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Up in arms over the Egyptian President's state visit to France, around 20 protesters gathered outside the Paris National Assembly late on Monday, shouting "down with dictatorship".
The demonstration outside the parliament painted a very different picture to earlier in the day when France welcomed President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with a cavalry parade through Paris.
Before the three-day visit, rights groups accused France of indulging President al-Sisi's "brutal repression of any form of dissent".
"We've come across a President of the Republic who welcomes the butcher of Cairo, the butcher of Egypt, in great pomp, on a state visit, with the Republican Guard," said François de Roche, chief of the NGO Justice and Rights Without Borders.
"We have fallen on our heads. This is unacceptable. France, the country of Human Rights, cannot accept this."
But French President Emmanuel Macron refrained from direct criticism of former army general Sisi, who has cracked down on supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi, as well as on leftists and liberals.
Macron told a joint press conference with Sisi that he would not condition the sale of weapons to Egypt and trade ties on human rights as he did not want to weaken Cairo’s ability to counter-terrorism in the region.
"I think it is more effective to have a policy of dialogue than a policy of boycott which would reduce the effectiveness of one of our partners in the fight against terrorism and for regional stability," he said.
To force the issue of human rights would be both "ineffective on the subject of human rights and counter-productive in the fight against terrorism, that's why I won't do it," he added
Nationwide protests have taken place since October 7 despite the disbanding of the controversial Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit.
The demonstrators have been accused of attacking police stations and personnel.
The rallies which are mostly attended by young people have become avenues to vent against corruption and unemployment.
Rights groups say at least 15 people have been killed the demonstrations began in early October.
On June 4, 1965 U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson gave the Commencement Address at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He used the occasion to remind his audience and the nation of the long history of racial discrimination and urged the American people to end racial discrimination as the most important step in ensuring equality among all of its citizens.
Dr. Nabrit, my fellow Americans:
I am delighted at the chance to speak at this important and this historic institution. Howard has long been an outstanding center for the education of Negro Americans. Its students are of every race and color and they come from many countries of the world. It is truly a working example of democratic excellence.
Our earth is the home of revolution. In every corner of every continent men charged with hope contend with ancient ways in the pursuit of justice. They reach for the newest of weapons to realize the oldest of dreams, that each may walk in freedom and pride, stretching his talents, enjoying the fruits of the earth.
Our enemies may occasionally seize the day of change, but it is the banner of our revolution they take. And our own future is linked to this process of swift and turbulent change in many lands in the world. But nothing in any country touches us more profoundly, and nothing is more freighted with meaning for our own destiny than the revolution of the Negro American.
In far too many ways American Negroes have been another nation: deprived of freedom, crippled by hatred, the doors of opportunity closed to hope.
In our time change has come to this Nation, too. The American Negro, acting with impressive restraint, has peacefully protested and marched, entered the courtrooms and the seats of government, demanding a justice that has long been denied. The voice of the Negro was the call to action. But it is a tribute to America that, once aroused, the courts and the Congress, the President and most of the people, have been the allies of progress.
LEGAL PROTECTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Thus we have seen the high court
South African President and Chair of the African Union, Cyril Ramaphosa has finally weighed in on the violence plaguing Nigeria.
One of the leading figures of the Civil Rights Movement which took place in the 1950s and 1960s, Ella Baker, was born in Virginia in 1903. Growing up in North Carolina, Baker had a close relationship with her grandmother, a former slave, and heard narrations of many of the experiences which the latter lived through.
Baker was an intelligent child and attended Shaw University in Raleigh, becoming the valedictorian for the batch of 1927. Upon graduating, she relocated to New York City where she juggled between various jobs to fulfill her basic needs. Before she became involved in Civil Rights Movement, Baker contributed to the start-up of a club, Young Negroes’ Cooperative League, which permitted its members to accumulate their funds in order to benefit from better deals on goods and services. In the preceding years, she also served on the editorial boards of American West Indian News and Negro National News.
Beginning work for the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in 1938, Baker frequently travelled to various parts of the country in order to raise funds and recruit new people to the NAACP. Initially starting off as a field secretary, Baker was promoted to the organization’s national director of branches for her extensive work in issues related to job training and equal pay for black workers. Realizing the demanding nature of the job, Baker resigned in 1946 to look after her niece but continued work with the New York branch for better academic prospects of black children.
In 1953, Ella Baker ran for New York City Council on the Liberal Party ticket. Following this failure, the independent individual worked as Director of the Harlem Division of the New York City Committee of the American Cancer Society.
