EP 1 Disinformation and Media Manipulation in West Africa I African News Review 🌍

Host Adesoji Iginla and special guest Milton Allimadi, renowned journalist and African affairs expert, unpack the week’s most pressing African stories:

This conversation explores the evolving political landscape in Africa, focusing on the empowerment of youth voters who are challenging long-standing political parties. It discusses the implications of U.S. foreign policy on African nations, particularly in light of recent elections, and highlights the rising issue of disinformation in West Africa. 

The speakers emphasize the need for historical awareness among the youth and the importance of economic development to combat corruption and improve governance. In this conversation, Milton Allimadi and Adesoji Iginla delve into the complex landscape of propaganda, media narratives, and the ongoing conflicts in Africa, particularly in the Horn of Africa. 

They discuss the implications of Western media's portrayal of Africa, the need for African agency in addressing conflicts, and the importance of understanding historical contexts to navigate contemporary challenges. 

The dialogue emphasizes the necessity for African leadership to take charge of narratives and solutions, rather than relying on external influences.

Chapters
00:00 The Changing Political Landscape in Africa
09:58 Youth Empowerment and Historical Context
20:00 U.S. Foreign Policy and Its Impact on Africa
29:50 Disinformation and Media Influence in West Africa
34:56 The Propaganda Landscape: East vs. West
42:06 The Role of Media in Shaping Narratives
47:55 Conflict in the Horn of Africa: A Brewing Storm
55:58 The Need for African Leadership and Agency

Transcript

Adesoji Iginla (00:02.461)
Yes, good evening. Good evening. Welcome and welcome again to African News Review, our weekly conversation where we take a look at the coverage of Africa in the Western media and the constructive stories. I am your host, Ade Soji Iginla. And with me as usual from the grounds of Howard University is a journalist and publisher, Blackstone News, author of Manufacturing Hate, How Europe

How Africa is demonized in the Western media and he is none other than comrade Milton Alimadi. And good evening and welcome.

Milton Allimadi (00:41.144)
Thank you.

Adesoji Iginla (00:43.954)
Yes, in the weeks after the elections you've had, and there has been elections all over the continent, the latest survey has thrown up quite a curveball. And for that we go to Botswana. And it reads, me second, I'll share my screen.

Adesoji Iginla (01:11.921)
it reads

Adesoji Iginla (01:16.533)
From the New York Times and it goes in, young African voters saw on the parties that have ushered in liberation political parties that have governed for decades since African countries overthrew colonial rulers are now being challenged by frustrated young voters. The story is filed by John Elegon and Yvonne Moka.

The resounding defeat this past week of the only political party that has governed Botswana since independence 58 years ago sent tremors across the African continent. A spirited young population has, over the past year, disrupted old guard liberation parties that have been relying on their credentials from the days of fighting colonialism to stay in power. This strategy seems to be losing its effectiveness as young people become

a larger share of the electorate on a continent where the median age is 19, the youngest in the world. And it goes further. Many young Africans say they care less about how much a politician suffered fighting colonizers and more about whether these politicians are stealing public money, providing jobs and respecting basic freedoms like free speech. It is fine for governing parties that grew out of liberation movements.

to hold on to their history, but we cannot be holding on to that history when we are doing wrong," said Lindywe Zulu, a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress in South Africa. Comrade, your initial assessment of this. New development.

Milton Allimadi (02:55.326)
That's good. That's good. mean, people need to elect the people that represent them in parliament at the national executive level as prime minister or president. So I'm all for it. It's 100 % good. I think the European media, whether it's Europe Europe, Europe, United States, the right control corporate media celebrating prematurely.

Adesoji Iginla (03:02.312)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (03:22.271)
Because if you read the headline, it's almost as if they are repudiating the fact that these people fought for and won, even though it's only symbolic independence for their countries. No, on the contrary, they're saying that now that we are supposed to be independent, why are we not delivering on the goods that an independent country should be enjoying? So that's how the election should be.

Adesoji Iginla (03:47.477)
Mm. Mm. Mm.

Milton Allimadi (03:52.428)
analyze. And, you know, the youth and it's about time I think these elections, but maybe but not so much Botswana. Botswana has been managed. So Botswana is not the excellent example. Botswana has been managed relatively quite efficiently and had many African countries function like Botswana. The problems that we have in Africa would not be as severe.

Adesoji Iginla (03:53.823)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (04:21.535)
Botswana only started experiencing financial economic problems the last couple of years because of the diminished returns from diamond, proceeds from diamond. Otherwise, Botswana managed its diamond industry 100 times better than Nigeria managed its oil industry, for example. As a result, Botswana, whose capital income

Adesoji Iginla (04:32.329)
diamond mining.

Adesoji Iginla (04:44.373)
You

Milton Allimadi (04:48.746)
was lower than Nigeria's in the 1960s, is one of the highest per capita income in Africa right now. But overall, I'm totally in support of leadership change coming from a country like Uganda, as you know. Well, we've had one fascist dictator for 38 years in power. We have countries like Eritrea. I don't even know how long it's been there. I think it's been there since 19, or 91, perhaps.

Adesoji Iginla (05:17.205)
91, yeah, 91.

Milton Allimadi (05:18.813)
And then we have Paul Beer in Cameroon for two years and wanting to run for another time, even though people are not sure whether he's alive or not. This is crazy. So obviously, this is the kind of developments we need in African countries. And had many of them not been manipulating elections, outcomes, many of them would have been gone a long time ago. So this is good news.

Adesoji Iginla (05:26.047)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (05:33.514)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (05:46.933)
Okay, so putting a wrench in that progressive spirit, would it be right in suggesting that the youths do not lose sight of the history that grounded most of these countries? Because it's one thing to say, you're not getting the trappings of vis-a-vis 2024, but

to lose sight of the fact of what it is those liberation movements were about in the first place and totally discard them. Because I would read into what the New York Times, New York Times is quite, is a bit celebratory about the fact that the old guard has been tossed out, thinking the youths would be much more malleable. Yeah. So what do think?

