Thursday, July 31, 2014

New Africa Book of the Day - 31 July 2014

South Africa (Inventing the Nation), by Alexander Johnston

Release Date: July 31, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic [Kindle Edition]

At the heart of South Africa’s ‘miracle’ transition from intractable ethno-racial conflict to democracy was an improvised nation born out of war weariness, hope, idealism and calculated pragmatism on the part of the elites who negotiated the compromise settlement. In the absence of any of the conventional bonds of national consciousness, the improvised nation was fixed on the civic identity and national citizenship envisaged in the new constitution.

In the twentieth anniversary year of the country’s democracy, South Africa reviews the progress of nation-building in post-apartheid South Africa, assesses how well the improvised nation has been embedded in a shared life for South Africans and offers a prognosis for its future. It draws up a socio-economic profile of the population which is the raw material of nation-building. It measures the contributions of the polity and the constitution, religion and values, as well as sport and the media, to building a sense of national citizenship. The book explains the abrupt discontinuity between the contributions of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki to nation-building and goes on to note the changing focus from reconciliation between black and white to include a concern for social cohesion in a society beset by violent crime, corruption and citizen deviance and dissidence.

South Africa reconsiders the short, intense life cycle of Afrikaner nationalism and portrays the ambiguous relationships between African nationalism, non-racialism, civic nationalism and ‘African tradition’ in the ideology and practice of the African National Congress. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive analysis of a crucial aspect of South Africa’s first twenty years of democracy, as well as exploring intriguing questions for the student of nationalism.

The paperback edition of this book becomes available on September 25, 2014, released simultaneously with the hardcover edition.

Alexander Johnston has contributed chapters to Violence in Southern Africa (edited by William Gutteridge and J.E. Spence, 1997), Comparative Perspectives on South Africa (edited by Ran Greenstein, 1998), and Ethnic Conflict, Tribal Politics: a Global Perspective (edited by Kenneth Christie, 1998). From 1994 to 2002, Johnston was professor of political science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where he is now a research associate.




Africa News Headlines for 31 July 2014

Oscar Pistorius Murder Trial: Judge Thokozile Masipa Has Considerable Testimony To Consider
Source: Sports World News

Michelle Obama Urges Young Africans to Embrace Women's Rights
Source: Voice of America

Trade, Investment, Growth Are Key Issues at US-Africa Summit
Source: Voice of America

Barclays Africa to expand in Nigeria
Source: Business Day

Ambulance fitted to restore eyesight in Togo, West Africa
Source: Tyler Morning Telegraph

Fort Worth doctor in Africa tests positive for Ebola virus
Source: KHOU-TV

Liberia shuts all schools as Ebola virus spreads
Source: France24

World’s first malaria vaccine to hit markets soon
Source: Free Malaysia Today

US not looking for permanent military presence in Africa
Source: Business Standard

First lady asks African leaders to change gender attitudes
Source: The Modesto Bee/AP

State Dept. official: Anti-gay laws ‘not consistent’ with African values
Source: Washington Blade

U.S. Africa Summit Leaders Face Weighty Agenda for Continent
Source: United States Institute of Peace

EU, Cameroon Implement Economic Partnership Agreement
Source: Tax-News

President Jonathan Drops Wife From Washington DC Trip, To Travel With 73 Delegates
Source: Sahara Reporters






Wednesday, July 30, 2014

New Africa Book of the Day - 30 July 2014

Somalia in Transition since 2006, by Shaul Shay

Release Date: July 31, 2014
Publisher: Transaction Publishers


This book picks up where its predecessor, Somalia between Jihad and Restoration, left off, examining international efforts to stabilize war-torn Somalia. It analyzes major political events in Somalia in the years since 2006, examining opportunities for restoration of the country based on the United Nations-backed plan known as the "Roadmap for the End of the Transition," improved security conditions, and international economics and financial support.

The author notes that the time of transition may be over, according to the timetable of the United Nations, but it is clear that the work of transformation is just beginning. In considering whether political and social chaos in Somalia is ending, Shay sees two possible futures. One possibility is the establishment of a reform government that unifies Somali society; another is continued strife that accelerates Somalia’s descent into the endless violence of a failed state.

