Afriques en Lutte

About Mauritania

Birgit Schwarz, Eric Goldstein — 2018-02-23T03:42:00Z

Mauritania, on the Atlantic Ocean between Western Sahara and Senegal, was the last country in the world to legally abandon slavery, abolishing it only in 1981 and making it a crime in 2007.
Although sparsely populated, Mauritania is also one of the most ethnically diverse countries in North Africa, reflecting both its location and its history as a place of invasion, migration, and trade.
Historically, members of the lighter skinned Beidans, descended from Arabs and Berbers who migrated (…)

- Mauritanie

Malawi - Witness : “The Mining Company Brought Me Problems”

Birgit Schwarz — 2016-10-07T03:22:00Z

Nagomba E. is no longer young ; her hip is giving her trouble and her back is stooped from years of bending over her corn and rice fields. Yet every morning, at the crack of dawn, the wiry 74-year-old sets out on a strenuous half-hour walk to fetch water from a nearby river so that her ailing husband can take a bath. Despite her limp, Nagomba moves fast and with the sure-footedness of a mountain goat.
It would be easier for her to fetch her water from a borehole that is closer to her (…)

- Malawi

Interview : Ethiopia's Bloody Crackdown on Peaceful Dissent

Birgit Schwarz, Human Rights Watch — 2016-06-20T03:51:00Z

Since November 2015, Ethiopia's Oromia region has been rocked by widespread protests. State security forces have responded to the largely peaceful protests with lethal force, resulting in the loss of more than 400 lives. Thousands have been wounded. Tens of thousands have been arrested and many remain in detention without charge. Many of those killed or detained by security forces are students. Human Rights Watch's Birgit Schwarz talks to Ethiopia researcher Felix Horne about what triggered (…)

- Ethiopie / Répression, Analyse