Four years later, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asked Baker to take up the position of Executive Director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), a civil rights group headed by African Americans, to which she agreed. It was Baker who initiated the creation of the
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was in Egypt Sunday where he sought to ease tensions with the Arab world, after uproar surrounding the republication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Le Drian met with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, and Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Egypt's highest Muslim authority, speaking of his country's \"deep respect\" for Islam, while at the same time acknowledging differences.
Le Drian's highly anticipated meeting with Tayeb, head of Al-Azhar -- considered the foremost religious institution for Sunni Muslims -- tackled French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's decision in September to reprint the cartoons.
Last month Tayeb denounced remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron about \"Islamist separatism\" as \"racist\" and spreading \"hate speech\".
Macron's remarks followed a suspected Islamist extremist decapitating a schoolteacher in a Paris suburb in October after he showed the cartoons to pupils during a lesson on freedom of expression.
Tayeb's position was unmoved on Sunday as he reiterated his defense of Islam's sacredness. Depictions of the Prophet are strictly forbidden in Islam.
\"Insulting our Prophet is completely unacceptable and we will pursue anyone who disrespects our honorable Prophet in international courts, even if we spend the rest of our lives on this matter only,\" he forcefully said in a statement released by Al-Azhar.
Sent to defuse tensions, Le Drian sought to convey an emollient message following the meeting.
\"I noted many points of divergence in our respective analysis,\" he told reporters. But \"the Grand Imam proposed we work together towards a common convergence... because together we must fight fanaticism.\"
'Deep respect for Islam'
In a press conference alongside Egyptian foreign minister Shoukry earlier on Sunday, Le Drian had likewise struck a conciliatory tone.
\"I have emphasized, and emphasize here the deep respect we have for Islam,\" said the French minister.
\"What we are fighting is terrorism, it is the hijacking of religion, it is extremism,\" he added, noting he came \"to explain, if need be, this fight, and at the same time the fight for respect for the freedom of belief\".
Demonstrations erupted in several Muslim-majority countries after Macron defended the right to publish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, seen by many as insulting and an attack on Islam.
Sisi himself had weighed in on the controversy last month, saying that \"to insult the prophets amounts to underestimating the religious beliefs of many people\".
Le Drian's visit also included a discussion on Egypt's conflict-hit western neighbor Libya.
\"The developments in recent weeks are going in the right direction,\" he said, referring to a ceasefire agreement and negotiations between opposing sides, including the latest round of peace talks between rival administrations held in Morocco.
He said both France and Egypt were on the same page in demanding the immediate withdrawal of foreign mercenaries from Libya and res
The Coronavirus crisis has created a welcome opportunity for us to reassess the relationship between China and Africa on several levels - trade, supply chains, excessive borrowing and predatory lending, racism towards Africans.
Its $300 billion in trade with Africa is threatened, and more important, African countries can't pay their $200 billion in debt to China and are asking for debt forgiveness.
Not least important, China offers a classic lesson in the importance and potency of a coherent worldview backed by masterful strategy, which is what my book Emerging Africa recommends to African leaders and peoples.
Third, with China's capitalist economic transformation started in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping, it's influence in Africa is now driven more by the need for raw materials and energy to support its economy than was the case in the socialist past when it was more about \"solidarity\".
China's vastly expanded foray into Africa over the past two decades is part of a worldview of global expansion and economic dominance.
Cameroon’s University of Buea suspended a law instructor more than a month after he asked students a legal question during a political and constitutional history course.
English Law lecturer Felix Nkongho Agbor Balla posed level two law students the following: “The Anglophone crisis since 2016 was caused by the lawyers’ and teachers’ strike.
Manga summoned Agbor Balla on May 5 to appear before a university disciplinary council the following day to answer questions on the course, called “Political and Constitutional History of Cameroon,” and specifically the question he posed.
“The dismissal of Barrister Felix Agbor Balla as instructor at the Anglophone University of Buea seems to have all the hallmarks of the Anglophone-Francophone divide in Cameroon,” said John Menkefor, a commentator based in Bamenda, headquarters of Cameroon’s North West Region.
“Why did the higher education minister not raise similar concerns when francophone lecturers in law and political science departments in other Francophone universities set more challenging questions on the Anglophone problem?”
Elected officials say NYPD should show ‘zero tolerance’ to Central Park ‘Karen’ and launch criminal probe
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NY Officials said Wednesday that the white woman who called the cops on a black man in Central Park should face an NYPD probe along with the city human rights investigation.