Shay believes the international approach to Somalia requires a thorough reassessment. He argues it has been limited to two Western priorities—terrorism and piracy—while largely ignoring domestic issues of critical concern to Somalis. As a result, many Somalis have come to view those participating in the international effort as a foreign occupation.
Shaul Shay is author of Islamic Terror and the Balkans (2006), The Shahids: Islam and Suicide Attacks (2004), The Red Sea Terror Triangle: Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, and Islamic Terror (2006), and Somalia between Jihad and Restoration (2010), among others. He is a senior research fellow of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies and the International Policy Institute for Counter Terrorism (ICT) at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzeliya (IDC).




Carnegie Corporation sponsors survey of African diaspora academics

An email distributed to its members by the African Studies Association notes that the Carnegie Corporation of New York is looking for academics from the African diaspora in North America to answer questions in a survey in advance of the African Higher Education Summit on the Future of African Higher Education in March 2015 in Senegal.

Here is the full request:
As part of the upcoming African Higher Education (AHE) Summit on the Future of African Higher Education in March 2015 in Dakar, the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program is organizing a Diaspora Convening, comprised of academics in the African diaspora, for the November 2014 African Studies Association's annual meeting. The goal of this convening is to develop a series of concrete recommendations that represent the Diaspora's voice(s) at the AHE Summit.

These resolutions will be sent to Carnegie Corporation of New York, who are one of the 11 organizing partners, for inclusion during the Summit.

We are reaching to African-born academics in higher education in the United States and Canada to gather foundational information on the activities of the diaspora, as well as to identify panel presenters who could represent themselves and their diaspora networks. Thank you for your cooperation in this process. You can access the survey at this website: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1681e7u0vaO82qB20y1qaYatjxZTnZXsjDv3PycwfMII/viewform




Africa News Headlines for 30 July 2014

Remarks at the Presidential Summit of the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders
Source: U.S. Department of State

Obama announces creation of leadership centre in Kenya
Source: Capital FM

Oil outlook optimistic offshore Senegal
Source: UPI

Ethnic hate speech reveals roots of Kenya violence
Source: The News

Mobile money grows in Africa but hurdles remain
Source: Reuters

Somalia Growth is Encouraging
Source: The African Executive

US seeks to train African leaders
Source: Independent Online

Where Is Nigeria’s Boko Haram Going?
Source: Africa in Transition

Amama 'quitting' Kanungu
Source: The Observer

President Barack Obama meets young African leaders
Source: Standard Digital

Nigeria Can Become Major Regional Economic Force - McKinsey Report
Source: The African Executive

Bad times ahead for Kenya due to insecurity, experts warn
Source: Standard Digital

Kidnapping, Ransoms, and the Sahel
Source: Africa in Transition

New Air Force Chief named in major military changes
Source: Capital FM

How Anonymous and other hacktivists are waging war on Kenya
Source: The Washington Post

Stage set for US summit to be attended by 40 African leaders
Source: Standard Digital

Gabonese Health Workers On Strike Over Allowances
Source: Cameroon Tribune

Sushma Swaraj meets Ugandan foreign minister Sam Kutesa
Source: The Economic Times

Granada studying football development project in Gabon
Source: Inside Spanish Football

Uganda's anti-homosexuality law could be overturned in the courts
Source: PRI's The World

The Literature Police: Apartheid Censorship and Its Cultural Consequences
Source: Fair Observer

We Still Don’t Know How Deadly the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa Will Be
Source: FiveThirtyEight

Tullow realigns Africa exploration strategy in Q2 report
Source: Oil & Gas Technology

Activists want gay rights on Africa summit agenda
Source: Federal News Radio/AP




Tuesday, July 22, 2014

New Africa Book of the Day - 22 July 2014

Citizenship between Empire and Nation: Remaking France and French Africa, 1945-1960, by Frederick Cooper

Release Date: July 21, 2014
Publisher: Princeton University Press

As the French public debates its present diversity and its colonial past, few remember that between 1946 and 1960 the inhabitants of French colonies possessed the rights of French citizens. Moreover, they did not have to conform to the French civil code that regulated marriage and inheritance. One could, in principle, be a citizen and different too. Citizenship between Empire and Nation examines momentous changes in notions of citizenship, sovereignty, nation, state, and empire in a time of acute uncertainty about the future of a world that had earlier been divided into colonial empires.

