African journalism. JUNE 5 2021 | ISSUE 48 The Continent with The cost of il’s collapse Graphic: Ashleigh Swaile The Continent 2 issue 48. june 5 2021 Inside: ■ Egypt takes inaugural Basketball Africa League: Zamalek has a history of winning in football. Now the club has expanded into basketball and taken the title in a tournament hosted in Rwanda (p11). ■ Punches in the Pan-African Parliament: Seventeen years in, it doesn’t have a headquarters. It has no power. But its president can live a life of largesse and do so with impunity. No wonder people are fighting for the job (p14). ■ Electric racing hits Senegal: Extreme E, a new motorsport focused on sustainability, equality and climate change arrived in the old home of the Dakar Rally (p16). ■ Protecting our past and future: Just four of South Africa’s 4,000 national heritage sites are sacred sites. One woman is trying to change that (p22). ■ Look to our oceans, or else: COVER STORY: Falling off Ethiopia’s former prime minister, the oil cliff. Africa’s petro Hailemariam Desalegn, writes states, like Angola and in The Continent that we face Nigeria, need a high oil price catastrophe if we don’t look after to invest in public services. the world’s oceans (p24). Their leaders also need ■ Our quiz: Which tower is that money to stay in power. considered the tallest structure in But the world is rapidly Egypt and North Africa? No, it’s not changing and oil is being the pyramids! (p26). phased out, with a predicted price of just $35 a barrel by the 2030s. At that point, a country like Nigeria could Correction: Last week (Issue 47, page 6), lose a third of its annual we wrote that Mali gained independence budget – and it’s only going in 1968. That was a typo. Mali gained to get worse. independence from France in 1960. The Continent | issue 48. june 5 2021 3 The week in numbers 5-15 ... centimetres 500,000 of snow expected ... people without water in over parts of Goma after the eruption of Lesotho and parts Mount Nyiragongo in the DRC of South Africa as part of the season’s first snowfall ...tonnes of maize in Zimbabwe's bumper crop, 2.7-million the highest yield in 20 years 1,065,847 ... registered voters in local elections in the self-declared, 80% internationally unrecognised ... of livestock in Republic of Somaliland Tigray has been stolen or slaughtered during the conflict in the wartorn Ethiopian province The Continent | issue 48. june 5 2021 4 WEST AFRICA The announcement came after the social media company deleted President Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari’s tweet earlier this week in which he threatened to punish announces pro-Biafra groups blamed for escalating violence in the southeast. Twitter ban Twitter said the tweet violated its “abusive behaviour” policy, leading to a ... on Twitter 12-hour suspension of Buhari’s account. It’s unclear when the suspension will go Nigeria’s federal government announced into effect given the order was announced on Friday evening that it had suspended by the ministry of information – on its the activities of Twitter in the country. own Twitter account. EAST AFRICA Who tried to murder Uganda’s former chief of police? Katumba Wamala, Uganda’s minister the upscale neighbourhood of Kisasi. of transport and former police chief, President Yoweri Museveni said survived an assassination attempt in authorities “already have clues to those the Kampala on Tuesday that killed killers” in the incident. There is no clarity his 26-year-old daughter and driver. yet as to the motives of the attackers, Four assailants shot at their vehicle in despite feverish speculation in Kampala. The Continent | issue 48. june 5 2021 5 SPORT Olympic medallist calls for third category for athletes Photo: Marco Longari/AFP Photo: Margaret Wambui, the Kenyan runner who won bronze in the 800m event at the Rio 2016 Games, has suggested NORTH AFRICA that World Athletics introduce a third category for athletes with high levels of UK, France testosterone. “It would be good if a third category told to clean for athletes with high testosterone was introduced – because it is wrong to stop up their mess people from using their talents,” she told the BBC in an interview. One of the leading candidates in Libya’s The 25-year-old, like other athletes upcoming presidential election has said with differences of sexual development that the United Kingdom and France (DSD), has been forbidden from are responsible for precipitating the contesting any distance between 400m ongoing Libyan civil war – and that and one mile in the female category they have an obligation to solve the unless she reduces her testosterone conflict. “I think that, in fact, Europe levels. But medical treatment options is morally and legally responsible for are controversial, with side effects everything that’s happened as of 2011 ranging from increased