Life

30, November 2018

Oprah, Beyonce in South Africa for Mandela 100 concert ⁰

Celebrated American television host and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey has urged young people in South Africa not to give up on their dreams, asking them to emulate the country’s first black president Nelson Mandela.

Oprah, who was delivering a keynote address at the University of Johannesburg, also shared fond memories of her time spent with the global icon.

“Nelson Mandela’s life story is a testament to the power of the human spirit and one man’s ability to change the world by standing up for what he believed in,” said Oprah.

Nelson Mandela’s life story is a testament to the power of the human spirit and one man’s ability to change the world by standing up for what he believed in.

“It is one of the great honors of my life to have spent so much time with him, and I look forward to celebrating his courageous life.”

Mandela 100 concert

Oprah, who runs a girls school in South Africa, is also scheduled to speak at the Global Citizen: Mandela 100 concert, on Sunday.

The concert, which is part of a campaign on the Global Goals to end extreme poverty, will be headlined by leading artists from across the world including Beyonce, JAY-Z, Ed Sheeran, Eddie Vedder, Pharrell Williams, Usher and Chris Martin.

Sho Madjozi, Tiwa Savage, Wizkid, Cassper Nyovest, D’banj and Femi Kuti are also lined up to perform.

World leaders including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina J. Mohammed, Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo are also expected to attend the festival.

“This significant event not only honours the legacy of one of the greatest global citizens of our time, but provides a powerful platform for youth around the world to make a positive and tangible contribution for people and planet,” said UN Deputy SG Amina Mohammed.

Responding to Nelson Mandela’s call for this to be the generation that ends extreme poverty, artists and leaders will be joined by 100,000 Global Citizens who’ve taken action on the Global Citizen social advocacy platform to earn free tickets to the festival at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg.

Global Citizen’s campaign aims to rally $1 billion in new commitments, with $500 million of that set to impact the lives of 20 million women and girls worldwide.

Africa News

24, November 2018

Time for France to give back looted African art ⁰

African artworks held in French museums – richly carved thrones, doors to a royal kingdom, wooden statues imbued with spiritual meaning – may be heading back home to Africa at last.

French President Emmanuel Macron, trying to turn the page on France’s colonial past , received a report Friday on returning art looted from African lands.

From Senegal to Ethiopia, artists, governments and museums eagerly awaited the report by French art historian Benedicte Savoy and Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr, and commissioned by Macron himself.

It recommends that French museums give back works that were taken without consent, if African countries request them – and could increase pressure on museums elsewhere in Europe to follow suit.

The experts estimate that up to 90 percent of African art is outside the continent, including statues, thrones and manuscripts. Thousands of works are held by just one museum, the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, opened in 2006 to showcase non-European art – much of it from former French colonies. The museum wouldn’t immediately comment on the report.

Among disputed treasures in the Quai Branly are several works from the Dahomey kingdom, in today’s West African country of Benin: the metal-and-wood throne of 19th-century King Ghezo, the doors to the palace of Kign Gele, and imposing, wooden statues.

The head of Ethiopia’s Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, Yonas Desta, said the report shows “a new era of thought” in Europe’s relations with Africa.

Senegal’s culture minister, Abdou Latif Coulibaly, told The Associated Press: “It’s entirely logical that Africans should get back their artworks. … These works were taken in conditions that were perhaps legitimate at the time, but illegitimate today.”

The report is just a first step. Challenges ahead include enforcing the report’s recommendations, especially if museums resist, and determining how objects were obtained and whom to give them to.

The report is part of broader promises by Macron to turn the page on France’s troubled relationship with Africa. In a groundbreaking meeting with students in Burkina Faso last year, Macron stressed the “undeniable crimes of European colonization” and said he wants pieces of African cultural heritage to return to Africa “temporarily or definitively.”

“I cannot accept that a large part of African heritage is in France,” he said at the time.

The French report could have broader repercussions. In Cameroon, professor Verkijika Fanso, historian at the University of Yaounde One, said: “France is feeling the heat of what others will face. Let their decision to bring back what is ours motivate others.”

