Blogging Africa
Review of African Blogs
Sokari Ekine
2006-10-11, Issue 273
http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/37697
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'NGOMROM' - NGOMROM
(http://ngomrom.blogspot.com/2006/10/do-not-torpedo-peace-talks-in-juba.html) provides his perspective on the Juba peace talks between Sudan, Uganda and the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). NGOMROM seems to be supporting the position of the LRA leader, Joseph Kony. He asks why members of his army are being asked to assemble in two different locations and sees this as a set of “hidden traps and tricks” and a possible hand over of Kony to the ICC (International Criminal Court).
“Why would anybody even consider that the peace talks proceed with ICC threat unresolved? Museveni has to provide conditions to keep the ICC away from Kony and his commanders, otherwise there will be no peace involving those five men. These two issues are mutually exclusive. Without these men, there must be modified peace talks, because the people of Uganda in the affected areas still need peace from the government of Museveni.”
'Sokwanele' - Sokwanele (http://www.sokwanele.com/thisiszimbabwe/archives/444) reports on the irony of the Zimbabwean government setting up a task force to reverse the brain drain currently affecting many sectors of the Zimbabwean economy. The statement by the task force that “Zimbabwe is alive and kicking” is taken literally by Sokwanele to report the recent beatings of a trade unionist by the police. The blog goes on to say:
“You don’t have to be an ‘intellectual’ to know what’s going on in Zimbabwe, you just need to live there. And the sheer obviousness of all the problems facing people in our country is the simple reason why so many of our skilled people vote with their feet and leave the country.
“It is this type of short-sighted stupid response to the many crises in our country that brought us to this point in the first place. Until the government recognises that the country is a mess, and until it acknowledges its own complicity in the problem, we will continue to see our friends and family forced to leave (taking their skills with them) to find a place where they can survive.”
'Grandiose Parlor' - Grandiose Parlor http://grandioseparlor.com/2006/10/tackling-the-culture-of-corruption/ comments on the “culture of corruption” in Nigeria. He does not believe it is possible to wipe away the mindset of corruption from the minds of Nigerians. Nor does he see the EFCC (anti-corruption apparatus set up by the state), as a wholly effective tool. The solution for him lies in the electoral system.
“The next level is through the electoral system. Would the electorate take a clue from the EFCC and do their civic duties? Would the activities of the EFCC, as biased and crude as it is, spur some decent folks to step-up and take control through the ballot system? What steps are community advocacy groups/street associations/social groups taking to ensure that the elections are free and fair in their areas? By the way, there are some innovative steps taken by some to address the issues corruption.”
'White Africa' - White African (http://whiteafrican.com/?p=283) points to Ledama Ole Kina, a journalist for the BBC and Sky News who he believes will become “the new face of African reporting." He comments on a recent report by the journalist on the migration of Kenyans from rural to urban areas stating that:
“My country’s leaders need to do something for these people, before these people decide to do something for themselves.”
I think this statement could cut across the whole continent. We await the uprising!
'The Moor Next Door' - The Moor Next Door (http://wahdah.blogspot.com/2006/10/kenyan-muslims-angered-over-us-and.html) comments on protests by Kenyan Muslims against what he describes as a "US-and Israeli-inspired Anti-Terror Unit”. Muslims in the country are being increasingly targeted by the Anti Terror Unit and the government is:
"...using an unpassed bill to arrest, harass and intimidate members of the Muslim community and those who sympathise with them."
'African Women’s Blog' - African Women's Blog (http://africanwomenblogs.com/2006/10/09/ist-african-womens-carnival-at-the-african-womens-blog/) held its first Carnival of African Women this week. The AWB was created as a “collaborative space for African women online”. The AWB also has an aggregator of blogs by African women and a webring. The focus of the Carnival was “Identity and blogging” and included poems and personal life stories from 11 African women.
“Passion’ is the response that Philomena gives to people who ask her how she manages the wife/mother/blogger balance and tell us how she is able to do this in her post.
“My secrets are in my fingers. My fingers are the expression of my passion. From my kitchen when preparing food for my husband and family, to my three children, when cuddling them with tenderness of infanthood. To my emotions when I had to express it, I prefer, through my fingers than through my voice. Perhaps that is why I am regarded by close friends as being on the quiet side.”
'Egyptian Chronicles' - Egyptian Chronicles (http://egyptianchronicles.blogspot.com/2006/10/pyongyang-response.html)
asks us to forget Iraq, the war on terror, Iran, Castro and everyone else. Why? Because “Pyongyang did it, Pyongyang did it.”
“Pyongyang announced the success of an underground detonation of a nuclear weapon, some say, or most the world say today this nuclear weapon is an atomic bomb, yes and by this N.Korea joins the Nuclear bomb owners and they are if I am mistaken the U.S and Russia for sure, France and England, Pakistan and India, China and our neighbor Israel despite they didn't announce it, yet I got a book saying they got a nuclear bomb since 1960s and their first nuclear weapon was tested in Algeria's.”
Egyptian goes on to add that Pyongyang has lots of other “toys” to play with should the need arise such as “the famous Korean missiles and rockets which Israel always accuse Egypt and Syria of having them and of course Syria doesn't deny and Egypt doesn't even respond.”
So where does all this leave the West and their allies? In an ocean raft without a paddle – in short, in a panic.
'Black Looks' - Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/10/niger_delta_2.html) posts two podcasts of an interview with Nigerian historian Professor Alagoa, on the Niger Delta speaking on the “changes that have taken place in the Niger Delta since the excecution of Ken Saro Wiwa in 1995, the rise of militancy in the region and the governorship of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha - ex Governor of Bayelsa State.”
• Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, www.blacklooks.org
• Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
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