COFFEE WITH THE AFRICA

Q3 / JULY

Somalia’s President Farmaajo has been on the campaign and deal-making trail since late 2020

POSTPONED POLLS Somalia elections

ABDIRAHMAN YUSUF / AFP Somalia’s political stalemate is set to end by July, but those plans – like others before them – could be thrown off course by insecurity and political wrangling. At the end of May, prime minister Hussein Roble and the leaders of five regional states agreed to aim for parliamentary elections to be held within 60 days.

Opposition candidates including former presidents Sheikh Sharif and Sheikh Hassan and former prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire complained of attacks against them by government forces in the lead-up to the 2021 election campaign.

President Mohamed ‘Farmaajo’ Abdullahi Mohamed had promised to hold ‘one person, one vote’ elections at the end of his term in December 2020, but was unable to do so due to Islamist rebel group Al-Shabaab’s control of territory, and disagreements with the leaders of Somalia’s federal member states. In September, Somalia’s leaders agreed to a deal to hold indirect elections by the Federal Parliament.

Political tensions are high. Due to a perceived increase in misinformation shared on social media, the Federation of Somali Journalists has launched a campaign called the ‘Disinformation Lab’ against the spread of fake news, hate speech and propaganda.

15.06%

South Africans must prepare for a large hike in their electricity bills from 1 July. On 1 April, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa approved the national electricity company Eskom’s request to raise electricity prices for direct customers by 15.06%. Municipalities will announce their own increases, based on their approved budgets, which are likely to be 13.5% for Cape Town and 14.5% for Johannesburg.

BOOK

Winner of the Prix Ahmadou-Kourouma, the Grand Prix du Roman Métis, and the French Voices Grand Priz in Alexia Trigo’s translation (Europa Editions), the Senegalese writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr’s debut novel, Brotherhood, is set in an imaginary world of a fundamentalist Islamist government. Following the public execution of two lovers, the characters show heroism, cowardice, fear and love when faced with a brutal regime.