Photo : REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
NIAS Area Studies
AFRICA MONITOR
Photo : REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
IN BRIEF
by Apoorva Sudhakar
South Africa: Power company to increase load shedding
On 24 June, South Africa’s state power company, Eskom, said it was forced to increase electricity cuts amid protests by workers demanding a 10 per cent hike in wages. With this, Eskom will increase the outages to Stage 4 from Stage 2, wherein 4000 megawatts will be shed. Eskom appealed to the labourers, unions and employees to consider the people of South Africa. Currently, despite having a 46,000 MW capacity, more than 20,000 MW could not be used because of breakdowns and maintenance. (Anait Miridzhanian and Alexander Winning, “Protests force South Africa's Eskom to widen power cuts,” Reuters, 24 June 2022)
UK-Africa: Commonwealth meet commences in Rwanda
On 24 June, delegations from 54 countries of the British Commonwealth met in Rwanda for the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). From the UK, Prince Charles and prime minister Boris Johnson were present. Referring to slavery under the colonial rule, Prince Charles expressed “personal sorrow at the suffering of so many.” Around 10 million Africans were enslaved by Britain and other European colonisers between the 15th and 19th century.(Ayenat Mersie and Clement Uwiringiyimana, “Prince Charles expresses sorrow over slavery in Commonwealth speech,” Reuters, 24 June 2022)
Burkina Faso: Civilians asked to evacuate for military operation against rebels
On 24 June, an army spokesperson said civilians living in northern and southeastern parts of Burkina Faso were notified to evacuate the region within 14 days, ahead of proposed military operations against rebels in the area. However, the spokesperson did not specify how long the civilians had to stay away and where they had to go. The development comes after nearly 100 people were killed and thousands displaced in a rebel attack on 11 June. (“Burkina Faso: 14 days to evacuate before vast army operation,” Al Jazeera, 24 June 2022)