Germany has worked to return art seized by the Nazis, and in May the organization that coordinates that effort, the German Lost Art Foundation, said it was starting a program to research the provenance of cultural objects collected during the country’s colonial past.

Britain is also under pressure to return art taken from its former colonies. In recent months, Ethiopian officials have increased efforts to secure the return of looted artifacts and manuscripts from museums, personal collections and government institutions across Britain, including valuable items taken in the 1860s after battles in northern Ethiopia, Yonas said.

In Nigeria, a group of bronze casters over the years has strongly supported calls for the return of artifacts taken from the Palace of the Oba of Benin in 1897 when the British raided it. The group still uses their forefathers’ centuries-old skills to produce bronze works in Igun Street, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Eric Osamudiamen Ogbemudia, secretary of the Igun Bronze Casters Union in Benin City, said: “It was never the intention of our fathers to give these works to the British. It is important that we get them back so as to see what our ancestors left behind.”

Ogbemudia warned the new French report should not remain just a “recommendation merely to make Africans to calm down.

“Let us see the action.”

Source: AP

19, November 2018

University professor, employee kidnapped in S.Cameroons ⁰

A professor and staff member of the University of Buea in troubled western Cameroon have been kidnapped, a statement received by AFP on Sunday said.

Charles Doumta, on the Health Sciences faculty, and George Ongey, who works for the research and cooperation office, were seized on Friday and November 10, respectively, the statement said without elaborating.

“These acts are meant to intimidate, create fear and panic among staff and students and disrupt the smooth functioning of the academic year,” Vice Chancellor Ngomo Horace Manga was quoted as saying in the statement, issued on Saturday.

The 12 000-student university is a historic centre of English-based learning in Cameroon, whose minority anglophone population is concentrated in the two western regions of Northwest and Southwest.

A crisis erupted in 2016 over perceived discrimination at the hands of the francophone majority in areas such as education, the justice system and the economy of the West African country.

Last year it developed into an armed conflict, with radicals declaring an independent state, the Republic of Ambazonia, which is not recognised internationally.

They have attacked troops and police and torched other symbols of the central government in the former German colony, which was divided between Britain and France after World War I.

Almost daily clashes now occur between security forces and separatists, who have organised themselves into scattered groups in the region’s dense tropical forests.

Early this month, armed men believed to be separatists abducted 90 students in Northwest Region, later freeing them in circumstances that remain unclear.

Armed gangs are also operating in the troubled regions, taking advantage of the conflict to demand protection money from businesses and individuals.

More than 200 troops and more than 500 civilians have died in regional fighting, according to non-governmental organisations.

The conflict has also already displaced more than 437 000 people, UN data released in October showed.

Source: AFP

13, November 2018

Shedding light on African media management challenges ⁰

Media management which involves dealing with employee management, audiences, budgets, the political environment and ethics, poses many challenges to media managers across the world. These challenges range from interference to increasing competition. Media managers are required to navigate through these challenges if they have to stay in business. Regardless of their structures or controlling arrangement, media are businesses that require business acumen to be financially profitable enterprises and to serve as providers of public enlightenment.

This applies to media across the globe, including African media which are mirror images of systems in Western countries such as Britain and France that have once colonized the continent. African media management is therefore based on management principles that are common to other sectors of the continent’s economy and it is believed to be an importation of colonialists who introduced western-style education on the continent. Given these similarities, media managers on the continent are bound to deal with challenges that are similar to those managers in Western countries such as Britain face, though in certain circumstances, the extent and nature of the issues could vary.

Media experts have pointed out that the main management issues arise from recurring dilemmas that lie at the heart of media-making. These include the potential clash between profit, on the one hand, and social purpose, on the other, and the issue of reconciling creative and editorial freedom with the demands of routine and large scale production.

Major changes in the structure of media industries, especially the processes of globalization, ownership conglomeration and organizational fragmentation provide new theoretical challenges. New means of distribution such as cable, satellite and the Internet have also given rise to new kinds of challenges. Like Europe, Africa is increasingly democratizing albeit slowly, and as a result, African media are relatively free to operate within the limits of the law, but conflicts still occur in relation to government and powerful social institutions.