Milton Allimadi (06:33.274)
Yes, of course.

Right. Yeah, of course, that's what they're saying. And that's why I'm saying they're celebrating prematurely because the same young people who come into power are going to see that they're going to be subjected to the same conditions that all these African countries have been subjected to since our so-called independence beginning with Ghana's in 1957. They're going to find out that they are not allowed to industrialize. They're not allowed to

Adesoji Iginla (06:45.066)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (06:50.559)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (07:05.721)
produce manufactured products. In the case of Botswana, fortunately, it signed some deals over the last few years and it has been able to cut some of its diamonds domestically, creating more jobs. But a country like Sierra Leone, for example, does not cut its diamonds. So they take the diamonds, these huge big stones, and they create jobs for people in Europe and Israel.

Adesoji Iginla (07:19.551)
done okay.

Adesoji Iginla (07:24.948)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (07:35.673)
where the diamond cutting industry is located. whether it's Botswana, whether it's Senegal, where they had the elections, of course, some months ago, and they elected a young leadership in Senegal. But in Senegal, the young people who actually swept to power are conscious. In fact, one of the reasons why they were swept to power was because they were arguing against the French

neocolonial control over the economies. So I don't know the direction of the policies of new party in Botswana, but I know at least in Senegal, they realize that the economic hardship they experience is because of neocolonialism. So they're determined to change this relationship. And whether the ones in Botswana have acknowledged that or not, they're going to find out that they will need to adopt

Adesoji Iginla (08:07.733)
Correct. Correct.

Adesoji Iginla (08:14.197)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (08:34.339)
the same kind of approach that the young people in Senegal are doing. Because unless you change that and you use your own natural resources to create jobs within your country and to manufacture and to industrialize, 20 years, 30, 40, 50 from now, we'll be in the same position that Africa was in when they won independence in the 1960s.

Adesoji Iginla (08:59.413)
Okay, so judging by the coming to power of two largely young political engines in Senegal and Botswana, as the case might be now, one coming into a fairly settled economy, which is in case of Botswana. In the case of Senegal, you have one that is trying to sweep away the stench of neocolonialism.

What would that act as a vehicle? How would that act as a vehicle to the youth on the continent? hope I'm not repeating myself now. In terms of, how do we go about, is it too early to look at those two as examples of those two cases as example of how to proceed? Or it is

Let's get into the ocean and just start swimming because literally we're drowning as it is.

Milton Allimadi (10:07.713)
I should inspire them. In fact, I think if we don't see change in Uganda either before or in the next elections, which I think is 2026, I think this time, if they go through the electoral process, if those elections are stolen, I see this time that they might have sustained protests, nationwide protests, to take down the dictatorship in Uganda.

Adesoji Iginla (10:09.544)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (10:14.975)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (10:32.362)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (10:37.158)
And I would not be surprised if that is suppressed violently, that it could also actually inspire a violent reaction to bring down the dictatorship in Uganda. I think the youth in Africa, they have reached their limit. I think they saw inspiration from the election in Senegal, where a president who had tried to extend his term.

Adesoji Iginla (10:43.381)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (11:05.448)
by manipulating the constitution. know, but Senegal has a very advanced civil society organizations, see? So they were able to organize and mobilize and resist very effectively. Even though the leadership was arrested and detained, they were still able to mobilize even from the detention and to sweep that government away. You know, we saw the protests in Kenya, you know?

Adesoji Iginla (11:13.845)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (11:29.415)
into part.

Milton Allimadi (11:33.981)
because the young people in Kenya had also reached their limit, you see. Now in Kenya, it has not yet – it has not – it did not bring down the government, but the government had to back off on some of these tax initiatives. Now, meaning going forward, they're going to have to accommodate the voices of the young people in any policies that they enact, any decisions that they make. So

Adesoji Iginla (11:37.673)
Mm. Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (11:49.821)
Yeah, with the finance bill.

Milton Allimadi (12:03.407)
And I like the point that you mentioned the question of the history. And the question of history, if they don't know the history, you cannot blame the young people, you know? Because when you teach the history, you can't just say, we got rid of the Europeans. These were colonialists. You have to explain how the Europeans were preventing your country from progressing, from developing.

Adesoji Iginla (12:12.501)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (12:33.197)
And you have to explain how they kept you in this marginalized, independent economic position and what needs to be done to change that. But what have you been doing to change that? You see? And that's why they don't take that path. They don't take that path because they have not really been effective in changing the economic relations. So they just say, you know, these white European imperialists who thought they were superior to us,

Adesoji Iginla (12:33.205)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (12:46.207)
Yep. Yep.

Adesoji Iginla (12:51.369)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (13:02.338)
had been ruling us and we kicked them out. That's not enough, right? That's all well and good, but how is that going to feed me today? You see? And that's a missing connection with the history. And I see why they don't take that path. Because in terms of transforming economic relations, they were not able to accomplish that.

Adesoji Iginla (13:06.441)
You have to tell them why. Yeah. Yeah.

Adesoji Iginla (13:24.049)
Okay. Speaking of history, there is a new book out. It's titled Revolutionary Movement in Africa, an untold story. Maybe that might be the beginning of people learning about what transpired and how we got to where we are today. And so you're going to add?

Milton Allimadi (13:43.929)
Yeah.

Now was going to say, unfortunately, we don't have many parties, that are mass movement type parties today in African countries. The mass movement parties were created in the 1950s, in the 1960s, to mobilize the masses in massive numbers. The Europeans saw that and they said, you know what, we cannot stand.

Adesoji Iginla (13:59.103)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (14:16.352)
in the way of this. We have to yield and independence came, right? So today, to try to organize mass movement parties, first of all, you're going to be locked up.