Frederick Cooper explains how African political leaders at the end of World War II strove to abolish the entrenched distinction between colonial "subject" and "citizen." They then used their new status to claim social, economic, and political equality with other French citizens, in the face of resistance from defenders of a colonial order. Africans balanced their quest for equality with a desire to express an African political personality. They hoped to combine a degree of autonomy with participation in a larger, Franco-African ensemble. French leaders, trying to hold on to a large French polity, debated how much autonomy and how much equality they could concede. Both sides looked to versions of federalism as alternatives to empire and the nation-state. The French government had to confront the high costs of an empire of citizens, while Africans could not agree with French leaders or among themselves on how to balance their contradictory imperatives. Cooper shows how both France and its former colonies backed into more "national" conceptions of the state than either had sought.
Frederick Cooper is professor of history at New York University. He is co-author (with Jane Burbank) of Empires in World History: Power and the Politics of Difference (2011) and (with Ann Laura Stoler) Tensions of Empire: Colonial Cultures in a Bourgeois World (1997), as well as author of Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present (2002), Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, History (2005), and On the African Waterfront: Urban Disorder and the Transformation of Work in Colonial Mombasa (2014).




Monday, July 21, 2014

Africa News Headlines for 21 July 2014

Sub-Saharan Economies Are Most Improved On 2014 Global Innovation Index
Source: International Business Times

Biafra and Boko Haram: Different Conflicts, Common Themes
Source: African Arguments

Young African leaders at Notre Dame
Source: South Bend Tribune

A United States of Africa? Not Yet
Source: Wall Street Journal

Al-Sisi not to attend US-Africa summit
Source: World Bulletin

Air Uganda suspends operations indefinitely
Source: Airfinance Journal

DA’s Ntuli uneasy after US racial incident
Source: The Mercury/IOL

US to Settle with African Leader’s Son in $71 Million Graft Cases
Source: 100 Reporters

U.S. Concerned by Convictions of Swazi Human Rights Lawyer and Journalist
Source: U.S. Department of State

Swiss Commodities Traders Go Big on African Oil
Source: Wall Street Journal

Gabon picks seven companies for final oil block talks
Source: Reuters

Obama Charts a Risky Course With Africa Heads-of-State Summit
Source: Wall Street Journal

Uninvited To The US-Africa Leaders Summit: The Tyrant Of Eritrea
Source: AFK Insider

AU Official Anticipates Stronger Ties at US-Africa Summit
Source: Voice of America

U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit: Let's Ensure It's on the Positive Side of History
Source: The Huffington Post

Africans Open Fuller Wallets to the Future
Source: New York Times

Circumcision campaigns in Africa show their value in the fight against AIDS
Source: The China Post

Cape Town’s Labia cinema: Go digital or go dark
Source: Daily Maverick

Aircraft with U.S. personnel lands in Ugandan road
Source: Army Times

Q&A: How To Run A Community-Driven Tourism Venture In Africa
Source: AFK Insider

Expelled from Tanzania, Rwandans find new hope back home
Source: News of Rwanda

Uganda's street children: 'The police beat us with canes. We live badly'
Source: The Guardian

LRA Fights Disease, Finds a Way to Survive in CAR’s Bush
Source: AFK Insider

Uganda to review mining laws
Source: The Independent

Violence simmers in Central Africa as peace talks open
Source: Business Recorder




Sunday, July 20, 2014

Africa News Headlines for 20 June 2014

Local South Sudanese Plan Protest for President’s Arrival in U.S.
Source: KCRG-TV9

U.S-Africa Summit: Obama Rules Out Meeting With Jonathan, Others
Source: Daily Times

Africa suffers major brain drain
Source: eNCA

The most innovative country in Africa
Source: Business Tech

Rwandan farmers gain from EAX
Source: East African Business Week

Terrorism Insurance In Nigeria?
Source: Ventures Africa

Ebola myths help spread deadly disease
Source: The Independent

How big is Uganda’s drugs problem?
Source: The Independent

Teen Collects Baseball Gear for Children in Africa
Source: WBAY-TV

An American Radio Station That's Saying 'Jambo' To Kenyans
Source: NPR/All Things Considered

Shelter Afrique extends $9m loan to Uganda
Source: KBC

Nigeria Loses $15m To International Airlines Annually
Source: Ventures Africa

'The Other Man' - South Africa: film profiles last apartheid leader
Source: Sentinel & Enterprise/AP

