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The Pope said on Wednesday that the Mediterranean Sea must not become a "place of conflict".
South Africa is one of the hardest-hit countries in Africa with over 740,000 infections.
The country recorded 60 more virus-related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 20,011.
By Benjamin Jealous, president of People For the American Way and People For the American Way Foundation After four exhausting years of President Donald Trump and four excruciating days of vote counting, the election was called for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on Saturday. Hallelujah! Those days of counting felt agonizingly slow to many of us, but the momentum was always on our side: Democratic voters—mostly Black voters—in and around Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee and Atlanta delivered the battleground state votes needed to deny Trump a second term. In Nevada and Arizona, Latino and Native American voters provided […]
The post OP-ED: A Huge Victory and More Work to Do appeared first on Black News Channel.
In a fight to revive a rare cultural heritage and heal a nation scarred by conflict a Central African Republic band and dancers are trying to revamp the country's traditional music and dance style - known as \"Motenguene\".
Its name translates into \"the dance of the caterpillars,\" and was handed down by the Pygmies, who gathered for food in ancestral forests in the southwest.
In the capital Bangui, the band Zokela gets the audience on its feet with its jangle of guitars.
It is one of four such traditions in the CAR, along with the \"bird dance\" from the north, the \"fish dance\" of the southeast and the \"savannah dance\" of central regions.
Zokela have been trying to revamp Motenguene's image for nearly 30 years.
In their shows, traditional bead necklaces and antelope skins are usually swapped for city-slicker clothes, while the kora -- a delicate, long-necked harp lute favoured in much of West Africa -- has given way to the electric guitar.
Social fabric
\"We are using this dance to distinguish ourselves a bit from our brothers in Congo, Ivory Coast and Cameroon,\" Saint-Pierre Dibaba Alagomme, the founder of Zokela, tells AFP.
Keeping the sound alive is also vital to the country's social fabric,
The CAR has been ravaged by decades of violence, corruption and nepotism.
In 2013, a coalition of armed groups from the Muslim minority ousted president Francois Bozize, plunging the country into a maelstrom of communal bloodshed.
But the musicians have another battle to fight.
For all the lively rhythms, it's difficult for the music to survive as concerts are poorly paid.
The CAR has no professional record industry and musicians must make do with the meagre fees from playing clubs and private functions such as weddings.
These events bring an average income equivalent to 75 euros (about $90) to be shared by 12 to 15 people.
Royalties
Recordings made in local studios are also considered too amateur for export. To make matters worse, professional musicians are also owed copyright fees dating back over 30 years.
\"It is our duty to promote this sector of activity, but there is one thing that must also be recognised, and that is that artists and cultural actors as a whole, are not receiving their royalties,\" says cultural promoter Yvon Eka.
\"Culture is the identity of a country. The crisis that the Central African Republic is going through today is cultural.\"
This year, The government drew up a national cultural policy to help.
\"We started with the realisation that the public consumes a lot more products from abroad, because there is no promotion of Central African culture as such,\" says Philippe Bokoula, director general of the ministry of arts and culture.
In July, a law was passed to make the Bucada operational.
\"The major part of the finance will come from the state, while we spread awareness among the radio stations and consumers and draw up charts with a scale of tariffs,\" Bokoula says.
Yet, the initiative -- awaited for decades -- remains in limbo, pending the publication of a
Rescue teams out in force on Wednesday in the Mediterranean as they tried to save some 88 people, including children and babies, who have been shipwrecked on a flimsy boat that gave way.
The Open arms vessel said it recovered five bodies and that the rickety boat collapsed and tipped them into the sea.
The Spanish NGO managed to distribute waistcoats and masks in the moments before the ground sank.
It is the second migrant boat that the organisation's vessel has rescued in less than 24 hours.
Several miles away it was a similar situation but on a different boat. Some 13 people drowned off the Libyan coast while it managed to save 85 who were adrift and in danger of sinking in international waters.
Their boat was badly damaged, with water and gasoline spilled inside.
The NGO has criticised the fact that the countries of the Mediterranean have abandoned these people and have not moved government relief teams.
Since the start of the year, more than 575 migrants have died while trying to reach Europe, according to the UN's Migration body the IOM.
The rescue ship set sail from the port of Barcelona (northeast Spain) on November 4 bound for the central Mediterranean, where in recent days it was waiting to receive a request for help.
Burkina Faso's president vowed to defeat a militant insurgency in his country's north if re-elected.
Roc Marc Christian Kabore was campaigning ahead of an election slated for November 22.
Burkina Faso is one of 3 Sahel countries swept up in militant violence.
''Terrorism has caused much damage in our country - human and material damage as well as administrative damage, with schools closed. Yet despite all this, the people of Burkina Faso have chosen to stand firm because we will never bow before the terrorists\".
The opposition has routinely criticized Kabore's government for failing to stop attacks which have killed many and driven over half a million people from their homes.
13 people in total are seeking the presidency.
Because of the violence affecting a large part of the Burkinabe territory, nearly 1,500 villages will not participate in the vote.
Tanzania's opposition leader and 2020 presidential candidate, Tundu Lissu has left the country for Brussels.
Lissu contested against incumbent president John Magufuli. He lost to him in what he described as an election held under corruption and voter intimidation.
Lissu had sought refuge in the German Embassy in Dar Es Salaam after multiple threats and fear for his life.
The opposition leader has been living with severe injuries since surviving an assasination attempt in 2017.
He had 12.8% of the electoral voteas against President Magufuli's 84%. Lissu has asked the international community not to recognize the election results.
Magufuli was sworn in for a second-five year term on Thursday November 5 in the Tanzanian capital. There was heavy p olice and army security presence ahead of the swearing-in ceremony.
Meanwhile, leaders of the East African nation's two main opposition parties, ACT Wazalendo and CHADEMA, who refuse to recognize Magufuli's win, have been charged with organizing an unlawful assembly.
RECENTLY, we reported that the economic crisis in the country had forced the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) to retrench staff. This obviously points to a far bigger crisis. Industrial bodies derive their survival from subscriptions paid by companies. When companies are ailing, one of the first things they do is to withdraw their membership from business lobby organisation like the CZI, or stop paying subscriptions. This should be the case with the CZI now, as well as its peers, the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, which has suggested that government takes over some of these organisations’ bills. We believe government should inject the $18 billion COVID-19 package promised in May to bail out industry urgently to avoid bloodbath and further haemorrhaging of the economy. This is an urgent matter as we have noted an extremely worrying trend recently, which points to a silent carnage that is blowing through companies. First it was the closure of household goods production firm, United Refineries Limited last week. Then in the past week a string of third quarter financial statements have showed that industries are operating in a far more difficult climate than we thought. Volumes and revenues are coming off at a frightening pace. At Truworths, revenues declined to $165,3 million during the period, from $177,8 million in 2019 due to plummeting demand and a blazing liquidity crisis. Unifreight posted an inflation adjusted profit before tax of $19 million but the volatility of the reporting currency forced transported tonnages to fall by 22%. The Livestock and Meat Advisory Council said deboned meat imports fell by 73%, which points to another bloodbath in that sector. The cigarette maker, British American Tobacco said volumes fell by 8%. One of the most accurate measures of a company’s success in a hyperinflationary period is its volumes. If these are declining everyone must be worried. This is why we urge authorities to put on their thinking caps and come up with strategies that will save industries. The most basic steps to take are increasing spending power and stabilising inflation and prices. Without this, the end game may be bloody.
