Mugabe makaipa

South Sudan health

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 01:10:00 +0000

Drones over NIgeria

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 20:01:00 +0000

over 40 thousand people have died from terrorism in Nigeria, and Trump promised to help Nigerian military with training and expertise, including drones.

From Crux, a Catholic site.

A spokesperson for AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command, told The Associated Press the U.S. troops “are working alongside their Nigerian counterparts to provide intelligence support, advisory assistance, and targeted training in support of the Nigerian Armed Forces.”

Africanews via MSN says the same story: and Nigeria is making their own drones.:
\

The US military who by law is forbidden to enter into combat here, does this type of support with the Philippine military against Islamic terrorists in the South (But not with local insurgencies that are not part of international terrorism, )

Mentioned at 4 minutes in this video:

CELLPHONES AND THE ENVIRONMENT

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 21:47:00 +0000

Somalia vs Somaliland

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 23:40:00 +0000

....

a comment on FreeRepublic explains:

Because of the wretched Ilhan Omar, Tim Walz and the Democrats 3rd-world import welfare scam, we’ve all been forced to learn Somali tribal politics. Jacob Frey actually won his recent election against Omar Fateh, because he made a point of getting the tribal vote of Somaliland Isaaq tribe migrants in MSP. Somaliland Isaaq tribesmen hate the Ilhan Omar clan - and her in particular, given her father’s connections to the dictator Mohammed Siad Barre, who tried to wipe Somaliland its tribe off the map. Recognizing Somaliland also helps Israel create a wedge against the influence of Omar in the United States too.

this video from five month ago gives background

mine disaster

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 09:05:00 +0000

...

a couple oonths ago, the US/Marco Rubio and Qatar made a peace deal between Rwandan rebel gangs and the DRC.

Alas it didn't work. and one reason is....money.

Vauable minerals are mined in this area of eastern DRC Congo.

AlJazeerah has the background here.

Rubaya produces about 15 percent of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum, a heat-resistant metal that is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines.Coltan is used primarily for the production of tantalum capacitors, used in mobile phones and almost every kind of electronic device ....
The mine, where locals dig manually for a few dollars per day, has been under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group since 2024, after previously changing hands between the DRC government and rebel groups. The heavily-armed M23 rebels, whose stated aim is to overthrow the DRC government in the capital Kinshasa, captured even more mineral-rich territory in the east of the country during a lightning advance last year. The United Nations has accused M23 rebels of plundering Rubaya’s resources to help fund their rebellion, backed by Rwanda, an allegation that the government in Kigali denies.

the wikipedia article on Coltan has a lot of information on where you can find it and where it is used.

The problem is that often it is mined in poorly regulated mines, where there are no safety precautions.

One wonders who was buying this mineral from a poorly dug mine under a rebel group who doesn't care about locals. And the locals are so poor that they are willing to risk their lives.

from AlJ:

Despite the DRC’s exceptional mineral wealth, more than 70 percent of Congolese live on less than $2.15 a day

this video is from two years ago:

japan

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sat, 24 Jan 2026 15:11:35 +0000

Kyotojournal.org/culture-arts/africans-in-japan-a-new-diaspera/

Is this real or just wishful thinking

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 01:40:00 +0000

pic.twitter.com/zrOe14gKf4
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) December 25, 2025

this is how Grok explains what is going on:

Katie Pavlich shares an image of a purported Truth Social post by President Trump announcing a U.S. airstrike on ISIS targets in northwest Nigeria, tying it to Christmas by vowing protection for persecuted Christians amid their slaughter by terrorists. The message echoes real concerns over Boko Haram and ISWAP attacks in Nigeria, which have killed over 50,000 Christians since 2009 according to reports from groups like Open Doors, and references Trump's earlier threats of U.S. invasion if violence persists. No official confirmation of the strike exists as of December 25, 2025, contrasting with verified U.S. operations like Operation Hawkeye Strike against ISIS in Syria earlier this month, suggesting the post may be satirical or unverified. :\:||

Redstate article here

:
President Donald Trump announced, in a post spreading Christmas Day greetings on Thursday, that the United States military has made good on his prior threats to wipe out the terrorists in the northwestern part of Nigeria who were eradicating Christians in the African nation....

