AfricanEra |OT|

Shoot · Oct 28, 2017

This is a thread for people to discuss African politics, culture, history, news, etc.

Africa_%28orthographic_projection%29.svg

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous contintent. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, the continent accounts for 16% of the global population. Africa is home to 54 countries, 2000 languages and the origins of humankind. It also has the most beautiful landscapes and coolest wildlife in the world.

Here is a questionnaire to get us started:

What country is your family from?

What is your ethnicity?

If you live outside of Africa, when did your family first leave the continent?

If you live abroad, have you ever visited the old country?

What country do you live in?

How well can you speak your language?

What is your religion?

What is your favourite video game?

Frieza · Nov 23, 2017

Camel said:
This is a thread for people to discuss African politics, culture, history, news, etc.

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous contintent. With 1.2 billion people as of 2016, the continent accounts for 16% of the global population. Africa is home to 54 countries, 2000 languages and the origins of humankind. It also has the most beautiful landscapes and coolest wildlife in the world.

Here is a questionnaire to get us started:

What country is your family from?
Somalia
What is your ethnicity?
Somali
When did your family first leave Africa?
80s
What country do you live in?
America
Have you ever visited the old country?
No, but I plan to.
Can you speak your language?
Sorta
What is your religion?
Islam
What is your favourite video game?
The Last of Us

GrapeApes · Nov 23, 2017

Guess no one checking for Africa. How much y'all paying for gari? Need reference point.

Frieza · Nov 23, 2017

GrapeApes said:
Guess no one checking for Africa. How much y'all paying for gari? Need reference point.

What is gari?

GrapeApes · Nov 23, 2017

Frieza said:
What is gari?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garri

Frieza · Nov 23, 2017

GrapeApes said:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garri

Oh, never heard of it sounds interesting.

Shoot · Nov 24, 2017

Kenya dances near the brink of dissolution

Kenya has arrived at an impasse, and there is no easy way out. Monday's decision by the Supreme Court, dismissing legal challenges to Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election, paves the way for the incumbent president to be sworn in next week. Even with the court's approval, the second term of his presidency will be dogged by a deficit of legitimacy. He will have little hope of reuniting a dangerously polarised nation.

Using brute force to impose authority — which, on recent evidence, is likely to be Mr Kenyatta's default tactic — will only exacerbate tensions. When his rival, the former prime minister Raila Odinga, was greeted by thousands of supporters on his return from abroad last Friday, members of the security forces set on his convoy with tear gas and water cannons. Policemen oblivious of the cameras were filmed hurling rocks. At least five people died in the melee. The deaths come on the heels of sinister recent killings in the slums.

Mr Odinga appears undeterred. A veteran of the pro-democracy struggle, he thrives on gladiatorial contests. He is determined to sustain his campaign for new elections on the streets, having successfully called a boycott of October's repeat polls. These were ordered by the Supreme Court after it deemed initial elections to have been marred by "irregularities" and "illegalities".

To his credit, Mr Odinga has been urging his many supporters to demonstrate peacefully. But there is an ever-present danger that state-sponsored violence will provoke a retaliation that could spiral out of control.

Britain might once have provided effective mediation. But when Boris Johnson, the foreign minister, made an unseemly leap to congratulate Mr Kenyatta in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling, he entrenched the opposition's suspicion that the UK is partisan. The US has been equally clumsy in revealing its support for the status quo.

Yet neither the endorsement of foreign powers, nor the court ruling, will settle doubts about the credibility of an election process that delivered Mr Kenyatta 98 per cent of the vote. The turnout in the re-run was just 38 per cent. Little if anything was done to put safeguards in place to prevent the kind of skulduggery that took place in the initial polls, in August. Mr Odinga's supporters voted the second time by staying away.

They have good cause to feel that the democratic process has been hijacked. Successive elections since 2007 have been marred by fraud. If public faith in the electoral system was to be restored, it was vital that this time there were no flaws.

Instead, large swaths of the population have been left feeling disenfranchised. If they continue to feel so, they will doubtless find other means to make their voices heard. Already there are signs that a commercial boycott of companies linked to the Kenyatta family is taking hold. More ominously, talk of secession is gathering steam in Mr Odinga's strongholds in the west of the country.

The risks that this stand-off degenerates into something worse are real. There is no obvious political solution that would halt momentum in the wrong direction. Yet a settlement, that reassures all of Kenya's ethnic groups that they have an equal political opportunity, and that future elections will be genuinely free and fair, is the only alternative to chaos.

Britain and America may have squandered their neutrality. But all of Africa has an interest in ensuring that east Africa's pivotal state does not fall apart. The time to step in to prevent disaster is now.

Nearly 100 people have been killed since the August election, 18 of them having been killed last Friday when Odinga returned from his trip abroad. 13 more people were killed in the days after.

With talks of secession in the west in what I assume are Luo lands and talks of secession in the eastern Mombasa coast (Muslims), Kenya is in big trouble at the moment.

Frieza · Nov 24, 2017

Shoot · Nov 24, 2017

Shoot · Nov 24, 2017

Ethiopia: Ethnic Violence in Ethiopia Amid Shadowy Politics

Near the Oromia-Somali Regional Border, Ethiopia — Ethnic animosity unleashed in Ethiopia has displaced hundreds of thousands as well as rendering all manner of usually sacrosanct loyalties obsolete.