Adesoji Iginla (14:17.652)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (14:29.877)
You're disturbing status quo. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (14:31.352)
You're going to be locked up because now we have the Africans who want to delete the African, you know, unproductive bourgeoisie. You know, I say unproductive because they don't create jobs. don't innovate. They don't produce. They just live off rent. Right? Yeah. By having, by sucking up the surplus from African, fellow Africans, you know, whether they're farmers, whether they're

Adesoji Iginla (14:41.557)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (14:50.022)
Rent rent rent yes

Milton Allimadi (15:00.984)
you know, civil employees. Exactly. Matter resources. They take their cut, you know, Mr 10%. You know, that's terminology, right? So as a result of that, we really don't have mass movement. Right? We have we have parties that have minimal representation. So if you have a party in power, right? If

Adesoji Iginla (15:01.781)
natural resources.

Adesoji Iginla (15:09.877)
You

Adesoji Iginla (15:14.495)
Mm-hmm.

Hmm

Adesoji Iginla (15:26.591)
Mm, mm.

Milton Allimadi (15:30.815)
an opposition party is allowed to operate. That party, structurally, is probably very similar to the one that's in power. They just want their time, you know, to eat, right? They want their time to eat. They're not transformative. They're not saying these are the kind of policies we're going to enact. You see, that's the only part where you hear them say they're going to be different.

Adesoji Iginla (15:45.445)
Yeah, that's the problem.

Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (15:53.781)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (16:00.566)
then the party in power is going to say, we'll stop corruption. We will not be stealing, right? But it's impossible to stop corruption without increasing production. You see? Because you come there, you're in power, and then you find, OK, the resources are limited. So how are you going to prevent the members of your party that brought you to office, whether you the leader yourself, your apostle of integrity, right?

How are going to stop the membership from stealing if you're not expanding economic production? See?

Adesoji Iginla (16:35.967)
Hmm.

Yes, and from one election we go out to the fallout of another. The recent election in the United States, African leaders are now sort of bending the knee as it were.

And the next one comes from Radio France International, RFI. Trump's reelection stirs up hope and doubt in Africa. African leaders have been quick to congratulate Donald Trump on his reelection, expressing optimism for stronger partnership with the United States. Yet analysts suggest Trump's next four years are unlikely to bring significant change to the U.S.-African relationship, with many expecting the return of a transactional approach to diplomacy.

And it goes further, following the election results, leaders across the continent extended their well wishes to the returning US president. I look forward to building on our mutual trust, said Kenya's president William Ruto, while Nigeria's Bola Timovo voiced hope for a reciprocal area of cooperation over the next four years. However, many observers believe that Africa previously labeled

by Trump as a continent of SO countries remains a low priority for the United States. Historically, the US foreign policy has largely neglected Africa, focusing instead on countering adversaries like China and Russia. In contrast, President Joe Biden promoted Africa as a vital partner, though little was executed during his mandate.

Adesoji Iginla (18:24.467)
According to the International Crisis Group, Morita Motinga's in Nairobi, Trump is a committed isolationist and clearly wants to pull back from global commitments. Motinga told AFP that Africa has often been viewed by the US as a problem to be solved in contrast to China's more investment focal engagement on the continent. Your take, sir.

Milton Allimadi (18:54.481)
All right, so first of all, I'm not hearing a lot being said. You're saying that Trump is isolationist-focused, right? If isolationist means we don't have NATO destroying a country like Libya, which happened under a democratic administration, then I would prefer that isolationism every time, 100%.

Adesoji Iginla (19:04.242)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (19:21.236)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (19:23.77)
Congo is burning up, right, during a democratic administration. have Sudan is burning up during a democratic administration in the US. have Cameroon has been burning up for decades. We've had democratic administrations, republic administrations, know. France, which is no longer global power, is still allowed to let Cameroon continue to burn.

Adesoji Iginla (19:41.152)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (19:53.251)
because it satisfied French interests and French companies. We have North Africa, even West Africa, Central Africa burning up because of the destruction of the legal state during a democratic administration. So what potential much more grave danger could Trump present to Africa that we have not already seen?

Adesoji Iginla (20:00.793)
Zimbabwe

Milton Allimadi (20:22.871)
either between a democratic or republican administration. You know, of course, you know, we are all appalled and outraged that he would dare, you know, refer to Africa as a collection of asshole countries. That's outrageous. That's pure outright racism. But then on the other hand, he may be articulating verbally.

what many of them feel internally anyway. You see? Now, by having said that, is he going to launch an attack on African countries? Is he going to deprive any benefits from the United States that any African country is now benefiting from? Those are the issues that we need to look at. And I submit that he's a detestable human being.

is going to be destructive in very many ways in the United States regarding U.S. relations with Africa. I'm not sure that any other president could do any worse than what we've seen over the last few years. So that's my position. I think what we need to do is this. We can't allow the narrative to always be written by others. See? We need to look.

Adesoji Iginla (21:22.856)
In suddenly.

Adesoji Iginla (21:36.319)
Mm. Mm.

Milton Allimadi (21:50.124)
Are there potential opportunities for Africa during a democratic as well as a Republican administration? Because if a Republican president wins in the United States, you're going to have to continue dealing with them anyway. know? US the global power has its military deployed all over the world, all over Africa. The US controls the World Bank and the IMF.

Adesoji Iginla (22:04.671)
Choo choo choo.

Milton Allimadi (22:20.381)
and many private banks that have resources. How are you going to address those issues going forward? You see? Now, of course, we have the issue with BRICS as well. BRICS, depending on how things go, could become like a potential game changer because what's really been holding back Africa is having access to financing that will allow these countries to industrialize.

Adesoji Iginla (22:49.289)
Australia's yeah

Milton Allimadi (22:50.517)
to use their raw materials, use them in factories within Africa, create skilled jobs within Africa, skilled, relatively higher paying jobs. And this expands the economy. And this puts some pressure, at least in, not really eliminating, but reducing corruption. Because corruption, you to be very careful when you say corruption in African country, right?