On Nov. 1, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post: If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, “guns-a-blazing,” to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities. I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!

developing.....

organ harvesting in Nigeria?

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:16:00 +0000

LINK

Police in the southeastern Nigerian state of Imo are investigating a possible organ-harvesting ring after finding a hideous trove of mutilated corpses at a hotel. The Imo horror is an especially grim example of Nigeria’s kidnapping epidemic, in which every sort of malevolent group — from Islamic State jihadis to huge bandit gangs and small groups of petty criminals — kidnaps vulnerable people. Sometimes the kidnappers hold their victims for ransom and murder them if the ransom is not paid. In other cases, the abductors are looking for child brides. In Imo, it appears a kidnapping ring was carving up its victims to harvest their organs. State police said on Monday that during their “ongoing war against kidnapping,” they tracked an unnamed suspect to an illegal mortuary and nearby hotel that he owned. “At the mortuary, decomposed and mutilated dead bodies were discovered in unhygienic conditions, raising suspicions of illegal organ-harvesting activities,” said a police spokesman. According to the UK Daily Mail, over a hundred bodies were found at the “organ-harvesting slaughterhouse.” Both the hotel and mortuary were sealed by police while forensic teams examined the scene.

ebola

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 18:06:00 +0000

sudan genocide The world remains silent

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sun, 07 Dec 2025 09:09:00 +0000

Sudan faces a “massive” humanitarian aid crisis, with millions of starving people being denied access to vital food supplies as fighting rages in the war-torn country, the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned https://t.co/Xh9pE8kLU9 pic.twitter.com/egb4SaZKym
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 7, 2025

give oeace a chance

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 19:07:00 +0000

from the BBC: Leaders put pen to paper

published at 03:03

Trump, Kagame, and Tshisekedi have each just physically signed the deals for peace and mineral sharing that were discussed today.

The formality follows representatives of both nations agreeing to the peace terms in June.

Sudan tragedy

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sat, 22 Nov 2025 05:11:00 +0000

from AlJezeerah:

Sudan has vast oil, gold and agricultural resources. Who controls them? Sudan’s conflict continues to reshape the nation of 50 million amid widespread displacement and a fight for resources.

Sudan’s civil war, now in its third year, has pitted the army against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in a devastating struggle for power. The conflict has unleashed the world’s largest displacement crisis, with more than 9.5 million people forced from their homes across Sudan’s 18 states and millions facing starvation.

follow the money. It is about gold (one reason the Wagner group mercenaries from Russia were there) and petroleum.

Oil exports are Sudan’s primary source of revenue. Production expanded between 2001 and 2010, from 200,000 barrels per day to nearly 500,000bpd. In 2011, it collapsed when South Sudan seceded, taking 75 percent of Sudan’s oil reserves with it.
Sudan is one of Africa’s leading gold producers, with deposits across the northeast, centre and the south. Most of the deposits in eastern Sudan are controlled by the Sudanese army, while the central and southwestern goldfields are largely under RSF control.

StrateyPage has an essay from March about the war there, giving background on the war, but it is a bit out of date since the atrocities have gotten worse.

Military history of South African influence

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 17:31:00 +0000

I just found this site, which discusses battles and military history.

And today it is about Angola and South African wars.

I haven't watched it yet, but post it here for information on the background/history of that area.

Muslim terrorists? Yes, and don't forget the communists

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 18:14:00 +0000

I am no longer an expert on Africa: It has been years since I worked there, and my ability to keep up with the news there is limited since I was a busy doctor and now I am retired but live in the Philippines where until recent years had a slow internet.

But anyway, the ignorance of the US press/pundits on Africa is astonishing (which is why I tend to read about Africa on Al Jazeerah).

And example: The massacres of a Christian hospital in the Congo by Jihadis.

I thought this was about the massacres in a hospital in the Sudan but that was last week

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqx31ezjr04o

and that war by rebel vs government helped by Russian mercenaries and is about who gets the gold, not about religion, but never mind.

