Amika's African Studies Blog

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

Last week, my blog post was about the African Union summit and their response to Sub-Saharan Africa hosting refugees. This week, the African Union is calling for a peace conference on Libya in July of this year to try to resolve the conflict there with the aim of holding elections in October. A statement was made today (Tuesday) that said that the 55 members of the Union would like to hold an "international conference on reconciliation in Libya under the auspices of the AU and Un" during the first half of July.  They are also requesting that the AU, UN, and the Libyan government take "all the necessary measures for the organization of presidential and legislative elections in Oct, 2019. In Libya, there are two rival administrations and only one of them are recognized by the UN. Running Libya has become very complicated because there are also different armed groups that are trying to become the one in power and get state wealth.  

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, security has been on high alert as dignitaries and heads of states from across the continent all gather for the annual African Union (AU) summit which starts today, Thursday. This year's summit will mainly focus on the subject of refugees. The article mentions that Sub-Saharan Africa hosts more than 26 percent of the world's 25.4 million refugees. According to the UNHCR (the UN agency for refugees), 85 percent of the refugees are in developing countries. Three African countries, Uganda, Sudan, and Ethiopia are some of the top 10 countries that are holding refugees. Human rights campaigners said that it is time that the AU take steps to address the refugee issues in Africa. "African Union member states will not suddenly find money to give to refugees" Achieng Akena, executive director of the Pan African Citizens Network, a civil society group that campaigns for democracy and human rights in Africa, told Al Jazeera.  Link:  https://www.aljaz