One key challenge facing media managers in many African countries is the issue of interference by political authorities, owners and advertisers in the decision-making process and autonomy over content. The central issue here is the extent to which media organizations can claim to exercise autonomy, first in relation to their owners, and, second, to other direct economic agencies in their various locations, especially those who provide operating funds such as investors, advertisers and sponsors. Most African media, like their counterparts in Europe, have become market-based over the last two decades; but news media content in Africa sometimes reflects the interest of those who finance the media.

In Cameroon, like in other African countries, running a media institution could be challenging. The high start-up cost is usually compounded by the scarcity of investment capital, high interest rates and the unfavorable lending conditions offered by international financial institutions. The poor financial base of the continent’s media has led to a cycle of sub-optimizations where low salaries attract poor quality managers who cannot guarantee quality and cannot turn good profits. While Western media have access to loans, enjoy huge advertising revenues and use license fees paid by those receiving the service – in the case of broadcasting – as another revenue stream, African media managers are still at grips with very tough financial times.

To overcome this challenge, many African media, including privately-owned media institutions, have continued to depend on government subsidies and sales which have been declining over the years due to a lack of a reading culture, the emergence of the Internet, Satellite TV and other hand-held devices which offer free news alternatives. This is compromising the independence of old media managers and owners over content. Some private media managers on the continent sometimes have to bend over backwards just to stay in business by submitting to editorial controls by media owners and, by so doing; make unpopular management or editorial decisions.

Though media managers in Africa may enjoy more administrative freedom in the running of their establishments, there are however cases of arbitrary interference by media owners in both the management of the organizations and the control of editorial operations. Independent media owners in Africa are not apolitical as they appear, and always have specific objectives that underpin their interest in the media business. When these objectives are not purely political, they have tended to be commercial, religious, egotistical or a strange combination of some or all of them as pointed out by popular African media experts like Okigbo and Nyamjoh.

For many decades, most public media across the continent have been established by the governments and these public media usually come under the direct control and supervision of the government. In many countries, the supervisory authority is the communication ministry like in Cameroon which provides long-term guidance and short-term directives on management issues.

The relationships between public media and governments are often not very clearly defined. The degree of control and supervision can therefore change from time to time, depending on key players in the media and the supervisory authority. Such influence usually results in the media’s loss of independence over content.

This situation has been made all the more challenging by the increasing competition and the mushrooming of media outfits on the continent, especially cross-national media such as satellite operations. For example, the development of the East African Community and increasing attention on regional integration among East African countries has energized intra-regional competition among most powerful media institutions in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. To cope with this situation, contemporary African media resort to uninspiring content relating to the proprietors, be they government ministers or private business people.

The advent of new media, otherwise known as ‘technologies of freedom’, such as cable TV, satellite TV, digital handheld books, electronic newspapers, among others, which use digital protocols like the Internet, has brought new challenges to media managers in Africa. Prior to the advent of Internet- and satellite-based mass communication, most communication was effected through traditional books, newspapers, films and television. With the advent of new and innovative technology in the later part of the twentieth century that makes it possible to deliver information in various formats and rapidly too, traditional media managers have to device new strategies to cope with the competition that transnational communication systems are posing.

Like their counterparts in the West, especially in North America, most African media managers depend on mass consumer advertising for their survival. Technological advances are encouraging greater diversity throughout the media and entry barriers are coming down in many sectors and not only has the number of broadcast channels across the globe multiplied rapidly since the early 1990s, the Internet’s recent growth has also introduced a diverse array of new players, making competition a lot keener.

Today, the continent’s media landscape has undergone dramatic changes and despite these significant changes, the influence of European colonialism is still obvious. Major communication languages are foreign to the continent. This is due to the people’s high regard for foreign languages which have high status conferral qualities, the paucity of local language training in universities and the slowness of African governments to adopt vernacular languages for instruction and official transactions.