This story is getting some mention in the US press because Trumpieby is pressuring the Nigerian government to stop the massacre of Chrisians in Nigeria. Which is partly jihadi,and partly tribal and although most of the dead are Christian, both groups will kill the moderate Muslims too, because they are farmers of the wrong tribe and don't follow radical forms of Islam.

Well, anyway, the article I am citing is here, about a massacre at a Catholic hospital in the Congo.

and I cam across it on Instapundit, a libertarian blog which links to that article thus:

ETHNIC CLEANSING IS TO BE IGNORED AND TOLERATED WHEN MUSLIMS DO IT: Congo Jihadis Massacre Catholic Hospital Patients as Fighting Rages On.

well, anyway, the discussion is full of intelligent republican types who know diddly squat about Africa.

My ignorance is also huge but I did try to correct some of the comments and here are the posts: it is not just jihadis. The Congo has had so many massacres by various insurgencies that there is a Wikipedia page. Most of these before recent years were by various revolutionary groups, usually funded by the communists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_massacres_in_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo

and let's not forget the millions killed by that Christian King Leopold at the turn of the 20th century.

https://www.hks.harvard.edu/faculty-research/library-research-services/collections/diversity-inclusion-belonging/king-leopolds

later a commenter said: It is the heart of darkness. Sometimes it's religion sometimes it's tribal. The Hutu vs Tutsi "Rwandan genocide" 30 years ago killed 800,000. Many with machetes.

to which I replied:

and ironically those countries had many Christians doing the killing.

Indeed, the Muslims often refused to kill their neighbors when ordered to do so, claiming it was against their religion. As a result many survivors converted to Islam.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2003/11/9/rwandans-embrace-islam-in-wake-of-genocide

and then there were comments if the US should intervene, which won't happen because as one poster pointed out it would result in the US being blamed for the killings.

]And so I posted that the US is not the only one with military capacities there

But you know, China is there and they will send in their Wolf Warriors to rescue their people if the Jihadis attack the cobalt and rare earth metal mines.

https://www.crisisgroup.org/asia-pacific/china-africa/china-expands-its-peace-and-security-footprint-africa

,,,,,and the world is ignoring the Russian mercenaries who are fueling the murderous war in the Sudan.

https://africanarguments.org/2025/11/gold-and-mercenaries-the-price-of-the-massacre-in-sudan.....

that is where I left it: leaving out the French military, and the American training groups, not to mention the history of Cuban mercenaries, South African intervention, and the African union peacekeepers and UN peacekeepers who sometimes are successful but often are corrupt. Sigh.

ISIS, terrorism and tribal wars in Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 10:46:00 +0000

A long essay on StrategyPage.

November 1, 2025: Over 200,000 deaths are attributed to Islamic terrorist groups operating in sub-Saharan Africa in the past ten years. Separately, escalating violence in the Sahel and Somalia has caused fatalities linked to militant Islamist violence in Africa to increase by 60 percent in the last twelve years. Aggressive Islamist groups in Africa continue to be the most active agents of instability across five theaters on the continent. At least 20,000 fatalities linked to these groups over the past year sustain a record level of lethality observed since 2023 and represent a 60-percent increase from the 2020–2022 period. Battle-related fatalities have increased in every theater over the past year. All five African theaters, including Mozambique and North Africa, remain highly dynamic with militant insurgents mounting offensive operations in each, especially in the Sahel and Somalia.

when I was in AFrica, the massacres were from communist groups, and the Rwanda massacres were tribal not religious, and the massacres in Zimbabwe were partly tribal and partly poolitica.... but now it is Islamic groups. What it comes down to is that when things are bad, young men will join such groups to make utopia, and also to have fun by waving guns around and bossing people around to steal and rape.

this is not an African problem: see the Red Guard in China for example.

Trump threatening Nigeria is not going to lead to the US sending in soldiers (No Yank would let him) but economic pressure and offers to help with technology if the government does their job.

Nigerian genocide

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 00:55:00 +0000

Father Leo is a FilAm (American of Philippine parents) who became most famous for his cooking show, and now has a vlog to discuss religious issues in the news.

so Trump is threatening to intervene and so the usual suspects are ignoring what is going on or reframing the story

No it is not anti Christian, but tribal, ignoring that the Fulani tribal attacks became rabid because of Islamicist ideas (i.e. instead of merely moving their cattle onto farmer's fields to eat, which has been going on for centuries, they are killing these farmers.

