Month: August 2020

The US Proposes to Remove Sudan from Terrorism’s List for $300 million Compensation

On By Dr. Y.In Great MomentsLeave a comment
Flag of Sudan

Yes… I know this is another news that is just outrageous! What about the breaking of the country into two: Sudan and South Sudan… Some of it had been supported or helped by the US and foreign forces… so is there compensation for that? Excerpts below are from an article on the Guardian’s website. All of this makes my blood boil! And weird how all these funky deals are taking place right now in these uncertain times during lockdown. Is it because African economies have been hit by the pandemic, thus are vulnerable, and so the leadership is ready to make blood-boiling deals like these? It’s like the elders made a mistake (by the way, which one?) and the kids are paying for it…. yet, when we talk about compensation from genocide perpetrated on our parents and grandparents, nobody wants to hear! Lastly, why are these deals made without consulting the people?

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A US proposal to remove Sudan from a list of states that sponsor terrorism – in exchange for a $330 million payment compensation to American victims of al-Qaida – has caused anger in the poverty-stricken east African country.

Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, visited Khartoum on Tuesday to underline US support for the new transitional government that took power following the fall of Omar al-Bashir last year, whose 30 year authoritarian rule saw Sudan become an international pariah.

… The US has moved to incrementally restore relations with Sudan over recent years but has insisted that outstanding legal claims are settled before the country is struck from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. …

Sudan has been on the list since 1993, and so faces a range of damaging measures including the denial of much needed financial aid from international multilateral institutions.

The double bombing of embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998 was the work of al-Qaida, then run by Osama bin Laden from Afghanistan. More than 224 people died and 4,000 were injured in the bombings.

Courts in the US have found Sudan guilty of providing essential support to al-Qaida when Bin Laden was based in the country between 1991 and 1996.

But ministers, opposition leaders and ordinary people in the country have expressed their dismay at the prospect of a multimillion-dollar payment to the US. Some complained that it was unfair that the new reformist government in Sudan should suffer for the misdeeds of a fallen dictator.

Activist Mohamed Babiker, 32, accused the US of intensifying Sudan’s problems: “We opposed the regime and overthrew it. Now we have to pay for what it did wrong,” he said.

Shamael el-Noor, a participant in the mass protests that led to Bashir’s ousting, said that the US should have immediately removed Sudan’s name from the list of countries supporting terror once Bashir was gone.

“The terrorism was linked to the former regime’s ideology … It’s unfair to keep Sudan on that list while people revolted against the terrorism of that regime,” El-Noor said.

Others contested the basis for the compensation claim, saying that Sudan had sought to cooperate with the US by expelling Bin Laden and that the attacks had occurred two years after the Saudi-born extremist had left their country.

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Alexandre Dumas and Today’s Google Doodle

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments, Great People8 Comments
Google Doodle of 28 August 2020 commemorating Alexandre Dumas (Source: Google)

Today I am happily surprised by the Google Doodle of the day which commemorates the French writer Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, to name just a few of his works. In the Doodle he is clearly depicted as a Black man! Why does it matter? Do you know how long it has taken for him to be recognized as so? Do you know that it took over 100 years for Alexandre Dumas, the most read French writer to be buried at the Pantheon? just because of the color of his skin! It is only in 2002 that, then French president Jacques Chirac had Dumas’ body exhumed and then enterred at the pantheon! The most prolific French writer of all times!

Please check out the article I wrote about this great man a few years ago:

Alexandre Dumas the Greatest French Writer is of African Descent

Proverbe sur les Sages/ Proverb on the Wise

On By Dr. Y.In Great Wisdom1 Comment
Le soleil / The sun

La parole des vieux ne doit pas être deshonorée – après tout, ils ont vu le soleil en premier (Proverbe San – Namibie, Botswana, Afrique du Sud, Angola, Zimbabwe)

Old people’s speech is not to be dishonored—after all, they saw the sun first (San proverb – Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe).

Namibia Rightfully Rejects 10 million Euros Compensation for Genocide

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great Moments4 Comments
Survivors of the Herero genocide (Wikimedia)

The guts of these people sometimes! How can Germany after killing, and exterminating the Herero and San people of Namibia, thus perpetrating the First Genocide of the 20th Century, dare offer 10 million Euros for compensation to the Namibian government? Such an insult! Germany must really think that Namibians, Africans, are nobodies, below sub-humans… because it is quite unbelievable! They have almost eradicated an entire race, and to this day, Namibia is struggling because of this. And they give 10 million Euros? 10 millions Euros for torturing, killing, raping, destroying, displacing for years? Do you think they could have dared to make such an offer if the Namibians were Jews? This money is not even what they give as compensations to victims (and sometimes only one) during lawsuits against big companies. I clap for the Namibian government, and hope that they stand their ground; the rest of Africa is watching them! Excerpts below are from an article on the Guardian.