If there's no production, right? If a policeman is not getting paid livable wages, you don't think he's going to ask you for extra T to allow you to go past a roadblock? If a soldier is not being paid livable wage, you don't think he's going to ask you for extra T? Employees at the airport, where people talk about, I was so shocked.

Adesoji Iginla (23:32.607)
Hmm

Milton Allimadi (23:48.267)
I got to the airport in this African country, you know, people are asking me, I have right for bribes just to carry my bag from here to there and all that stuff. We've had all those stories, right? But we also have to be realistic. You know, before we are too judgmental sometimes without looking at what's going on. Africa's share of global trade is about 3%. Let's think about that. 3%.

Adesoji Iginla (23:59.167)
Yeah, yeah, very much so.

Adesoji Iginla (24:15.985)
percent.

Milton Allimadi (24:17.918)
QDN has all the resources.

Young people, we see the video images ourselves on TV, drowning. Who likes to drown? Who likes to die? Nobody likes to drown. Nobody likes die. And yet they keep repeatedly doing that because there's no production. They're not earning a living. So they're willing to even take risk of losing their life in the hope that if I cross the Mediterranean, even if I sweep the streets somewhere.

Adesoji Iginla (24:31.573)
Hmm. Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (24:42.26)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (24:49.077)
things could get better. Yeah.

Milton Allimadi (24:51.526)
I'm going to have some salary, wages rather, to buy for food. So then you, so in a situation like that, obviously there's corruption, there's massive, the ones I would characterize as the corruption, essential corruption, is when the government officials, when the elite, they take their cut from these multimillion dollar deals, see, the embezzled state funds.

and resources, but somebody just trying to survive on the streets. I would not really characterize that as corruption at all. That is survival. But it all comes back to the economy. You're not producing. So that's why nobody should be surprised that when people are allowed to vote and if the elections are not rigged, of course, every sitting government today in an African country would probably be voted out.

Adesoji Iginla (25:29.653)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (25:51.848)
You see, you know, maybe nine out of 10 will be voted out. Give the elections an argument. You see? Absolutely.

Adesoji Iginla (25:52.949)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (26:00.223)
based on incompetence.

based on competence. Yes, we've come to the halfway point and we have to ask viewers, please support this channel. Do subscribe. We're aiming to get to a thousand subscribers before the year runs out. And again, would urge you to bring a friend. If you find value in what you're watching, do hit the

like button, bring a subscriber, bring one along. And to add to what Brother Milton was talking about with regards to the American policy never really changes with regards to whoever the party is in power in Washington. There's a book written by Vijay Prashad titled Washington Bullets, a history of CIA coups and assassination. There it goes in depth into what the American policy looks like.

on the outside. And again from Vijay Prashad, a book actually recommended by the good comrade himself, Vijay Prashad, The Darker Nations, A People's History of the World. It gives you an in-depth analysis of how the movements in the past have come to be formed, like the non-aligned movements, which is a foreshadow for BRICS.

of how the people in the lower South can engage with the Western hegemony and, you know, carve out a place for themselves. China has done it. Singapore has done it. It's high time other countries. mean, Nigeria has twice the population of Singapore. There is no reason why Nigeria should be in the doldrums economically, politically, and what have you. So any

Adesoji Iginla (28:01.043)
Any last words on this story?

Milton Allimadi (28:02.829)
Well, okay, so I'm glad you brought up Nigeria and you made that comparison. If you could go back, and before oil became the major product, Nigeria was producing agricultural commodities.

Adesoji Iginla (28:17.981)
Yep. Yep.

Milton Allimadi (28:19.833)
Botswana is semi-arid. So in terms of agriculture, there's not so much opportunity. There's a lot of cattle production, right? So there was a major beef industry. I don't know how that was impacted by diamond. But the danger is always that we don't have a far-sighted economic policies, because often you need the money immediately. You see? So it's hard to forego money.

Adesoji Iginla (28:45.127)
Yep.

Milton Allimadi (28:49.689)
See what I'm saying? So you have oil. They want to focus on selling oil because it brings you revenue relatively quickly. You ship it, you are paid for it. You see? So you end up neglecting agriculture. Right? So you need a balanced type plan for balanced growth. You see? You need to know that you're going to get this amount of revenue from oil, this amount from diamond.

Adesoji Iginla (29:04.031)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (29:19.02)
This amount is going to be spent. This amount is going to be saved. You need to, if you need to subsidize agriculture, right? Because now you've been focusing on...

then you need to do that so that you're still producing your own food.

Milton Allimadi (29:44.136)
I that also has been a major problem.

investing too much on oil. And then, because of mismanagement, not being able to save all that windfall which could have been realized from oil. A lot of the money, as you know, was stolen. were some leaders in Nigeria who were stealing even billions of dollars. So can you imagine if Nigeria had managed its resources efficiently? Nigeria would be a global power.

Adesoji Iginla (30:11.669)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (30:17.461)
Hmm. Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (30:19.256)
But it just shows that we still have the blessing of the resources. We need good leadership. We need good leadership so that the resources can become a blessing for our people.

blessing for people overseas.

Adesoji Iginla (30:34.805)
You said that just to buttress the point with regards to Nigeria's waste of resources. There was a book a couple of years ago, almost like seven years ago now, titled The Oil Riches of Africa. And in the book, it breaks down the loss Nigeria accrues every year. We're not talking about oil now. A byproduct of oil exploration is gas.

Nigeria has been flaring its gas since it found oil in 1956. put into that idea that according to that book, using conservative estimation, says Nigeria has been flaring gas at the cost of about a billion dollars every year since 1950.

sex that oil has been discovered. So Nigeria is now 63 years old. Just add the numbers. A 63 billion up in smoke. So it's the mind boggles. But then if you bring that up, it would be a question of this, that, that, that. But that is 63 billion that could have gone to a host

of people-centered activities. But we move on. And to the next speaking of information, go to West Africa. We go to radio.gevella for the next story. And it comes and it's titled, How West Africa is Fighting Disinformation. The story is filed by Nicholas Fisher and Zanem Netizadeh.