No it is not anti Christian because Muslims are being killed. But the Muslims are being killed by the radicalized Islamicist groups are not the radicalized Muslims but the normal Muslim believers who are not in favor of killing their neighbors.

And my favorite: Hey don't condemn the killing because hey it interferes with us making peace.

from Genocide Watch:

(Makurdi, Nigeria) – In the early hours of Friday, June 13, 2025, more than 200 Christian villagers were slaughtered by heavily armed Fulani jihadists in Yelwata, a farming community in Guma County, Benue State. This mass killing is part of a disturbing wave of targeted violence that has swept across central Nigeria in recent weeks...

more details at link.

More atrocities in the Sudan

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 23:55:00 +0000

via DW site (German news):

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it was, "deeply alarmed and profoundly shocked" by reports of "horrifying atrocities and immense suffering to which people from el-Fasher are being subjected."

Late Tuesday, Tedros called for the release of four doctors, a nurse and a pharmacist reportedly abducted from the hospital. The massacre took place as the RSF took control of the city of el-Fasher after a brutal 18-month siege marked by mass starvation and heavy bombardment.

The European Union on Wednesday condemned Sudan's paramilitary RSF after the group captured the strategic city of el-Fasher in North Darfur. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement that civilians had been targeted based on ethnicity, underscoring the "brutality" of the RSF.

,,,

Sudan: WHO 'appalled' by RSF maternity ward massacre,

.@WHO is appalled and deeply shocked by reports of the tragic killing of more than 460 patients and companions at Saudi Maternity Hospital in El Fasher, #Sudan, following recent attacks and the abduction of health workers.

Prior to this latest attack, WHO has verified 185… pic.twitter.com/CbAjtqYUAh
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) October 29, 2025

....

to me this is personal: The communist insurgents killed a lot of my friends in the name of establishing a communist utopia in Zimbabwe. And later, the greedy soldiers did the same in Liberia, which later descended into a decade long civil war.

But no one cares.

there is an old book The Dogs of War, about how such things can happen: behind it is the search for mineral wealth. In that book, it is mainly western governments and businesses doing the dirty work of manipulating wars to put in governments that will let them get rich. Now it is more complicated as China and Russia are doing the same thing.

In the Sudan, the Wagner group were there to steal gold for Putin. That story was from 2022. But after the head of the Wagner group tried to overthrow Putin, they disbanded, but are still in the Sudan under a different name:

Bill Maher bring Nigerian debacle to the attention of the west

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sun, 28 Sep 2025 09:02:00 +0000

The ongoing murder of Christians by Muslims in Nigeria has gotten little press in the USA.

Much of it is by Islamicists of course (including Boko Harum) and some of it is the Muslim Fulani inspired by ISIS attacking farmers, and more recently, criminals who attack to steal stuff or kidnap clergy for ransom.

but although this has been covered in the Christian press, the dirty little secret is that it has been ignored by the US MSM

The good news: A famous comedian dared to mention it in his show,

Yet the MSM doesn't say Bill Maher rebukes the MSM for it's lack of coverage: The headline say he "gripes" about it,

Gripes? Why not use the word lament? Gripe usually implies complaining about a petty thing that annoys you, not horror and dismay about genocide.

But hey, he is Jewish and those he mentions are Christian and Muslim Africans.

On Friday night’s edition of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, the interview guest was Aiden Walker, content creator, internet culture researcher, and author of the Substack newsletter “How To Do Things With Memes.” The panel guests were Michael Smerconish, host of “Smerconish” on CNN and “The Michael Smerconish Program” on SiriusXM; and Rep. Nancy Mace, Republican congresswoman from South Carolina’s 1st district who also sits on the Armed Services, Veterans’ Affairs, and Oversight committees.

During the panel segment, Rep. Mace said the slaughter of Christians in Syria was ignored at the UN this week, and Maher interjected that the same is true for Nigeria. He diagnosed the apathy in relation to the situation in Gaza:

REP. NANCY MACE: We saw the world leaders come to New York this week, the UN summit, and we had the president of Syria, the prime minister of Syria there, and while he’s there speaking at the UN, speaking with world leaders, we gave him a visa to travel here. There were Christian villages in Syria that were being burned down.
BILL MAHER: And Nigeria.