"I was making my husband dinner in the evening but an hour after he returned from work he kicked me out of our home," says Zahala Shekabde, a Somali married to an Oromo. "I pleaded with him, told him I loved him and that I have nothing else, but he said he didn't want to listen and I must go otherwise he would hurt me."

Both regional governments deny their special police were involved while accusing the other of Machiavellian plots.

She left with nothing other than three children from a former marriage--her husband wouldn't let her take her youngest child from their marriage.

Other displaced ethnic Somali with Zahala from all over Ethiopia's Oromia region say there was no warning and explanation given for their evictions, other than the local Oromo where they lived, including local officials, telling them it was revenge for what had happened to Oromo in Jijiga, the capital of the Somali region.

Upwards of 50,000 ethnic Oromo had to leave the Somali region and beyond (officials from the opposing Oromia and Somali regions dispute whether the sum applies just to the Somali region or to the Horn of Africa--Oromo have also left Djibouti and Somaliland, where two Ethiopians were reportedly killed in the capital, Hargeisa).

This sequence of tit-for-tat ethnic-based violence and evictions was sparked after Oromo protests on Sept. 12 in the town of Aweday, between the cities of Harar and Dire Dawa near the border between the two regions, led to rioting that left 18 dead, according to official figures, the majority being Somali traders of khat, the plant that when chewed acts as a mild stimulant. Somali who fled Aweday say it was closer to 40 killed.

Following Aweday, the Somali regional government began evicting Oromo from Jijiga and the region. Officials say this was for the Oromo's own safety, and that not one Oromo died from ethnic violence in the region--a fact disputed by displaced Oromo.

"My husband was sick at home when I left for work on Sept. 20," says Fateer Shafee from a village near Jijiga. "Later I got a call from him saying to come and collect the children as there was conflict nearby. When I got back I found the children but our home was burnt with my husband still inside. Everyone was running and hadn't been able to get him out."

In the numerous camps that have popped up and public buildings commandeered to absorb the displaced, Oromo and Somali tell equally convincing stories of ethnic violence, primarily carried out, they claim, by each region's special police, while exhibiting even more convincing physical wounds of that violence.

"It's uniformed police carrying out the bloodshed," says one Somali man at the camps.

Another man had to flee Oromia's Bale zone, hundreds of kilometers to the southwest, though he says that 500 Somali households remain there under constant harassment.

"They are rich farmers and are attacked each day," he says. "The local Oromo tell the Ethiopian soldiers there one thing and then do another--it's the worst example of conflict as the farmers are totally isolated and surrounded, and have no way of getting away."

Inhabitants in both camps pull back clothing to reveal old bullet wounds, scars and lesions from burns, broken bones that never healed, and more.

Oromia and Somali are the two largest regions in the country by area size, sharing a border of more than 1,400 km (870 miles). The Oromo constitute the largest proportion of Ethiopia's population, numbering about 35 million, a factor Ethiopia's other ethnic groups remain deeply conscious of--especially its 6.5 million Somalis.

Ethnic conflict along the border between the two regions and in the regional rural hinterlands has long occurred, and can be traced to grievances and still standing tensions from the Ethio-Somali war of the 1970s and further back to historical tensions over Oromo migration due to their significant numbers.

But ethnic violence in urban areas well removed from the border is particularly rare. Many say the violence is all the more shocking within communities that integrated peacefully for centuries, and within which intermarriage between Oromo and Somali was the norm.

In 2004, a referendum to decide the fate of more than 420 kebeles around the border--Ethiopia's smallest administrative unit--gave 80 percent of them to the Oromia Region. This led to thousands of Somalis leaving areas for fear of repercussions.

The referendum still hasn't been fully resolved, which some say could be one factor behind the current conflict, as may be the on-going drought putting further pressure on pasture and resources--but only to a degree.

"There's been drought before and no violence happened," says the vice administrator of one of the Somali regional zones badly hit by the drought. "The main reason is politics and is hidden--this is all man-made."

Ethiopia's ethnic federalist system devolves power to regional states. Some observers note how this leaves the government in a quandary of respecting that devolution while also protecting the constitutional rights of Ethiopians, especially minorities, as regions increasingly flex their devolved muscles.

Recent trouble primarily occurred where notable minorities existed: Somali in Aweday, for example, and Oromo in Jijiga. More diverse cities such as Dire Dawa, with a less clear majority, have escaped violence for now.

Meanwhile, accusations go beyond political machinations by regional powerbrokers and the federal government to include the Ethiopian diaspora opposition and social media.

"The Oromo are being directed from Minnesota in America," says one Somali official. "The Oromo in government don't have enough respect or influence to coordinate this."

I think this is a distraction by the Tigray government. The majority of anti-government protesters from the last few years were Oromo so they are using their puppets in the regional governments to cause a war between Somalis and Oromo.

Shoot · Nov 25, 2017

Raila: Uhuru Kenyatta, he who lives by the bullet dies by the bullet

Opposition leader Raila Odinga has taken a swipe at President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta following the alleged shooting of his supporters last week.

Speaking at Laico Regency Hotel on Friday, Raila asked President-elect Uhuru and the Jubilee Government to arrest, detain or prosecute him if the regime thinks he is the problem.

