November, 2020 - The African Mirror

Nov

2020

The beauty and brilliance of Baxsan, one of the most popular Somali singers of all time

SEYNAB Haji Ali Siigaale, widely known as Baxsan, passed away on 19 October 2020 and was buried a day later in Sheikh Sufi Cemetery behind the Somali National Theatre building in the capital Mogadishu. Along with the likes of Halima Khalif Omar ‘Magool’, Baxsan was one of the most popular female Somali singers of all time. Almost 60 years after she embarked on her singing career, it remains impossible to find anyone in Somalia who doesn’t recognise her name. MOHAMED HAJI INGIRIIS, Doctoral candidate, University of Oxford Revered even by her adversaries, Baxsan was not buried in a way that…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo: Nigeria’s bard, playwright and activist

LITERATURE

SOLA BALOGUN, Lecturer, Theatre and Media Arts, Federal University, Oye Ekiti AHEAD of his death on October 13, 2020, the renowned Nigerian poet and playwright John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo had given instructions on his burial. He wrote a poem, “My Last Testament”: This is to my family Do not take me to a mortuary, Do not take me to a church, Whether I die in or out of town, But take me home to my own, and To lines and tunes, tested on the waves Of time, let me lie in my place On the Kiagbodo River. If Moslems do it…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

US election: what the tight results mean for Democrats and Republicans

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AS vote counting continued in key battleground states in the US election, Joe Biden edged closer to the White House while Donald Trump launched multiple lawsuits. Whatever the final result, Democrats have not secured the resounding landslide against Republicans many of them had hoped for. Thomas Gift, associate professor and director of the Centre on US Politics at UCL, looked at what the close margin of the race means for both parties. THOMAS GIFT, Associate Professor of Political Science at UCL and Director of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) Programme, UCL Q: Whatever the final vote count, what does…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

India-made COVID-19 vaccine could be launched as early as Feb – government scientist

COVID-19

AN Indian government-backed COVID-19 vaccine could be launched as early as February - months earlier than expected - as last-stage trials begin this month and studies have so far shown it is safe and effective, a senior government scientist told Reuters. Bharat Biotech, a private company that is developing COVAXIN with the government-run Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), had earlier hoped to launch it only in the second quarter of next year. “The vaccine has shown good efficacy,” senior ICMR scientist Rajni Kant, who is also a member of its COVID-19 task-force, said at the research body’s New Delhi…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

As the malaria season begins in southern Africa, COVID-19 complicates the picture

HEALTH

TWO of the nine global public health awareness days are associated with malaria: World Malaria Day, observed on 25 April, and World Mosquito Day, which commemorates the discovery by Sir Ronald Ross on 20 August 1897 that Anopheles mosquitoes transmit malaria parasites to humans. JAISHREE RAMAN, Laboratory for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Research, National Institute for Communicable Diseases SHÜNÉ OLIVER, medical scientist , National Institute for Communicable Diseases Both World Malaria Day and World Mosquito Day are particularly relevant to Africa. The continent shoulders the greatest burden of malaria globally. Ninety-three percent of the 228 million malaria cases…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Satellite data provides fresh insights into the amount of water in the Nile basin

ENVIRONMENT

FLOWING through 11 African countries, the Nile River plays an important role in the lives of more than 24% of Africa’s population. To both upstream and downstream countries, the Nile waters are crucial in development planning, food and energy production. EMAD HASAN, Postdoctoral Researcher in Remote Sensing Hydrology, Binghamton University, State University of New York AONDOVER TARHULE, Professor, Vice president for Academic Affairs and Provost, at Illinois State University, Illinois State University As countries vie for these resources, there has been immense tension. Most notably, Egypt and Sudan have challenged Ethiopia’s decision to construct and fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

How COVID-19 has worsened attacks against journalists in Kenya

MEDIA FREEDOM

ALMOST a decade after the United Nations set aside November 2 as a day to reflect on ending impunity for crimes against journalists, crimes against media workers in Kenya are still widespread. The coverage of elections and corruption cases has typically prompted these attacks. But now the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed more of the state’s intolerance towards journalists in their line of duty. JOHN NDAVULA, Head of Department, Communication Studies, St Paul's University Kenya confirmed its first case of COVID-19 in mid-March 2020. By the end of the month, the government had imposed a curfew to stem infections. Soon afterwards,…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Spreading like wildfire’: Facebook fights hate speech, misinformation before Myanmar poll

WORLD

FANNY POTKIN and POPPY McPHERSON ONE of two Muslims allowed to run for the ruling party in Buddhist-majority Myanmar's general election on Sunday, Sithu Maung, worries fake news on Facebook could damage his chances. Within a torrent of racist abuse and misinformation posted about him ahead of the polls are false claims he plans to close Buddhist monastic schools and to advocate for the teaching of Arabic. "They use race and religion to attack me," the 33-year-old told Reuters in the commercial capital of Yangon, where he is standing for a seat won by the ruling party in the last…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Kamala Harris inspires women leaders in her ancestral Indian village

WORLD

MORE than 8,000 miles (12,870 km) from Washington, Indian women have been rooting for the "America lady" in the village of U.S. vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris's grandfather. As locals in Thulasendrapuram's temple held special prayers for a Democratic win in the Nov. 3 election, 34-year-old M. Umadevi - who was elected to the village council in December - said she related to Harris as a fellow woman politician. "She is a daughter of our village," said Umadevi, who has a five-year-old son and sews clothes to support the income of her husband, a driver. "This must have been difficult…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Ukraine to build synagogue on site of Babyn Yar massacre

WORLD

UKRAINE will build a synagogue at the memorial site commemorating the victims of Babyn Yar, one of the biggest single massacres of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust, the head of the memorial site Max Yakover has told Reuters. "This should be a significant thing with a very deep meaning," he said. The synagogue is expected to open next year to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the killings, and would be Kyiv's first new synagogue built since Ukraine's independence in 1991. The Babyn Yar massacre marked the start of Ukraine's Holocaust in which a pre-war Jewish population of about 1.5…