REP. NANCY MACE: No, in Syria.

BILL MAHER: No, but both.

REP. NANCY MACE: In Nigeria, yes.
BILL MAHER: Nigeria, I mean, the fact that this issue has not gotten on people’s radar…
REP. NANCY MACE: Right, no one’s talking about it.
BILL MAHER: It’s pretty amazing. If you don’t know what’s going on in Nigeria, your media sources suck. You are in a bubble.
And again, I’m not a Christian, but they are systematically killing the Christians in Nigeria. They’ve killed… Over 100,000 since 2009. They burned 18,000 churches. This is so much more…

These are the Islamists, Boko Haram. This is much more of a genocide attempt than what is going on in Gaza.

They are literally attempting to wipe out the Christian population of an entire country. Where are the kids protesting this?
REP. NANCY MACE: Thank you. No one will talk about it, so thank you. Absolutely. It’s Africa. No one’s talking about it. And they should be. You can’t read about it on mainstream media. It’s sad. So thank you for bringing it up.

BILL MAHER: Well, because the Jews aren’t involved. That’s why. It’s the Christians and the Muslims who cares.

The persecution has been covered in various Christian news outlets however, and here is a dicussion on July 10 on EWTN (start at 35 minutes):

The Catholic News Agency has a summary about what is going on there published last week

According to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), at least 145 priests have been kidnapped, 11 have been murdered, and four remain missing since 2015. However, Intersociety claims the reality is much worse. According to its counts, at least 250 Catholic clergy have been attacked in addition to another 350 clergy from other denominations....

The phenomenon, according to the report, is due to a combination of attacks by jihadist groups and organized criminal gangs operating for profit. Priests have been victims of both violent ambushes and financial extortion. “Many were kidnapped for ransoms reaching tens of millions of nairas [Nigreian currency] or thousands of dollars. In other cases, the attackers sought to seize luxury vehicles belonging to the clerics to sell them to criminal networks,” Intersociety details in the report. ... Likewise, there have been systematic kidnappings of Christian children in eastern Nigeria who are sent to Islamic orphanages in the north for forced conversion to Islam, affecting Catholic schools and communities.

Intersociety report here in pdf

Hudson Institute report here which is about the Fulani Muslim herders killing Christian (and Muslim) farmers in nothern Nigeria.

Christianity today report.

In Africa’s most populous nation, a deadly cycle of violence has unfolded for several years, with Christian clergy and laypeople as well as moderate Muslims falling victim to murder and kidnapping.

The Christian nonprofit Open Doors recently reported that in 2024 some 3,100 Christians were killed and more than 2,000 kidnapped in Nigeria.,,,, The violence is largely the work of two groups—the extremist Islamist militant Boko Haram and its splinter factions, and a range of militias or bandits linked to Fulani herders, Muslims who have waged a campaign of land grabs against Christian farmers in the fertile, and more Christian, “Middle Belt” of central Nigeria as the Fulanis’ grazing land has dried up over the past decades.

,,,

this recent video is from CBN about one attack

here is a report from SkyNews Australia

Haiti: Drones, gangs and mercentaries

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 09:13:00 +0000

It's not about Africa, but apparently the headlines say some kids were killed by police drones that were aiming at a gang leader.

The attack comes as security firm, Vectus Global, owned by former US Navy Seal Erik Prince, is due to deploy nearly 200 people to Haiti as part of a one-year deal to quell gang violence.

The private contractors are expected to reinforce an underfunded and understaffed police department working with Kenyan police leading a United Nations-backed mission struggling to fight gangs.

BBC raticle about Kenya sending police to Haiti, dated 10 2023.

and this article from a Kenyan news source 23 Sept 2025 says they are due to come home but that the US is planning a large peace keeping force.

US Announces Plans For Bigger Security Force in Haiti Days Before Expiry of Kenya's Mission
The United States has pledged its support for the transition of the Kenyan-led Multinational Security Support Mission(MSS) in Haiti barely two weeks before its expiry on October 2.

