News

For the first time since the beginning of the corona pandemic, a group deportation flight took off from Frankfurt Airport on Tuesday (14 July). On board the plane to Islamabad in Pakistan were 19 Pakistani nationals who had been deported mainly from Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. This was confirmed by the federal police at Frankfurt Airport to the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. …

  The racist attack on Noël Martin in June 1996 was one of the most internationally reported incidents of neo-Nazi violence in Germany in the 1990s. The attack left the British-Jamaican paralysed from the neck down and yet he found the strength to continue living, setting up a charitable foundation which campaigns against racial intolerance and promotes exchanges between German …

Dapo Olorunyomi, the publisher/editor-in-chief of the Nigerian online newspaper Premium Times, has been honoured with the 2020 International Press Freedom Award by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Olorunyomi was awarded for dedicating his life to holding the powerful to account and his “fierce advocacy” for press freedom. Three other exemplary journalists – Shahidul Alam (Bangladesh), Mohammad Mosaed …

Professor Charles Egbu has been appointed Vice-Chancellor of Leeds Trinity University. The Nigerian scholar will take up his new position on 1 November 2020. In a statement on its website, the institution said Egbu would take over from Margaret A House, the outgoing VC, who had held the office for seven years. . Reacting to his appointment, Professor Egbu said: …

Zindzi Mandela, South Africa’s ambassador to Denmark, has died at the age of 59. Ms Mandela – the daughter of Nelson and Winnie Mandela – died in the early hours of Monday (13 July) in a Johannesburg hospital.  She was the youngest daughter of the couple and is reputed to have spent many years involved in South Africa’s freedom struggle. …

The police of North African countries to prevent refugees from crossing the Mediterranean to Europe. EU Interior Ministers and their North African counterparts have agreed. Amnesty sharply criticises agreement. Europe is also relying on African police to stop refugees crossing the Mediterranean. Germany’s Federal Ministry of the Interior announced in Berlin, the interior ministers of EU countries and North African …

Estimates of the number of Ghanaians living outside their homeland range from one to three million out of a general population of about 30 million. Ghanaians in Germany are reputed to form the second largest of the country’s diaspora populations in Europe, after the United Kingdom. Journalist, translator and community activist Sam Atsu Nove*, who first arrived in Germany in …

Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, member of the European Parliament, MEP, has criticised Germany’s Interior Minister, Horst Seehofer, for stopping the planned investigation into racial profiling in the country’s police services. In a press statement issued on Wednesday, Ms Herzberger-Fofana, who represents Germany on the platform of the Green party in the European parliament, said Seehofer by his decision “denies the existence …

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has warned against racial profiling, as well as “systemic racism and inequalities” in Europe. “Racial profiling constitutes a specific form of racial discrimination and must be expressly prohibited by law,” ECRI, a human rights monitoring body, said in a statement published on 6 July. “It generates a feeling of humiliation and injustice …

The decision of the Federal Minister of the Interior, Horst Seehofer, to call off an investigation into racial profiling in the police is drawing anger and criticisms not only of migrant associations but also political parties, including the junior governing coalition partner SPD. Following the Black Lives Matter protests in Germany, questions are being raised about racism in the country’s …

The Zentralrat der afrikanischen Gemeinde in Deutschland (Central Council of the African Community in Germany or ZAGD) has relaunched its website and introduced a new logo on Tuesday. The move by the organisation, an umbrella body for African associations in Germany, is part of its efforts to increase its visibility in the country. The relaunch ceremony, held by video conference …

The Democratic Republic of Congo marked its 60th independence anniversary on 30 June. Belgium’s King Philipe chose the occasion to apologise for his country’s horrendous atrocities against the Congolese people during its colonial occupation of the vast African country. How genuine is the apology? Femi Awoniyi takes a look at the situation of the troubled African country against the background …

After years of agitation by Black activists and their German supporters, a Berlin underground train station will be renamed. According to the management of the Berlin public transport authorities (BVG), the “U-Bahnhof Mohrenstrasse”, the station on Line U2 of the city’s metro network, will be changed to “U-Bahnhof Glinkastraße”. The decision, announced on Friday, came as Black Lives Matter protests …

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday condemned France for the “inhuman and degrading living conditions” of three asylum-seekers who were “living in the street without any resources”. The Strasbourg-based court ruled that authorities “had failed in their duties” with regard to the three asylum-seekers, finding France responsible for the conditions in which the three men – an …

After 30 years of hurt, Liverpool Football Club are – to use a phrase coined by former Manchester United Manager, Alex Ferguson – “back on their perch”. Last week they were crowned English Premier League champions basically with their legs on the sofa. They were confirmed winners after Chelsea Football pipped Manchester City 2-1 which ensured Liverpool had an unassailable …

Residents of Germany can expect numerous changes again in July 2020. Several of these are related to the ongoing corona crisis, such as the reduction in VAT or the end of tenancy protection or the easing of travel ban on non-essential travel into EU member countries. Pensioners, on the other hand, can look forward to a pension increase. The African …

BOOK REVIEW It is easy, as the western media often do, to dismiss Africa as a continent of misery where nothing new happens except this misery is recycled in new varieties: corruption, hunger, wars, etc. But nobody pauses to take a harder look into the past of this troubled continent and find how its terrible history has played a part …

Dr Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana’s speech in the European Parliament on 17 June on how Belgian policemen physically harassed her was greeted with a loud ovation and shocked Europe to the reality of police violence against Black people. It became a topic of media discussions across the continent. In a strange twist to the story, instead of the police to apologise to …

Black Lives Matter protests have led to the toppling of colonial and slavery monuments in the US and several European countries. In Germany, an online campaign has been launched calling for the renaming of a popular street in the country’s capital city. Mohrenstrasse, located in the central district of Berlin, is the focus of attention of activists who are questioning …

NJ Ayuk, founder of one of Africa’s most successful law chambers, explains that “climate change — and the call to leave fossil fuels in the ground— is largely a western narrative”, which does not consider the situation of African countries whose oil and gas production earns export revenues, reduce energy poverty, create jobs etc. He explains how Western climate policy …