🔅 Celebrating Africa’s Archaeologists
Today’s Issue: DRC wants to renegotiate its minerals-for-infrastructure deal with China, Ghana is asking holders of its bonds to accept losses, and Somali forces are trying to flush out armed assailants from its capital... ☕
Photo of the day: Fishermen on Lake Victoria, Uganda.
Markets
🔻 Nigerian SE: 47,436.45 (-0.25%)
🔺 Johannesburg SE: 73,501.99 (+0.48%)
— Ghana SE: 2,463.27 (0.00%)
🔺 Nairobi SE: 127.34 (+0.05%)
🔻 US S&P 500: 3,981.85 (-1.10%)
🔻 Shanghai Composite: 3,078.55 (-0.75%)
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
Global Markets: The US government has banned the sale and import of new communications equipment from five Chinese companies, including Huawei, amid concerns over national security. This is the first time US regulators have taken such a move on security grounds, but Huawei has previously denied supplying data to the Chinese government. Meanwhile, Chinese stocks dropped (see above) as citizens took to the streets to demonstrate against Covid lockdown measures.
DRC: The Democratic Republic of Congo is looking to renegotiate its minerals-for-infrastructure deal with China. The deal, signed over a decade ago, has not been as beneficial for the Congo as initially hoped. China has only spent about $900 million on infrastructure projects in the country, well short of the amount agreed upon.
CULTURE, HERITAGE & PRIDE
Celebrating Africa’s archaeologists
What's happening?
If you thought the only Africans who participated in archaeological digs in the early 20th century were the ones being excavated, you’d be wrong. It turns out Africans did a lot of the excavation, but their contributions have been all but forgotten.
Next month, museums in Mombasa, Kenya, and London will attempt to put the record straight with an exhibition of previously unseen photographs that highlight the work of African Kenyans whose names are missing from archaeological archives.
“The first Africans to excavate in Africa are not recognised, they’re not seen in records – and they need to be put back,” said Sherry Davis, curator of the forthcoming exhibition Ode to the Ancestors, which opens on 8 December.
How much did they contribute?
Davis’s own grandfather, Karisa Ndurya, was one of the first Africans to excavate Fort Jesus, the ruins of Gedi and other ancient African sites on the east coast in the 40s and 50s. But she discovered no trace of him in the book his European boss, James Kirkman, wrote about the digs.
So she decided to go to Fort Jesus to see if she could find any acknowledgement of his work there. She found the large Portuguese tapestry that witnesses saw her grandfather pull out of the ground on prominent display in the popular tourist attraction. "I can see the name of his European boss all over the walls of the fort," Davis said, "but where are the Africans? Why are they not being credited?”
It wasn’t until she and Ashikoye Okoko, a researcher from the National Museums of Kenya, searched through British and Kenyan historical archives and uncovered 28 of the photographs that will appear in the exhibition, that she finally got some evidence of her grandfather working on Fort Jesus.
What does Davis want?
Given the context, Davis would now like other museums to review who is credited with the excavation of their colonial-era objects and is seeking other records, photographs and testimonies about black heritage professionals who worked in Kenya in the colonial period.
She hopes that by correcting the historical records, African pioneers who made significant contributions to African history will become more visible. “I want to be able to look at my African history and feel a sense of pride.”
ACROSS THE CONTINENT
Other Headlines
🇨🇮 Ivory Coast has completed the construction of a second container terminal at its main port in Abidjan. The new terminal will be able to receive large ships from Asia, Europe and America that previously had to land goods in South Africa, transferring them to smaller vessels to reach West Africa. With this new development, Abidjan is expected to increase container traffic to 3 million from 1.2 million containers annually.
🇬🇭 Ghana is asking holders of its international bonds to accept losses of up to 30% on the principal and forgo some interest payments. The government is committed to ensuring debt is brought to sustainable levels as it negotiates a debt plan with the International Monetary Fund.
🇸🇴 Somali forces are still trying to flush out armed assailants who attacked a hotel in the capital Monday, more than 12 hours after the attack started. Al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the attack. Al-Shabab said in a Sunday broadcast on its own radio frequency that its fighters attacked the hotel Villa Rose, which has a restaurant popular with government and security officials. Scores of people have been rescued from the hotel. The hotel isn’t far from the presidential palace in central Mogadishu, and the attack caused the parliament to cancel sessions for both houses.
IN TECH
Twitter agrees to engage with its former African employees
Twitter has agreed to engage with former employees of its only African office after they were offered poorer-than-announced severance packages. Around 20 people worked at the Ghanaian office, which Elon Musk's company acquired last month. Musk fired nearly all of the African team as part of sweeping cuts. The affected employees have secured talks with Twitter after requesting that the company comply with local employment law. It is not clear what will come of the negotiations.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“If you are building a house and a nail breaks, do you stop building or do you change the nail?”
— Rwandan Proverb.