Adams was referring to Amy Cooper, the white woman in Christian’s viral video who repeatedly told a 911 operator that an “African American” man was threatening her.
In a video that has since gone viral, Christian Cooper, an African American man simply called Amy Cooper, a white woman out for not having her dog on a leash in that part of Central Park that requires it.
Adams takes issue with this and says:
“For anyone in the police department to state they have ‘bigger fish to fry,’ while black men are frying inside correctional facilities because of false accusations, that is the wrong mindset, the wrong attitude.”
Late Tuesday New York City’s Commission on Human Rights announced it was launching an investigation and had sent a letter to Amy Cooper asking her to cooperate.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he can understand why Muslims were shocked by caricatures depicting the prophet Muhammad.
But in an interview with Al Jazeera broadcast on Saturday, he said he could never accept the issue being used to justify violence.
\"I understand and respect that we can be shocked by these caricatures,\" Macron said.
\"I will never accept that we can justify physical violence for these caricatures and I will always defend in my country the freedom to say, to write, to think, to draw.\"
Tensions flared with some Muslim majority countries who have held anti-Macron protests and called for a boycott of French products after he publically promised France would not “renounce the caricatures”.
Macron made the comments following the October 16 murder of French school teacher Samuel Paty, who was killed after he showed his class drawings of the prophet during a debate on free speech.
France was also shaken on Thursday by a deadly knife attack on a church in Nice, the third suspected Islamist attack in the country in little more than a month.
The country has raised its national security alert to the highest level and security has increased at places of worship and schools.
'No problem with Islam'
Macron tried to reach out to Muslims, telling the Qatar-based channel: “I understand the feelings that this arouses, I respect them.\"
\"But I want you to understand the role that I have. My role is to calm things down, as I am doing here, but at the same time it is to protect these rights.”
The president also slammed “distortions” from political and religious leaders and the media over the depictions of the prophet, saying too often people were led to believe that they were created by the French state.
\"Everywhere these last weeks in the Muslim world, we have tried to aggregate the two, by distorting my remarks, by telling lies, by saying the President of the French Republic and thus France, they have a problem with Islam.
\"No, we have no problem with Islam. None,\" he said.
He also denounced calls for a boycott of French goods, saying it was “unworthy” and “unacceptable”.
From the blues to zydeco, and jazz to hip-hop, slave-era spirituals about struggle and personal empowerment to the forefathers of rock and roll, America’s roots music is absolutely replete with the influence of the African-American community. Understanding the history provides a wonderful way to celebrate black history month than by taking a look at the incredible music that has been contributed to the American story by African-American musicians and writers.
The influence of African-American musicians on the evolution of folk music has been immeasurable. Many of the songs that have come to be synonymous with struggle, empowerment, human rights and perseverance have come from the African-American community. From folk-blues singers like Huddie Ledbetter (a.k.a. Leadbelly) to hip hop artists like Common, Talib Kweli and the Roots, the folk music of the African-American communities has embodied the struggle of marginalized people in America.
As far back as African-American history stretches, it has been accompanied by a soundtrack of incredible music. Some of the most timeless songs of empowerment and perseverance come from the American slave fields and communities of forced immigrants held in bondage throughout the early country.
During this time, much of the music among the slaves was a series of calls they would make to each other in the fields.
It was the early call-and-response hollers that would later be translated and echoed by street peddlers (a.k.a. “criers”). These call-and-response songs were as often aimed at spreading news or information, as they were about passing the time while they worked. Other music of the time came from religious ceremonies.
Great songs that have become synonymous with the plight of every community since then that has stood up for its own rights include spiritual songs like “We Shall Overcome,” “I Shall Not Be Moved” and “Amazing Grace.”
I Try to Stay Here But My Blues Start Walkin
After the Civil War ended with the Emancipation Proclamation and the newly freed former
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I Have a Dream Speech
Martin Luther Kings Address at March on Washington
August 28, 1963. Washington, D.C.
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In 2004 Rev. Al Sharpton of New York City, campaigned for the Democratic nomination for President. Sharpton saw himself as the successor to Rev. Jesse Jackson who campaigned for the Presidency on behalf of the impoverished and oppressed. Although he did not garner as much support as Jackson did in 1984 and 1988, he did focus national attention on his constituency and his proposals to help them. His speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston follows.
Tonight, I want to address my remarks in two parts.
One, Im honored to address the delegates here.
