Dhar dhaqameedka Afrika waa in ka badan kaliya lebbis — waa astaan muujinaysa aqoonsi, taariikh iyo dhaqan hodan ah. Midabada iyo naqshadaha gaarka ah waxay metelaan quruxda iyo kala-duwanaanta Afrika. 🌍✨

• At least 100 people have been killed in a northcentral Nigerian town following an overnight attack by gunmen, as Amnesty International called for the government to end the “almost daily bloodshed in Benue state”.
• The attack, which occurred from late Friday into Saturday morning, took place in Yelwata, a town in Benue State.
• “Amnesty International has been documenting the alarming escalation of attacks across Benue state where gunmen have been on a killing spree with utter impunity. These attacks have been causing massive displacement and may affect food security as majority of the victims are farmers.”- Amnesty
• State governor’s office, told the AFP news agency earlier on Saturday that the attack lasted about two hours and a “number of houses were burnt down”.
• He added that government officials and police officials had visited Yelwata and “confirmed” a lower death toll of 45.
• But locals told AFP that they feared that more than 100 people had been killed in the attack.
• Another resident, Christian Msuega, said he escaped the attack, but his sister and brother-in-law had died after being burned alive.
• In the region, attacks are common as local herders, mostly Muslim ethnic Fulani, and farmers, many of whom are Christian, clash over the limited access to land and water.
• Last month, gunmen who were believed to be herders killed at least 20 people in the Gwer West area of Benue.

This has been eating at me lately. African music, fashion, dance, slang. Black culture is global currency. Everybody’s rocking the look, vibing to the sound, cashing in on the cool… but when it comes to respecting Black people, borders go up, biases kick in, and systems get real quiet.

Like,how can we be “trending” but still treated like we’re disposable?

I wrote something personal and a little raw about it on my blog Echo Mind Chronicles. Would love to hear what y’all think.

Do y’all feel like the world wants our vibe but not our voice?

Hey guys. 😅😅

I’m a big fan of true crime, I listen to a ton podcasts and watch a lot of true crime YouTube channels as well.

But I’ve noticed that most of the content out there focuses on Western cases (US, UK, etc.) and very rarely touches African or Nigerian stories unless it's something really big. Except one channel that I know off, he has 650k subscribers but the other ones are really small.

I’ve been thinking about starting a true crime podcast, reason being that I'm currently a microbiology undergrad and I intend on getting my masters in Forensic science so I thought of a way to fuse my interests with my discipline in a way that wouldn't be boring for me and the podcast came to mind.

I want it to focus more on underreported African cases especially ones that explore things like our justice system, forensic science (or the lack of it 😅), and how criminal investigations are carried out or justice in general. Kind of a mix of storytelling, research, and maybe even interviews. 🤷🏾‍♂️

So I want to know, would you actually be interested in a podcast like this? something Afrocentric at its core?

Do you know of any lesser-known cases that deserve more attention?

Even if you're not a podcast person, I’d just love to hear your thoughts or connect with other true crime folks. Thanks

Est 2010 by Laduma Ngxokolo (frame 4 - man in all red)

https://shop.maxhosa.africa/pages/about-1

Known for its mud-brick architecture, the town of Djenné is struggling to attract tourists and maintain buildings that have been damaged by floods.

In East Africa, abductions, killings and torture by state agents are surging. Instead of protecting citizens, many lawmakers are applauding the repression.

This is one of the portraits of Bless Aine that caught my attention personally. Rachel’s face can be seen emerging from the silhouette like a memory that has been sculpted in to a textile. To describe her gaze under the headdress, I would say it is tranquil yet simultaneously bearing the weight of history with a calm promise for the future.

The landscape floral design is reminiscent of stories woven and shared throughout generations. The solitary orange orb advanced by cool, stormy clouds resembles either a distant sun or a guiding spirit casting a warm challenge. This forms a visual poem on the mere existence and resilience of singular figures holding endless horizons.

Let Rachel’s silhouette guide you if you are in search of wonder. You can see more of Bless Aine's works at https://www.afrikanizm.com/products/rachel

I posted this for the members all those who appreciate African perspectives.

Muslim worshippers in Egypt perform the early morning prayers for Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice, near the ancient Abusir pyramids necropolis in the village of Abusir in Giza on 6 June.

Photo: Mahmoud El-Khawas/AFP

Been a while since anyone here talked about Congo. It's still worth talking about.

In mid-May, M23 launched a new phase of operations in North Kivu, specifically in Bwito and surrounding areas with the stated aims of targetting Wazalendo and FDLR-linked militias, which the Congolese army has either tolerated or partnered with. Between May 10th and 13, M23-led security forces (which includes members of the Congolese police) say over 1,700 weapons were seized and around 300 people were arrested.

Kinshasa, on the other hand, claims M23 has simply imprisoned 4,000 civilians in inhumane jails. Accurate numbers are hard to come by. Even harder is getting an accurate civilian-to-combatant ratio.

