24th Edition

Good Afternoon folks! 😁😁

Delighted to have you here. And if you joined us this week, it’s great to finally connect with you… so here we go!

Welcome to The Friday Briefing, your weekly brief on geopolitics.

This is our 24th edition. It’s still a bit of a test, so if something does go wrong be sure to let us know… but anyway, we plan to send out your brief every Friday lunchtime 12pm GMT.

Our goal is to provide you with a balanced and insightful overview, allowing you to stay informed without being overwhelmed with information. But above all, we understand the value of your time. With our summaries, you can quickly grasp the major events shaping our world, deepen your understanding and be on your way in no time!

Our starting point…yes…Africa, but our vision extends beyond the boundaries of a single continent.

Oh don’t forget, feel free to leave behind any feedback, suggestions or further ideas you would like us to run with 🙂 

^{Why Africa? maybe because we don’t hear much…}

Back in 2013, the 42nd President of the United States tweeted the above tweet, “Just touched down in Africa…” ⬆️

Although Mr Clinton’s tweet was true, despite the brazen mistruths our leaders spout these days, he nonetheless could’ve worded it a lot better.

But the tweet tells us a lot more. It exposes an attitude that many of us may have towards Africa, either through ignorance or laziness or maybe because we don’t hear enough about African countries in our national news media.

This is a continent as diverse as it is complex, a continent home to over 1.4 billion people and 54 countries, making it the second-most populated continent in the world.

Events in Africa aren't isolated, they hold global importance too. Political transitions, economic developments and conflicts in Africa have ripple effects that stretch far beyond its borders.

And yes, while we begin with Africa, we’re dedicated to expanding our weekly round-ups to other continents in due course, taking our mission to new frontiers by connecting the dots between nations and continents.

So stay tuned! 👌

^{So, what’s been happening this week?}

• Senegal elects opposition leader as president-elect

• French lawmakers condemn 1961 massacre of Algerian protesters

• South Africa’s former president Zuma blocked from elections

^{What does this mean?}

It was only ten days ago, when Bassirou Diomaye Faye was still a prisoner in the Cap Manuel prison on the outskirts of the Senegalese capital, Dakar. Now, a free man ready to take up residence in the Senegalese presidential palace for the next five years.

What?! 🤔🤔…. Yes, exactly that… WHAT!

Before his election in 2024, he had only ever ran for mayor of his hometown, Ndiaganaio and lost that election in 2022, to the ruling party’s candidate. He is now on course to become Africa’s youngest elected president, aged 44.

He was little known until popular opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who was barred from running due to a prior conviction, chose Faye to run in his place.

Mr Faye himself was jailed after standing up for his political ally Mr Sonko. He was imprisoned last April over a Facebook post criticising the government for its prosecution of Ousmane Sonko.

On Sunday, at a news conference in Dakar, the court of appeals announced that Mr Faye won 54.28% of the vote.

The government-backed candidate, former Prime Minister Amadou Ba, conceded to Mr Fate whilst the current Senegalese President Macky Sall who backed Mr Ba, also declared Mr Faye the winner.

Did you know…

Current President of Senegal Macky Sall is the first Senegalese President to voluntarily limit himself to two terms. He nonetheless tried to delay the election in 2024.

Senegal’s first two presidents, Leopold Sedar Senghor and Abdou Diouf served for two decades each.

On Thursday, the National Assembly, which is parliament’s lower house, voted 67-11 in favour of a nonbinding resolution that condemned the police brutality that occurred on October 17th 1961.

It condemned an infamous police crackdown on Algerian protesters in Paris as a “bloody and murderous repression,” a massacre that authorities sought to cover for many decades. The resolution which passed also asked that France establish a national day of remembrance.

President Macron of France acknowledged in 2021, that about 12,000 Algerians were arrested in the crackdown and dozens were killed, with some bodies thrown into the Seine River.

In 1961, the Algerian protesters answered a call for a peaceful demonstration by the French branch of the National Liberation Front, which at the time was fighting for Algerian independence against a discriminatory curfew targeting Algerians in Paris.

Did you know…

Algeria was under French rule for 132 year until its independence in 1962

South Africa’s electoral commission, also referred to as the IEC, has today barred former President Jacob Zuma from running in May’s general election and is yet to give a reason.

However, on Tuesday, a South African court dismissed the ruling party’s, the ANC’s case demanding a rival opposition party be deregistered and banned from participating in the upcoming election.

Jacob Zuma, who headed the country from 2009 to 2018 was removed from the ANC and is now leading the uMkhonto weSizwe Party also known as MK Party.

Early in February, the ANC suspended former President Jacob Zuma after he gave backing to a new political party for this year’s national elections.

With the ANC facing its toughest election this year amid rising levels of unemployment and poverty, this is yet another sign of the feud between Jacob Zuma and current President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Jacob Zuma who led the ANC for a decade and was President from 2009-2018 said at press conference that he would be voting for the newly formed MK Party. He said he aimed to “keep” his ANC membership but was unhappy with the Ramaphosa’s leadership.

To further rub salt into the wound of the ANC, the new party MK is an abbreviation for “uMkhonto we Sizwe” which was the now-defunct ANC military wing formed by Nelson Mandela in 1961 to fight the apartheid system.

Cyril Ramaphosa came to power promising reform and to clean up the ANC after Zuma was forced to step down in 2018 amid allegations of corruption. Zuma is currently on trial and faces a number of charges.

However, he still maintains widespread support in parts of South Africa as more than 300 people died in riots in 2021 when he was sent to prison for contempt of court and refusing to testify.

Did you know…

How does the South African election work? ⬇️

• South Africans vote for a party and not a presidential candidate

• Parties are then allocated places in the 400-seat Parliament according to their share of the vote

• The lawmakers then elect the President

• The President will always come from the party with the biggest parliamentary majority

• South Africans also vote for the makeup of provincial legislatures in the its 9 provinces

^{Book of the week…. DEAL IN THE WORKS!}

The idea is every week we will hold a poll on our social media pages, asking our readers to recommend a book for the week…

STAY TUNED!

You’re done for the week. Follow us on our socials and see you next Friday!