Ford Drives Ahead With African Expansion Plans
Source: AFK Insider

Kenya woos Japanese investors
Source: East African Business Week

Africa ready to get money moving
Source: Financial News

Africa As Biggest Contributor Towards Boosting Global Food Production
Source: Ventures Africa

Africa’s under-development due to un-exploited women potential – ILO
Source: Lusaka Times

We promote Nigerian talents across Africa–John Ugbe, CEO, Multichoice Nigeria
Source: The Sun

How Chinese Urbanism Is Transforming African Cities
Source: Metropolis/ArchDaily

Somalia's al Shabaab claim responsibility for Kenya bus attack
Source: SABC

Pakistan for fulfilling development aid promises made to Africa
Source: Daily Times

Sierra Leone Fashion Company Brings Bitcoin to West Africa
Source: CoinDesk

Africa's Green Wall To Block Terrorism
Source: Forbes

Nigeria loses $3 billion annually to consumption of cattle skin-Expert
Source: StarAfrica

MSMGF: Injustice for Africa’s HIV positive people
Source: Gay News Network

Uganda: African leaders to establish rapid standby force with technical capability
Source: Geeska Africa

ENI signs deal to expand oil, gas exploration in Congo
Source: Reuters

KCA Deutag wins $170 million Sonangol jack-up contract
Source: Petro Global News

Meeting Tororo’s ‘Maggie Thatcher’
Source: The Observer

Nigerians in Uganda told to respect Ugandan laws
Source: New Vision

Uganda applauded for fighting hunger
Source: East African Business Week

African nations: Pakistan stresses need for fulfilling development aid promises
Source: Business Recorder

Ethiopia Determined To Intensify Campaign Against Terrorism, Says PM
Source: Bernama

Djibouti: Ambassador Tom Kelly, the first ambassadorial posting for the career civil servant
Source: Geeska Africa

Dangote: Africa’s Top Donor Raises New Bar in Philanthropy, Donates N30bn in Two Years
Source: This Day Live




Saturday, July 19, 2014

New Africa Book of the Day - 19 July 2014

Bush War Rhodesia 1966-1980, by Peter Baxter

Release Date: July 19, 2014
Publisher: Helion and Company

It has been over three decades since the Union Jack was lowered on the colony of Rhodesia, but the bitter and divisive civil war that preceded it has continued to endure as a textbook counterinsurgency campaign fought between a mobile, motivated and highly trained Rhodesian security establishment and two constituted liberations movements motivated, resourced and inspired by the ideals of communist revolution in the third world.

A complicated historical process of occupation and colonization set the tone as early as the late 1890s for what would at some point be an inevitable struggle for domination of this small, landlocked nation set in the southern tropics of Africa. The story of the Rhodesian War, or the Zimbabwean Liberation Struggle, is not only an epic of superb military achievement, and revolutionary zeal and fervor, but is the tale of the incompatibility of the races in southern Africa, a clash of politics and ideals and, perhaps more importantly, the ongoing ramifications of the past upon the present, and the social and political scars that a war of such emotional underpinnings as the Rhodesian conflict has had on the modern psyche of Zimbabwe.

The Rhodesian War was fought with finely tuned intelligence-gathering and -analysis techniques combined with a fluid and mobile armed response. The practitioners of both have justifiably been celebrated in countless histories, memoirs and campaign analyses, but what has never been attempted has been a concise, balanced and explanatory overview of the war, the military mechanisms and the social and political foundations that defined the crisis. This book does all of that. The Rhodesian War is explained in digestible detail and in a manner that will allow enthusiasts of the elements of that struggle - the iconic exploits of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, the SAS, the Selous Scouts, the Rhodesian African Rifles, the Rhodesia Regiment, among other well-known fighting units - to embrace the wider picture in order to place the various episodes in context

Peter Baxter
is author of Biafra: The Nigerian Civil War 1967-1970 (2014), MAU MAU: The Kenyan Emergency 1952-60 (2012), France in Centrafrique: From Bokassa and Operation Barracude to the Days of EUFOR (Kindle edition, 2012), Somalia: US Intervention, 1992-1994 (2012), and other works about recent African military history.