"If Raila Odinga is the problem, arrest Raila. If Raila Odinga is the problem, detain Raila. If Raila Odinga is the problem, prosecute Raila. If Raila Odinga is the problem, imprison Raila. And ultimately if Raila Odinga is the problem, shoot Raila to death then," said the Former Prime Minister.

The National Super Alliance (NASA) leader accused the police of using excessive force killing innocent Kenyans.

You don't go shooting innocent people who only came to receive Raila Odinga. What have these young kids done to you? Mr Kenyatta, he who lives by the bullet dies by the bullet.

Odinga also plans to have a parallel swearing-in ceremony as 'the people's president" on Tuesday, the same day that Kenyatta will be sworn in as president of Kenya. Odinga and his party (NASA) said that they will not recognise or respect Kenyatta as president.
http://www.nation.co.ke/news/State-...l-swearing-in/1056-4199960-fnbm1pz/index.html

Shoot · Nov 25, 2017

This is a very good article for background information on this whole political crisis.

In Kenya, politics split on ethnic divide

President Jomo Kenyatta (father of incumbent president Uhuru Kenyatta) was accused of sidelining the Luos, in particular Jaramongi Odinga( father of current opposition leader Raila Odinga) in favor of Moi who who succeeded him in 1978 as the second president of Kenya.

I am not Kenyan so it is very shocking to me to see how far back this conflict goes. It looks to be as personal as it is political.

In the political sphere, leaders appeal to people of their own tribes when they want support, they also use their tribes as leverage when they bargain for positions and favors in government.

The 'big five' tribes have influenced who is elected, owing to their numerical advantage. According to Kenya's National Bureau of Statistics, the largest native ethnic groups are the Kikuyu (6,622,576), the Luhya (5,338,666), the Kalenjin (4,967,328), the Luo (4,044,440) and the Kamba (3,893,157).

The majority of Luos support opposition leader Raila Odinga, the Kambas are behind Kalonzo Musyoka. The Kalenjins back Deputy President William Ruto, while the Kikuyus support President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Analyst Wanyama said it is no wonder that political elites are accused of playing the game of ethnic divide to get elected, since "elections were never based on issues, ideologies or principles."

Since independence, leaders often filled the civil service and state-owned institutions with members of their ethnic group, and those from ethnic communities viewed as being supportive of the ruling regime.

The cabinets of presidents Jomo Kenyatta, Daniel Moi, and Mwai Kibaki all had a disproportionate numbers of members from their respective tribes.

As in the past, political alliances have been made along ethnic lines. The Jubilee alliance of President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto is backed by the Kikuyus and the Kalenjins.

The opposition National Alliance (NASA) is no different. It is a union of tribes led by Raila Odinga (a Luo from western Kenya), Moses Wetangula (a Luhya from western Kenya) and Kalonzo Musyoka from the Kamba tribe.

In 2013, Kenyatta won 50.51% and Odinga won 43.7%. Turnout was 86% so this is not a politically complacent population. Kenyatta is red and Odinga is blue.

It looks like Kenya is more or less evenly divided on this issue. Let us see what happens on Tuesday.

Shoot · Nov 26, 2017

This is an excellent analysis by Caspian Report of the political crisis in Zimbabwe that explains everything from start to finish.

magnificent83 · Nov 27, 2017

Checking in from Ghana, didn't know we had an AfricanERA

Shoot · Nov 28, 2017

magnificent83 said:
Checking in from Ghana, didn't know we had an AfricanERA

Welcome! Feel free to fill out the questionnaire in the OP to introduce yourself (or not).

Green Yoshi · Nov 28, 2017

My cousin was in Benin for a couple of months this year. She really enjoyed it.

If I will visit Africa as a tourist one day I think the Rovos Rail is really worth checking out

magnificent83 · Nov 28, 2017

Here is a questionnaire to get us started:

What country is your family from? Ghana

What is your ethnicity? Ga

When did your family first leave Africa? Lol, we didn't, we're still here

What country do you live in? Ghana

Have you ever visited the old country?

Can you speak your language?

What is your religion? Christian

What is your favourite video game? Tie between God of War and Zelda series

Shoot · Nov 29, 2017

magnificent83 said:
Here is a questionnaire to get us started:

What country is your family from? Ghana

What is your ethnicity? Ga

When did your family first leave Africa? Lol, we didn't, we're still here

What country do you live in? Ghana

Have you ever visited the old country?

Can you speak your language?

What is your religion? Christian

What is your favourite video game? Tie between God of War and Zelda series

Hahaha! I suppose that question was a bit presumptuous. I will fix it.

magnificent83 · Nov 29, 2017

Camel said:
Hahaha! I suppose that question was a bit presumptuous. I will fix it.

Its no biggie...I'm the one who left and then ended up coming back home

Shoot · Nov 29, 2017

magnificent83 said:
Its no biggie...I'm the one who left and then ended up coming back home

Where did you go and what brought you back?

Shoot · Nov 29, 2017

Kenyatta was sworn yesterday in a lavish $3.7 million ceremony for his second and final five year term as president of Kenya. Many heads of state from around the continent were in attendance. Israel's Netanyahu, however, pulled out at the last minute over security concerns (Israel is lobbying to become an observer of the African Union). Three people were killed by police during yesterday's protests, including a seven year old boy who was struck by a stray bullet while playing in the balcony of his own house.

