🔅 Tanzania's Coercive Conservation
Plus: Senegal's $1.13B Port Project (the biggest private investment in the nation), Ugandan mayor's fear or rainbow colours, A regional push against Al-Shabaab, And much more… ☕
Photo of the day: Zimbabwe
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India's Parliament Frenzy: India's politicians are having a field day over Gautam Adani's recent stock market woes. On Friday, they caused such an uproar in both houses of parliament that the speakers had to adjourn proceedings. The drama is understandable: the Adani Group, one of India's top conglomerates, has lost a combined $100 billion in market value since a U.S. short-seller accused them of stock manipulation and unsustainable debt. Adani denies any wrongdoing, but the central bank has asked lenders to provide details of their exposure to the group. The politicians, meanwhile, are demanding an investigation into the matter and shouting slogans like, “Stop looting the poor!”
Apple: The tech giant's sales dropped 5% in the last three months of 2022, a bigger dip than expected. CEO Tim Cook says it's all because of the cost of living. Yup, a new iPhone might not be at the top of your list when you're watching every penny. It's a sign that the broader tech sector's good times during the pandemic may be coming to an end. But there's more to it than that. Cook said it was also due to supply shortages from Covid-19 disruptions in China, a strong dollar, and broader economic weakness due to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic aftermath.
*Data accurate as of the close of markets across the continent
TOURISM
Tanzania's Coercive Conservation
Tanzania’s government is pulling out all the stops to move Indigenous Maasai herders out of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
It’s forcefully confiscated thousands of livestock and is demanding that owners pay heavy fines. Those who can’t pay have their cattle and goats auctioned off.
Why is the government doing this?
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area, where the Maasai live, is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a big moneymaker for the Tanzanian government, which wants the entire area to make way for safari tourism, conservation, and trophy hunting.
However, the Maasai occupy a small fraction of the site, within the Loliondo commune.
And although the government insists that the Maasais’ displacement is “voluntary” and will be in their best interests, critics insist that the government's assertions are “a blatant lie.”
It claims the government is prioritising tourism revenues over the lives of the Maasais, and has denied them access to essential health services, grazing lands, water points and salt licks.
What are the Maasai saying?
The Maasais are naturally worried for the future of their families. Salangat Marko, a herder from Ololosokwan village, said: “We are in a bowl of economic suicide. A community depending on livestock without grazing land. I have cows with no grass and water. Herders intimidated and beaten...where do we go and what do we feed our children?”
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OTHER HEADLINES
Across the Continent
🇸🇳 Senegal's $1.13Bn Port Project | Senegal’s President Macky Sall has promised to get the ball rolling on a $1.13 billion deep-water port being developed by Dubai’s state-owned port operator DP World. It’s the biggest private investment in the West African nation, and Sall is ready to go! All the financing has been squared away and the state has met its obligations, so the president expects to break ground this February. The project is designed to handle ships up to 400 meters long. At an African Union summit on infrastructure finance in Dakar, Sall noted that Africa’s infrastructure projects remain under-financed and often burdened by high interest rates and debt. He blamed the decrease in financing since 2018 (from $100 billion to $81 billion) on the pandemic. He also pointed out that African countries often need to pay insurance of up to 12% on export credit finance from Import-Export banks, where interest rates stand at around 3%. Sall said, “We pay a high price for this.” No doubt.
🇺🇬 Uganda's Rainbow Panic: Is the Sky Falling? | Uganda’s latest controversy: a rainbow. A local organisation had painted one of the towers in the Entebbe city park in rainbow colours as part of a beautification project, but the mayor quickly removed the paint after parents claimed it was “satanic” and promoted homosexuality. The rainbow panic comes after an outcry in southwestern Uganda, where local authorities tried to pass legislation recognising gay, lesbian, and transgender rights. Uganda has strict anti-homosexuality legislation, but there have been no prosecutions for consensual homosexual acts in recent years. In 2014, a Ugandan court struck down a bill passed by MPs and signed by President Yoweri Museveni that sought to impose life imprisonment for same-sex relationships.
🇩🇯🇰🇪🇪🇹 Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya Hunt for al Shabaab | The leaders of Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya met in Mogadishu with Somalia’s president to plan a search-and-destroy mission against al Shabaab militants. The mission is time-sensitive, and the goal is to “prevent any future infiltrating elements in the region.” Al Shabaab, which has been fighting for control of Somalia since 2006, hasn’t commented on the plan. To make matters more stimulating, someone fired mortars near the president’s office just as the meeting was underway—but no one was injured and there was no damage.
🇸🇩 Israel-Sudan Pace Plan | Israel and Sudan are set to sign a "historic peace agreement" in Washington in the coming months. This would make Sudan the latest Arab League country to normalise ties with Israel -- the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco have officially normalised relations with Israel since 2020. A signing ceremony is expected to take place after the planned transfer of power in Sudan to a civilian government. However, the growing number of Arab countries formalising relations with Israel has been condemned by the Palestinians. Indeed, most Arab countries have conditioned peace talks with Israel on its withdrawal from territories occupied in the 1967 war.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Proverb of the Day
“Wood already touched by fire is not hard to set alight.”
— Akan Proverb.