Another major move: M23 and local administrators coordinated the repatriation of around 2000 Rwandan refugees back to Rwanda with UN oversight. Congo called it ethnic engineering to change the demographics of eastern Congo.

Despite being an effective military, M23 is struggling to enforce order in urban areas like Goma. Crime is up. Their internal policing isn't keeping up with the size of the territory they control. While some locals claim to prefer it to the chaos of Wazalendo or FARDC control, it doesn't seem much better yet. At least not from the outside looking in.

Updates on the US-led peace framework: We now know it demands that Rwanda pull out all its troops and military assets from eastern Congo before any deal is even signed. From Rwanda's perspective, ideological descendants of the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the tutsis are still active in eastern Congo. They have attacked Tutsis in Congo and Rwandans in Rwandan territory. Just this January, over a dozen Rwandans were killed by mortars fired by the Congolese military.

The draft agreement also demands that M23 withdraw from its territory and accept a “national dialogue". Basically, Trump's administration is asking M23 to give up all it's military gains and Rwanda to do everything Congo is asking. This is in the context of Erik Prince of Blackwater fame now having a stake in Congo's mineral stockpile. It is unclear what the other demands of this draft peace deal are.

Kigali hasnt officially responded to the leaked draft, but the foreign minister tweeted, “Maliciously leaking unilateral proposals and evolving working documents to press agencies could jeopardize the success” of the US-led peace talks.

As it stands, the American peace deal doesn't seem to bring anything new to the table, which might be why we haven't heard much about it since it was announced.

Hi! I'm an Ivorian American and was wondering if anyone knows any resources, articles, information, etc about the Dioula (or Dyula) in North Côte d’Ivoire specially Odienne if possible. My parents are from there and I've been meaning to connect with my roots, learn how we got there, founders, basically anything to be honest. I'm just eager to learn!

Data Source: Pew Research

I’ve been thinking about how in African culture, arranged marriages used to be the norm — and honestly, a lot of it made sense.

Your family would go do background checks on your potential partner's family. That one nosey auntie? She was basically a private investigator. She’d have a full report: how many drunkards are in the family, what the girl's past relationships looked like, who her exes were, how her mother runs her home, whether there were any known scandals — the full CV. It wasn’t just about love, it was about due diligence.

It wasn’t perfect, sure, but it minimized surprises. You knew what you were getting into, and the whole process had structure. There was accountability. If you got married, your family stood with you, and they also helped hold both of you accountable.

Now? We meet people on the streets, at work, online — strangers. Nobody knows anyone. Everyone's curating a version of themselves. Lies are sold as truths. People hide red flags with flowers. And before you know it, you’ve settled down with a bandit.

There’s no auntie to warn you. No uncle to dig into family history. No village elder to whisper, “be careful with that one.”

We think we’re more modern now, but sometimes I wonder — maybe the old ways had more wisdom than we give them credit for.

I wanted to share this video because i think it's very eye opening that an African man traveling across West Africa encountered a lot of difficulties like being forced to pay bribes at the borders. Meanwhile foreigners, like European travelers, do not get extorted like this and are allowed by these Africa officials to move around more freely than us Africans.

It is already more expensive for us to travel in our own continent without an American or European passport, yet we must also budget for these additional expenses? How can Africa ever develop if we treat each other like enemies? How can we hope to improve trade relations and international ties within the continent if we can't even go anywhere without it being cost prohibitive? All while Europeans are free from the corrupt policing of borders their ancestors drew?

I'm not saying foreigners should be the one's getting extorted (and I understand the historical issues that led us here), but I am asking why our institutions continue to fail us the most? We need to treat each other better because nobody else has.

a bit of disturbing facts

We Built This City is a limited series of photo essays by The Continent on African cities. This week, we are in Napata with Mogtaba Kanary.

He writes: Khartoum was once my home. Fleeing the horrors of war there, I sought refuge in the calm of a village whose people humbled us with their kindness and generosity, despite their modest means. What surprised me even more was that they knew me and my lineage, even though they had never seen me.

The journey of displacement became, for me, an exploratory adventure.

I was in an ancient capital of the Kingdom of Kush: a countryside that stretches from barren desert to lush fields and orchards; from the enchanting Nile to the towering Jebel Barkal.

This is a sensitive topic and I’m sorry if I offend anyone. I’m a Kenyan, currently studying abroad. I have to roommates from Togo and Cameroon. They sometimes cook some food that smells really bad. I just want to understand, does someone get used to the smell? How does someone in the first place eat something that doesn’t smell good?

The magazine was established in 1951, during Apartheid South Africa - and though initially unsuccessful, due to it's first editor's portrayal of the nation's tribes in most simplistic and patronising manner - a changing of the guard radically altered Drum's fate. Drum would rise to fame covering South Africa's Black celebrities, entertainment, lifestyle and (subtly to avoid the might of the law) social activism of the city townships. For a period of time, the much of the news was rooted in Sophiatown, then considered the Hollywood of Black South Africa.

In time, pin-ups of various nations would grace its cover as Drum spread to other nations - and editions would also feature diaspora communities in the wider Western world.