Amika's African Studies Blog

In Tripoli, the only working airport that they have was targeted in an airstrike on Monday. The Mitiga airport, that is east of Tripoli was shuttered after it was attacked by Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA). Khalifa Haftar is Libyan military officer who is head of the LNA. It was also attacked by the Government of National Accord (GNA) in which they condemned the aerial bombardment, calling it a war crime. There was also a fight around Tripoli's international airport that hasn't been in operation for years. The GNA admitted on Monday that it temporarily lost control of the site to Haftar's fighters. While there are forces who are loyal to Haftar's UN-based government fight for control of Tripoli, hundreds of residents are trying to get out of the capital city. Many Libyans in Tripoli have been cut off because of the fighting but others have chosen to cross the border into Tunisia for safety reasons.  Links:  https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/africa/libya

The article that I found is the first start of my research paper. The article mentions how the MeToo movement has reached certain areas of Africa. Survivors of sexual abuse and harassment are using the hashtag as a way to share their stories and express their experiences on social media. While also using the MeToo movement hashtag, the survivors are also using the hashtag #ArewaMeToo. The article highlights some women that have decided to share their stories in the article. For example, on February 3rd in Abuja, Nigeria, Khadijah Adamu, a 24 year old pharmacist told her followers on Twitter about the incidents of physical abuse and claims of how an ex-boyfriend of hers almost killed her. "It was a burden that I was carrying around for two years" she told Al Jazeera. "Talking to people didn't work, praying didn't work, nothing worked, and to make matters worse my abuser refused to leave me alone". Since Khadijah spoke out, many other women have decided to sha

In Kenya, a science teacher has been crowned the world's best teacher after winning the 2019 Global Teacher Prize. Peter Tabichi, a teacher at Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Pwani Village in Nakuru, won a $1 million prize on Sunday. He has been a teacher for about 12 years now. The finalists for this award were selected from over 10,000 nominees and applications from 179 countries around the world. Peter Tabichi was praised for giving away 80 percent of his monthly salary to help poor students in his school. "They learn in poorly-equipped classrooms. Their lives are tough in a region where drought and famine are frequent" he said. Drug abuse, teenage pregnancies, dropping out from school, young marriages and suicide are common in the community but he believes they can beat the odds if only they dream big and work hard. Peter has dedicated his life to the community and trains the residents and students on new farming methods to also address food insecurity in the fam

I believe it was last week on Friday when cyclone Idai struck in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi (Malawi was the first country to be affected). From recent reports that I've seen, the death toll has risen up to 215 in some places. More than 1.5 million people have been affected and hundreds of people are missing across the three Southern African countries. At least 126 people were killed in Mozambique and Malawi and on Monday, Zimbabwe announced that the information ministry put the number of dead up to 89 for the country. Majority of the damage happened in the central port city of Beira, 90% of it has been destroyed reports say. Mozambique's President Filipe Nyusi said that he feared the death toll could rise up to 1,000 in the country. In Zimbabwe, the cyclone had destroyed the eastern and southern parts, which created a humanitarian crisis and more than 83,000 people have been displaced in Malawi by the flash floods. While figuring out what to do for my blog post, this wa

I first heard of the plane crash that happened in Ethiopia on Twitter over the weekend but I didn't actually take the time to read any articles until now. An article that I found talked about villagers that were near the site of where the plane crashed. The villagers shared the stories of what they were doing and what they heard when the plane had crashed. One person that was interviewed at the village is a father of three named Atlaw remembered what he was doing when he heard the plane crashed. "I was having breakfast before going to church when I saw a plane falling from the sky". "I heard four large explosions. I have never heard anything that loud". That particular village that he lived in lies about 500 meters from the site where the plane crashed. "Body parts were everywhere. Some were even burning. There was a massive fire". "Although we don't yet know the cause of the accident, we had to decide to ground the particular fleet as extra

In Sudan, numbers of women are joining the protests that have been going on in Sudan even though there has been a crackdown by the security forces and reports of sexual harassment. The article mentions that women have made up 70% of the marches in Sudan. I believe that the women are protesting against the country's Public Order Act and other things that have going on there. Some examples that make up the order act is 1) women must wear headscarfs and cannot wear trousers 2) women cannot war obscene outfits or cause an annoyance to public feelings. The article also has stories that women shared about their hair getting cut off while being detained by security agents. "They cut the bun off my head with a razor blade and they threatened me with rape when I was taken in their truck from downtown Khartoum" Jode Tariq said. Dozens of women have been thrown into jail because of stuff like this. Recently, the women in Sudan have started to fight against the abuse by using a priva