‘Fragments of Africa’ begins with the delicate situation of the Sudanese people at the cost of war

Welcome to this new section of France 24, dedicated to Africa 100% in conjunction with our Africa 7 Days programme. Every 15 days, we will present you with a summary of the main news from the continent.

In this first edition, in addition to the situation in Sudan, we talk about the draconian anti-LGBTQI+ law enacted by the president of Uganda. Now, LGBTQI+ communities in neighboring countries like Kenya fear their governments will follow the Ugandan example. The political situation in Senegal is explosive: Ousmane Sonko, main opponent of the discredited Macky Sall, has been sentenced to prison for a sexual misconduct case and his supporters claim conspiracy. We also report on the attempted African mediation in the war in Ukraine. A delegation of presidents and senior officials traveled from the mainland to kyiv and Moscow to try to convince the belligerent presidents to reach a compromise. Finally, we tell you why the President of Kenya, William Ruto, has called for the abandon the dollar in transactions between African countries.

1) Sudan enters its third month of war: a look at the population situation

In the last two months, the conflict in Sudan between the Army led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (FAR) paramilitaries has claimed more than 2,000 lives, according to the NGO Acled, while it has displaced more than 2.2 million people, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Apart from the capital Khartoum, Darfur, a region already ravaged by twenty years of war, with entire areas cut off from the world, without electricity or telephone, is the other hot spot of the conflict.

So far, no royal corridor was cleared for humanitarian aidwhat do you need 25 million of the 45 million Sudanese. The few humanitarian shipments that have managed to pass cover only a tiny part of the immense needs. Three-quarters of the hospitals in combat zones are out of service, while the others have to deal with supplies that are practically empty and generators that have stopped working due to lack of fuel.

At the same time, all attempts to contain the crisis have failed. Recently, the United States has adopted sanctions against the belligerents. In an interview with France 24, Antoine Galindo, head of East Africa for the outlet ‘Africa Intelligence’, declared that these sanctions could be “ineffective”, since both sides have resources to finance their war and have found a way to avoid those reprisals.

Today, for observers, the risk is that Sudan becomes a new Libya, Syria or Yemen; countries destroyed for more than ten years by endless wars.

Despite this situation, media attention is becoming more discreet, at the risk of consigning to oblivion the difficult daily lives of millions of Sudanese men, women and children. Galindo recalls that “we must continue talking (about Sudan). Above all, we must not let this conflict fall into oblivion, because —beyond the situation of the Sudanese people, which is terrible— the stability of Sudan depends that of the entire region”.

2) Anti-LGBTQI+ law in Uganda: Kenya tempted to adopt more draconian legislation

By ignoring the calls of the international community and enacting a law that strongly criminalizes homosexuality, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has not only undermined the rights of LGBTQI+ communities in his own country, but has also jeopardized jeopardize the rights of these communities in certain neighboring countries.

The law, approved at the end of May — described as “atrocious”, “draconian” and the “worst anti-gay law in the world” by the rights organization Amnesty International — seeks to sentence homosexuals to life imprisonment, or even the sentence of death in case of “aggravated” crime.

But in Uganda, the text enjoyed broad popular support, and neighboring Kenya is tempted to follow Kampala’s lead. “We see that the more states sponsor these bills, these hate-filled legislation, the more the LGBTQI+ community is affected. And, furthermore, that also affects how other politicians and other countries follow suit,” Christian Rumu said in a statement. interview with Reuters news agency.

“In Uganda, as in the rest of the world, the rights of LGBTQI+ people have become a convenient political tool,” said Graeme Reid, director of the LGBTQI+ rights program at Human Rights Watch, in a statement. an interview with the medium Afrique XXI.

“Politicians have become masters of using misinformation about (LGBTQI+ people) to cause moral panic and distract attention from the real issues, particularly corruption scandals, the crackdown on political opposition and restrictions to the press,” he adds.

3) African mediation in the Russia-Ukraine conflict: an attempt hampered by the obstinacy of the belligerents

In two days of travel between kyiv and Saint Petersburg, an African delegation, led by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, set out to establish a dialogue between Russia and Ukraine.

On June 17, Ramaphosa called on Putin to end the war. But the Russian president focused above all on demonstrating that the refusal to dialogue came from kyiv. “It is not us, but the Ukrainian authorities who have said that they will not carry out any negotiations,” he told his South African counterpart. “I understand your concern, I share it and we are ready to study all proposals. But the Ukrainian side does not want to.”

The day before, in kyiv, Zelensky had rejected the delegation’s proposals. “Today I made it clear during our meeting that allowing any negotiations with Russia now, when the occupier is on our land, means freezing the war, freezing the pain and suffering. Russia will take the opportunity to become more powerful, arm more and attack even more. to Ukraine”.

And it is also that between kyiv and Pretoria trust has not yet been created. The South African government has always refused to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Washington recently expressed concern over an alleged rapprochement between Pretoria and Moscow, while in May the US ambassador to that country accused the South African government of having delivered weapons to Russia.

4) In Senegal, an explosive political situation

What is happening in the country considered the most stable in the turbulent Sahel region? Three weeks ago, the focus was on Senegal, where the two-year prison sentence of political opponent Ousmane Sonko sparked demonstrations that were heavily repressed by police. The violence resulted in 23 deaths, according to Amnesty International.

Sonko is the main opponent of Macky Sall, president since 2012 and who continues without making clear his intentions to run in next year’s elections; something the Constitution prevents you from doing. The Senegalese people are largely unhappy with the president’s two terms in office, and Sonko—an unknown just a few years ago—has established himself as the most serious alternative to the current status quo.

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Opposition supporters view his conviction as a maneuver to keep him out of the presidential race because it disqualifies him from running in the next elections.

After the violence of the last few weeks, the country lives in fear of Sonko’s arrest and the new confrontations it could provoke. In an interview with France 24, Samira Daoud, Amnesty International’s director for West Africa, described the current calm as “precarious”. “In my opinion, it is very likely that there will be a backlash if Ousmane Sonko is arrested,” she said.

5) The president of Kenya calls to leave the dollar and return to local currencies

African countries should abandon the US dollar in their intracontinental trade. That is the proposal of the president of Kenya, William Ruto. He made it during a speech to the Djiboutian Parliament, where he questioned the need to involve the US currency in trade activities between African countries.

Currently, traders from countries like Djibouti and Kenya, for example, have to purchase US dollars for their trades, as the two countries have different currencies, all pegged to the US dollar. Ruto noted that the African Export-Import Bank, Afreximbank, has put in place a mechanism that allows merchants on the continent to use their respective local currencies.

The President expressed Kenya’s support for this pan-African banking system and called for it to start being used more frequently. However, he made it clear that the intention is not to oppose the US dollar, but to promote freer and more sovereign trade.