Is Africa moving forward of backwards? : A 2020 breakdown of different African crisis’

For the past 4 years, Cameroon has been in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. Since 2016, hundreds have dies and close to 500,000 people have been displaced. Why? You may ask. Well to understand this you will need to understand Cameroon’s history.

Cameroon in 1472 received its first Portuguese ‘explorer’ on it’s shores and was then owned by several countries and was under German rule when slavery was abolished. The Germans ruled Cameroon for 31 years until the first world war hit. After the Germans lost, Britain and France were given their territories under the united nations mandate system with Cameroon being one of them. The French were given 80% of the Cameroonian land whilst the British were given the remaining 20%. Whilst each side for decades.

Once gaining independence from Britain. The southwestern regions which the British split up into 2; the northern and southern region, was given the option of joining either Nigeria or Cameroon. The British did not give their part of Cameroon a third option as they believed the country was not economically capable of sustaining themselves as an independent state. The election was made in 1961. The British northern Cameroon voted to become part of Nigeria whilst the British southern Cameroon voted to join Cameroon. Since gaining its independence from France in 1972, Cameroon has both English and French as it’s official languages. Though this is the case, the English-speaking regions of the country, (mainly in the southern western regions) have been feeling oppressed. This is as when the British army left south west Cameroon on the 30th of September 1971, the French-speaking Cameroonian army forcefully marched through the territory and then followed the French Cameroon civil servants including the French police. They believe that the government does not cater to their needs and wants to separate from the country to form their own which they call Ambazonia.

Fast forward to 2016, there has been unrest and disputes between this region and the government, which was fuelled by the government restricting peaceful protests in these regions. Activists that have been demonstrating against the marginalisation and the ‘francophonisation’ of the legal system in the Anglo regions have been jailed because of this. Currently, protestors opposing the oppression of the Anglophone regions have been arrested alongside their supporters. Cases have arisen where many claims to also have been beaten and mistreated by officers.

The protests turned violent in 2017 when the French government of the president used force to squash protests by the minority Anglophones. Since then the conflict has worsened. In 2018, 78 school children were kidnapped from a school in Bamenda in an attack similar to Nigeria’s Boko Haram Chibok girls attack, several other shootings and attacks have also taken place. As of last year, close to 1 million children remained out of school due to the conflict, according to UNICEF, while 80% of schools remained closed in the North-West and South-West regions.

On Saturday the 24th of October 2020, unidentified armed men stormed the campus of Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy in Kumba, about 45 miles from commercial city Douala, and opened fire on the schoolchildren who were on average under 14 years old. The fatal shooting left 6 boys and girls dead and 13 others injured. The school was attacked on Saturday as students were trying to catch up with their classes due to the region’s frequent school shutdowns. It wasn’t clear if the attack was linked to the ongoing struggle between the army and the Anglophone regions of Cameroon. But a local witness in the area said Ambazonia fighters were responsible for the bloodshed. This is not uncommon as many stories have immerged about Ambazonia fighters turning against their own people. Hence the reason why many are being killed and displaced by this conflict.

How can I help?

As Cameroon’s Anglophone crisis gets bloodier, it has been called the world’s most neglected crisis, as there are no signs the conflict will soon come to an end. Not enough people are talking about it and you can help by spreading the hashtags; #Anglophonecrisis and #Justice for Cameroon to help raise awareness of this issue on social media. Also, tag Cameroonian influences and stay informed by following these hashtags.

Currently in Congo a silent holocaust is going on. Alongside with the destruction of this megadiverse country’s nature.

In fact, since 1996 over 6 million people have died with over 50% of this being children under the age of 5 in the DRC! Solely in relation to the retrieval of natural resources such as gold, diamonds, copper, cobalt, tin, uranium, coltan, and many other precious natural resources and this is all so that we in the western world can benefit from its reprices. In fact, 65% of the world’s coltan is only found in Congo. This natural resource is used to make our electronic devices such as iPhones. Millions of people are getting killed for Coltan. How and why are they being killed?

