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Viewpoint by Makeda Saba
BRUSSELS (IDN) – On October 11, 2019, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2019 Nobel Peace prize to the Prime Minister of Ethiopia Dr Abiy Ahmed. He is the fourth African leader to be bestowed that honour after President Anwar Sadat in 1978; President FW de Klerk in 1993); and President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in 2011.
By Lisa Vives
NEW YORK (IDN) – The Uganda government is taking action against the popular red beret, calling it official military clothing that could earn the wearer imprisonment for life.
According to the new rule, the sale or wearing of any attire which resembles the army uniform is also banned. Prohibited items include side caps, bush hats, ceremonial forage caps and camouflaged baseball caps.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW (IDN) – For decades, Russia has been looking for effective ways to promote multifaceted ties and new strategies for cooperation in economic areas in Africa. Now, Kremlin will hold the first Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi on October 23-24 with high hopes of enhancing multifaceted ties, trying to reshape the existing relationship and significantly roll out ways to increase effectiveness of cooperation between Russia and Africa.
By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW (IDN) – After several years of consistently constructive criticisms, Russian authorities have finally put on the agenda the topic of media cooperation for further panel discussions during the first Russia-Africa Summit on October 23-24 in Sochi, southern coastal city of Russia.
The Russia-Africa Summit programme, released last month, explicitly notes that Russian-African relations are lending an additional dimension to developments, especially with the boost provided by rapidly expanding links across a vast range of areas. The media can and indeed must be a decisive factor in building effective ties.
By Kizito Makoye
MANYARA, Tanzania (IDN) – At the heart of the Yaeda valley, which sprawls across a wide expanse of plains in Tanzania’s northern Manyara region, live the Hadzabe – a 40,000-year-old tribe who live in the bush. Their livelihoods still depend on hunting and gathering wild fruits, and for many years now, they have shown a great ability in surviving on a few dwindling resources.
Armed with vast knowledge of the country’s flora and fauna, coupled with their inseparable bond with nature, the Hadzabe have until recently lived in a perfect balance between man and the environment.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) – If you think you’re hearing more Swahili, Yoruba, Amharic or Twi coming from your neighbour’s home, you’re right!
Newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau finds African languages are among the top ten fastest growing languages spoken at home in the U.S.
The Census list features three groups of African languages: Swahili and other Central/Eastern/Southern African languages; Yoruba, Twi, Igbo, and other Western African languages; and Amharic/Somali.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW York (IDN) – For the first time in 150 years, Ethiopia’s Oromo people celebrated “Thanksgiving” in “Finfinee” – generally known as Addis Ababa.
The country’s largest ethnic group turned up in the hundreds of thousands to mark “Ireecha” – a public outdoors event. People gathered around water bodies, holding tufts of grass to thank Waqqaa (God) and ask for Nagaa (Peace), Finnaa (the development of mind and body), Walooma (togetherness or harmony), and Araaraa (Reconciliation).
By Isaac Mwaura
The writer is a Nominated Senator and chairman of the Albinism Society of Kenya. @mwauraIsaac1 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This article was first published in Standard Digitial.
NEW YORK (IDN) – It is Wednesday September 25, 2019, and I am rushing to take my seat at a Kenyan side event on peace, organised by our permanent mission in New York and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was during the United Nations General Assembly meeting. I get into the building and check in at security.
By Kizito Makoye
KILOSA, Tanzania (IDN) – Hidaya Juma looks gaunt and weary. Her sun-parched skin and tattered clothes tell it all. She is poor.
Juma, a 43-year-old single mother of four, who lives in Kisanga village, Kilosa district, in Tanzania's eastern Morogoro region, lives in a mud-walled house that is prone to flooding.
Her 19-year-old daughter Zubeda shares a dusty bedroom with two siblings. Juma sleeps in the other room with two of her children, aged nine and six.
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) - The war may be over in a place called Biafra – a region of states in the southern part of Nigeria – but it remains a flashpoint for ethnic tensions that simmer just below the surface.
This September, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), announced a meeting with world leaders at the United Nations to present the grievances of the Igbo community, including unfair treatment by successive governments.