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Flag of Namibia

Namibia has rejected a German offer of compensation for the mass murder of tens of thousands of indigenous people more than a century ago.

German occupiers in Namibia almost destroyed the Herero and Nama peoples between 1904 and 1908 as they consolidated their rule in the new colony in south-west Africa. Some historians have described the bloodshed as the first genocide of the 20th century.

The two countries have been discussing an agreement on an official apology from Germany and an increase in development aid, but the talks appear now to be running out of momentum.

Namibia’s president, Hage Geingob, said on Tuesday that the most recent offer “for reparations made by the German government … is not acceptable” and needed to be “revised”.

Chained (by German forces) Herero men

No details were provided on Berlin’s proposal, but unconfirmed media reports have referred to a sum of €10m.

…. Other countries in Africa are watching the negotiations between Namibia and Germany closely as they consider launching their own efforts to gain compensation for the violence and theft of decades of European rule.

Bye Bye IBK: Mali Coup

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments6 Comments
Map of Mali with its capital Bamako

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, affectionately known as IBK, has been booted out of office on Tuesday of this week. The prime minister and the president (IBK) were taken from the office and held by the military. It has been months that the population of Mali was asking for him to leave because, as a puppet of France, he was not doing anything to help the situation of Malians, and nothing while the country was getting split into two by jihadjist forces funded by the West, and foreign forces on Malian soil, and the poverty. We salute the work of the Malian army which heard the cry of the population, and ousted the impostor.

Flag of Mali
Flag of Mali

The opposition coalition has called for a rally today, Friday, to celebrate IBK’s departure. Meanwhile, France (the puppet master) and its croonies (the international community) have been screaming against the departure of their puppet. The Malian people need to be extra vigilant that their movement and freedom is not hijacked yet again by France to place another version of IBK. A luta continua e la vitoria e certa!

King Lobengula Quote on the Chameleon and the Fly

On By Dr. Y.In Great People3 Comments

Zimbabwe_King Lobengula 1893
King Lobengula in 1893

“Did you ever see a chameleon catch a fly? The chameleon gets behind the fly and remains motionless for some time, then he advances very slowly and gently, first putting forward one leg and then the other. At last, when well within reach, he darts his tongue and the fly disappears. England is the chameleon and I am that fly.”  King Lobengula

Is Zimbabwe the New Haiti?

On By Dr. Y.In Great Economy, Great Moments, Great People5 Comments

Flag of Zimbabwe
Flag of Zimbabwe

Did you guys hear about the government of Zimbabwe agreeing to compensate white farmers the hefty sum of 3.5 billion dollars? I was shocked! When there is barely any money in the country, and the economy is in shambles, how can the government agree to this? Moreover, did these white farmers ever compensate the Africans after independence in 1980 for using their lands for a century, for abusing them off their lands? And for all the years of economic embargo forced on the country? Lastly, the clause is set so that the country will be paying this debt forever… 12 months to raise half of the money when the country is on life support? This is so disgusting, Robert Mugabe must be rolling in his grave!

Haiti flag
Flag of Haiti

So my question is, is Zimbabwe the new Haiti? Remember how Haiti was made to pay France for over a century because of their freedom (When France extorted Haiti, the greatest heist in history)? Because the past slaves had beaten the masters, they were forced to pay France for over a century the hefty sum of 90 million gold francs (equivalent to 21 billion U.S. dollars in today’s money – when Jean-Bertrand Aristide requested reparations, he was ousted) after winning its freedom from France…? And this is why Haiti is so poor! Imagine this: Someone abuses you for years, not to say decades and generations, you finally free yourself, and now you are forced to compensate them because you freed yourself through a ruthless battle from their years of inhumanity. How fair is that? We must be living in a different type of world, because I just don’t understand the logic! Now, it would seem to be Zimbabwe’s turn?

I have always been skeptical of Mnangagwa… but now it has been fully confirmed! When I see this, I wonder why Africa’s leadership is so full of traitors, collabos, and haters of their own people! This will be the topic for another day. Excerpts below are from the CNN article of July 29, 2020.

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Zimbabwe’s government signed an agreement Wednesday worth $3.5 billion to compensate white farmers who were evicted from their land during a controversial and often violent land redistribution program in the early 2000s under former President Robert Mugabe.

“This momentous occasion is historic in many respects, brings both closure and a new beginning in the history of the land discourse in our country Zimbabwe,” said current President Emmerson Mnangagwa, after signing the agreement at State House with Andrew Pascoe, the president of the Commercial Farmers Union of Zimbabwe….
According to the agreement, 50 percent of the $3.5 billion would be paid with 12 months from the day of signing, while the balance is paid within five years.
Economists agree that the Zimbabwean government, cash strapped after years of hyper-inflation and allegations of mismanagement [and economic embargo imposed by Western powers], cannot afford to make the compensation.
In a statement, the Finance Ministry said that they will be issuing long term bonds and that the parties will approach international donors to try and raise the funds.