Disinformation on West Africa's social networks is surging, particularly in the Kuhite Sahel region. This has serious consequences for the daily work of journalists. West African countries have become prime targets for social media propaganda campaigns. In the Sahel region, disinformation on social networks have nearly quadrupled in the last two years.

Adesoji Iginla (33:02.343)
According to research and studies by the African Center for Strategic Studies, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and the Nigerian online medium, Lee Evenemitz, according to the African Center, it says, an academic institution within the US Department of Defense, almost 60 % of campaign are sponsored by foreign states.

often pushing an anti-western discourse in favour of Russia.

This is a quote coming from Bilal Tahir. We know Russia's attitude towards the EU and the US, said Bilal Tahir, coordinator of the African Verification Alliance. There is a wave of anti-Western sentiment. So Russia is taking advantage of this fertile ground. The media battle intensified in 2020, shortly before the Wagner Group appeared in Mali. Your initial assessment before I continue.

Milton Allimadi (34:06.424)
So first of all, if you're going to do a propaganda piece, you should do a better job. The minute you quote an element that is a part of the US Department of Defense, I mean, are the editors really that incompetent? That they couldn't even say, let's quote everybody else except that entity. And then the story can still fly.

Adesoji Iginla (34:06.665)
I don't even know what to

Adesoji Iginla (34:13.609)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (34:20.071)
official in the US Department. Thank you very much.

Adesoji Iginla (34:28.277)
You

Adesoji Iginla (34:33.631)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (34:36.29)
You know, so you think readers are so stupid that you can tell them that, this is propaganda. In fact, we are quoting information from the US Defense Department. I mean, come on now. Even if you think the readerships are going to be mostly Africans, Africans are not that stupid, my friends. You know, it's mind-boggling how dismissive and paternalistic they can be in their propaganda.

Adesoji Iginla (34:51.509)
I don't know who.

Adesoji Iginla (34:56.755)
You

Adesoji Iginla (35:04.821)
Mmm. Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (35:05.687)
So they're talking about pro-Russia and pro-China propaganda and attacking it with propaganda. And actually, worst of all, admitting that this is propaganda. Once you're quoting an entity that's a part of the Department of Defense, yeah, it's preposterous. Nobody's denying that there is Russian propaganda.

Adesoji Iginla (35:15.253)
You

Adesoji Iginla (35:21.365)
Exactly.

Adesoji Iginla (35:29.365)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (35:35.694)
there's Chinese propaganda. What they're trying to imply is that there's no Western propaganda, you see? That's the most preposterous part of the story. Had they, a smarter editor would have said, listen, I like this story, but I want you to also mention here and there that yes, the West have also been accused of propaganda. However, that propaganda is not destructive.

Adesoji Iginla (35:43.943)
Uganda exactly, exactly. We don't do it.

Milton Allimadi (36:05.3)
as pro-Chinese or pro-Russia. And then people can debate that, you see? By not even introducing that element, you're really exposing yourself to ridicule, which is exactly what I'm saying, exposing themselves to, to absolute ridicule. Before they destroyed the Libyan state in 2011, leading to the destruction.

Adesoji Iginla (36:07.573)
You

Adesoji Iginla (36:18.069)
You

Milton Allimadi (36:32.32)
of one of the most powerful economies in Africa. know, leading to mass kills. Now Libya is a complete failed state today, leading to the death of Qadhafi and claiming they were going there to rescue Libyan civilians by bombing 24-7 for 10 months, right? They killed...

many, many times more Libyan civilians than Qadhafi had ever killed during his entire reign in Libya. And all the media outlets, the so-called mainstream media, but I don't call them mainstream because that gives them credibility, right? The corporate establishment media. Everything that they were publishing was propaganda, correct?

Adesoji Iginla (37:09.706)
media.

Milton Allimadi (37:24.648)
on a massive scale. The same Gaddafi that they had been praising because it destroyed the country's nuclear program. He started opening up Libya's economy to the West. Remember people like Tony Blair even ran there, right? All these prominent Western folks started engaging with Libya.

Adesoji Iginla (37:35.797)
Mmm.

oil industry.

Adesoji Iginla (37:44.447)
Mm-hmm. Went to meet him in the desert as well.

Milton Allimadi (37:50.082)
The same Libya, once you start attacking it in 2011, is a complete pariah. You know, see how they switch into the propaganda mode. So they really have no credibility doing any story about propaganda in Africa, pro-Russia or pro-Chinese propaganda, you know, without admitting that they, for the West, engage in massive propaganda.

Adesoji Iginla (37:55.989)
Mmm.

Adesoji Iginla (38:07.477)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (38:22.274)
Okay, let me continue. So at the same time, Facebook shut down three influential online networks on its platform, two of which were linked to Russia. You could read messages like goodbye France, welcome Russia, said Dmitry Zverif, journalist and member of the open source research community that investigate the movement of Russian paramilitary Wagner group.

country seems to be achieving its goal. Russia has managed to influence public opinion in countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso in its favour using dishonorable means. What does that mean?

Milton Allimadi (39:01.878)
I already elaborated that this honorable propaganda in destroying Libya, that's what it means to me. You see, here's the problem. And this is, I think, the only value we can add really to our sister and brothers engaged in journalism in Africa. Do not yield to Russia propaganda.

Adesoji Iginla (39:08.627)
Mmm

Milton Allimadi (39:26.156)
do not yield to Chinese propaganda and certainly do not yield to Western propaganda. What they're trying to suggest to you is that they don't engage in propaganda. So be wary of Russia and be wary of China. I'm telling you be wary of all of them.

All of them want to fulfill their own interests. You see? And with us, as African journalists, our interests should be the interests of Africa. Pure and simple. So always keep that in mind. So when a Western media...

Adesoji Iginla (39:51.956)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (40:02.872)
you talk about propaganda, ask yourself, what about your own propaganda? The Western media that is outlying propaganda. Western media that is so contemptuous of your intelligence that is actually telling you within the same story that they're getting information from the US Defense Department. How insulting could that be?