Last Friday, I had the experience in Detroit of hearing President George Bush make a speech. And in the speech, he [asked] certain questions. I hope hes watching tonight. I would like to answer your questions, Mr. President.
To the/our chairman, our delegates, and all that are assembled, were honored and glad to be here tonight. Im glad to be joined by supporters and friends from around the country. Im glad to be joined by my family, Kathy, Dominique, who will be 18, and Ashley.
We are here 282 [228] years after right here in Boston we fought to establish the freedoms of America. The first person to die in the Revolutionary War is buried not far from here, a Black man from Barbados, named Crispus Attucks.
Forty years ago, in 1964, Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party stood at the Democratic convention in Atlantic City fighting to preserve voting rights for all America and all Democrats, regardless of race or gender. Hamers stand inspired Dr. Kings march in Selma, which brought about the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Twenty years ago, Reverend Jesse Jackson stood at the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco, again, appealing to the preserve those freedoms.
Tonight, we stand with those freedoms at risk and our security as citizens in question. I have come here tonight to say the only choice we have to preserve our freedom at this point in history is to elect John Kerry the president of the United States.
The Commonwealth of Nations, or more commonly just the Commonwealth, is an association of sovereign states consisting of the United Kingdom, some of its former colonies, and a few special cases. The Commonwealth nations maintain close economic ties, sporting associations and complementary institutions.
When was the Commonwealth of Nations Formed?
In the early twentieth century, the government of Britain was taking a hard look at its relationship with the rest of the British Empire, and particularly with those colonies populated by Europeans – the dominions.
The dominions had reached a high level of self-government, and the people there were calling for the creation of sovereign states. Even amongst the Crown Colonies, Protectorates, and Mandates, nationalism (and the call for independence) was on the rise.
The British Commonwealth of Nations was first noted in the Statute of Westminster on 3 December 1931, which recognized that several of the United Kingdoms self-governing dominions (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa) were autonomous communities within the British Empire, equal in status, in no way subordinate one to another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs, though united by a common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations. What was new under the 1931 Statute of Westminster was that these dominions would now be free to control their own foreign affairs – they were already in control of domestic affairs – and to have their own diplomatic identity.
There are 19 African states who are currently members of the Commonwealth of Nations.
See this Chronological List of African Members of the Commonwealth of Nations, or Alphabetical List of African Members of the Commonwealth of Nations for details.
No, Cameroon (which had only partially been in the British Empire following World War I) and Mozambique joined in 1995. Mozambique was admitted as a special case (ie could not set a precedent) following democratic elections in the
Todd D. Robinson is a career U.S. Foreign Service Officer, currently serving as U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala. Robinson, a Minister Counselor who speaks Spanish, Italian, and Albanian, has had a wide range of postings with the Foreign Service. Since his confirmation as Ambassador to Guatemala in September 2014, Robinson has focused on limiting human trafficking and promoting human rights in the region.
A native of Fanwood, New Jersey, Robinson earned a Bachelor of Arts and by 1985, a Master of Arts from Georgetown University, working with the University’s prestigious Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. After a brief stint as a journalist, Robinson was hired by the U.S. State Department as a member of the U.S. Foreign Service in 1986. His first overseas posting was to Colombia in 1987. He was next sent to El Salvador in 1989. Both Colombia and El Salvador were officially recognized as “hardship postings” by the Foreign Service because of high rates of violence and political conflict in the region. From 1991 to 1993, Robinson worked as a Watch Officer in Washington, D.C., managing international communications within the Department of State.
Robinson returned to service in overseas diplomatic postings in 1993, first as a staff assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to Italy and he later worked in a variety of embassy and State Department positions over the following decade. In 1995, he served as a political officer within the U.S. Embassy offices in Vatican City and La Paz, Bolivia. Robinson returned to the U.S. in 1999 to work as a special assistant to Secretary of State Madelyn Albright before his appointment as Deputy Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs in the Dominican Republic in 2000.
Starting in 2004, Robinson served as the primary political and economic advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to Albania before becoming Consul General in Barcelona, Spain. Robinson was recognized with Superior Service Awards in 2001 and 2006 and promoted to Senior Foreign Service status in 2007. In 2009, he
In 1901 William Monroe Trotter (1873-1934) founded the Boston Equal Rights League to push for civil and human rights for Black people. The league operated nine years before the establishment of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
The second inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States, marked the commencement of the second term of Barack Obama as President and Joe Biden as Vice President. A private swearing-in ceremony took place on Sunday, January 20, 2013 in the Blue Room of the White House. A public inauguration ceremony took place on Monday, January 21, 2013, at the United States Capitol building.