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-k...dinga-promises-own-inauguration-idUKKBN1DS006

Odinga accuses the ruling party of stealing the election, overseeing rampant corruption, directing abuse by the security forces and neglecting vast swathes of the country, including Odinga's heartland in the west.

"This election of October 26 is fake. We do not recognise it," Odinga told supporters from the rooftop of a car. "On Dec. 12, we will have an assembly that will swear me in."

Shortly after that, riot police teargassed his convoy and charged his supporters.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/28/kenyatta-sworn-in-second-term-kenya-president-protests

"A return to the political backwardness of our past is more than unacceptable. It is intolerable. This divide cannot be bridged by dialogue and compromise," Odinga's National Super Alliance said in a statement.

However, analysts say the opposition is running low on funds and has lost access to political power through the crisis. "There is not much the opposition can really do. People get tired of going on the streets and physically putting their lives on the line. It feels as if we have reached something of a full stop," said Rebekka Rumpel, a Kenya expert at Chatham House in London.

Thoughts are turning to the next elections, which Kenyatta cannot contest. "The underlying causes have not gone away. The next period will be marked by high-level jockeying for position for 2022," Rumpel said.

One analyst thinks that Odinga may retire.

Coalition leader Raila Odinga will likely retire from electoral politics, leaving behind a deeply divided political unit with no clear successor. In some ways, this will be a good thing for Kenya. Odinga has defined Kenyan politics across the spectrum for the better part of the last 25 years, and it will be interesting to see if Kenyan politicians are even capable of articulating an idea that is not "anyone but Raila" or "no one except Raila".

Among the heads of state present are:

South Sudan President Salva Kiir

Zambia president Edgar Lungu

Rwanda President Paul Kagame

Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh

Botswana President Ian Khama

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni

Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed

Gabon President Ali Bongo

African Union Representative Pierre Buyoya and Rupiah Banda

Special envoys from Eritrea and Zambia

Former Senegal Prime Minister Aminata Touré

Foreign Affairs Ministers from Palestine and India

Algeria's Speaker of the National Assembly

Some funny comments by the President of Zambia:

"People are saying Zambian courts should emulate Kenyan courts," President Lungu was quoted as saying just after Mr Odinga's withdrawal from the repeat election.

"People are saying Zambian courts should be brave and make decisions that are in the interest of the people, but look at what's happening in Kenya now.

"I am saying the courts of law in Zambia should also see what's happening.

"They should not behave like they are not part of our African continent. The most important thing I can say now is, 2021, I am available to stand if my party chooses me."

President Lungu's eligibility for the 2021 poll is being challenged by critics, who argue that he is serving his second and final term.

He sounds just like Trimp.

magnificent83 · Nov 30, 2017

Camel said:
Where did you go and what brought you back?

School and work in the US. H-1B lottery tripped me up. Definitely taken a while to get back in sync with Ghana.

I still can't believe Kenya ever got that bad, from the outside, it always just seemed stable so to see all this happening is truly weird

Shoot · Nov 30, 2017

These lost and found Somali tapes are now nominated for a Grammy award

It is an album that captures the melodious voices of prominent Somali singers like Hibo Nura, Nimo Jama, the Waberi troupe, and the Iftin Band, among others.

In it, they meditate on love, life, and a Somalia rising from the ashes of colonialism. The music, plaintive and treacle-like to the ear, is influenced by American funk and pop, features influences from Arab and Indian sounds, and instruments ranging from the short-neck lute oud, to the guitar and accordion.

And now, these songs, collated from lost tapes from the 1970s and collected into an album this year by the US-based Ostinato Records, has been nominated for a Grammy award.

https://qz.com/1142624/grammy-nomin...et-as-broken-dates-is-nominated-for-a-grammy/
Listen to Sweet As Broken Dates: Lost Somali Tapes from the Horn of Africa by Ostinato Records #np on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.com/ostinatoreco...tes-lost-somali-tapes-from-the-horn-of-africa

It is short but very good.

Shoot · Dec 6, 2017

Fun fact: Obama's father is a Luo like Odinga. In fact, Odinga once claimed to be Obama's first cousin. Here they are pictured together.

The resemblance is uncanny.

Actually, Obama and his uncle have denied any direct relation but I believe their families originate from the same general area so any relation would be distant.

I hope no one tells Trump.

Shoot · Dec 7, 2017

I knew that Ethiopia and Eritrea kept tabs on their diaspora using diaspora spies but I did not know that they used sophisticated Israeli spyware on top of that. They even went after one of the researchers who wrote the report and he is white. I have ties to this region so all of this makes me very uncomfortable.

Ethiopian Dissidents Targeted with New Commercial Spyware

This report describes how Ethiopian dissidents in the US, UK, and other countries were targeted with emails containing sophisticated commercial spyware posing as Adobe Flash updates and PDF plugins. Targets include a US-based Ethiopian diaspora media outlet, the Oromia Media Network (OMN), a PhD student, and a lawyer. During the course of our investigation, one of the authors of this report was also targeted.