Africa News Headlines for 19 July 2014

South Africa launches limited edition Mandela coins in birthday tribute
Source: GMA News

Witches & wizards issue warning to Boko Haram leader
Source: Bulawayo24

Future African leaders get a crash course in U.S. history
Source: Virginian-Pilot

Sub-Saharan Africa moves up innovations rankings
Source: New Vision

UN decries Africa's high interest rates
Source: Shanghai Daily

Immigrants Forced to Leave Gabon
Source: Voice of America

Inventors struggle to protect patents in Africa
Source: Business Day

Uganda Earns Big From Organic Agriculture
Source: Africa Agribusiness

African ministers meet on Africa’s infrastructure and integration
Source: SpyGhana

$50m Needed To Upgrade Zambian Railways Network
Source: Ventures Africa

Iron County Extension agent helps bring 4-H to Africa
Source: The Daily Globe

Ouattara urges developed countries to bail Africa on climate issues
Source: StarAfrica

Kony’s rebels change tactics to evade hunt
Source: Washington Post

Zone 9 Bloggers Charged by Ethiopian Court for Terrorism
Source: U.S. Department of State

Tourism gets tech savvy in Southern and Eastern Africa
Source: BBC News

Italy PM kicks off Africa tour in Mozambique
Source: Channel NewsAsia

French president in Chad announces new operation of 3,000 French troops in 5 African countries
Source: U.S. News & World Report

Françafrique: François Hollande’s African adventures
Source: The Economist

Oil find to transform East African economies
Source: SpyGhana

Fretting over 'bullying,' 'racism,' African Union to set up own court
Source: Interaksyon/AFP

Baltimore-area natives lift Uganda to success in world lacrosse championships
Source: The Baltimore Sun

Al-Shabab and the origins of East Africa's recent violence
Source: Aljazeera America

Danone Buys 40% of Kenyan Dairy to Expand African Footprint
Source: AgWeb/Farm Journal

France's Hollande Warns of Islamist Threat in W. Africa
Source: Sudan Vision Daily

Persecution of homosexuals in Africa hinders fight against AIDS
Source: Deutsche Welle

China Invests US$620m in Tororo Mining Project
Source: Chimpreports.com

The $10 Billion Pet Cheetah and Chimp Industry
Source: The Daily Beast

Your chocolate addiction is only going to get more (and more, and more) expensive
Source: Washington Post

Boy, 9, marries 62-year-old woman in South Africa
Source: Updated News



Friday, July 18, 2014

Africa News Headlines for 18 July 2014

Nelson Mandela: Google Doodle honours former South African president and anti-apartheid revolutionary on the 96 anniversary of his birth
Source: The Independent

Sex-for-fish behaviour escalating HIV in Uganda
Source: New Vision

Bono-led relief no cure as Ghana, Zambia consider IMF aid
Source: Sydney Morning Herald

With oil in Uganda means there is huge deposits in Rwanda too – say experts
Source: Rwanda Eye

The struggling African farmer recast as enterprising entrepreneur
Source: Devex

Bringing Solar Power and Hope to the DRC
Source: Africa in Transition

Tulane hosts young African leaders as part of Obama initiative
Source: The Times-Picayune

DRC launches agri-business park in move to revamp farming
Source: The Africa Report

Ethiopian authorities charge nine journalists with terrorism
Source: Nazret.com

The U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit: Far from “Bungled”
Source: Brookings/Africa in Focus

'ICC should drop charges against Kenyatta – for now'
Source: The Guardian

Violence in Mali Continues Despite French Efforts
Source: Voice of America

Kidnapped women, kids sex slaves in DRC
Source: News24

US endorses Morocco's plan on Sahara
Source: Business Standard

Five years in hell: Behind the interview
Source: WTOP

Young African leaders visit Texas
Source: KSAT-TV

Where thieves are siphoning off oil
Source: Business Times

Why the U.S. Is Spending Millions to Circumcise African Men
Source: takepart

Zimbabwean prostitutes collecting sperm to sell to South African sangomas
Source: Nehanda Radio

Across Africa, MSM report low access to basic HIV services
Source: San Diego Gay & Lesbian News

Uganda police abuse street children, says HRW
Source: BBC News

Uhuru welcomes Toyota Corporation’s investment
Source: KBC

South Africa: Missions, Transformation, and the Legacy of Apartheid
Source: Africa in Transition

Uganda’s LGBT and HIV/AIDS activists answer your questions
Source: PBS Newshour

Making a living as a Zimbabwean poet
Source: Radio Netherlands Worldwide

It’s time for Africa again as Hollande starts three-nation visit
Source: France24

Ambassador of hope: Home again in Uganda, a doctor sees progress
Source: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Top UN officials call for effective investment in Africa
Source: Shanghai Daily



Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Africa News Headlines for 15 July 2014

‘Democracy dividend’ bringing real economic growth to Africa
Source: The Yorkshire Post

Oscar Pistorius allegedly involved in drunken altercation at South Africa nightclub
Source: UPI

Uhuru's rockstar cousin to tour with Linkin Park
Source: The Star

It’s official: No more Malawi arrests under anti-gay laws
Source: Erasing 76 Crimes

Two African Obituaries: Dikko and Gordimer
Source: Africa in Transition

Uganda destined for middle income status - PM
Source: New Vision

Has Kenya Destroyed the ICC?
Source: Foreign Policy

Zimbabwe sex workers flood Botswana
Source: Bulawayo24

Botswana refuses to register sex workers’ association
Source: StarAfrica

WATCH: Four Youth Arrested, Forced to Explain Gay Sex in Equatorial Guinea
Source: The Advocate

How a piece of apartheid history became jewelry
Source: Quartz

Local man builds a hospital in Africa, with help of retired St. Vincent priest
Source: Akron Beacon Journal

University Of Ghana’s Institute Of African Studies Hosts 2014 MILEAD Fellows Institute
Source: Government of Ghana

Africa's next generation of leaders learns from UTSA entrepreneurship curriculum
Source: UTSA Today

Chinese president pledges to further ties with South Africa
Source: Xinhuanet

Johannesburg – A world class African city?
Source: Moneyweb

New partnership to support 10,000 new PhDs in Africa
Source: Punch

France to deploy troops across Africa's Sahel region
Source: Aljazeera America

New Contraceptive Shot Being Released in Africa
Source: New York Times

Who Aids Whom? Exposing the True Story of Africa’s $192 Billion Losses
Source: Think Africa Press

Aid to Africa: donations from west mask '$60bn looting' of continent
Source: The Guardian

No Quick End in Sight for Ebola Epidemic in West Africa
Source: Voice of America

Mozambique receives US$78.8 million from OPEC fund
Source: Macauhub

Uganda: Dissidents begin to shake Museveni’s base
Source: The Africa Report

Amnesty Calls on Kenya for Justice Six Years After Poll Violence
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

Nairobi county, Chinese automaker Foton ink deal to improve public transport
Source: Global Post

Tetra Tech Wins USAID Contract to Assist Power Africa - Analyst Blog
Source: NASDAQ

Nelson Mandela protégé and figure of conscience bows out of S. Africa politics
Source: Christian Science Monitor

The Virginia Man Who Crowned Himself King In Africa Is Much More Serious Than You Think
Source: Business Insider Australia

Sub Saharan Africa Film Festival With Femi Kuti
Source: SpyGhana

Monday, July 14, 2014

State Department to Host Google+ Hangout on July 15 for Young African Leaders

From the U.S. Department of State in Washington:
In preparation for the July 28-30 Washington Fellows for Young African Leaders Presidential Summit, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Evan Ryan will participate in a Google+ Hangout with Washington Fellows on July 15. The discussion will be moderated by ABC News Digital Correspondent Dana Hughes and will include five young African leaders currently studying at U.S. institutions through the Washington Fellowship.

The Hangout will be broadcast live at 2:00 p.m. EDT on the U.S. Department of State’s YouTube channel and Google+ page. Questions can be submitted in advance on the Google+ page and via Twitter by using #USAfrica. Following the event, video will be available on-demand via the Google+ page. Washington Fellowship participants and young leaders are encouraged to tune in and participate by submitting questions in advance.

The summit will bring together 500 of Africa’s most talented and inspiring young people to Washington, DC. These 500 Washington Fellows, already leaders in their communities in the fields of business, civil society, and public administration, are receiving six weeks of academic coursework and training at 20 of America’s top universities.
The news advisory also recommends that people follow the Twitter handles @StateDept, @StateAfrica, and @ECAatState, and to track the hashtags #USAfrica and #YALI2014 to receive more information on the Summit and related topics.

