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guest column:Admire Dube The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was established in 2018 with the aim to create a single market for goods and services, facilitated by movement of people to deepen the economic integration of the continent, under the Pan African Vision of “An integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.” Consolidating Africa into one trade area provides great opportunities for entrepreneurs, businesses and consumers across the continent and ultimately countries, which boosts chances to support sustainable development in the world’s least developed region. With the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic exponentially increasing the challenges of a continent already ravaged by socio-economic ills, AfCFTA offers great potential to not only offer economic mitigations against the pandemic, but also speedily extricate African nations from regression and to a path of self-betterment. 2019 statistics show that Africa’s population stood at 1,3 billion with a combined nominal GDP of US$2,58 trillion and a healthy 3,7% growth rate. This stood firmly abreast of fellow rising economies like India with the exact same population count and a GDP of US$3,2 trillion and Brazil with its nominal GDP of US$2 trillion. However, in 2020 the pandemic took a toll on African lives and economies as economic activity declined by a projected 3,3%, confirming the region’s first recession in 25 years. The substantial downturn in economic activity cost the region at least US$115 billion this year, in part caused by depressed domestic consumption and competition as investments were divested to measures for mitigating the spread of the coronavirus. This situation could also push up to approximately 40 million people into extreme poverty erasing at least five years of progress in fighting poverty. Similarly, COVID-19 could set back progress in building human capital, as school closures continue to affect nearly 253 million students, potentially causing losses in learning which does not bode well for the continent’s future. The full implementation of the AfCFTA will certainly stem a downward trajectory by progressively eliminating tariffs on intra-African trade, making it easier for African businesses to trade within the continent and benefit from the growing African market. Africa, being a diverse continent fragmented into 54 States which are organised into trade blocs and associations under the African Union as members, will necessarily morph into a single business entity, or as close to one as anyone can hope for such a heterogeneous cocktail of diverse people. COVID-19 aside, the continent already faced a myriad of social, economic, and political challenges weakening current African trading blocs and their ability to promote integration and intra-trade among each other. The share of intra-African exports among constituent countries (trade among each other) as a percentage of total exports out of the African continent was still a miniscule 17% as at 2017, which remains low compared to levels in Europe (69%), Asia (59%), and North A
In May, Burundi held a presidential election which was won by Evariste Ndayishimiye, candidate of the ruling National Council for the Defense of Democracy - Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) party.
Ndayishimiye was hurriedly sworn in after the untimely death of president Pierre Nkurunziza in June.
Rights violations continue
The Council encouraged donor countries which had suspended aid to Burundi to continue dialogue towards resumption of development assistance.
A report by a UN watchdog in September said human rights violations were still being committed in Burundi, including sexual violence and murder.
The country was plunged into a crisis in April 2015 when Ndayishimiye’s predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for a controversial third term, which he ultimately won in July 2015.
His candidature, which was opposed by the opposition and civil society groups, resulted in a wave of protests, violence and even a failed coup in May 2015.
Hundreds of people were killed and over 300,000 fled to neighboring countries.
Shortages have become ‘’very critical’’ in Ethiopia’s embattled northern region of Tigray, the United Nations says. The region of 6 million people is still sealed off as it faces threats by Ethiopian federal forces.
Martin Plaut is a writer and an expert on Ethiopia. He says what is ‘’ much more likely is that the Tigrayans will head for the hills in the mountains, it's an extremely rough terrain.’’
‘’If he has a quick victory then perhaps he will be able to establish control. Much more likely is that the Tigrayans will head for the hills in the mountains, it's an extremely rough terrain. And they know it very well, they spent 20 years fighting the previous government, which they overthrew in 1991. In the same time they don't control the skies. The skies are held by the jets of the Ethiopian Air force and also, the Tigrayans are said to be under attack from the United Arab Emirates who have drones based in neighboring Eritrea, and they are said to be using these drones against key targets’’, he said.