We found a public logfile on the spyware's command and control server and monitored this logfile over the course of more than a year. We saw the spyware's operators connecting from Ethiopia, and infected computers connecting from IP addresses in 20 countries, including IP addresses we traced to Eritrean companies and government agencies.

Our analysis of the spyware indicates it is a product known as PC Surveillance System (PSS), a commercial spyware product with a novel exploit-free architecture. PSS is offered by Cyberbit — an Israel-based cyber security company that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Elbit Systems — and marketed to intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

We conducted Internet scanning to find other servers associated with PSS and found several servers that appear to be operated by Cyberbit themselves. The public logfiles on these servers seem to have tracked Cyberbit employees as they carried infected laptops around the world, apparently providing demonstrations of PSS to the Royal Thai Army, Uzbekistan's National Security Service, Zambia's Financial Intelligence Centre, the Philippine President's Malacañang Palace, ISS World Europe 2017 in Prague, and Milipol 2017 in Paris. Cyberbit also appears to have provided other demos of PSS in France, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Rwanda, Serbia, and Nigeria.

Shoot · Dec 19, 2017

Quick update on Kenya: Odinga's December 12 swearing-in ceremony never happened. After warnings from religious leaders, business leaders and foreign diplomats, he decided to delay it. It is currently happening "soon" and his party remains adamant about it.
https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/n...eing-kenyas-peoples-president-odinga-12460894

A lot of stuff has been happening in Ethiopia these past few days. There was a huge massacre a few daya ago.

This is a statement from the Somali rebels.

On December 15, 2017 Oromo mobs wantonly massacred 170 Somali civilians living in Oromia state, Western Harar Region. The killings occurred in the villages of Gadula, Arooreti, Majaare, Balbaleyti, and Huluqo.

In the village of Gadula, Federal police collected 65 women, children and the elderly in their camp and then abandoned the Camp, knowing the threat facing the victims. Subsequently, Oromo mobs armed with machetes and clubs attacked the victims and butchered them in cold blood. Then the Oromo administration in the area together with the perpetrators buried the dead in the village waste disposal dump in order to hide the crime.

The Oromo are saying that it was 32 Somalis and 29 Oromos were killed, quoting the Oromia government.

This person is Oromo.

This person is Somali.

This comes just days after federal troops killed 16 Oromos civilians (five from the same family) for no apparent reason.

There are also reports of infighting in the governing coalition with Oromo and Amhara (2/3 of the population) demanding an end to Tigrayan hegemony. The ruling Tigrayans may attempt to remove members of the opposition and replace them with more obedient puppets. The Ethiopian military is now also considering taking over Oromia's state broadcaster. There was heavy military presence outside their offices just the other day.

Oromo are making threats of civil war and the Tigrayans are stoking the flames of conflict between the Oromo and Somali because they fear an Oromo uprising being directed against them. Somalis (on the English internet at least) seem oddly indifferent but I am sure the ones in Ethiopia are planning something.

Shoot · Dec 19, 2017

This is from the most popular Oromo account on Twitter. I can only imagine what they are saying in their Afaan Oromo account. Thankfully, it does not have a lot of engagement.

Background information: There were Oromo protests in 2015 and 2016 over a plan by the Tigrayans to expand the capital city. The problem is that Addis Ababa is already carved out of Oromo lands (think Republic City being on Earth Kingdom land in Korra). This expansion would have carved deeper and taken away lots of good farmland. The government cancelled the move but the protests did not stop. Instead, they spread to the Amhara region where they had their own grievances. People were sick of the lack of political and human rights. The government quickly imposed a state of emergency which was only lifted this past summer. All in all, around 1,000 people were killed and 21,000 people were arrested.

The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front (AKA Woyane) are the leaders of Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (which represents Oromo, Amhara, and Southern Nations). The Amhara are the historical leaders with their Solomonic dynasty.

From what I gather, Ethiopia's system is less of a dictatorship like you would see in Zimbabwe and more like China's system where the "party", instead of an individual runs things. Ethiopia seems to take a lot of inspiration from China. From their system of governance to the way they control their population and spy on people. The two countries do enjoy a close relationship so perhaps it is not a coincidence.

Shoot · Dec 19, 2017

So it really is modeled after China. Here is a very interesting article by the NY Times from last month.

'We Are Everywhere': How Ethiopia Became a Land of Prying Eyes

FENDIKA, Ethiopia — When he is away from his fields, Takele Alene, a farmer in northern Ethiopia, spends a lot of his time prying into the personal and political affairs of his neighbors.

He knows who pays taxes on time, who has debts and who is embroiled in a land dispute. He also keeps a sharp lookout for thieves, delinquents and indolent workers.

But he isn't the village busybody, snooping of his own accord. Mr. Alene is a government official, whose job includes elements of both informant and enforcer. He is responsible for keeping the authorities briefed on potential rabble-rousers and cracking down on rule breakers.

Even in a far-flung hamlet like Fendika, few of whose 400 or so residents venture to the nearest city, let alone ever travel hundreds of miles away to the capital, Addis Ababa, the government is omnipresent.

In this case, its presence is felt in the form of Mr. Alene, a short, wiry man wearing a turquoise turban and plastic sandals. As a village leader, he said, his duties include serving as judge, tax collector, legal scribe for the illiterate and general keeper of the peace.

