Afrogalaxy

The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in November 2011
‘The question of Syria returning to the Arab League does not depend on Tunisia but on the Arab League’

TUNIS: Syria’s “natural place” is within the Arab League, Tunisia’s foreign minister said Saturday, ahead of the organization’s annual summit in Tunis in March.
“Syria is an Arab state, and its natural place is within the Arab League,” Khemaies Jhinaoui said during a news conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who is on a tour of North African countries.
The Arab League suspended Syria’s membership in November 2011 as the death toll in the country’s civil war mounted.
“The question of Syria returning to the Arab League does not depend on Tunisia but on the Arab League,” Jhinaoui said.
“The foreign ministers (of member states) will decide on this subject,” he added. “What interests us is Syria’s stability and security.”
Persistent divisions between the Arab League’s member states have worked against Syria’s readmission.
Russia’s intervention in Syria’s war since 2015 in favor of President Bashar Assad has turned the tide of the conflict in the regime’s favor.
The United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus in December, the same month Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir made the first visit of any Arab leader to the Syrian capital since the start of the war.
But Qatar earlier this month rejected normalizing ties with Assad.
Lavrov backed overtures to readmit Syria.
“As we have discussed in Algeria and Morocco over the past few days, we would like Tunis to also support Syria’s return to the Arab family, the Arab League,” he said in Tunis.
Lavrov, who has also visited Morocco on his tour, said that Tunisia and Russia agreed to ramp up “anti-terror cooperation.”
In reference to Franco-Italian differences on Libya, he said: “We must harmonize the efforts of outside mediators seeking a settlement to the Libyan conflict.
“This must be done under the sponsorship of the United Nations and taking into account the points of view of neighbors such as Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt.”
Russia’s foreign minister, winding up his North Africa visit, also met Tunisia’s president and prime minister on Saturday.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/53008

Sadiq al-Mahdi, who was toppled by al-Bashir in 1989, throws his support behind protests that erupted five weeks ago.

Sudan's main opposition leader Sadiq al-Mahdi has called on President Omar al-Bashir to step down, throwing his support behind anti-government demonstrators that started nearly five weeks ago.

"This regime has to go immediately," al-Mahdi, 83, told hundreds of worshippers at a mosque in Omdurman on Friday, the twin city of the capital Khartoum, which has seen near-daily anti-government protests.

Al-Mahdi said since protests erupted on December 19 "more than 50 people" had been killed in the crackdown.

Officials say 30 people have died in the protests, however, rights groups have put the death toll at more than 40.

The protests - which initially erupted in the northeastern town of Atbara and have spread to several cities - initially erupted over the rising costs of bread and fuel and other economic hardships, including skyrocketing inflation and limits on bank withdrawals.

But they quickly morphed into calls for al-Bashir, who has been in power for 29 years, to step aside.

Authorities have used tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition to quell the unrest and imposed emergency laws and night-time curfews in some cities.

"A period of transition will come soon... we are supporting this [protest] movement," said al-Mahdi, who served two terms as Sudan's prime minister before being deposed in the 1989 coup led by al-Bashir.
'Document for change and freedom'

After nearly a year in exile, al-Mahdi returned to Sudan last month on the same day protests began.

He added on Friday that his party had signed a document with the Sudanese Professionals' Association (SPA), an umbrella group of unions representing doctors, teachers and engineers that is leading the campaign against al-Bashir's government.

"This is a document for change and freedom," he said.

"Together we will hold peaceful demonstrations in Sudan and outside of Sudan," he said as he condemned the violence and use of "live ammunition" against protesters.

A fixture of Sudanese politics since the 1960s, al-Mahdi was prime minister from 1966 to 1967 and again from 1986 to 1989, before being toppled by Bashir.

Sudan's economy has struggled to recover in recent years following the loss of between 75 and 80 percent of its oil reserves - its main source of foreign currency - with the secession of South Sudan in 2011.

The country's economic woes have been exacerbated in the past few years, even as the United States lifted 20-year-old trade sanctions on Sudan in October 2017.

Washington has, however, kept Sudan on its list of state sponsors of terrorism, which prevents Khartoum from accessing much-needed financial aid from institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52918

Morning light enters Ablade Glover’s studio in Accra. The artist takes the measurements of a blank canvas and then applies electric blue stains to it with a brush at regular intervals.

At the age of 84, the founder of the Artists Alliance Gallery in the Ghanaian capital is known far beyond the borders of his country for his work.

25 years ago, he created this seaside art gallery and opened it to the public to promote contemporary art, particularly from Ghana.

Local artists were relatively ignored and alone, and in society in general, few people bought art

Glover recalls that at the time, local artists had no support, most of whom had to work side by side to earn a living.

But a major turning point has occurred in recent years, with a growing international recognition of contemporary African art. More and more artists earn money – sometimes a lot – thanks to the work of galleries like Glover’s, and to the organization of festivals and major artistic events bringing together curators and passionate collectors.

One of Ablade Glover’s works can be seen in Seth Dei’s private gallery, in a quiet street in a leafy suburb of Accra.

This 73-year-old businessman is a strong supporter of local artists, and he prefers, he says, to hang a Ghanaian painting rather than a Picasso on the walls of his living room.

“I like to be surrounded by paintings that I can understand, that reflect who I am,” he told AFP, pointing to a forest painted by Glover in bright orange red.

This painting is one of the 550 works of art he has accumulated and stores between his house and his gallery.

Dei, co-founder of a fruit and vegetable export company, began collecting art in 1993. He has observed the changes in the way African art is viewed for decades and, above all, the difficulty Ghanaian artists have had in gaining a reputation on the international scene.

“Local artists were relatively ignored and alone, and in society in general, few people bought art,” he says.

He did his best to help Ghanaian art and to encourage artists to continue creating, until he made a name for himself in the country.

“The artists would come in and say: I painted this, I think you should have it in your collection,” says Dei. “Even when I didn’t have any money, I would gradually repay it.”

He has seen the careers of artists now recognized abroad, such as Wiz Kudowor, Larry Otoo and Kofi Setordji, take off.

“People are getting used to the idea of selling works in dollars, which would have been impossible a few years ago, and the price of works of art is rising,” adds the collector.

Venice Biennale

The growing popularity of contemporary Ghanaian art is twofold: many works have left the country, been purchased by expatriates or exhibited in Europe and the United States.

Ablade Glover and Seith Dei dream of seeing a public institution invest in preserving art on the spot and allowing Ghanaians to discover and appreciate it.

They hope that the government will create a national arts museum.

There are already more and more private exhibitions, as well as a travelling museum since 2002, created by novelist, filmmaker and art historian Nana Oforiatta Ayim.

Returning to Ghana in 2011 after years in the United Kingdom, she has used her address book to support local artists and organizes events to promote young Ghanaian artists.

“I had seen the old generation work, but the international career (of these artists) was struggling to take off,” she explains. “All I wanted was for them to have the same chances at the beginning as a young artist in London.”

Nana Oforiatta Ayim and Ghanaian-British architect David Adjaye announced a few days ago that Ghana would have a pavilion at the Venice Biennale in May.

“David and I worked on the Venice Biennale as part of a larger initiative to create an infrastructure to promote art in Ghana,” says the young woman. “We are working very seriously on this in discussions with the government”.

https://www.geezgo.com/sps/52692