Speaking during a high-level meeting on Haiti hosted by Kenya and the US on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Monday, the US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau confirmed that it had kicked off efforts to establish a larger force to continue the mission. According to Landau, the US and Panama had worked with Haiti to introduce a UN Security Council resolution to establish a larger gang-suppression for.ce with a broader mandate and a UN support office for Haiti. As such, the US had called on all its partners to join them in pressing for this critical resolution before the MSS mission mandate expired on October ... This new force would reportedly consist of 5,500 personnel, more than five times the size of the current MSS....All 32 members of the Organisation of American States have also signed onto a joint statement calling for the urgent passing of this resolution.”

more HERE.

terraces of eastern Zimbabwe

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 17:21:00 +0000

years ago, I spent ten days in eastern Zimbabwe when I was recovering from an illness, and behind the mission school the hillside was terraced with rock walls. But the priests didn't know why, except to say that they were familiar with mediterranean terraces so they doubted the idea that these were ancient terraces by Mediterranean immigrants (which was a plot of one of Wilber Smith's novels). I blogged about this before, and cited the book by Bryan Fagan Elixir about the water systems of eastern Africa is found in one hstorian's book. But today I ran across there is a new book about this (but one that I can't afford on my pension) so I decided to ask Grok to summarize the theories of who built the terraces and why:

### Overview of the Terrace Builders of NyangaL

The "Terrace Builders of Nyanga" refers to the ancient farming communities in the Nyanga region of eastern Zimbabwe, known for their extensive stone-built agricultural terraces and homestead ruins. These structures, dating from around AD 1300 to 1800, represent a sophisticated adaptation to the challenging highland environment and have been the subject of archaeological study for over a century. The phrase is also the title of a key book by archaeologist Robert Soper (published in 2006 by Weaver Press), which synthesizes research on these ruins.

### Why Did They Build the Terraces?

The terrace builders constructed these features primarily to create viable farmland in the rugged, hilly terrain of Nyanga, where steep slopes, thin soils, and high rainfall posed significant challenges to traditional agriculture. Here's a breakdown of the key reasons, based on archaeological evidence:

- **Soil Conservation and Erosion Control**:

The Nyanga highlands experience heavy seasonal rains, which quickly erode topsoil on slopes. The stone terraces acted as retaining walls to prevent soil loss, allowing for stable, level plots for crop cultivation. This was essential for maintaining fertility in an area with rapidly depleting soils.

- **Maximizing Arable Land**: By terracing hillsides, the builders converted otherwise unusable steep land into productive fields. This expanded the available growing area, supporting a growing population over five centuries. The terraces covered thousands of kilometers across over 5,000 square kilometers, integrating crop farming with livestock herding.

- **Integrated Agricultural System**:

terraces were part of a broader system that included water furrows (ditches for irrigation from streams), pit structures for livestock (to protect animals from predators and weather), and fallowing cycles (rotating fields to restore soil nutrients). This specialization allowed for mixed farming—growing crops like grains and vegetables on terraces while raising dwarf cattle in enclosures—sustaining the community in isolation.

- **Adaptation to Environmental Challenges**: Starting on high peaks around AD 1300, settlements expanded to lowlands by AD 1800, showing how the builders exploited varied micro-environments (highlands for cooler crops, lowlands for grazing). However, the system eventually declined due to over-specialization, soil exhaustion, or external pressures like climate shifts or invasions.

These innovations highlight the ingenuity of the Nyanga people, who were likely ancestors of the modern Manyika ethnic group. Early 19th-century reports speculated wildly about the ruins (e.g., as "forts" or "Phoenician relics"), but modern archaeology, including work by the University of Zimbabwe and British Institute in Eastern Africa, confirms their agricultural purpose.### Overview of the Terrace Builders of Nyanga

why Did They Build the Terraces?

- **Soil Conservation and Erosion Control**:

- **Integrated Agricultural System**: The terraces were part of a broader system that included water furrows (ditches for irrigation from streams), pit structures for livestock (to protect animals from predators and weather), and fallowing cycles (rotating fields to restore soil nutrients). This specialization allowed for mixed farming—growing crops like grains and vegetables on terraces while raising dwarf cattle in enclosures—sustaining the community in isolation.