The inauguration theme was Faith in Americas Future, a phrase that draws upon the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation and the completion of the Capitol dome in 1863. The theme also stressed the perseverance and unity of the United States and echoed the Forward theme used in the closing months of Obamas reelection campaign. The inaugural events held in Washington, D.C. from January 19 to 21, 2013 included concerts, a national day of community service on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the swearing-in ceremony, luncheon and parade, inaugural balls, and the interfaith inaugural prayer service. The presidential oath was administered to Obama during his swearing-in ceremony on January 20 and 21, 2013 by Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts.
In his second inauguration address, Obama proclaimed that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. He called for laws to combat climate change, enactment of immigration reform and gun control. Obama stated that more progress was needed on human rights and civil rights (including racial minority rights, womens rights, and LGBT rights). He vowed to promote democracy abroad and stated that the United States must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice around the world. Additionally, the president vowed to keep existing alliances strong, emphasized the economic recovery and the end of wars, and stated that no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. During the speech, Obama linked the Seneca Falls Convention, Selma to
By ELAINE GANLEY Associated Press PARIS (AP) — The pressure rises with each gruesome attack. After three in five weeks, France's Muslims are feeling squeezed. A spotlight of suspicion was trained on them again even before the latest acts of extremist violence, including two beheadings. President Emmanuel Macron has forged ahead with his effort to rid Islam in France of extremists, part of a project he labels 'separatism,' a term that makes Muslims wince. Amid intensifying rhetoric and fresh attacks by outsiders, including the killings of three people Thursday at a Catholic church in Nice, Muslims in France have kept […]
The post French Muslims, stigmatized by attacks, feel under pressure appeared first on Black News Channel.
An Angolan soldier shot and killed a teenager during an operation to enforce face-mask wearing to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the government has said.
In a statement late on Friday, the ministry described the case as \"homicide\" and that it was investigating the incident.
On May 9, a 21-year-old man was \"accidentally\" shot when police clashed with a group of people caught flouting a curfew and a ban on social gatherings in Luanda's impoverished Huambo neighbourhood.
President Joao Lourenco declared a state of emergency in March, banning public gatherings and restricting movement to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Rights groups across the continent have denounced widespread incidents of violence by security officials enforcing anti-coronavirus restrictions.
Kadugli — The more than 2,000 people who fled their homes in El Berdab village near Kadugli, capital of South Kordofan last week, are living in dire conditions.
The Sudanese Human Rights and Development Organisation (HUDO) reported today that a group of RSF militiamen riding in four Land Cruisers and on motorcycles raided El Berdab on May 13.
A listener told Radio Dabanga from Kadugli that almost the entire population of El Berdab sought refuge in two schools near the military base of Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) in the town.
A report by the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies (ACJPS) on violence in Sudan between March and May this year indicates that members of the Sudanese army and the RSF continue to violate human rights in the country.
Radio Dabanga's editorial independence means that we can continue to provide factual updates about political developments to Sudanese and international actors, educate people about how to avoid outbreaks of infectious diseases, and provide a window to the world for those in all corners of Sudan.
The Afro-Asian Conference, known generally as the Bandung Conference, was to that date the largest gathering of Asian and African nations. On April 18 to 24, 1955, twenty-nine representatives of nations from Africa and Asia came together in Bandung, Indonesia, to promote African and Asian economic coalitions and decolonization. The Conference expressly declared its opposition to both colonialism and neocolonialism not only by the European powers then in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, but also by the United States and the Soviet Union.
Of the twenty-nine nations that were represented in the Bandung Conference, six were from Africa: Egypt, Ethiopia, Gold Coast (present-day Ghana), Liberia, Libya, and Sudan. The leading contributors to the Bandung Conference were the nations of Burma, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The primary organizer was Ruslan Abdulgani, former Prime Minister of Indonesia.
The conference came during the midst of decolonization and against a backdrop of a world increasingly divided between the Western democracies and the Communist nations. Conference delegates vowed to take a middle ground in the ongoing Cold War. They also pledged support for those nations still colonized by the Western states, especially the nations of Africa. The delegates discussed and agreed upon economic alliances, respect for human rights in their countries, and emphasized peace between Africa and Asia. The Africa and Asia nations also pledged to mutually support their economic development, vowing to rely on themselves instead of Western foreign aid.