Well in 1946 a strategic mineral stockpiling act was passed whereby cobalt was to be obtained and stockpiled as it is a ‘strategic and critical’ natural resource. As Congo has the largest reserves of this resource, they were targeted. Countries like the USA, UK, and France are funding Uganda and Rwanda military to invade Congo for these sources, these invasions are killing innocent people. In 2012 the Congolese minister stated that 200 to 300 rebels were recruited in Rwanda in order to be infiltrated in the DRC which this number is now probably higher. Additionally, because of the instability and lack of leadership after the Congo Wars, there is an estimate of over 100 rebel groups. The continuous killings and abuses of Congolese people, most of them women and children, have been worsened by the ongoing exploitation of Congo’s natural resources. In Congo nearly 50 women are raped every hour, millions are displacing, with thousands of children forced into slave labour. Nearly 40,000 child laborers digging for the minerals that would eventually be utilized by Apple, Google, and other giant corporations are forced to work. In 2010, a UN Report stated that crimes of genocide were happening in the Congo by Rwandan Troops.

Imagine if this was all happening in your home country. Will, you not want the world to know and help change this?

How can I help?

SHARE! Talk about these issues by using the hashtags #silentholocaust and #congoisbleedung. Sign petitions! If you’re in the UK especially, I know there are petitions whereby you can get your MP to raise these issues in the house of commons. Call your current government to stop funding the military!

There has been an increase in child labour and child trafficking across Ghana and the Ivory coast. In a 2010 report, it was estimated that 1.8 million children aged 5 to 17 years work in cocoa farms of Ivory Coast and Ghana at the cost of their physical, emotional, cognitive and moral well being and according to a 2018 anti-slavery report, an estimated 890,000 children are forced to work in the cocoa sector. Children are trafficked from Burkina Faso and Mali to work in these countries on cocoa farms as slaves. Boys from Ghana, Mali, and Burkina Faso are forced to work in the agricultural sector, including on cocoa, coffee, pineapple, and rubber plantations; boys from Ghana are forced to labour in the mining sector; boys from Togo are forced to work in construction, and boys from Benin are forced to work in carpentry and construction. Girls recruited from Ghana, Togo, and Benin to work as domestic servants and street vendors often are subjected to conditions of forced labour. Women and girls are also recruited from Ghana and Nigeria to work as waitresses in restaurants and bars and are subsequently subjected to forced prostitution. Trafficked children often face harsh treatment and extreme working conditions.

The prevalence of children doing hazardous work, including using sharp tools, has also gone up in Ghana and Ivory Coast, who together make up 70% of the world’s cocoa production. The levels were higher than in 2010 when companies including Mars and Nestle agreed to reduce the worst forms of child labour in Ghana and Ivory Coast’s cocoa sectors by 70 percent by 2020.

In 2018, the government developed a new National Plan of Action to increase efforts against trafficking, exploitation, and child labour. But in 2019, it was found that The Ivorian government made inadequate efforts to protect victims of trafficking. Law enforcement authorities did not demonstrate adequate efforts to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable groups, such as foreign children entering the country without their parents. Whilst the Ghanaian government has questioned this report conducted by the American government.

Just two weeks ago the Ivorian police, rescued 11 child slaves working on cocoa farms and arrested 3 farmers on suspicions of trafficking people

Though both countries have vowed to put more efforts into tackling this issue very little results have yet been seen and that is why we need to hold these governments accountable by putting pressure on them.

How can I help?

Spread the word and use the hashtags; #Childtrafficking, #Ghana and #Ivorycoast to spread the word and to get the government to act as quickly as possible.

Liberia, has never really recovered since the civil war and has had one of the highest crime rates in Africa for a while. A World Health Organization survey of six Liberian counties found that almost 75 per cent of respondents were raped during the conflict. However, when COVID hit the world by storm, rape in Liberia also increased by 50% during the pandemic against young women and children. Over 1,000 cases of rape have been reported within the last 10 months.