For a deeper dive, Soper's book *The Terrace Builders of Nyanga* provides detailed maps, sketches, and analysis—it's a concise 88-page read focused on the "eloquent witness" left by the landscape itself. If you're planning a visit, sites like those near Mount Nyangani showcase the terraces today.

Angola riots, Chinese evacuate

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 00:48:00 +0000

from the Uganda Monitor:

China Under Fire: Angola Riots Trigger Mass Exodus and Factory Closures
a taxi driver strike over high fuel prices has escalated into a protest against Chinese investments:

the anger is by unemployed youth and the unemployed against Chinese businesses, which were looted etc.

Over a thousand were arrested, and many Chinnese citizens are fleeing the country.

Over 250 thousand CHinese are estimated living there, embedded into the economy, but the gap between rich and poor has caused a simmering anger that is now erupting

BBC Report here

"The fuel price issue is just the last straw that has reignited widespread public discontent... People are fed up. Hunger is rife, and the poor are becoming miserable," a prominent local activist, Laura Macedo, told the BBC....

AlJazeerah article here.

The Conservativetreehouse blog has a long economic analysis here from a geopolitical standpoint, which is of course from a capitalistic conservative point of view.

But unlike the other articles he puts it into perspective of China's world wide trade network:

“One-Belt / One-Road” is essentially their ‘bully plan’ to ensure their supply chain and long-term economic viability.

essentially China is replacing colonial powers who were thrown out by the people:

and like the colonial powers, they are exploiting poor people as cheap labor in their factories etc. and stealing mineral and oil resources to get rich.

but as one Mashona co worker advised me years ago: People get mad.

And as the African proverb reminds one: Even a small snake has a fang...

Sudan's humanitarian crisis (again

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 23:07:00 +0000

The Spectator has an article on the humanitarian crisis in the Sudan...,

Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Suppoort Forces (RSF) has unleashed a hellish vortex of starvation, violence, and disease upon tens of millions in Sudan.

The United Nations recently classified the situation in Sudan as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, but the international spotlight has rarely been focused on the issue due to the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.

25 million people, half of Sudan’s population, are currently experiencing famine conditions and acute food insecurity.

Food conditions for 8.1 million people are classified as Emergency (IPC Phase 4), and almost 700,000 as Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5). Hunger levels for the same 25 million people are also considered at and above “Crisis” classification. Famine and starvation are also used as military tactics by the SAF and the RSF, as blockades are built and crops are burned. In many areas, particularly Darfur, aid delivery is obstructed, pushing populations into full-scale collapse due to a lack of access to food.

Additionally, 12 million people have been internally displaced in the country, forced out of their homes and into refugee camps. These camps provide no real measure of security, however, as in April, the RSF murdered 300 people in two days at one such camp in Darfur.

I don't know about the Sudan except that I worked with a Christian refugee from what is now South Sudan, who became a doctor... and that was 45 years ago...

THe article points fingers at humanitarians whose aid gets ripped off to fight the war and the fact that the US is becoming isolationist.

This report is a more recent report on that confused but deadly war from last month from AlJezeerah:

,,,

...

StrategayPage has an article from March about what was going on then and this most recent article is about the Islamicist groups exacerbating the fighting in various Sahel nations.

BBC article from 2023 on the Russian mercenaries fighting in that war.

Winston Churschill had a book on an earlier fight: When the local Islamic extremists planned to throw out the Ottomans but the end result was the Brits got involved.

the badk story of the DRC peace plan

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 08:46:00 +0000

This is the back story of why the DRC reached out to the US insted of China for a peace deal.

so why the US and not China?

Because China didn't keep their promises to help develop the country in exchange for buying developing stealing their valuable resources.