Africa News Headlines for 14 July 2014

Nadine Gordimer, South African author, dies at 90
Source: BBC News

U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit Approaches, Website Goes Live
Source: The White House

Cape Town carves out new African art museum
Source: eNCA

Are These New Rules A Lift For Uranium?
Source: OilPrice.com

Malala meets parents of abducted girls
Source: IOL News

Africa battles to get games on phones
Source: IT Web

Africa looks to youth for future development
Source: African Brains

Swaziland: Africa's last absolute monarchy
Source: Deutsche Welle

Dartmouth College welcomes fellows from Africa
Source: WCAX

Maputo regains its place as a trade hub for Southern Africa
Source: Macauhub

Power grid will be set up in West Africa – Mahama
Source: CitiFMOnline

CPJ urges respect for media freedom in South Africa
Source: Committee to Protect Journalists

Globeleq completes 138MW Jeffreys Bay wind farm in South Africa
Source: Energy Business Review

Cold Nights in Africa: How Temperature Threatens Birds
Source: NatGeo Newswatch

US father takes unclaimed African kingdom so his daughter can be a princess
Source: The Telegraph

Chinese firms indulging in corrupt practices in Africa: Envoy
Source: Business Standard

US offers Egypt late invite to Africa summit
Source: Channel NewsAsia

Lack of equity: A cause of many conflicts in Africa
Source: Sudan Tribune

China bemoans its people’s behavior in Africa—including undergarment ivory smuggling
Source: Quartz

External forces responsible for Africa’s instability – Wynter Kabimba
Source: Lusaka Times

Wealthy Somalis Flout Kenyan Law to Have Daughters Circumcised
Source: Bloomberg

Kenya begins potentially painful civil service shake-up
Source: Standard Digital

China Touts $14.4 Billion in Foreign Aid, Half of Which Went to Africa
Source: The Wall Street Journal

President Uhuru says role of women in Government to grow
Source: Standard Digital


New Africa Book of the Day - 14 July 2014

Different Shades of Green: African Literature, Environmental Justice, and Political Ecology, by Byron Caminero-Santangelo

Release Date: July 16, 2014
Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Engaging important discussions about social conflict, environmental change, and imperialism in Africa, Different Shades of Green points to legacies of African environmental writing, often neglected as a result of critical perspectives shaped by dominant Western conceptions of nature and environmentalism. Drawing on an interdisciplinary framework employing postcolonial studies, political ecology, environmental history, and writing by African environmental activists, Byron Caminero-Santangelo emphasizes connections within African environmental literature, highlighting how African writers have challenged unjust, ecologically destructive forms of imperial development and resource extraction.

Different Shades of Green also brings into dialogue a wide range of African creative writing—including works by Chinua Achebe, NgÅ©gÄ© wa Thiong’o, Bessie Head, Nadine Gordimer, Zakes Mda, Nuruddin Farah, Wangari Maathai, and Ken Saro-Wiwa—in order to explore vexing questions for those involved in the struggle for environmental justice, in the study of political ecology, and in the environmental humanities, urging continued imaginative thinking in effecting a more equitable, sustain¬able future in Africa.

Byron Caminero-Santangelo teaches English at the University of Kansas. He is co-editor (with Garth Myers) of Environment at the Margins: Literary and Environmental Studies in Africa (2011) and author of African Fiction And Joseph Conrad: Reading Postcolonial Intertextuality (2004).

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Africa News Headlines for 13 July 2014

Captain Phillips strikes back: Off Horn of Africa, pirates go bye-bye
Source: Christian Science Monitor

Uganda Sugar Exports Stymied by Wars, Regional Trade Barriers
Source: Bloomberg

Kagame’s ambitious challenge
Source: The Independent

Intra‐Regional Trading In Africa
Source: Ventures Africa

Farmers challenged by Africa
Source: Pune Mirror

Trade, not aid, key to helping Africa
Source: The National

Digital battle for African phones
Source: IOL Business Report

Bahrain team helping spread Islam in Africa
Source: Gulf Daily News

Which way for railway transport in East Africa?
Source: The Observer

How Ramadan Impacts Online Shopping Patterns
Source: Ventures Africa

How your old pants and shirts pick pockets of the world’s poorest
Source: Sunday Express

Rich Vietnamese snorting rhino horns are causing a poaching explosion in South Africa
Source: Quartz

African Union Summit endorses Seychelles’ proposals to make tourism a transformative force for Africa
Source: eTurboNews

Parliament to be stripped of powers to deploy KDF
Source: Standard Digital

Libya investment fund names new chief
Source: Arab News

Conflict Alert: Halting South Sudan's Spreading Civil War
Source: International Crisis Group