A United Nations report in 2016 recorded 803 rape cases the previous year in the country of 4.5 million and found only 2 percent of sexual violence cases led to a conviction.

After the protests of thousands marched in the capital, Monrovia last month. President George Weah has declared rape a national emergency stating that ‘Liberia is facing an epidemic of rape within the pandemic (coronavirus), affecting mostly children and young girls across the country’. Weah said he would install a special prosecutor for rape in Liberia as well as set up a national sex offender registry.

How can I help?

Use the hashtag #rapenationalemergency to spread awareness about this issue and share as much as possible! Tag big news organisations like the BBC and CNN to pressure them to cover these issues.

Women in Namibia have been taken to the streets of the capital, Windhoek, and other cities to protest against sexual and gender-based violence. This all spiked due to police reporting that they may have found the remains of Shannon Wasserfall, a woman in her early 20s who had gone missing in April.

Gender-based violence is a persistent problem in Namibia. According to reports over 1,600 rape cases were reported during the 18 months ending in June 2020 and reports earlier this year said police in the capital of Windhoek alone were receiving at least 200 cases of domestic violence monthly. The protestors are demanding for the government to take action. Many joined the march organised by like-minded campaigners and have pledged to keep protesting until substantial political action was taken to address femicide, rape, and sexual abuse. Campaigners said that, like in other parts of the world, a month-long lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus pandemic had now made life even harder for domestic violence survivors forced to self-isolate with their abusers.

Just this month, (October 2020) a 27-year old woman named Gwashiti Tomas was brutally murdered by her boyfriend because she wanted to end their relationship. The Namibia Demographic Health Survey (2013) indicates that 33 percent of ever-married women aged 15-49 years have experienced physical, sexual, and/ or emotional violence from their partner. Thirty-two percent (32%) of adolescent girls aged 15-19 and 35% of young girls aged 20-24 have experience physical violence from a partner but these numbers are now estimated to be even higher!

With a culture of silence on these topics and politicians failing to deliver progress, many women said the fear of violence was constantly accompanying them.

How can I help?

Share and amplify your voice against violence against women in Namibia. Use the hashtag #shutitalldown to help raise awareness and donate to these causes here to help protestors. Also, help donate to organisations that are supporting victims of domestic violence alongside those advocating and organising protests for change.

Now the biggest movement in Nigeria currently going on is the #EndSars.

What is SARS?

SARS stands for the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. This police force was formed in 1992 by the Nigerian government to help the Nigerian people but instead, the force is renowned for exploiting their power. Many of the officers do not wear uniforms or name tags that identify themselves. .Multiple reports over the years have come out of officers on these forces; raping, exploiting, and killing the very people they are supposed to protect. This is a clear violation of their power.

The government since 2017 has dissolved and recreated this group due to public outcry. But these past few weeks due to mounting pressure the government said they dissolved the force only to create SWAT. Which is basically the same thing. 

Peaceful protests against police brutality began on October 8 after a video allegedly showing a SARS operative killing a man was widely shared online. On the 20th of October 2020 held one at Lekki toll gate. The government a few hours before the protest inflicted a 24hr curfew effective immediately and then sent the army to turn off the lights and go to the toll gate. The army then shot mercilessly at the peaceful protestors, many of which have been injured and some have died. On the 22nd of October 2020 the Governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu went on a press conference saying no lives were lost.

But we know this now not to be true through the countless video recordings and reports on social media saying otherwise. Check out our Instagram to see what has been happening yourself. The current president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has made little efforts to address the situation fully and as pressure mounts, many are calling for him to resign. On Friday the 23rd of October 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari said 51 civilians were killed and 37 injured since demonstrations began, blaming the violence on “hooliganism.” He added that 11 policemen and seven soldiers had been killed by “rioters”.

Buhari’s statement came two days after Amnesty International put the death toll at 56, with about 38 killed on October 20, the same day security forces opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in Lekki, in an attack that was live-streamed on Instagram by a witness and caused widespread outrage.