Plaut noted that the trappings of Tigrayans in the fight is compounding an already dire situation.
‘’The BBC reported seeing Ethiopian federal troops now preventing people from crossing the river into Sudan. Which is why the numbers have dropped substantially from about 6.000 a day to about 700 a day. So people are being trapped in the fighting, and that is making their situation even worse. Once they get across the river of course they can get substantial aid and assistance. And the international community is moving heaven and earth to make that happen’’, Plaut added.
More than a million people are now displaced. Fuel and cash are running out. The Tigrayan capital, Mekele cannot be accessed by the UN World Food Program over travel blockages.
Communications links remain severed with the Tigray region since the deadly conflict broke out on November 4. Human Rights Watch is warning that ``actions that deliberately impede relief supplies'' violate international humanitarian law.
… the the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Ronnie Milsap … .′ Now I’m the `first African-American country singer.′ That’s about …
Described by those who knew her as exotic, flamboyant, and colorful, Zoë Dusanne, was an art dealer and collector who opened Seattle’s first professional modern-art gallery, the Zoë Dusanne Gallery, in 1950 and who worked tirelessly to both introduce modern art to a northwest audience and to promote northwest art and artists to a larger international art community.
Dusanne was born Zola Graves on March 24, 1884 in Kansas to Letitia Denny and John Henry Graves, a stonemason. Although she was self-taught with respect to modern art, her artistic bent was nourished early in life by her parents. When the Graves family lived in Iowa at the turn of the 20th century, for example, Letitia took the young Zoë on summer trips to Chicago to attend the theater and to visit the Art Institute of Chicago.
In 1903 Zoë spent one year at Oberlin College followed by a semester at the University of Illinois, Urbana. It was during this time that Zoë met her first husband, George Young, whom she married in 1904. The union produced Zoë’s only child, Theodosia, in 1909. By 1912 Zoë was separated and decided to follow her parents to Seattle. A divorce from George followed after her arrival in Seattle. Zoë’s second marriage, in 1919 to Dr. Frederick Boston, lasted only a few years.
In 1928 Zoë and then teenaged Theodosia left Seattle for New York. Sometime during her residence in New York, Zoë began using the last name Dusanne. While living in Greenwich Village, Zoë’s passion for collecting modern art began in earnest. At the height of the Great Depression Zoë found that artists were the first to feel the impact of hard times, and often sold their works at a fraction of their earlier value. Little by little during these years Zoë amassed a collection of modern art which she brought back to Seattle in 1942.
In 1947 at age 63, Zoë built a home overlooking Seattle’s Lake Union that was specifically designed to double as an art gallery, and on November 12, 1950, Dusanne opened her collection to the public. From the mid-1940s
… highest disparities at younger ages: Black Americans from ages 30 to 49 … certainly the highest-profile ones.
“African-Americans have suffered quite the repercussions …
The bodies of about 20 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa were recovered from waters off Tunisia, a legal official said, as a search was launched for 30 others.
The coast guard recovered the bodies and a search was launched with divers.
Ali Ayadi, a regional health director spoke to the press: “The 22 bodies were received from the Habib Bourguiba University Hospital.
Other migrants had told authorities the victims were probably passengers on a boat that set off for Italy last Thursday night with 53 people on board.
Illegal crossings from Tunisia to Europe jumped by more than 150 percent in January to April 2010 compared to the same period last year, according to the UN’s refugee agency.
Although Rev. Cordy Tindell (C.T.) Vivian, passed on July 17 aged 95, his legacy is sure to endure into the decades. The civil rights great pushed for equality for Black Americans. But his quest for people of his stock to be treated humanely came at great cost spanning beat downs and violent arrests. “In 1965,...
The post Recalling when a Sheriff punched MLK's Field General C.T. Vivian in the mouth appeared first on Face2Face Africa.