But one of his most important roles is to watch who among the villagers opposes the government and its policies, including a top-priority program encouraging farmers to use fertilizer. When a neighbor refused to buy some, Mr. Alene pointed a gun at him until he gave in. He has had others jailed for a similar offense.

In a country whose rugged landscape is larger in area than France and Germany combined, Ethiopia's ruling party — which, with its allies, controls every seat in Parliament — relies on a vast network of millions of party members like Mr. Alene as useful agents and sources of information, according to current and former government officials and academics who study the country.

This army of on-the-ground operatives, who push the government's policies, help purvey its propaganda and act as lookouts, is especially valuable at a time when the country is being rocked by protests over access to jobs and land, and a failure to advance democracy.

Ethiopia is unlike many countries in Africa, where the power of the state often reaches beyond the capital in name only. More organized, more ambitious and more centrally controlled than a lot of governments on the continent, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (a coalition of four regional parties), which controls this mountainous, semiarid but spectacularly beautiful land of just over 100 million people, intends to transform it into a middle-income country by 2025.

Achieving that goal, in a country that 30 years ago was a byword for famine, means realizing a plan of rapid industrial and agricultural growth modeled on the success stories of Asia. Ethiopia is relying on state-driven development rather than the Western-style liberalization that in the 1980s and 1990s hurt many economies across Africa, like Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

It also means, in the government's view, exercising control down to the level of neighborhoods in cities and villages in the countryside.

Many Western donors have praised Ethiopia for its advances in health, education and development, all made in a single generation. The government recently opened Africa's largest industrial park, with plans for more, and is building what is expected to be the continent's biggest hydroelectric dam.

But the government's economic agenda often goes hand in hand with control over people through party membership and surveillance, a strategy modeled on China, somewhere officials have gone regularly for how-to training, according to former government members.

Party members across the country are assigned five people to monitor, whether in households, schools, universities, businesses or prisons. Called "one-to-five," it is a system so pervasive, Mr. Legesse said, that it even existed in the Ministry of Communications, which he headed.

"The one-to-five's major objective is to spy on people," Mr. Legesse said.

Being a party member and a participant in those networks gives you jobs, promotions and even access to microfinance, some of which is funded by international institutions, Mr. Legesse said. "But if you're against the system, you'll likely be miserable."

Some of this has yielded positive results, government officials say. Ethiopia's economy has been growing at 10 percent for more than a decade, according to official figures. Agricultural output has risen dramatically, they say, although critics say that has not been enough to offset the food aid that Ethiopia continues to receive.

The networks have played a significant role in expanding membership to about seven million, mostly in the countryside, in the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, the ruling party that critics say is controlled by Tigrayans, an ethnic group that makes up just 6 percent of the population.

Shoot · Dec 24, 2017

This is an incredible speech by the President of Ghana from three weeks ago. The French President Macron is visibly uncomfortable during this speech.

The Ghanian President talks about how we must move away from begging the west for aid and become self-sufficient. We have 30% of the world's minerals. We should be the ones giving out aid yet it is the other way around. He asks an interesting question. Why after 60 or so years of independence, we remain in poverty while Asian countries, which acquired independence at the same time and started even more worse off than us, are now in the first world? We must address this question. As long as our budgets are funded by the west, we will be controlled by them.

Shoot · Dec 24, 2017

French president Macron made some controversial comments in Burkina Faso last month.

During a question and answer session in the university, a student asked Macron about the high presence of French troops in her country. Macron rebuked the question, saying:

"Imagine a young woman in France. She may have never heard of Burkina (Faso), but her younger brother may have died in recent months to save you.... you do not have your younger brother fighting on Belgian or French soil.

"Do not come and talk to me like that about French soldiers. The only thing you owe them is applause."

Macron also raised his tone in response to remarks about slave trading in Libya, a country that France as part of NATO invaded and destabilized in 2011.

"You are unbelievable! Who are the traffickers. They are Africans my friends. Its not the French, they are Africans," he said.

The President of the former colonial power is no stranger to making remarks that many in Africa have seen as reminiscent of colonial paternalism. In June, Macron said that Africa's problems were "civilizational," and that African women were having too many children.

I am not at all surprised to see this coming from a French president.

Shoot · Jan 11, 2018

I am surprised to see this from Foreign Policy. It is worth noting that this was co-authored by Mohammed Ademo (Oromo) and a foreigner.
Ethiopia Is Falling Apart

For a brief moment last week, Ethiopia seemed poised to shed its reputation as Africa's Stasi state. At a press conference on Jan. 3, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn vowed to free political prisoners and shutter the notorious Maekelawi prison, which has long served as a torture chamber for government critics, opposition leaders, journalists, and activists.

Desalegn's announcement shocked Ethiopian citizens and observers alike. Initial reports indicated that the Ethiopian regime had finally accepted that mistakes had been made and serious abuses had been committed on its watch.

The outpouring of optimism did not last long. Within hours, an aide to Desalegn clarified the prime minister's remarks, saying that "mistranslation" by the media was to blame for the confusion.

A staunch U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, Ethiopia is seen as a stable oasis in the troubled Horn of Africa region, which is plagued by both extremist attacks and ruthless counterinsurgency operations. This image of stability has been cultivated by well-oiled lobbyists in Washington and by an army of social media trolls on the government payroll. However, despite the outward veneer of growth and stability, all is not well in Ethiopia.