The events of the Lekki Massacre which is now referred to as Black Tuesday is the latest in a long history of police and military campaigns in Nigeria against the civilian population. have sparked not only rage from Nigerians but international news are now covering the events too. Many Nigerians have had enough and want a better fairer country where politicians and police don’t exploit the country but help change it for the better! Economic inequality has reached extreme levels in Nigeria, according to the United Nation Human Rights Commission, while Oxfam reported that in 2019 close to 70% of the country’s population lives below the poverty line. Young people under 30 make up more than 40% of Nigeria’s population. They face severe hardship and chronic unemployment.

How can I help?

You can help Nigerians by sharing this post to raise awareness but by also signing petitions and donating. The time for a change in Africa is now! #EndSARS isn’t just about police brutality. It’s about the future of Nigeria.

Donate here to be part of the movement

After the rape and murder of a 19-year-old University of Cape town student named Uyinene Mrwetyana by a 42-year-old post office worker, protest erupted. Dressed in black and carrying signs thousands of people have taken to the streets of Cape Town and headed to parliament buildings to demand an end to violence against women and children. The protesters demanded South Africa’s president declare a state of emergency and create new policy changes to protect women and children against gender-based violence. The hashtag #AmINext went viral with many in the protests holding up signs asking this very question. In light of these protests, many more women were killed due to gender-based violence after also including boxing champion Leighandre Jegels, 25, was allegedly killed by her partner. According to UN Women’s Gender Inequality Index Rank, South Africa is among some of the more dangerous countries to be a woman. The South African Police have stated that a woman is murdered every 3 hours in South Africa. The country also has one of the highest rates of rape in the world. South African women have taken to Twitter to share personal stories of the violence and sexual assault they have experienced, and how the country’s pervasive gender-based violence has affected their daily life. Using the hashtag #AmINext, women have been sharing their fears for their safety

Femicide and rape crimes have increased at an alarming rate in the past four years; in 2016, a woman was murdered every four hours in South Africa, and by 2018, that rate rose to every three hours. In 2018, one in three women were sexually attacked, two in five women were beaten by their intimate partners, and one in 15 were murdered by their intimate partners. Children are no exception. According to a 2016 study, one in three South African boys and girls have experienced sexual abuse, and the national statistical service in the country found that child victims also made up 41% of 124,526 rapes reported in the same period. Sexual violence against the LGBTQ+ population is also a significant problem in South Africa — as it is all over the world. “Corrective rape,” or the rape of LGBTQ+ people in an effort to “cure” them of their sexual orientation by predators who believe that homosexuality is unnatural.

Since the protests in late 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa has vowed to tighten laws on gender-based violence and sexual offences. 3 bills were created which are;

The Bill to Amend Criminal Law (sexual offences and related matters); The amendment of this Act recognises sexual intimidation as an official offence, which it had not done before, meaning if you are threatened by someone’s behaviour towards you, verbally or otherwise, you can report it and seek legal action.

The Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Bill; With this bill, those accused of GBV could only be granted bail under exceptional circumstances. This bill was created after public outcry against accused offenders being easily granted bail

The Domestic Violence Amendment Bill; This bill would extend the definition of domestic violence to include victims of assault in those engaged to be married, those who are dating, those in customary relationships, and those in actual or perceived romantic, intimate, or sexual relationships of any duration. This means that if you are hurt by someone who you’ve been casually dating, you would be able to make a case against them under the Domestic Violence Act. This extended definition would also include older citizens who have been abused by family members.

Though 3 new bills have been added and a public register for sex offenders was created, as of 2020, South African women are still dying at alarming rates due to gender-based violence.

How can I help?

President Cyril Ramaphosa says violence against girls and women in South Africa’s “second pandemic.” Please share and amplify the voices of women in South Africa by using and follow the hashtag #Aminext to raise awareness of the situation and help end this pandemic.