So here is what SP /Austin Bay wrote a couple months ago:

April 3, 2025

In mid-February, a firm representing a Democratic Republic of the Congo legislator contacted several U.S. officials. The recipients included Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The letter sketched a sub-Saharan version of President Donald Trump's Ukraine minerals peace initiative. Would the U.S. be interested in acquiring or investing in Congo's enormous and globally unique trove of critical and rare mineral resources?
The DRC has gold, copper, cobalt, tin, tantalum (coltan), lithium, gold and diamonds. The uranium for America's World War II atom bombs came from the then-Belgian Congo. Mobile phone and computer manufacturers need coltan (columbite-tantalite). Cobalt is a 21st-century treasure. Congo is the world's largest producer of cobalt ore, a must-have for electric vehicles.
Beijing coveted the DRC's mineral trove -- a global position of immense economic import. In 2006 and 2007, Chinese front companies began buying DRC cobalt, copper and rare earth mineral operations. In 2008 and 2009, China signed the so-called China Deal of 2008 the DRC's Kabila dictatorship.
The overall deal was supposedly worth billions. China was supposed to build roads and other infrastructure. It built ... next to nothing.

Italics mine.

In 2021, Congo condemned China and began legal proceedings to end Beijing's fraud.
....

(by the way China pulled the same trick on Duterte, who thought all the anti China stuff was CIA trying to let the US take over our resources, but he got shafted by China and then stared to make nice with the USA).

Mozambique

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 03:21:00 +0000

strategy page has a long essay about Mozambique, including the ISIS types attacking their natural gas facilities in the north, and the generalized corruption.
July 12, 2025: In the southeast African nation of Mozambique there has been there have been a growing number of violent political demonstrations in the north since late last year. So far, the police have shot dead over 300 violent civilian protestors. The demonstrations have evolved into criminal activity like kidnapping for ransom. The kidnappings are made more painful because over a hundred children have been taken.
they then go on to explain how the Natural gas riches has not made locals rich: No locals were skilled enough to run the places, and the local politicians got rich instead of investing it to help the locals. Hence rebellion, and like in Syria, the best trained and most aggresive rebels were the ISIS trained ones.

one difference between the MSM coverage and SP is that StrategyPage gives the background, in this case the history going back before the Portuguese:
For over a thousand years Mozambique has, like many other parts of East Africa, consisted of coastal cities that prospered by serving as marketplaces where people from the interior could obtain all manner of foreign goods. Mozambique was part of a vast trading network using dependable seasonal winds to allow ships to move goods from East Africa to the Persian Gulf, India and Indonesia.
There is a recent book about how this monsoon trade and India have been ignored in the history books in favor of the more trendy Silk road with China ideas which are more trendy.
The problem now is that those with an education were thrown out with independence. then came civil wars, displacement of populations, death from famines, South African mercenaries,
A lot of people have left the country, including the educated Portuguese who fled with independence. But what about in recent years?

A lot of people of course have moved to nearby coutries for jobs in the mines etc.
Grok answer about local countries who have migrants:
https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMg%3D%3D_740e0868-78e1-44c0-ba99-c3d4a907a2b1
short summay of Grok:
**Migration to South Africa:** - Mozambique has historically been a major source of migrants to South Africa, primarily for work in mining, agriculture, and informal sectors. A 2022 estimate suggests 462,000 Mozambicans were living in South Africa, though this includes pre-2000 migration. ,,,,-
Historical context: Between 1979 and 1992, 1.7 million Mozambicans fled to neighboring countries, including South Africa, due to civil war, but many returned post-1992. Since 2000, migration has been driven by economic factors rather than conflict. ...

white house meeting

noreply@blogger.com (Nancy Reyes) — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 23:28:00 +0000

....

One background is that USAID members who were fired now say on line openly that they plan to use their expertise in changing goverments to the US to get rid of Trumpieboy.

...

Not mentioned: That PEPFAR has had it's aim changed to prevention of HIV: BY pushing safe sex in high schools (read promiscuity) abortion, and gay rights (change laws that protect kids from pedophilia).

Fact sheet here.

Summary: destigmatizing gay sex, promiscuous sex, and encouraging promiscuity by teaching that if you take these medicines it will keep you from getting pregnant or getting HIV

(and under USAID, PEPFAR was not just giving people with HIV medicine, but pushing anti family/pro promiscuity sex ed in schools and social media, including the gay rights agenda on conservative Catholic and Islamic countries but don't expect that to be reported, since the MSM sees conservative family customs in these countries as something to be destroyed, not encouraged)