In an effort to boost lagging exports, authorities devalued Ethiopia's currency, the birr, by 15 percent last October. The country is also struggling to mitigate the effects of massive youth unemployment, high public debt, rising inflation, and a shortage of foreign currency. The economic woes that have beleaguered Ethiopia have fueled the increasing unrest. Amhara and Oromo protesters decry economic marginalization and systemic exclusion at the hands of powerful ethnic Tigrayan leaders. The economic dividends of the country's modest growth are not broadly shared outside the wealthy business class and associates of the ruling party. To make matters worse, a long-simmering border dispute between the Oromia and the Somali regions has left hundreds of people dead and more than 700,000, mostly from the Oromo ethnic group, internally displaced.

Taken together, these burgeoning crises have raised credible concerns about the risk of state collapse. And there are good reasons to be worried. Western donors and foreign investors alike are increasingly jittery about the political uncertainty and growing popular unrest. In its annual Fragile States Index, which predicts risk of state failure, the Fund for Peace ranked Ethiopia 15th out of 178 countries surveyed, up from 24th in 2016.

In theory, Ethiopia is a federation, based on decentralized ethnic representation. In practice, the federal system has for years enabled the domination of the country's political space, economy, and security services by ethnic Tigrayans. The TPLF represents the Tigray region, home to only about 6 percent of the country's population. Yet the party gets the same number of votes as the OPDO, which represents the roughly 40 percent of Ethiopians who are ethnic Oromos.

Shoot · Jan 17, 2018

It snowed in the Sahara last week.

This is not the only place in Africa where snow has fallen though.

In July 2017, it snowed in Addis Ababa.

In December 2013, it snowed in Cairo for the first time in a century.

There was also a small amount of snow in Somalia last week.

Overall, South Africa sees the most snow in the continent (not counting uninhabited mointains).

Shoot · Jan 17, 2018

Is war about to break out in the Horn of Africa? Will the West even notice?

Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia may come to blows — with the help of Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project.
This is a conflict that, if it actually comes to violence, is one that has long been in the making. In 1929, the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty gave Egypt the lion's share of Nile River water — about 50 billion cubic meters, whereas Sudan was allowed just 4 billion. The Egyptians were also granted the right to reject upstream construction projects. Postcolonial Egypt and an independent Sudan signed a new agreement in 1959 that increased both parties' share of the river's flow but maintained Egypt's overwhelming benefits. Other riparian states such as what is now Eritrea, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and South Sudan had no say, either because they didn't yet exist or were not independent nations.

Over the years the Egyptians haven't been terribly interested in altering the terms of the 1950s-era agreement for one simple reason: The Nile is a matter of life or death. Egypt gets negligible rainfall, and as a result has always relied on the Nile to feed itself and provide for the country's economic well-being. The annual flood waters made it possible to grow fruit, vegetables and cotton.

When GERD is completed, it will reduce Egypt's share of Nile water by 22 billion cubic meters per year, devastating Egyptian agriculture and hydroelectric production, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources. This is obviously of critical concern to Egypt's leaders, but they have not been able to reach a diplomatic solution to the problem. The country has been preoccupied with internal developments since the uprising in 2011 that pushed President Hosni Mubarak from power.

Now the Egyptians and Sudanese are engaged in a spat that has become caught up in regional rivalries, and threatens to become intertwined with Ethiopia and GERD. The Sudanese recently welcomed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Khartoum, where he signed a number of security-cooperation agreements, including a provision to allow the Turks to administer Suakin Island, located at a strategic point in the Red Sea between Egypt, Sudan and Saudi Arabia. The island used to be home to an Ottoman naval base, and the Egyptians fear the Turks plan to renovate the island and establish a permanent military presence there.
A few months earlier, Qatar also upgraded its security relations with Sudan. This has not made the Egyptians very happy, given Turkish and Qatari support for the Muslim Brotherhood, which has exacerbated tension between Cairo and Khartoum over the Hala'ib and Shalateen disputed zones, which are located on the border between Egypt and Sudan but administered by the Egyptians. Now Sudan is mucking about in the sensitive issue of the Sanafir and Tiran islands, implying that Egypt did not have the right to transfer them to Saudi Arabia — which caused an outcry among many Egyptians — because they may actually have been Sudanese in the first place. This is Sudanese trolling to malevolent ends.

In response to all this, the Egyptians deployed a helicopter carrier in the Red Sea and sent troops to an Emirati base in Eritrea. This in turn angered the Ethiopians. Eritrea seceded from Ethiopia in 1993 and the two countries fought a border war in the late 1990s that killed an estimated 80,000 people. In 2016 they briefly clashed again, killing hundreds more. In response to the presence of Egyptian troops in Eritrea, the Ethiopians not only rejected a Cairo proposal to cut Khartoum out of negotiations over GERD, but Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn hosted the Sudanese defense minister and vowed to speed up dam construction. All the while the Sudanese deployed thousands of troops to its border with Eritrea.

mozbar · Feb 25, 2018

Nice to see a little African community here. To answer the OP's questionaire?

What country is your family from?

Mozambique. Dad's side can be traced to Swaziland; mom's side is a mix of locals and Indians/Arabs (they can't really tell me which)

What is your ethnicity?