The advent of cutting-edge media technologies in the mid-twentieth century has completely transformed media landscapes across the globe and most former colonies have adopted media models that differ from those of their former colonial masters. With the emergence of new communication media like the Internet and transnational broadcast media, and the private sector’s increasing economic importance, many countries have resorted to different models of relationships with the society. Like transnational broadcast media, the Internet, a global search engine, is bringing information to people in the comfort of their homes, making it impossible for governments to impose restrictions.

The Internet and other superhighway information mechanisms provide better alternative methods and opportunities to share information with selected audiences without sanctions from the general public or state controllers of mainstream media. This has been made all the more possible by a relaxation of media rules across the globe and the increasing awareness that information is critical to development. In many African countries today, there is a growing number of “Internet cafés” that are granting access to the world-wide web to many people, especially in cities where the infrastructure is available and reliable.

Today, both governments and individuals own TV and radio stations, as well as web sites in former colonies and this has given people in these regions new information sources. While it was true that media development in Africa was patterned on systems existing in colonizing countries, today, the reality is different with African countries developing new models that allow for greater private ownership and societal participation in media activities.

Though new media technologies are offering new opportunities for media managers on the continent to avoid the heavy hand of government censorship, they have also brought cut-throat competition and financial challenges to the continent’s media managers who must seek new and innovative ways to survive in the new global media environment. These technologies have also exposed media managers to the financial and political influence of advertisers and investors who, in many cases, are not apolitical. And this only makes the challenges faced by African media managers more sophisticated.

Joachim Arrey, Ph.D

Toronto, Canada

Now that you are here

The Cameroon Concord News Group Board wishes to inform its faithful readers that for more than a decade, it has been providing world-class reports of the situation in Southern Cameroons. The Board has been priding itself on its reports which have helped the world to gain a greater understanding of the crisis playing out in Southern Cameroons. It hails its reporters who have also helped the readers to have a broader perspective of the political situation in Cameroon.

The Board wishes to thank its readers who have continued to trust Southern Cameroon’s leading news platform. It is therefore using this opportunity to state that its reporters are willing to provide more quality information to the readers. However, due to the changing global financial context, the Board is urging its readers to play a significant role in the financing of the news organization. It is therefore calling on its faithful readers to make whatever financial contribution they can to ensure they get the latest developments in their native Southern Cameroons, in particular, and Cameroon in general.

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9, November 2018

PSS Nkwen Affair: Principal and one teacher still being held ⁰

Dozens of children kidnapped by armed men in Cameroon have been freed, a priest conducting the negotiations said Wednesday. Although all 79 children and a driver were released, a principal and one teacher were still being held. They were abducted on Monday in Bamenda, a commercial hub of Cameroon’s restive English-speaking region, according to military and government sources.

“Praise God 78 children and the driver have been released. The principal and one teacher are still with the kidnappers. Let us keep praying,” said Samuel Fonki, a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. “They look tired and psychologically tortured.”

One other child had escaped earlier, he added. The students are between 11 and 17 years old. The priest did not say precisely when the children were freed, or whether any deal had been made with the kidnappers. He had earlier said another 11 children were kidnapped by the same armed group on Oct. 31, then released after the school paid a ransom of 2.5 million CFA francs ($4,400).

Image: A woman awaits for news of her child at a school where 79 children were kidnapped in Bamenda — A woman waits for news of her child at the school in Bamenda

Most people in Cameroon speak French. Fonki and the Cameroonian military have accused English-speaking separatists of carrying out the kidnappings, but a separatist spokesman denied involvement.

The secessionists have imposed curfews and closed schools as part of their protest against Biya’s French-speaking government and its perceived marginalization of the English-speaking minority.

Cameroon’s separatist movement turned violent in 2017 after a government crackdown on initially peaceful demonstrations by English-speakers. The linguistic divide is a legacy of a former German colony in central Africa that was divided between allies France and Britain at the end of World War One.

Source: Reuters

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8, November 2018

White House suspends press pass for CNN reporter after fiery exchange with Trump ⁰

The White House has suspended CNN correspondent Jim Acosta of his press credentials following his tense exchange with President Donald Trump during a press conference.

During Wednesday’s press conference at the White House, a combative Trump allowed Acosta, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, to ask his question only to cut him off shortly after and branding the journalist an “enemy of the people.”

