Biden makes history in Angola while African nations face turning points
US president visits Angola for first time ever focusing on minerals-transport project. Meanwhile Namibia gets its first female leader and tragic events unfold in Guinea and Senegal
Joe Biden landed in Luanda making a ground-breaking visit - first ever by US president to Angola‚ The trip (delayed from last fall) focuses on the much-talked about Lobito Corridor; a mega-project meant to move minerals from central Africa to the coast
João Lourenço met with Biden to discuss the US-backed project which aims to counter-balance Chinese presence in Africa: the rail-line would transport cobalt and copper from Congo and Zambia thru Angola. Beijing already thought about building its own rail-link to Tanzania
In Namibia a hard-fought election brought unexpected results. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah won with 57% votes becoming nations first woman-leader‚ but the process wasnt smooth. Young people who make up half of voters showed their un-happiness with job problems
The electoral malpractices are glaring undeniable and unacceptable. This is not about us; this is about Namibia
In other news from the continent‚ France finally owned up to its dark past. Emmanuel Macron wrote about the 80-year old Thiaroye tragedy where French troops killed West African soldiers who fought in WW2. Meanwhile in Guinea a soccer match turned into horror when over 50 people died in post-game chaos after police used tear-gas on fans
The events show how Africa keeps dealing with both old and new problems - from colonial past to present-day growing pains
