Headlines: summits that follow each other and look alike

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The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the 55 member countries of the African Union on February 7, 2020 in Addis Ababa. RFI / Paulina Zidi

By: Frédéric Couteau Follow

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The African Union will close this 33rd conference of its heads of state on Monday in Addis Ababa. For two days , L'Observateur Paalga points out , the latter, and before them, the experts and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs, discussed the theme "Silencing the guns: creating the conditions conducive to the development of Africa". What to retain from the debates on this issue of burning topicality? Wonders the Burkinabe daily. (…) Nothing new in our tropics , he replies. These AU summits (…) follow each other and look alike. We hear scholarly speeches making an insightful clinical diagnosis of the ills plaguing our continent, with the key proposals for solutions that make you dream. Alas, the rub still hurts as to their implementation. Why ? Because the political will of our rulers is not as strong as the tone of their speech , says L'Observateur Paalga, and especially because they have the annoying habit of turning the bowl to get the nerve for war. When added to the mismanagement of the scarce resources available to our states and also their predation by multinationals, it is not surprising that underdevelopment becomes endemic in our tropics, prey to inextricable crises. "

In fact, adds Le Pays , still in Ouagadougou, " at the risk of always being accused of a " thing " which brings together twice a year the union of heads of state to express wishful thinking, it will be necessary to act on the ground. This year, the main theme is therefore security, especially in the Sahel. So, says Le Pays , " at a time when Takuba, the joint force, is gaining momentum, at a time therefore of the pooling of efforts, the 54 AU countries will have to play their salutary part. Yesterday, Moscow, Berlin and Geneva, tomorrow Pretoria in May devoted to the silence of arms promised by the new president of the AU, the South African Cyril Ramaphosa, and why not the day after tomorrow, an Algiers summit devoted to peace in Africa ? "

Over 20 years of sexual abuse…

On the front page of the daily investigation in Senegal, a pedophilia scandal that is making waves ... A 40-year-old Quranic teacher from Ouakam has just been imprisoned for repeated rape of his students. He used them as " sexual objects ", specifies the newspaper and also obliged them to have relations between them. This Koranic master had acted like this for twenty years and the number of his victims would be, according to the newspaper, " staggering ". In his defense, the man spoke of " the grip of Satan ". Loud reaction, still in Investigation , of the Islamic NGO Jamra who " rebels against the omerta and who believes that it is high time that the religious leaders of the big brotherhoods, guarantors of orthodoxy, take this scourge with arms the body, henceforth requiring that, prior to any exercise of this noble office of Koranic master, an investigation of morality be required. "

" Who broke Ballaké Sissoko's kora?" "

And then this question in Le Monde Afrique : " Who broke the kora of Ballaké Sissoko ?" Last Tuesday, returning home to Paris after a two-week tour of the United States, the Malian artist found that his instrument was in pieces and said he had found a note from American customs officials apologizing for the "inconvenience caused by the baggage check ". (…) "The shock was huge for him," said his manager. "For its part," the Transportation Security Administration, the TSA, which performs the controls, denies any responsibility. (…) For its part , reports Le Monde Afrique, producer Lucy Durán, ethnomusician by training, who aligns herself with the version of Ballaké Sissoko, wonders about the cultural significance of this gesture, wondering if "American customs would have dared to dismantle a Stradivarius violin? Would they have done such a thing to a white musician playing a classical instrument?" While waiting for the light to be shed, Ballaké Sissoko is on a forced vacation, unable to continue the recording sessions for his next album which were to take place this week. "

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