A visibly angry Trump called Acosta a “rude, terrible person,” after he refused the president’s orders to sit down and give up the microphone during the conference one day after the US midterm congressional elections.

“CNN must be ashamed of itself having you working for them,” the president told Acosta. “You are a rude terrible person.”

Trump then asked another reporter to speak but Acosta refused to sit down. That prompted a White House aide to try to to pull the microphone from Acosta’s hands but the CNN reporter pushed her away and kept talking until Trump walked away from the podium as if he was going to leave the room.

Shortly after the heated moment, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced on Twitter that Acosta was suspended for “placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern.”

“This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporter’s colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history,” she added.

CNN called the accusation a lie, arguing that Acosta was banned in retaliation for his challenging questions at today’s press conference.

“This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better. Jim Acosta has our full support,” the network said in a statement.

Acosta also accused the White House of making up lies and said the real reason behind the decision was that Trump didn’t want “to be called out on his falsehoods.”

During the press conference, Acosta asked Trump why during his midterm congressional rallies he falsely called a migrant caravan moving towards the US an “invasion” while they were hundreds of miles away in Mexico and “posed no threat to the US.”

Trump insisted in response that the caravan was indeed a threat and he would do all in his power to stop it.

Acosta then tried to slip in another question about the ongoing investigation into Trump’s alleged ties with Russia and whether he was concerned about indictments now that Democrats were in control of the House of Representatives.

“I’m not concerned about anything with the Russian investigation because it a hoax… that’s enough! Put down the mic!” Trump said in response.

It was not Trump’s only scrap with the media during the press conference as he shut down several other reporters in the same manner and proceeded to once again accuse some media of being the “enemy” of American people.

Source: Presstv

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The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

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28, October 2018

Professor shot dead in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Gunmen have killed a linguistics professor in Cameroon’s volatile English-speaking Northwest region, hit by a bloody separatist campaign and a brutal security crackdown, a university official said Friday.

Paul Kuban Mbufong was shot dead on Thursday while going to work in the University of Bamenda, the institution’s rector, Emmanuel Suh Cheo, said in a statement.

“He was killed by unidentified attackers who followed him to the place where he tried to hide” behind a nearby town hall, Cheo said, calling it a “macabre act”.

University staff said the murder of the academic, who was also in charge of administration, bore the hallmarks of the “Amba boys,” or separatists fighting for an independent English-speaking state called Ambazonia.

The two anglophone regions in western Cameroon are the site of an uprising by armed separatists, who have also called for a boycott of local schools. They argue the French-language education system penalises English-speaking students.

Since the start of the new term in September, insurgents have killed one principal, mutilated a teacher and attacked several high schools.

The violence, which erupted last year, has claimed the lives of at least 420 civilians, 175 members of the security forces and an unknown number of separatists, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think-tank.

AFP

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The Board looks forward to hearing from the readers.

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25, October 2018

Atlanta: CEO of Orphan Kids Help Foundation speaks of the “New Lifestyle” ⁰

The Luxe, Bliss, & Surreal Black and White Gala 2018 Welcomes You. The unique and dynamic annual Black & White Gala in Atlanta is here to truly exceed you hopes and expectations. The gala has now become an annual spectacle in Atlanta, and we hear that bigger and better is yet to come. It’s your Lifestyle – Enjoy It!

We sat down with the CEO of Orphan Kids Help Foundation/ Black & White Party, Egr. Eyong Eyong Ebot in Hot Atlanta to find out what keeps the Party rolling for the last 9 years.

Cameroon Concord News: What is the main message and idea behind the Atlanta Black & White Party 2018?

Eyong Ebot: The message has been consistent over the last 9 years – we want our patrons to enjoy the moment in life, meeting new people, and sharing of love with contentment and fulfilment. The Black & White Luxury Lifestyle Gala 2018 will provide a unique Gourmet Experience, as we will go to every extent to make our partners, patrons, and friends feel special in exclusive, but affordable surroundings. In principle, the first message is enjoyment in life with friends and loved ones – a celebration of life combined with fine wines and gourmet cocktails.

