The year 2019 in Africa could not have started better for the Democrats. No one suspected it. But the alternation in power in the Democratic Republic of Congo was a precursor to the wind of change that would sometimes blow violently on the continent.
Félix Tshisekedi succeeds Joseph Kabila in DR Congo
On January 19, after a controversial election, the Constitutional Court proclaimed victor with 38.57% of the votes Félix Tshisekedi, son of the historic opponent Étienne Tshisekedi.
While his runner-up Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary came third in this ballot, Joseph Kabila was forced to give up his chair after 18 years in power. But the results, taken with skepticism by the international community, will be disputed by the Catholic Church, which announced as real winner the opponent Martin Fayulu, who came second.
The International Criminal Court acquits Laurent Gbabo
The verdict had the effect of a bomb. Imprisoned for almost seven years in the detention center of the International Criminal Court for a crime against humanity during the post-electoral crisis 2010-2011, former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and his youth minister Charles Blé Goudé were acquitted in January of all the charges brought against them, after three years of trial.
The International Criminal Court first orders their immediate release. But the prosecutor Fatou Bensouda appealed against the judgment, denouncing procedural flaws. Pending the appeal trial, the former Ivorian president lives on parole in Belgium. Charles Blé Goudé stayed in the Netherlands in similar conditions.
A year of revolution in Algeria
In Algeria, the Hirak, the popular protest movement is far from knowing its epilogue despite the election, on December 12, of Abdelmadjid Tebboune at the head of Algeria.
This movement, which brings together thousands of people every Friday on the streets of Algiers and several other big cities of the country, started spontaneously on February 16 to demand the resignation of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in power for 20 years, and who planned to stand for a fifth term despite an extremely fragile state of health.
Under pressure from the street, the latter, whose public appearances were becoming increasingly rare, finally returned to power in April 2019. But that was not enough to calm the people who wanted the end of an entire system, which 'he considers clan and corrupt. The movement ends up obtaining the arrest of several egg-laying regime including that of Said Bouteflika, brother of the ousted president.
Ethiopian airlines Boeing 737 Max crash
On March 10, 157 people died in the crash of Ethiopian airlines flight 302 from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, Kenya. The aircraft is a Boeing 737 Max, one of the last born of the American aircraft manufacturer. But this second accident, after that of Lion Air Flight 610 in October 2018 - which left 189 dead - involving this same model of aircraft, reveals technical faults related to the engine and the anti-stall system.
Several companies and countries ban the 737 Max from flying, forcing Boeing to suspend production of its star medium-haul from January 2020.
Omar el-Bechir overthrown in Sudan
The Algerian spring quickly followed suit. In Sudan, the increase in the price of bread and gasoline in December 2018 is fueling the anger of the populations. On the streets of Khartoum and in several other Sudanese cities, thousands of people are demonstrating against inflation and demanding better living conditions.
Then, the slogans are directed against Omar el-Béchir, in power for 30 years. While the vast protest movement continues, the Sudanese president is overthrown in April by the army. But the revolt continues and its bloody repression by the military leaves more than 250 dead.
A transitional sovereign council was set up after tough negotiations between the political opposition, civil society and the military. On August 15, Abdallah Hamdok, a former senior UN official, was appointed Prime Minister at the head of a three-year transitional government.
Terrorism in the Sahel
2019 has been a dark year for the Sahel, which has seen terrorism increasingly spread its tentacles in the region. Fighted in northern Mali, jihadist groups affiliated with the Islamic State organization were able to attack several military bases in Niger and Burkina-Faso, despite the presence of the French operation Barkhane and the joint force of the G5 Sahel.
The deadliest, against the Inates military base in Niger, left 71 soldiers dead in December. The toll is much heavier for that perpetrated against the indelimane camp in mid-November in Mali, which left more than 50 people dead. According to the UN, nearly 1,500 civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks since January.
Several countries in the Sahel have called on the international community to help to deal with the terrorist threat. A summit on the Sahel, wanted by Emmanuel Macron, is to be held on January 13 in Pau to reassess the objectives of engagement in the region.
Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed
Coming to power in April, the 43-year-old Ethiopian Prime Minister changed the lines in a federal country marked by social injustice and the absence of freedom. Under his leadership, in October, the parliament elected for the first time a woman, Sahle-Work Zewde, as head of state. A few days earlier, he created surprise by setting up a joint government of twenty members including ten men and ten women.
But it was above all his rapprochement with Eritrea that earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. In July, Abiy Ahmed signed jointly with Issaias Afewerki, the Eritrean president, a declaration of peace and cooperation ending 20 years of war that left some 80,000 people dead.
Tunisian President Béji Caïd Essebsi dies
The first democratically elected president of Tunisia in 2014, Béji Caïd Essebsi died at the age of 92, a few months before the presidential election initially scheduled for November. Symbol of Tunisia post-Arab Spring, he was appointed in February 2011 Prime Minister of the provisional government after the fall of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, with the mission of preparing the new constitution of democratic Tunisia.
Nine months later, he left office to found his Nidaa Tounes party, with which he won the presidential election in 2014, at the age of 88.
Death of DJ Arafat, the king of the cut-off
Star of the Coupé-Décalé, an Ivorian musical style that he helped popularize on the African continent and beyond, the announcement of the death of DJ Arafat, an egocentric character keen on clash and buzz on social networks, had the effect of a shock wave among African youth.
Angel Didier Huon, whose real name, died on August 12, at the age of 33, of a traffic accident. His motorcycle violently struck the back of a car. Through a grandiose funeral, a national tribute was paid to him by the Ivorian state.
The end of the CFA franc
In Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, on December 21, Emmanuel Macron and Alassane Ouattara announce the end of the CFA franc and its replacement by the eco, a single currency which should see the light of day within the ECOWAS in 2020.
The CFA franc, created by France, then colonial power, in 1945, was perceived by its detractors as the symbol of a survival of colonialism almost 60 years after the independence of the former French colonies.
The currency, shared by 14 countries in West and Central Africa, had crystallized tensions and divided African public opinion. Anti-CFA economists believed that the currency kept Africa underdeveloped through its fixed parity mechanism with the euro, guaranteed by France. In return, the latter in particular required African States to pay the French Treasury about 50% of their foreign exchange reserves.
But for its defenders, the CFA franc guaranteed user countries economic stability.
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