risk of and especially the UK and France,” said depression, to liver injury and hepatitis. Fathi Bashagha, the former interior Wambui has been ruled out of the minister. France, the UK and the US Tokyo Games due to the restrictions, intervened militarily to oust the dictator alongside gold and silver medallists Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 – against the South Africa’s Caster Semenya and advice of the African Union – plunging Burundi’s Francine Niyonsaba, the country into a conflict from which although Niyonsaba will compete in it has yet to recover. the 5,000m event. The Continent | issue 48. june 5 2021 6 CENTRAL AFRICA Chad, CAR to investigate deaths Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR) have agreed to set up an independent commission to investigate an incident at a shared border post in which at least six Chadian soldiers were killed by CAR forces. Chad’s defence ministry on Sunday said that Central African troops had attacked a Chadian military post, killed one soldier, and ARTS kidnapped and executed five others. CAR authorities said a firefight had Laurels for broken out by mistake as their soldiers pursued a rebel group near the Chadian Senegalese border, resulting in the deaths of troops on both sides. soldier story French writer David Diop won the SOUTHERN AFRICA international Booker prize for books translated into English this week. At SA’s red meat Night All Blood is Black is a book set during World War I. Diop was born to red-flagged a French mother and Senegalese father in France but grew up in Senegal. On Botswana has banned the import of winning the prize, Diop said: “It’s all South African red meat after an very interesting and gratifying for me. outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease This really shows that literature has in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal no borders.” The author, whose novel province. This is the first outbreak concerns two Senegalese soldiers since 2019 and has not yet affected who fought for France during the war other provinces. Namibia is expected to was inspired by his Senegalese great- follow Botswana’s lead. The full extent of grandfather who fought for France. The the outbreak is still being investigated. book was originally published in 2018. The Continent 7 issue 48. june 5 2021 News Mali Colonel Assimi Goïta, who has AU benches declared himself the president of Mali, was at the ECOWAS meeting. Mali military As The Continent reported last week, Goïta is a special forces commander until 2022 renowned for his quiet and calm demeanor. Joining the army in 2002, he elections rose through the ranks with a reputation for bravery and an ability to inspire trust. ali has been suspended from the In 2018 he was appointed commander MAfrican Union with immediate of the Battalion Autonomes des Forces effect following a second coup in nine Spéciales, a US-trained special forces unit. months. This means the country cannot This gave him the position from which to participate in any union activities. launch his first coup, last August. The Pan-African body warned that the military must “urgently and The African Union has unconditionally return to the barracks” threatened sanctions and threatened “targeted sanctions and other punitive measures” if this did not In that coup he appointed Bah N’Daw happen. – a close ally and fellow military officer In its statement on Tuesday, the AU’s – as interim president. That relationship Peace and Security Council said this would soured and collapsed when N’Daw continue “until normal constitutional announced a cabinet reshuffle last month, order has been restored in the country”. sidelining much of the military. After last year’s coup, elections were Goïta and the army responded by promised for the end of February 2022. detaining N’Daw and his civilian prime The announcement follows the minister and declaring himself president. suspension of Mali from ECOWAS, The AU suspension highlights a lack the west African regional bloc, after an of consistency in its sanctions. It hasn’t emergency meeting last weekend. It will suspended Chad, even though the last until February 2022, when Mali’s elevation of Mahamat Déby to de-facto interim leaders were meant to hand over president after his father’s death was power to an elected civilian government. unconstitutional. ■ The Continent | issue 48. june 5 2021 8 Africa What happens when 30% of your national budget disappears in a decade? As oil demand shrinks and prices collapse, Africa’s petro states – the likes of Angola, Nigeria, Egypt and Equatorial Guinea – will be left with massive holes in their budgets. Sipho Kings which specialises in energy and climate forecasts, says $40 a barrel would cost he price of oil is expected to halve to petro states a combined $9-trillion in T$35 a barrel by the 2030s.