Cameroon Concord News: What was your inspiration behind the creating of the Atlanta Black & White Gala almost a decade ago?

Eyong Ebot: My inspiration is tied to the fact that we must give back to our community – that is what this is all about. We donate to many local cultural groups who are carrying projects back home in Cameroon to help the needy. We also give to groups on the ground in Africa, because they are in the best position to help needy kids. My inspiration also comes from seeing my friends, patrons, and members enjoying themselves while we put the show around them. Finally, my inspiration comes from others, and the pleasure of the attendees is my greatest challenge, and we will make sure everyone is happy and content in every way possible.

Cameroon Concord News: Almost fully booked already in 2018. Obviously, it is a bold message to Atlanta regarding the quality you represent. What does this mean for you, especially as we have multiple of events in Atlanta?

Eyong Ebot: The fact that we have sold out our VIP Lounges, with only a few VIP Tables remaining,a month from the event is a big achievement. It shows that we are doing the right thing, the organization is moving in the right direction, and that we have great supporters in Atlanta.

Cameroon Concord News: Are you excited?

Eyong Ebot: Absolutely! and in a remarkably positive way as we have worked hard to build the brand of the Black & White Party in the Atlanta Principality in the last nine years. We see the 2018 Gala going forward as a moment of payback to everyone who has supported us during this period. That is why we are committed to continuously improve the satisfaction our patrons derive from the event with no additional costs.

Cameroon Concord News: You are a full-time Engineer, so many people wonder how you find time to manage your Foundation. On the one hand, you are a role model for young and new organizational Leaders in Atlanta, showing that hard work pays off in life. However, it must be very exhausting for you. What makes you move forward on a daily base? What motivates you?

Eyong Ebot: That’s a great question and something that many people ask me. I think I am driven to do the best I can in everything I do. I do not have to be the best; it is not a competitive issue, I just try to do the job right, knowing that the end product is joy and satisfaction. However, before any reward, it takes pain and sacrifices, including a battle against yourself and all the issues that challenge you. One quotation I do enjoy evoking is from Winston Churchill, “When you are going through hell, keep going!”. Not that I’m going through hell; however, life and work put difficulties in our way allthe time, and we just have to keep going.

Cameroon Concord News: Finally, with many events organized by cultural organizations and alumina groups, as well as multiple events organized by other groups and members of the Atlanta community, how do the Black & White Party stay ahead of the game?

Eyong Ebot: Atlanta is the Número 1 Party City of the United States. Some Johnny came lately group leaders might see such environment as a competition and a zero-sum game. However, for the Black & White Organization, we cherish the complements and collaboration we receive from all groups in the community. That is why we are also very active in our community, supporting other groups and events as much we can. Atlanta Black & White looks forward to hosting everyone again at its 9th edition gala in 2018.

24, October 2018

UK: First black female history prof, Olivette Otele, has Cameroon origins ⁰

The United Kingdom just had its first black female history professor thanks to the Bath Spa University whose main campus is located at the Newton Park on Duchy of Cornwall land.

The glass ceiling breaker in this regard is historian Olivette Otele who has Cameroonian origins according to the History Today news portal. The BBC describes her as a Cameroon-born academic who schooled in France but is currently teaching in the UK.

Her Twitter bio reads: “Historian: British-French Empires-Slavery, Memory Legacies-African Diaspora (incl. North Africa).”

In announcing the big news of her professorship she wrote: “BIG NEWS: my people, @BathSpaUni has awarded me a professorship and a chair in history.

“May this open the door 2many v (to many very) hard working women, especially WoC (women of colour), even + specifically Black women, in academia in general & in History in particular. In strength, peace and love my ppl (people),” she wrote.

The university’s page on Olivette shows that she is largely a student of the famed French institution, Universite La Sorbonne, Paris where she received her first degree in Literature and History two decades ago.

She went on to do her masters in history two years later, a Master of Advanced Studies or Master of Advanced Study, DEA in 2002 and her PhD in 2005.