Adesoji Iginla (40:18.002)
Hmm. Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (40:23.446)
So why didn't they get information from the Russian Ministry of Defense as well? Why didn't they get the information from China's Ministry of Defense as well? Think about that. Could they do a story condemning Western propaganda in Africa and then quoting from China's Ministry of Defense? Of course not. But it's so deep-seated in their mind that they don't even see that.

Adesoji Iginla (40:34.495)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (40:48.888)
that they can just insult us or break us open.

Adesoji Iginla (40:55.135)
Wow. Okay. Before you go any further, I think this is one book I not, I would unreservedly advertise for people to actually get. It's called Manufacturing Hates, How Africa was Demonized in the Western Media. And the reason for showcasing the book is it actually points to

this piece there were actually talking about how it is, you know, crafted. And in the sense that, I mean, let me not take your time there. Could you please explain your motivation for writing it? That probably would be the best way to, you know, segue to our next story.

Milton Allimadi (41:41.242)
I mean, mean, even as a kid, born in Uganda, but really came to political consciousness in Tanzania, when my family was living in Tanzania during the time of Julius Nyerere. Tanzania, the education system was really consciousness uplifting. As you know, Nyerere was one of the most prominent.

Adesoji Iginla (41:50.728)
Okay.

Milton Allimadi (42:06.145)
So I started reading newspapers in Tanzania.

I started reading Western media as well. I'll go to the British Library. I'll go to the US Information Services. I think that's what it was called. I think it's still called that. And I noticed that when they're referring to Africa, it's always tribal, right? Always backward. So even as a kid, you see that they're trying to make a distinction between Africans and the West, between Africans and Europeans. So that really bothered me a lot.

Adesoji Iginla (42:18.981)
Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yep. At the time.

Adesoji Iginla (42:26.389)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (42:38.791)
you're not equipped intellectually to critique that. Just know there's something wrong. It was only many years later I'd come to United States. I already did my undergrad in economics at Syracuse. And then what I found, I was always writing letters to the editor complaining about how Africa was depicted, Africa depicted, how Haitians were depicted and all that.

Adesoji Iginla (42:43.477)
True.

Adesoji Iginla (43:02.901)
you

Milton Allimadi (43:06.134)
So then friends convinced me and listen, you should just become a journalist. So I went back to school. went to Columbia.

did my master's in journalism there. And then I started this, which has now become a book. I did it initially as my thesis at the graduate school of journalism. And even from that time onwards, I noticed the resistance, even as a student, because my paper had been accepted to be published in a publication called Columbia Journalism Review. Very excited about it. And then they ended up not publishing it.

And obviously I found out because essentially they were afraid of how the New York Times would react to publishing that, right? Because I went to their archives and I found letters exchanged between editors in the New York Times here in New York and reporters that sent to Africa.

and the racism, you know, you would expect, yeah, many of them harbored racism towards Africa, because, the way, it's so explicit. Not only the racism, which you can expect, but...

Milton Allimadi (44:15.443)
manufacturing, scenes, incidents that never happened in Africa, just because they wanted to maintain that racist image of Africa. So for example, I found letters written by reporters that they sent to Africa to the editors in New York complaining in the case of one, in one case, why did somebody insert,

Adesoji Iginla (44:27.125)
Mm.

Milton Allimadi (44:41.169)
an image of Nigerians dressed in grass-leaf skirts in his article. He never saw it, he never wrote it, and yet by the time the article was published in the New York Times, there it was, manufactured out of thin air, concocted by editors of the New York Times, sitting in New York City. know? So, you know, obviously, that's just one example of the critique that I have in the book.

Adesoji Iginla (44:54.229)
Mmm.

Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (45:09.524)
And not surprisingly, the book, of course, was not reviewed by the New York Times. It was only reviewed by three outlets. And now my own publisher, even though the book was selling well, is not promoting my book. So I'm fighting to get the copyrights back so I can find a publisher who is brave, who is not afraid of the New York Times, so we can get this information out to show to you that it's propaganda.

Adesoji Iginla (45:15.381)
I hope you guys enjoyed it.

Milton Allimadi (45:38.255)
is in disinformation is not a one-way street. It's not. Because I have the evidence to show that historically they even made up things which never happened in Africa and published it as something that was happening in Africa.

Adesoji Iginla (45:49.749)
Hmm

Adesoji Iginla (45:54.355)
I mean, speaking of the book, the last time I checked there were two copies on Amazon. So if you're lucky, you might just get your

Milton Allimadi (46:01.287)
Now, once I get the copyright, we will find a brave publisher, and whoever wants the book will have access to the book.

Adesoji Iginla (46:07.697)
Okay. So yeah. And again, speaking of bravery, we go to for our next story, next and final story, we go to the Horn of Africa. And it's titled Another Africa War Looms and it's from one of your favorite publications, The Economist.

It's titled, Another African War Looms. An agreement two years ago halted a bloody conflict in Ethiopia, but sow the seeds of a new one. And the story is filed by Fattasi and Fagota. The soldiers squints through his binoculars, they can see how he wants, pointing to a silhouette of two figures on a hill in the distance. The men in his line of sight are soldiers from Eritrea, but the hill is in Tigre.

a semi-autonomous region in northern Ethiopia. Eritrean soldiers control a significant chunk of Ethiopian territory on the continent, in places reaching as far as 10 kilometers inside it. And a peace agreement was signed by Ethiopian government and the TPLF, that's the Tigran People Liberation Force, on November 2nd.

2022 stopped the fight in Tigray but it did not settle the conflict between Tigray and the war's two other main parties Eritrea and the militias from Amahara. Two years on that omission helped explain why Mr Abdi faces French insurgency at home and a potential war with Eritrea. These new pressures threaten to further destabilise the Horn of Africa which is riven by tensions between several states and Wubi states

is facing fallout from a catastrophic civil war next door in Sudan. Your initial take before I read the next piece.