Conference delegates adopted a 10-point program that called for, among other things, settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations, and recognition of the equality of all races and the equality of all nations large and small. The program also called for non-intervention in the internal affairs of other nations and repudiated acts or threats of force against other
Norman B. Rice was born in Denver, Colorado. He migrated to Seattle in 1970 to attend college. In 1972 he earned a bachelor’s degree in communications and two years later a master’s degree in public administration both from the University of Washington.
Rice then worked as a television news reporter on Seattle’s KOMO-TV and KIXI radio. Following his media stint, he held a series of administrative positions. Rice served as assistant director of the Seattle Urban League, Executive Assistant and Director of Government Services for the Puget Sound Council of Governments, and Manager of Corporate Contributions and Social Policy at Rainier National Bank.
Norm Rice’s political career began in 1978 when Seattle residents elected him to fill a vacancy on the City Council. He was reelected to the Council in 1979, 1983 and 1987. Rice ran for mayor in 1985 but lost to incumbent Charles Royer, another former journalist. In 1988 he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic Party nomination for the 7th District, losing to former Washington state senator Jim McDermott.
During his 11 years on the council, Rice chaired the Energy, and Finance and Budget, committees, and also served a term as Council President. As a member of the Finance and Budget Committee, he worked for more equitable utility rates by Seattle City Light, the city owned utility, lobbied for the passage of the Women and Minority Business Enterprise Ordinance, and called for Seattle companies to end their investments in apartheid-dominated South Africa. Rice also worked to lower crime in Seattle and supported the use of city funds to help impoverished Seattle residents.
On July 28, 1989, Rice filed his candidacy for mayor of Seattle and three months later on November 7 defeated city attorney Doug Jewett by 99,699 votes to 75,446 to become Seattle’s 49th mayor. He was also the first African American mayor of Seattle. Rice was elected to a second term in 1993.
During his tenure as mayor, Rice streamlined the Seattle Public School system, promoted human
The legacy of these vulture funds complicates efforts to help African countries deal with their current debt challenges.
The Paris Club, which represents many bilateral official creditors, and the Institute for International Finance, which represents 450 banks and financial investment firms, have announced that they are collaborating on an initiative to temporarily suspend debt payments by the poorest countries.
The African Union and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa have announced that they are looking at the feasibility of creating a special purpose vehicle that can swap African bonds for debt instruments with more generous terms.
This is a problem because, given the severity of the current crisis, many bondholders are likely to be attracted to the option of selling their discounted bonds to vulture funds rather than participating in any future African debt restructurings.
Unless the special purpose vehicle can buy a critical mass of outstanding African bonds, the vulture funds will still complicate future debt renegotiations.
Early Kingdoms in the Region:
The first inhabitants of the region [now Equatorial Guinea] are believed to have been Pygmies, of whom only isolated pockets remain in northern Rio Muni. Bantu migrations between the 17th and 19th centuries brought the coastal tribes and later the Fang. Elements of Fang may have generated the Bubi, who immigrated to Bioko from Cameroon and Rio Muni in several waves and succeeded former Neolithic populations.
The Annobon population, native to Angola, was introduced by the Portuguese via Sao Tome.
Europeans Discover the Island of Formosa:
The Portuguese explorer, Fernando Po (Fernao do Poo), seeking a route to India, is credited with having discovered the island of Bioko in 1471. He called it Formosa (pretty flower), but it quickly took on the name of its European discoverer [it is now known as Bioko]. The Portuguese retained control until 1778, when the island, adjacent islets, and commercial rights to the mainland between the Niger and Ogoue Rivers were ceded to Spain in exchange for territory in South America (Treaty of Pardo).
From 1827 to 1843, Britain established a base on the island to combat the slave trade. The Treaty of Paris settled conflicting claims to the mainland in 1900, and periodically, the mainland territories were united administratively under Spanish rule.
Spain lacked the wealth and the interest to develop an extensive economic infrastructure in what was commonly known as Spanish Guinea during the first half of this century.
Through a paternalistic system, particularly on Bioko Island, Spain developed large cacao plantations for which thousands of Nigerian workers were imported as laborers.
At independence in 1968, largely as a result of this system, Equatorial Guinea had one of the highest per capita incomes in Africa. The Spanish also helped Equatorial Guinea achieve one of the continents highest literacy rates and developed a good network of health care facilities.
A Province of Spain:
In 1959, the Spanish territory of the Gulf of Guinea was
Analysis - We lost colleagues. Others were intubated. It was really scary…. [I am] praying to have a vaccine soon. —“Fernanda”, nurse at a public hospital in Ceará state, Brazil, July 28, 2020