Why the Name: Bulawayo ?

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments, Great People10 Comments

Zimbabwe2
Map of Zimbabwe

I always loved the sound of the name Bulawayo, the second largest city in Zimbabwe, after the capital Harare, and the largest city in the country’s province of Matabeleland. BU-LA-WA-YO… Doesn’t it roll on your tongue? Doesn’t it sound like thunder ? … like something big must have happened there? Well, …

Flag of Zimbabwe
Flag of Zimbabwe

Bulawayo was founded by the Ndebele king, Lobengula, son of Mzilikazi, when he settled in Zimbabwe in the 1840s, after the Ndebele’s people great trek from northern Kwazulu, in South Africa. The name Bulawayo comes from the Ndebele word bulala which translates to “the one to be killed.” It is said that at the time of the city’s founding, there was a civil war due to a kingship succession dispute. The dispute was between Mbiko ka Madlenya Masuku, a trusted confident of King Mzilikazi and leader of the Zwangendaba regiment, and Prince Lobengula who he (Mbiko Masuku) thought was not a legitimate heir because Lobengula was the son of the king born to a Swazi mother, of a lesser rank.

Lobengula1
King Lobengula of Matabeleland

At the time Lobengula, was a prince fighting to ascend the throne of his father Mzilikazi. It was common at the time for people to refer to Bulawayo as “KoBulawayo UmntwaneNkosi“, “a place where they are fighting or rising against the prince” or the “the place where the prince shall be slain“. The city of Bulawayo coincidentally has the same name as the capital of the great Zulu warrior king Shaka ka Senzangakhona in Kwazulu, where Mzilikazi and his Khumalo clan and other Nguni people came from.

In the 1860s, the city was highly coveted by Europeans, because of its land, wealth, and strategic location. Cecil Rhodes tried different tactics to trick King Lobengula. Lobengula once described Britain as a chameleon and himself as the fly. The fact that Lobengula was a force to reckon with is not to be ignored. Cecil Rhodes himself confided to Rothschild saying, “I have always been afraid of the difficulty of dealing with the Matabele King. He is the only block to central Africa, as, once we have his territory, the rest is easy … the rest is simply a village system with separate headmen …” So trickery was the only resort for Rhodes in order to get Lobengula. Thus, the treacherous Rudd Concession – 30 October 1888 (British Colonial Treaties in Africa: The Ruud Concession in Zimbabwe 30 Oct 1888).

Zimbabwe_Cecil Rhodes
Cecil Rhodes

During the 1893 Matabele War, British South Africa Company (BSAC) troops invaded and forced King Lobengula to evacuate, after first detonating munitions and setting fire to the town. BSAC troops and white settlers occupied the ruins. On 4 November 1893, Leander Starr Jameson declared Bulawayo a settlement under the rule of the British South Africa Company. Cecil Rhodes ordered the new settlement to be founded on the ruins of Lobengula’s royal kraal,a typical action by a conquering power. This is where the State House stands today.

Zimbabwe_Bulawayo principal street in 1905
The principal street of Bulawayo in 1905

Historically Bulawayo has been the principal industrial centre of Zimbabwe (former Southern Rhodesia – after Cecil Rhodes); its factories produce cars and car products, building materials, electronic products, textiles, furniture, and food products. Bulawayo is also the hub of Zimbabwe’s rail network and the headquarters of the National Railways of Zimbabwe. Thus its nickname: “City of Kings” and also “kontuthu ziyathunqa” – meaning “smoke arising” in Ndebele, because of its large industrial base, and the large cooling towers of its coal-powered electricity generating plant situated in the city center which once used to exhaust steam and smoke. Today, as the rest of Zimbabwe, it slowly pushes through the steam.

Zimbabwe_Bulawayo in 1976
Bulawayo in 1976 (Wikipedia)

Bulawayo is seen as the door of tourism to the Matabeleland province, as its capital. Matabeleland boosts of Victoria Falls, Matopo National Park, Hwange National Park, Khami Ruins and a bigger share of Lake Kariba. As a side note, the infamous Cecil Rhodes‘ grave is said to be at World’s View, a hilltop located approximately 35 km (22 mi) south of Bulawayo, which is part today of Matobo National Park.

Well, if you visit the city of Kings, remember King Lobengula, remember his fire, and his fight for his people’s freedom from western domination… remember the greatness of the Ndebele king, and remember the fire that burns dormant in the people of Bulawayo, fanned by their ancestors. Enjoy the video below on Bulawayo.