theblackbottom

Tribes in Kenya Wage Water War
In the first skirmishes due to global warming, nomads fight for survival.
By Nash Colundalur

Turkana women fetch contaminated water from an underground spring.

As tribal warfare rages over increasingly scarce water and grazing land, armed battles over cattle are becoming more destructive and spreading across national borders.

Turkana, North Kenya—Exhausted by [...]

If this news story is accurate Colonel Gaddafi of Libya has played the “race card” in his visit with Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Italy has been the site of racial turmoil as African immigrants, mostly Ghanaians, were attacked this past spring. I found it unconscionable for Colonel Gaddafi to do this and I would [...]

Academic Tackles Chaos of Elections in Nigeria
By ADAM NOSSITER
ABUJA, Nigeria — Sometime in the next five months, Nigeria will probably have a presidential election.
But as the likely deadline looms, there is no election date, no list of candidates and not even a real list of voters in a country of at least 150 million people. [...]

Tired of reading accounts of Africa through the eyes of outsiders, 14 African writers have set out to document the diversity of their content in a series of books and blogs partly inspired by the soccer World Cup.

One of the contributors to the project, Chinua Achebe

The first World Cup to be held in [...]

New constitution means major changes for Kenya
Friday, 13 August 2010
In a referendum held during the first week of August, voters in Kenya overwhelmingly approved a new constitution, replacing one that was drafted during the country’s colonial era. Among other things, the document sets out a Bill of Rights, creates a [...]

Daughter of Independence
By ANGéLIQUE KIDJO
Like a true revolutionary, I was born on Bastille Day (July 14), 1960, in Dahomey, which was then a part of the French Empire in West Africa. A few days later, on August 1st, 50 years ago this month, my country was declared independent: I was French for [...]

Cape Town — Senegal hopes to begin producing world-class African mathematicians with the first of three Africa-based mathematics training centres, which is due to open in September next year.
The Senegalese government has committed around US$1.3 million and donated a plot of land near Mbour on the country’s coast for the centre, SciDev.Net was told last [...]

Formerly an independent kingdom, Madagascar became a French colony in 1896 but regained independence in 1960. During 1992-93, free presidential and National Assembly elections were held ending 17 years of single-party rule. In 1997, in the second presidential race, Didier RATSIRAKA, the leader during the 1970s and 1980s, was returned to the presidency. The 2001 [...]

Source: WYNC Culture
Combine the funk of James Brown with traditional vodun (voodoo) rhythms and add an Afro beat, and you’ll approximate the sound of the popular West African band Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou. Play the WNYC review of this band below.
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