Mbabazi: My Speeches are Examined with Political Lenses
Source: Chimp Reports

Nigerians among top property buyers in South Africa
Source: Business Day

Multirole Combat Jets Propagate Across Sub-Saharan Africa
Source: Defense News

Marc Faber: Africa is Not Going to Be Another Southeast Asia
Source: The Market Oracle

Bad apples in Africa: Chinese traders' and companies' behaviour worries envoy
Source: South China Morning Post

Investors use Casablanca Finance City to tap Africa’s potential
Source: Financial Times

Central African Republic: killings in the time of transition
Source: Daily News Egypt

New Africa Book of the Day - 13 July 2014

The African Garrison State: Human Rights and Political Development in Eritrea, by Kjetil Tronvoll and Daniel R. Mekonnen

Release Date: July 17, 2014
Publisher: James Currey

When Eritrea gained independence in 1991, hopes were high for its transformation. In two decades, however, it became one of the most repressive in the world, effectively a militarised "garrison state". This comprehensive and detailed analysis examines how the prospects for democracy in the new state turned to ashes, reviewing its development, and in particular the loss of human rights and the state's political organisation. Beginning with judicial development in independent Eritrea, subsequent chapters scrutinise the rule of law and the court system; the hobbled process of democratisation, and the curtailment of civil society; the Eritrean prison system and everyday life of detention and disappearances; and the situation of minorities in the country, first in general terms and then through exploration of a case study of the Kunama ethnic group. While the situation is bleak, it is not without hope, however: the conclusion focuses on opposition to the current regime, and offers scenarios of regime change and how the coming of a second republic may yet reconfigure Eritrea politically.

Kjetil Tronvoll is professor of peace and conflict studies at Bjoerknes College and author of War and the Politics of Identity in Ethiopia (2009) and Mai Weini: A Highland Village in Eritrea : A Study of the People, Their Livelihood, and Land Tenure During Times of Turbulence (1998)

His coauthor, Daniel R. Mekonnen, is senior legal advisor at the International Law and Policy Institute in Oslo. He cowrote (with Mirjam van Reisen) a chapter entitled "EU Development Cooperation: The Contours of Global and National Engagement" in Human Rights and Development in the new Millennium: Towards a Theory of Change (edited by Paul Gready and Wouter Vandenhole,2013). He also translated Gene Sharp's From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation into Tigrigna for the Albert Einstein Institution.

Saturday, July 12, 2014

Africa News Headlines for 12 July 2014

Tobacco giant 'tried blackmail' to block Ugandan anti-smoking law
Source: The Guardian

GMO Bananas Must Pass Their First Test
Source: NPR/Here & Now

Oil hopes high for Sierra Leone
Source: UPI

Mbabane: Africa’s cheapest city
Source: Swazi Observer

Big Brother Africa contestants warned
Source: Nehanda Radio

Governments commit to fight malaria
Source: KBC

African Cities Ranked World’s Most Expensive
Source: Ventures Africa

Spread Of Palm Oil Production Into Africa Threatens Great Apes
Source: NPR

South Sudanese rebel leader in Djibouti on diplomatic tour
Source: Sudan Tribune

The Evolution of Foreign Aid Research: Measuring the Strengths and Weaknesses of Donors
Source: Brookings Now

Abingdon man claims African land to make good on promise to daughter
Source: Bristol Herald-Courier

Kenya issues terror alert over travel to UK airports
Source: The Independent

Equatorial Guinea: One man's fight for rights in Africa’s most repressive dictatorship
Source: Daily Maverick

US Foreign Aid: Washington Gives Billions, But Is It Money Well Spent?
Source: International Business Times

No one-on-one meeting for Obama, Uhuru
Source: The Star

Quakers have ‘underground railroad’ to help gay Ugandans escape the country
Source: Pink News

UD program nurtures civics skills for young African leaders
Source: Delaware Public Media

Uganda anti-gay ruling criticized as 'flawed'
Source: Billings Gazette

Misogyny not limited to ‘backward’ Africa
Source: Cape Argus

The Extinction of Bananas? Global Banana Industry at Risk Due to Deadly Pathogen
Source: Latin Post

Democratic Congressional Candidate Offers $100K For Nude Pics Of Teen Hunter
Source: Daily Caller

Texas teen hunter Kendall Jones: Without hunting, 'no infrastructure for wildlife management'
Source: Politifact

Somali delegation completes course on election management
Source: Mareeg