal dispute susceptible to judicial settlement by the Court,” she added.

She also said that South Africa didn’t demonstrate that the acts allegedly committed by Israel were “committed with the necessary genocidal intent, and that as a result, they are capable of falling within the scope of the Genocide Convention”.

Experts argued that Sebutinde failed to conduct a thorough assessment of the situation.

“I think what the dissenting opinion gets wrong is that genocide is not a political dispute, it’s a legal matter. Both South Africa and Israel signed the Genocide Convention in 1948 and accept the jurisdiction over breaches of the Genocide Convention and failure to prevent genocide,” Mark Kersten, assistant professor at the University of the Fraser Valley focusing on human rights law, told Al Jazeera.

“You cannot simply say this is something for history, this is something for politics. Of course, history and politics play a role,” he added.

The ambassador of Uganda to the United Nations also expressed a different opinion.

“Justice Sebutinde ruling at the International Court of Justice does not represent the Government of Uganda’s position on the situation in Palestine,” he said in a statement on Twitter.

 



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Uganda’s first Oscar-nominated film tells story of Bobi Wine persecution | Arts and Culture

Kampala, Uganda – This January, when Bobi Wine learned that the film documenting his 2021 Ugandan presidential bid had been nominated for an Academy Award, he was hiding from the police.

The swaggering popstar-turned-opposition leader had been on the run for five days, not sleeping or showering. This was after security forces cordoned off his home in response to his calls for protests over the poor road conditions in Uganda as the Non-Aligned Movement’s summit held in the capital Kampala.

Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was shocked by the nomination. “I screamed,” he said. “If there was any police officer nearby, I would have been arrested immediately.”

The nomination of Bobi Wine: The People’s President for Best Documentary Feature at the Oscars marks the first time a Ugandan film has earned recognition from the Academy Awards.

But while it has led to celebration within Wine’s camp, the film is also a surreal reminder of the many challenges the 41-year-old politician has had to confront in his relatively short political career.

Filmed over five years, it begins with singer Wine’s election to the Ugandan parliament in 2017 and shows his meteoric rise through politics, becoming the face of a vibrant youth movement.

In impassioned speeches, the newly minted politician decries a constitutional amendment abolishing presidential age limits. But despite his opposition, the bill passed and allowed incumbent Yoweri Museveni, who seized power in 1986, to run for another term.

Another scene follows Wine through the Kamwookya slum where he grew up, as he sings of freedom and calls on people to rise.

A year later, the documentarians are with as Wine as he recovers from torture and a failed assassination attempt, briefly travelling to the United States for treatment.

“Museveni used to be my favourite revolutionary,” he tells filmmakers in a car rolling through downtown Washington, DC. “I would really love to have a frank and honest conversation with him.”

A disputed election

A desire for change propelled Wine to challenge Museveni for the presidency in what he hoped would be Uganda’s first democratic election, excitedly announcing his candidacy shortly after returning home in July 2019.

But the result was a bloody and contested vote as the ruling party clamped down on the opposition. Even before the election, at least 54 people were shot after riots broke out following Wine’s temporary detention in the city of Jinja in November 2020. Other supporters were jailed or attacked on the campaign trail.

In the film, the camera zooms in as Wine dodges bullets and teargas, wavering only when the documentarians have to duck for cover themselves.

“I was arrested a few times. I was interrogated,” said Moses Bwayo, a Ugandan journalist and one of the film’s directors. In the final days of the campaign, he was shot in the face with a rubber bullet.

Still, Bwayo kept recording. “All these threats and everything that was happening really emboldened me to tell this story, and carry the task forward,” he said. As election day approached, he moved into Wine’s home.

Afterwards, Bwayo filmed Wine and his wife Barbie Kyagulanyi listening to a radio broadcast announcing Museveni as victor. Their faces are numb with shock and disbelief.

Wine called for more protests over the election results, but large-scale demonstrations never materialised following a brutal campaign and disappointing result.

Deciding he was no longer safe in Uganda, Bwayo captured a final scene of Bobi Wine once again singing songs of freedom in Kamwookya.

Then, Bwayo escaped Uganda with his wife.

“We fled like we were going on a small trip,” he said. “We landed in the United States, and we applied for political asylum.”

They are still awaiting a decision.

Ugandan opposition politician Bobi Wine stands near a mural of an associate killed during police raids in December 2020, in Kampala, Uganda [Sophie Neiman/Al Jazeera]

Documenting repression

This week, Wine told Al Jazeera that the film is a documentation of all he suffered and the challenges still facing his homeland.

“We’ve been able to present the reality in Uganda, uncensored and unedited, to the international community,” the opposition leader said.

“It showcases the brutality of the Museveni regime, but also the resilience of the Ugandan people in pushing back against impunity, against injustice,” added David Lewis Rubongoya, secretary-general of Wine’s National Unity Platform political party.

The threat of harsh repression still hangs over the Ugandan population, analysts assert. But Museveni, who has now been in power for some 38 years, is becoming increasingly paranoid as another election looms on the horizon.

“[Violence] may have succeeded in the short run, in terms of preventing … a wide protest movement from emerging after the polls,” Michael Mutyaba, a Ugandan academic at SOAS University of London, said of the 2021 vote. “But if you look at it in the long term, I don’t think it succeeded.”

“What it did was expose the regime more to international criticism and reveal things that it had maybe successfully concealed for a long time,” Mutyaba told Al Jazeera.

‘Our story’

Meanwhile, Bwayo and Christopher Sharp, the film’s other director, trimmed 4,000 hours of footage to just a few hours of runtime

The documentary debuted at the 79th Venice Film Festival in 2022. It was then acquired by National Geographic, which supported a theatrical release last year. The Oscar nomination followed this year.

The filmmakers hope their work will bring renewed attention to Uganda and its citizens.

“We’re fooling ourselves in the West, and we’re being very disrespectful to the people of Uganda, to pretend that they’re living in a democracy, that those elections are anything other than a sham,” said Sharp, who is also one of the documentary’s producers.

For Wine, the film is a lifeline.

“The more our story is out there, the more we are able to live and see the sun the following day,” he told Al Jazeera.

On Friday, which also marks the anniversary of Museveni taking power, Wine and his followers attempted to mount the first public screening of the film in Uganda. Security personnel deployed heavily along the road, intimidating people going to see the film.

Attending with two of his children, Wine sang again, telling supporters everything would someday be alright.

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‘Witch doctors’ as therapists? Inside South Africa’s mental health crisis | Mental Health

Mindset travels to South Africa to see how traditional healers are providing desperately needed mental health solutions.

Across Africa, healers have been part of the social fabric for centuries.

During ceremonies, they use traditional medicine, rituals and supernatural guidance from ancestral spirits to improve people’s mental health.

Once maligned as “witch doctors”, these healers are now seen by South African psychologists as vital across a country where there is a severe shortage of trained therapists.

They say healers can help with mild depressive disorders such as anxiety and grief.

Due to accessibility and affordability, healers are increasingly popular, especially among the young.

Mindset meets three healers and examines how they can help address Africa’s mental health crisis.

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