Title: Victor Trammell for Your Black World | Photo courtesy of Consulting and Development International
Despite a near 100 per cent overrun and two-year delay in completion of the Junction roadworks in St Mary, “billions of dollars more” will be needed to rehabilitate a discrete gutted stretch of the key corridor linking Kingston to the northeastern...
Quaker Oats announced that they will be changing the name of the popular Aunt Jemima brand in an effort to combat racial stereotypes.
The over 130-year-old brand’s origin comes from a song called, “Old Aunt Jemima” from a minstrel show performer.
Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Quaker Foods North America Kristin Kroepfl addressed the issue.
“We recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype,” she said in a press release.
This is not the first time that Quaker has made changes to the brand.
Black Leadership Matters Dr. David E. Jackson @dejacksonii Black lives matter – shout it from the housetops! But merely asserting the value of African-American lives is not enough to get our people to the promised land; nor is any party, politician, or program. Black lives matter most when they have purpose, and purpose comes from … Continued
The post Black Leadership Matters appeared first on Chicago Defender.
According to Fox Business, starting on August 1 the airline changed its \"flight sanitization policy to focus on bathrooms and tray tables, forgoing seat belts and armrests, which will now be cleaned at night as part of its “six to seven-hour” deep clean.\"
[UN News] The Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) is urging Libya's warring parties to implement their recent historic ceasefire agreement, calling it a \"welcome concrete development\" for a population that has been yearning for peace.
The country's largest beer producer welcomed the scraping of the alcohol ban, saying it will ensure that it's product is enjoyed responsibly.
Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte and state Senator Brian A. Benjamin have reintroduced a bill,
A04615A on the Assembly side, and
S1137A on the Senate side, to prevent racial profiling by increasing data collection and reporting standards.
The bill that Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte and I have introduced will prohibit law enforcement officers from engaging in racial or ethnic profiling to help ensure we have one system of enforcement for our city and state.”
I strongly support this bill to combat racial profiling in New York’s law enforcement practices, which is urgently needed now more than ever, and thank my colleagues for their leadership during this time.”
“Historically, to be black in this country is to carry an increased burden,” State Senator Kevin Parker, who is co-sponsoring the bill, added, “a burden that includes not only a higher death rate, but also the continuous presence of racial discrimination and bias by law enforcement officers.
“We shouldn’t need legislation to prohibit law enforcement officers from engaging in illegal and unconstitutional racial and ethnic profiling, but we do,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal, a co-sponsor from Manhattan’s 67th Assembly District.
This nationalistic patent monopoly route was the one Trump choose to pursue.
Source
Ben Stokes' father Ged Stokes, a New Zealand rugby league international, has died after a battle with brain cancer.
In some of these countries we're seeing an increase in cases and in others, new cases remain stable from week to week, indicating we need to remain vigilant to stop the spread of COVID-19,\" Moeti said.
So with COVID-19 threatening to overwhelm health systems, the extensive polio response network is once again lending crucial support as countries build up systems to contain COVID-19,\" said Moeti.
Mali's response to COVID-19
Safia Boly, Minister of Investment Promotion, Small and Medium Enterprises and National Entrepreneurship in Mali, shared how COVID-19 has impacted the economic prospects of the informal sector in her country.
The slowing rate of cases in many countries, which we have seen, has given the opportunity to scale up public health capacities so that even as lockdowns are being eased, which is what is happening in countries now, the capacity is there and even if there is an initial uptick of cases, as we are seeing in countries like South Africa, be more capable of stopping a very out of control spread of the virus.
The impact on economies, as Minister Boly explained, will be severe but we know an out of control spread of the pandemic could also overwhelm countries in other ways.\"
Sanskrit, one of the most ancient languages in the world, might not be in common use in most of India, but it is slowly regaining its currency in some parts of the country. Mattur is [...]
Watch all of the live action from this afternoon's CAF Champions League clash between Kaizer Chiefs and PWD Bamenda below
