Aug. 22, 2016 —Using every fiber of his being, track star Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia made a dash across the finish line at the just-ended Olympic Games in Rio, but it wasn’t to be the end of his run.
Lilesa used his high profile silver medal victory to make a sign of solidarity with the Oromo people, who are locked in a decades-long struggle with the government of Ethiopia. In a photograph seen worldwide, 26-year-old Lilesa stands with his arms crossed over his head, a gesture of defiance used by Oromos in recent months.
The gesture recalled an earlier protest by Olympic athletes John Carlos and Tommie Smith, who gave the Black Power salute on the medal podium after winning gold and bronze in the 200-meter sprint in the 1968 games.
Political statements are banned during the games, but Lilesa showed no fear of being sanctioned.
“This was my feeling,” Lilesa said in an interview with USA Today. “I have a big problem in my country. It is very dangerous to protest. The Ethiopian government is killing the Oromo people and taking their land and resources, so the Oromo people are protesting and I support the protest as I am Oromo.”
The Oromos, the largest of Ethiopia’s 80 ethnic groups, making up at least a third of Ethiopia’s 100 million population, were once a sovereign people but lost ownership of their land and became both impoverished and aliens in their own country. In 1975, all rural land was declared state-owned, leaving the Oromos in a “colonized” status.
Last November, after the confiscation of a children’s playground and the selling of an Oromo forest, a wave of mass protests began. Other issues—the expansion of the municipal boundary of the capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromia; land grabbing and the eviction of farmers; and the brutal repression of protestors—fed the fire, according to Human Rights Watch and other independent monitors.
“If I go back to Ethiopia, maybe they will kill me or put me in prison,” Lilesa said.
A government spokesman denied any threat to Lilesa or his family. Yet state-owned TV station EBC Channel 3 blacked out the clips of Lilesa, focusing instead on the Kenyan winner, Eliud Kipchoge.
Meanwhile, a crowd-funding page was set up, saying the runner had become an “international symbol” for the Oromo protests. Initial pledges of $10,000 doubled within an hour.
A legal team hired by U.S.-based Ethiopians is helping Lilesa, who has a wife and two children in Ethiopia, with a request to seek asylum in the US.
GABONESE SET TO VOTE AS GROUNDBREAKING BEGINS FOR A US SCHOOL
Aug. 22, 2016 (GIN)—Citizens of Gabon will go to the polls this week to choose between the long-running dynasty of Bongo Ondimba or a member of the opposition, comprising 14 candidates, each jostling to take part in this Saturdays’ polls.
But what looked like an easy win for the incumbent president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, hit speed bumps over the past week when two of the favored opposition candidates pulled out of the race in favor of Jean Ping, a strong candidate with credentials. A third candidate, a first cousin of the president, also withdrew this week.
“I am here because you decided that we needed a single candidate to end this dictatorship that we’ve been living through,” said Leon-Paul Ngoulakia, the former intelligence chief, who until 2015 was a close aide of Bongo.
The 73-year-old Ping served as chair of the African Union from 2008 to 2012, and was foreign minister for almost a decade. He was considered close to Bongo’s father, Omar Bongo, who ruled Gabon from 1967 until his death in 2009. Ping married the late president’s eldest daughter. He later married an Ivorian and is now a father of eight.
The electoral shuffle comes as the renowned Berklee School of Music, a Boston-based institution for contemporary musical instruction, moves forward on plans to open a modern African Music Institute in Libreville in 2017, complete with state-of-the-art recording studio, study and rehearsal spaces, an auditorium and concert hall, a museum documenting the history of West African music and a dance studio.
Meanwhile, Ping said if he is elected, Gabon would be “sheltered from need and fear.” He launched his campaign Saturday in the central town of Lambarene.
But Ping has yet to outline a different economic plan from the existing one, which relies heavily on oil. With oil prices low, Gabon is one of five Central African countries facing skyrocketing debt because of falling revenue.
The picture became grimmer after a recent downgrade of government bonds by Moody’s Investors Service.
A new or re-elected president will also face a restive labor force, and unemployment reaching 21 percent among youth, women and the undereducated. The World Bank in a recent report blamed a “mismatch” between the skills provided by the education system and the needs of the economy.
Further, the bank observed, “Despite having a relatively high per capita income ($7,728 in 2015), Gabon’s poverty rate remains high. A 2013 McKinsey report suggests that about 30 percent of the population lives with monthly incomes below the guaranteed minimum wage of 80,000 CFAs. The social situation has deteriorated in terms of access to basic social services (e.g., health, safe drinking water and electricity) in 60 percent of the regions.”
“Despite reports of government mismanagement at high levels, the African Music Institute should carry out its vision,” affirmed Steve Mallory, publisher of Africawatch, a Pan-African news magazine, “if it helps African people.” The Institute will focus on traditional African music and dance for 300 students, creating a path for study at Berklee’s Boston campus.