Introducing AfricaFocus Bulletin
An independent e-mail bulletin on key issues affecting Africa
In-depth analysis.
Each issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin provides timely analysis and advocacy information on a single topic. The emphasis is on themes of continent-wide or regional relevance, or on selected country-specific topics.
Draws on the best African, international, and U.S. sources.
AfricaFocus Bulletin reposts selected statements, research reports, and conference presentations from a wide range of sources, including nongovernmental organizations, activist groups, international agencies, and governments. Links and contact information for the original sources are always provided, so you can follow up for more details.
Fast, convenient, and just the right length.
AfricaFocus Bulletin arrives in your e-mail 2 to 4 times a month. At about 8 to 10 pages (25K maximum e-mail size) - it's long enough to provide in-depth analysis, but short enough to skim quickly. Longer reports are included as executive summaries or excerpts only, with clickable links to the full texts. The whole bulletin comes in the body of the e-mail - no attachments to download.
An editor's note puts the information in context.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by William Minter, a writer, researcher, and analyst based in Washington, DC. Each issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin begins with a brief editor's note introducing the material and placing it in the context of current developments. A full archive, with additional news and information resources, is available at http://www.africafocus.org.
Most recent issues
January 23, 2023 Update from Editor on Future Plans
http://www.africafocus.org/docs23/af-230123.php
When President Barack Obama hosted his US-Africa Summit in August 2014, my roundups in AfricaFocus Bulletin featured critical analysis of the likely outcome and the issues that were likely to be ignored, as well as alternate viewpoints by civil society groups.
November 15, 2022 Africa/Global: "Daughter of Africa" Steps Up to Lead on Global Crises
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/af-221115.php
At the climate summit in Egypt last week, President Biden pledged that the United States would take the lead on the climate crisis. But his speech was eclipsed the same day by a powerful call to action by Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados.
October 25, 2022 Africa/Global: Remembering Valeriano Ferrão and Charles Sherrod
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/af-221025.php
Valeriano Ferrão died in Maputo, Mozambique, on October 2, 2022, at the age of 83. Charles Sherrod died in Albany, Georgia, on October 11, 2022, at the age of 85. As far as I know, the two had never met. And they were very different people. But for me, they epitomize the shared values of solidarity and integrity that were central to the movements they represented.
October 10, 2022 AfricaFocus 3.0: Not ´A Nation of Immigrants´
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/af-221010.php
Coming in 2023: AfricaFocus 3.0
July 20, 2022 Africa/Global: Oligarchs of All Nations
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/books2207.php
"Biden Concedes Defeat on Climate Bill as Manchin and Inflation Upend Agenda" - New York Times, July 16, 2022
June 9, 2022 Africa/Global: Ukraine, Africa, and Our Planet
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/upd2206.php
“An end to this terrible war based on dialogue must be the international community’s highest priority. Support to the
people of Ukraine must be matched by efforts to advance Russian/Ukrainian negotiations, European security dialogue,
and wider risk-reduction measures to prevent nuclear escalation.” - The Elders, May 25, 2022
May 11, 2022 Africa/Global: Debt, IFFs, and Inequality in Africa
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/ineq2205.php
“43 African governments are facing expenditure cuts totalling $183 billion
(equivalent to 5.4 percent of GDP) over the next five years, reveals new
analysis from Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI) today. If
these cuts are implemented, their chances of achieving the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals will likely disappear.” - Oxfam International and
Development Finance International
April 21, 2022 Africa/Global: Climate Put on Back Burner by War
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/clim2204.php
While media attention focuses on the cost in human lives on the ground in Europe, the direct and indirect effects are also leading to many more lives lost around the world, not least in vulnerable countries on the African continent, according to a report issued on April 13 by the United Nations. The direct effects alone are projected to devastate the world economy (https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-impact-war-ukraine-food-energy-and-finance-systems).
March 25, 2022 Africa/Global: Updates from AfricaFocus
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/upd2203.php
This is the first AfricaFocus Bulletin since January. Towards the end of that
month, major issues with my home office computer systems crippled the
interface which I normally use to publish the Bulletin, and catching up on a
variety of medical issues also limited what I could do. Nothing life
threatening, but lots of doctor appointments.
January 19, 2022 USA/Africa: Bronx Fire Devastates Gambian Community
http://www.africafocus.org/docs22/migr2201.php
“This is the heart of the problem. If housing vulnerable people is an asset
class – not a social good, or a human right – then generating returns for
investors will always be in a zero-sum relationship with providing safe
housing for those people. Landlords will always be in the middle; and when
they’re taking sides, as they must in housing for profit, investors will
always win.” - Annia Ciezadlo
December 23, 2021 USA/Africa: Pandora Papers Keep Giving
http://www.africafocus.org/docs21/iff2112.php
2021 was a banner year for attention to national and international tax reforms to reduce tax evasion and avoidance, with legislation in the United States spearheaded by the FACT Coalition and a global reform deal proposed by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). But the Pandora Papers also demonstrated the pervasive scale of illicit financial flows that siphon off wealth into an “offshore” world of secrecy.
November 23, 2021 Africa/Global: From Climate Denial to Deceit and Delay
http://www.africafocus.org/docs21/cop26-2111.php
Asad Rehman of War on Want spoke to the presidency of COP26 with words that
resonated far from Glasgow: “The rich have refused to do their fair share,
more empty words on climate finance. You have turned your backs on the poorest
who face a crisis of Covid, economic and climate apartheid because of the
actions of the richest. It is immoral for the rich to talk about the future of
their children and grandchildren when the children of the Global South are
dying now.” Less than 2 minutes.
Watch here!
November 2, 2021 Africa/Global: The Heat is On! Time to Act!
http://www.africafocus.org/docs21/clim2111.php
The warnings are consistent and devastating, across the political spectrum
from the International Monetary Fund from climate activists mobilizing at the
climate summit in Glasgow and around the world. There are only eight years to
have any chance of bending the curve of fossil fuel emissions sufficiently to
avoid mounting climate chaos. Predictions are also consistent that the
government officials gathered at the summit will continue to let promises and
belated minimal policy shifts substitute for significant action.
October 15 , 2021 Africa/Global: Hardly a Dent in #VaccineApartheid
http://www.africafocus.org/docs21/vac2110.php
“Millions of people remain at risk of dying from COVID-19 because high-income
countries (HICs), including the US, continue to hoard excess vaccine doses,
warns a new report released [on October 11] by Doctors Without
Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The international medical humanitarian
organization is calling on governments to commit to a concrete plan to
redistribute vaccine doses to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) via
COVAX or regional procurement bodies by the end of October.”
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