Black

If you live outside of Africa, when did your family first leave the continent?

1990. But they have moved back since.

If you live abroad, have you ever visited the old country?

Of course! Even lived there for close to half my life (not consecutive years)

What country do you live in?

Japan

How well can you speak your language?

That's a difficult question, either side of my family speaks different languages. We are based in the capital, Maputo, which has two other languages. I lived there, and outside Mozambique, so I never got a chance to practice.

Additionally, unlike a large number of African countries, we do not have any local language as an official language.

TLDR: I understand a few words. But that's it.

What is your religion?

I am not religious.

What is your favourite video game?

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri!

Professor Beef · Apr 24, 2018

Congrats, everyone! You're our next community spotlight!

Deleted member 4552 · Apr 24, 2018

Nice, I tried to make a European general topic, but no bites (Shite OP in fairness)

Hope it goes well for you and a few more Africans come out of the woodwork.

Angelus Errare · Apr 24, 2018

Subbed.

ryutaro's mama · Apr 24, 2018

Great thread.

Deleted member 21469 · Apr 25, 2018

What country is your family from? Morocco

What is your ethnicity? Amazigh(beber) /Arab. ie North african

If you live outside of Africa, when did your family first leave the continent? Most of my family is still in Morocco.

If you live abroad, have you ever visited the old country? At least once a year.

What country do you live in? France

How well can you speak your language? Maghrebi Arabic: perfectly. Amazigh: not at all.

What is your religion? Atheist

What is your favourite video game? The metal gear series.

foppy79 · Apr 25, 2018

What country is your family from? Ethiopia

What is your ethnicity? Half Amhara, Quarter Irish, Quarter English

If you live outside of Africa, when did your family first leave the continent? ~Middle 2000, with relatives slowly but surely coming over to the USA

If you live abroad, have you ever visited the old country? Yes, Although I was an infant and don't remember any of it :/

What country do you live in? USA

How well can you speak your language? Can't, mother was learning English while raising me...

What is your favourite video game? Mario Galaxy

This is a really neat thread, wish I knew about it earlier.

Deleted member 2210 · Apr 25, 2018

GrapeApes said:
Guess no one checking for Africa. How much y'all paying for gari? Need reference point.

For bag prob like 7-8 bucks

And yo Buhari got the NERVE to run for reelection

Heshinsi · Apr 25, 2018

What country is your family from?
Egypt

What is your ethnicity?
Arab/Coptic

When did your family first leave Africa?
Late 80s

What country do you live in?
Canada

Have you ever visited the old country?
Nope. Almost all the family has left the country anyways

Can you speak your language?
My Arabic is garbage lol

What is your religion?
Athiest

What is your favourite video game?
KOTOR (Knights of the Old Republic)

I just found out about this thread due to it being tagged at the top of the page. Lots of informative posts Camel

Deleted member 4452 · Apr 26, 2018

Please post pictures of food!

I am going to an Ethiopian restaurant this weekend and really looking forward to it!

Kotto · Apr 27, 2018

Holy shit, Camel. Great work on the thread. I'll definitely be lurking here.

Urban Scholar · Apr 27, 2018

God lord, I'm frequenting here. Blessings OP

Raven117 · Apr 27, 2018

mozbar said:
Nice to see a little African community here. To answer the OP's questionaire?

What country is your family from?

Mozambique. Dad's side can be traced to Swaziland; mom's side is a mix of locals and Indians/Arabs (they can't really tell me which)

Maputo fish market housed one of the best meals I ever had!

I'm American, but spent almost an entire year in South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Swaziland

T'Challa Shakur · Apr 27, 2018

Im here for the jollof and Plantin.

Pooh · Apr 28, 2018

Wow, really cool thread! I've been taking French and learning about Africa has been a big topic due to how common French is spoken in the continent. Hopefully you guys don't mind me lurking here to learn more about Africa, I'm as typically ignorant about it as an American is.

shadow_shogun · Apr 28, 2018

Had no idea that there was an African OT, appreciate that spotlight

What country is your family from?
Nigerian
What is your ethnicity?
Igbo
If you live outside of Africa, when did your family first leave the continent?
2003
If you live abroad, have you ever visited the old country?
Haven't been back home since I left in 2009. Most of my family live elsewhere though.
What country do you live in?
U.S
How well can you speak your language?
Not very well, but fluent in pidgin
What is your religion?
Christian
What is your favourite video game?
The Witcher 3

Ombra · Apr 28, 2018

GrapeApes said:
Guess no one checking for Africa. How much y'all paying for gari? Need reference point.

Ha ha I paid 5.50 for about 2lbs.

first time going to an african store and the woman treated me in this weird standoffish way that got worse as time went by.

What country is your family from?
Nigeria
What is your ethnicity?
Yoruba
If you live outside of Africa, when did your family first leave the continent?
In 78 after I was born
If you live abroad, have you ever visited the old country?
Yes
What country do you live in?
US-A
How well can you speak your language?
Poorly
What is your religion?
Christian
What is your favourite video game?
Panzer Dragoon Saga

AfricanEra |OT|

Attempted to circumvent ban with an alt account

Official ResetEra™ Chao Puncher

User requested account closure

User-requested account closure

User requested account closure

CEO of Traphouse Networks

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account