Milton Allimadi (48:04.421)
Well, mean, this would be catastrophic, of course, if they go back to open war. So I'm very concerned.

Adesoji Iginla (48:09.364)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (48:17.623)
I think personally, I think a lot of the situation in that part of the continent would be resolved if the Ritrian ruler, if his regime, his reign ends at some point. It has been that too long. So that is what the constant has been. That is not to take away from any of the damages that the...

Adesoji Iginla (48:18.069)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (48:41.022)
Okay.

Adesoji Iginla (48:45.717)
Mr. MD Kost.

Milton Allimadi (48:46.425)
that Abiy, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy, his militarism has also caused, right, leading to that catastrophic war with the Tigray region, which indeed they signed the peace deal.

Adesoji Iginla (48:57.589)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (49:03.81)
So if they went back to open war, that would be catastrophic. Absolutely. So it should be of concern to many people. I think it's going to be difficult to have long-lasting stability in that region, so long as the European leader, after working, remains there. He's been there too long. mean...

that the six years almost, you know, that's just too long for any country, let alone in Africa. We can't have that system anymore, right, in this part of the 21st century. So that's my initial number one concern. Number two, of course.

Warfare would just be catastrophic because we already have Sudan, right? We have instability in South Sudan. As you said, we have Congo, another outright full hostilities. It would just be catastrophic. And you know, the people who suffer are not even the soldiers, right? If the fighting was just confined to soldier to soldier, that would be terrible, correct? But.

Adesoji Iginla (49:49.183)
Sudan Congo

Adesoji Iginla (50:13.609)
Yeah, yeah, skill, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (50:14.945)
The victims are not even soldier to soldier. Probably 99 % of the victims are always going to be civilians who are killed, who are massacred, who are raped, who are starved. So we must be concerned about the situation and hope it does not deteriorate to full scale war because then you're going to have.

Adesoji Iginla (50:19.049)
the women and children.

Adesoji Iginla (50:26.069)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (50:29.791)
Hmm. Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (50:44.695)
Tigray region with Eritrea fighting or perhaps even the Ethiopian state itself joining with the Tigray region to fight against Eritrea and then we have the Amhara region that has its own conflict.

Adesoji Iginla (50:53.109)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (51:05.162)
both the Tigray region as well as the central government in Ethiopia. So this is something that is brewing. It could be a catastrophic situation.

Adesoji Iginla (51:10.143)
the Ethiopians.

Adesoji Iginla (51:19.103)
Hmm. Okay. Let me read the fine. There's a there's a piece here I was looking out for. Yeah, yeah. Perhaps more worrying for the wider Horn of Africa is the breakdown in relations between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Soon after coming to power in 2018, Mr. Abdi engineered a Nobel Prize winning reproachment with Isaiah's affair key.

Eritrean aging dictator who fought a bloody war with Ethiopia in the late 1990s. Much of that fighting back then had been a long Tigran border leading to enmity between the Eritreans and the TPLF. When the war broke out again in Tigray in 2020, Mr Abdi and Mr Isaiah joined forces to crush the common foe. Eritrean forces proceeded to commit some of the conflict's most worst atrocities.

One flashpoint might be the disputed territories in Western Tigraya for nearly four hundred years. Hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans were forced to flee from their homes and they have been stocked in limbo in other parts of the region. The peace deal two years ago was supposed to ensure Ethiopians' warring parties could mend such rifts through further negotiation rather than violence.

But no such talks have materialized. The agreement has failed to evolve into a proper peace deal, said American diplomat. For now, it's no more than a ceasefire, one that could easily collapse.

Milton Allimadi (52:59.125)
Okay, so obviously the problem is now they're quoting an American diplomat, right? No, but it's not by accident. It's because there's no African leader who carries the kind of weight to be respected. That could actually weigh in.

Adesoji Iginla (53:01.769)
Mm-hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (53:11.839)
They evolved.

Adesoji Iginla (53:19.433)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (53:23.999)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (53:24.222)
come to that region and say, you know, there's no Nyerere, right? Who there's no Mandela. There's no Nkrumah. Who could say Abbe, Afawaki? Let's sit down.

Adesoji Iginla (53:35.765)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (53:46.367)
And that is why they, of course, can quote a U.S. official who now becomes the prominent player in a situation like this. Whereas in the 1970s, if you remember, when we were dealing with the fight against white minority rule in South Africa, in what was then Rhodesia, in Angola.

Adesoji Iginla (53:50.805)
Hmm

Adesoji Iginla (54:06.675)
in South Africa.

Adesoji Iginla (54:14.333)
in Namibia.

Milton Allimadi (54:14.531)
in Mozambique, Western diplomats, they would fly to Africa. Who would they fly to go and see? It would be Nyerere, Kaunda, and those leaders of what they call the frontline states. You see? So now where's the frontline states to resolve the remaining or the new crisis that we have in Africa? It's not there.

Adesoji Iginla (54:26.793)
the lights. Yep.

Milton Allimadi (54:44.754)
The frontline states was not something initiated by Western leaders. No, these were Africans who sat down and said, we have a problem. How shall we tackle it? They formed the frontline states. They mobilized African support. They mobilized African resources. And they succeeded. Right? So we need

Adesoji Iginla (54:49.407)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (55:08.265)
this book in one voice.

Milton Allimadi (55:12.924)
perhaps the kind of new leaders in countries like Senegal, they still have some moral compass, correct? They have not been associated with major crimes of corruption, embezzling, committing massacres, right? So if the president of Senegal,

Adesoji Iginla (55:23.103)
Correct?

Adesoji Iginla (55:33.189)
Yes.

Milton Allimadi (55:38.961)
says I would like to become a mediator in this crisis. I think he would get the respect. I would rather have him be quoted in these types of articles than some mysterious US diplomat when we know the US agenda in the region might defer.

Adesoji Iginla (55:52.479)
Of course.