She currently holds professional membership of amongst others: Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), Executive board member, The British Society for the Eighteenth-Century Studies and Board member, Historians Against Slavery.

She has co-authored a book and has a series of publications to her credit. Her personal statement on the university’s website reads in part: “Dr Otele holds a PhD in History from Universite La Sorbonne, France. Her doctoral area of specialisation was European colonial and post-colonial History.

“It included examining questions related to the transatlantic slave trade, slave societies, identities and post-colonial societies in the Atlantic world. Her BA and MA trainings were grounded in British and American Literature and History.

“Her current research centres around transnational history and in particular the link between history, collective memory and geopolitics in relation to British and French colonial pasts.

“She charts and analyses the ways in which Britain and France have been addressing questions of citizenship, race and identity through the politics of remembrance. She also enquires into the value of public gestures, the meaning of public history and the impact of cultural memory.”

Culled from Africa News

16, October 2018

Uganda Hopes Kanye West, Kardashian Visit Boosts Tourism ⁰

American rapper Kanye West and socialite wife Kim Kardashian are visiting Uganda and bringing some much-wanted, positive attention to the East African country. Deadly election-related violence in August caused many tour groups to cancel trips, dealing a blow to the economy. Uganda’s tourism body is hoping the couple’s stay will attract more visitors.

A cartoon in a Ugandan newspaper depicts Kanye West sipping a local beer and thinking “Uganda is gold,” while wife Kim Kardashian, in a red bikini, takes a selfie under the sunset.

Meanwhile, in a reversed Safari, wild African animals compete to get a good look at the celebrity couple.

The sketch underscores the attention West and Kardashian’s visit is bringing to Uganda, where the rapper says he will record a new album.

Amos Wekesa of Great Lakes Safari said the couple’s superstar presence can be used to boost tourist numbers.

“So we need to be able to exploit that. If 100,000 people came here because of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, we would probably expect over $200 million and that would probably create not less than 2,000 jobs in the country. Whatever they are filming right now will stay online for a very long time and it will continue to market Uganda as a key destination.”

Tourism groups canceled planned visits to Uganda after violence erupted in August in relation to a local election.

Clashes broke out between security forces and youth supporters of the musician-turned-politician known as Bobi Wine. Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, was arrested and charged with treason for allegedly throwing rocks at President Yoweri Museveni’s car.

West on Monday met Museveni, who has ruled Uganda for three decades, and gave the president a new pair of white sneakers.

Social media posts made fun of the gift, noting the president is known for wearing odd-looking shoes.

Echoing opposition calls for Museveni to step down, one post read, “We hope that this pair of sneakers can inspire him to sneak out of power.”

It was not clear if West would meet fellow musician Wine, who is trying to get permission from authorities to hold a concert while on bail.

West made headlines last Thursday when he met with U.S. President Donald Trump in the White House Oval Office. The rapper stunned reporters by giving Trump a big hug, pounding the president’s desk, and using profanity.

On the streets of Kampala, not everyone was aware of the celebrity couple’s visit to Uganda, but, Leah Kahunde voiced excitement.

Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and Uganda President Yoweri Museveni chat outside State House Entebbe, Oct. 15, 2018.

“Kim Kardashian herself has a following bigger than Uganda’s population. So imagine a whole country’s population is eyes on Uganda. That means a lot for my country. And also the tax base and maybe more revenue, that way they might stop milking us and trying to tax us just to make up for expenditure. So it’s a plus for our tourism industry.”

While in Uganda, West and Kardashian are staying in the country’s largest national park, Murchison Falls.

John Ssempebwa is the deputy executive director for Uganda’s Tourism Board. He offered an explanation as to why he thought the couple chose Uganda.

“The Murchison Falls National Park is where the River Nile squeezes into the narrowest of rocks. And makes this thundering sound that can be heard kilometers away. It’s the only place in the world, where it’s actually raining fish. Fishes coming in pushed by this speed of water, so huge, falling. And guess what’s down there waiting for them? The fattest crocodiles in the world.”

Posting on her snapchat, Kardashian wrote, “Dear world, there is another heaven in Uganda.”

Culled from the VOA