Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za

4 min read | 9:14 am CAT

Speaking to Radio Islam International on this week’s Africa Report, Senior Research Fellow at Africa Asia Dialogues Ebrahim Thembisa Fakude focuses on the developments in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, Lesotho and South Africa.

Uganda and Kenya have settled a diplomatic row following Twitter comments that threatened to bruise relations between the two east African neighbours.

Kainerugaba, son of President Yoweri Museveni, repeatedly threatened to invade neighbouring Kenya on Twitter. He claims that the two countries existing within each other don’t make sense.

The tweets have created anxiety and anger within Kenya, so President Museveni apologised to Kenya on Wednesday.

In Nigeria, more young professionals head for the exit. 

Nigeria is one of the largest oil-producing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet unemployment is still an issue, particularly amongst the youngsters in the country. 

The issue leads to the youngsters exiting, looking for better opportunities elsewhere.

According to Fakhude, the most admired opportunity amongst Nigerian youth and their parents is the kids to work overseas, particularly in Britain, which remains one of the few countries with a prominent Nigerian population. 

“It’s indictment for a country (Nigeria) that claims to be the super power in Africa, yet it cannot retain its youth and talent because of mismanagement of government and economy,” he says. 

Meanwhile, the new party called Revolution for Prosperity seem to have won the Lesotho elections even though the IEC has not declared them. 

However, early this year, the new party formed in March 2022 managed to beat the older convention that has been around for quite some time. 

Fakhude says, “The Revolution for Prosperity will likely come into power and hopefully sort out the challenges faced in the country, particularly the economy and unstable politics.”

There is also the challenge of the Zama Zamas. 

According to Fakhude, reports claim that the Zama Zamas play a massive part in Lesotho’s politics. In the last election that has just taken place, the reports suggest that Zama Zama’s money which is through illegal mining in South Africa has been facilitating some of the smaller parties in Lesotho to participate in politics.

Calls for the UK to return African artefacts grow. 

Many African countries call for their stolen artefacts to be returned, while The Kohinoor diamond, which sits on the King’s Crown, was taken from South Africa.

Listen to the Africa Report with Moulana Habib Bobat and Ebrahim Fakhude on Radio Islam’s podcast below.