Adesoji Iginla (55:58.453)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (56:09.446)
what is best in the interest of Africa, you see? So that's what I'm suggesting. We need Africans that can still be respected to step up to the plate. And I imagine the leader in Senegal is dealing with a lot of situations that he inherited, you see? But I think they should still be able to find the time, right, to devote in the interest of peace and stability in other parts of Africa.

Adesoji Iginla (56:26.517)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (56:40.09)
that would impact a large part of the continent and indirectly, you know, his own country as well. So for example, we have also the newly elected leader in Botswana. They still have relatively clean hands. So him and the leader of Senegal, if they were to make a joint statement, I think it would carry weight.

Adesoji Iginla (57:02.121)
We'll carry some weight. Yeah, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (57:03.237)
and then we can build from that. Those are the kind of approaches that we need to many of the crises that we face in Africa. We have to be initiators and not always just follow us, follow us, follow us, like blind people, you see?

Adesoji Iginla (57:17.971)
Hmm. There's one last part in that article I wanted to bring your attention to. It's here. Sign up to Analyze in Africa, a weekly newsletter that keeps you the loop about the world's youngest and least understood continent.

Milton Allimadi (57:42.905)
Yeah, I mean, what else is new? If they're taking advantage of our resources, our minerals, why would they not take advantage of that opportunity as well? And that goes back to what I just said. We have to be the initiators. When we see change in their own countries, we also have to ask ourselves, what can we do differently to take advantage of changes in their own countries, even including the election of a Donald Trump?

Adesoji Iginla (57:55.594)
Mm.

Adesoji Iginla (58:12.213)
Mmm.

Milton Allimadi (58:12.406)
as detestable as he may be. How can we reorient our politics and our policies to take advantage of that opportunity if he's only there for four years? And after four years, we see what to do again. We're always just sitting back. what are they going to do for us? What are they going to do against us? What are they? Come on now, wake up. Do something for yourself. You know?

And that's our problem.

Adesoji Iginla (58:43.765)
Don't be the proverbial stones that things happen to.

Milton Allimadi (58:47.743)
Absolutely. is Trump going to be a danger to Africa? No. The question should be, what can Africa do to take advantage of Trump?

We're not as helpless or hopeless as they've convinced so many of us to believe. We have the resources, and they want the resources, whether it's Trump or anybody else in the White House.

Adesoji Iginla (59:08.582)
Yeah, we do.

Adesoji Iginla (59:13.791)
So make a deal.

Adesoji Iginla (59:17.653)
Make a deal with the art of the deal maker. yes, Comrade was saying earlier the story of the Horn of Africa. There's a book, The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa, Money, War and the Business of Power written by Alex DeWall. And it's a very, very insightful book. And yeah, yeah, Alex DeWall, yeah.

Milton Allimadi (59:40.513)
Yeah, I haven't read it, but I respect the world. I respect the world tremendously.

Adesoji Iginla (59:46.867)
Yeah, he's done. I mean, he did a brilliant. I've read the Somali part, I've read the South Sudan part. I am on now to the Ethiopian part. yeah, he does a brilliant, tracing the money, the people who come in who, you know, set people against each other. He is on the money. He is on the money. Again, the title of the book is

The Real Politics of the Horn of Africa, Money, War and the Business of Power. Alex DeVoe.

And so we've come to the end of this week's episode of African News Review. Again, with me was comrade Milton Alimadi. comrade, last words, last words.

Milton Allimadi (01:00:36.618)
Well, I love, love, love, love being in Africa. I'm very proud to say that. I wake up so excited every day as an African. The possibilities of what we can accomplish for our fellow sisters and brothers, Africana people globally gives me much excitement every day.

Adesoji Iginla (01:00:48.085)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (01:01:04.336)
disappointed and I think that

Milton Allimadi (01:01:10.951)
our young people should also have that kind of and yeah, they're demoralizing.

by situations in many, African countries. But.

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:26.005)
Mm-hmm.

Milton Allimadi (01:01:31.431)
It is not always going to be that way. It was never always that way. You see? And that is where the importance of history comes

Milton Allimadi (01:01:44.595)
feel the way I am is because I've had time to learn much of our history. So many Africans that succumb to white supremacist inferiority complex is because they don't know the history, right? First of all, all human beings originated from what is now called Africa. It was not Africa before. Africa, that's not even really.

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:50.869)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:01:59.285)
True.

Milton Allimadi (01:02:10.888)
can't say an African word because Africa did not exist, right? But what I'm saying is the region of the world now known as Africa is where human beings originated from. Had they not left about 100,000 years ago, everybody would look like you and I. Other so-called races came into being.

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:23.285)
correct?

Milton Allimadi (01:02:34.662)
from the people who left what is now called Africa. So how can they be inferior to anybody when in fact they gave birth to everybody else, whether Asian, whether European and all that. So that's number one. Number two, they built the great civilization of Kemet, AKA ancient Egypt.

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:39.16)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:43.477)
to else exactly.

Adesoji Iginla (01:02:55.113)
Hmm.

Milton Allimadi (01:02:58.81)
And that was not like an outlier or something that happened by accident. No, because to some extent, they replicated those civilizations in West Africa, right? Ghana, Mali, Songhai, you name it, right? Before even a single European country existed, many of them were already building civilizations, right? So once you know this history,

It will make you realize, wow, the current challenges we are facing.

was manufactured by somebody and imposed on us. So we can undo it and move to a better space. That is why history is very important. So read your history, become much more informed. That in itself would make you a better person. And then once you're a better person, you are much more knowledgeable. You can start engaging in the right type of activities to uplift fellow Africans. So that would be my parting words for today.

Adesoji Iginla (01:03:37.781)
Hmm.

Adesoji Iginla (01:04:04.338)
Mine would be, this week would have been the birthday of the African author and poet Chinua Achebe. And one of his famous quotes is, for a long time, the history of the hunt has been glorifying the hunters. For now, the lions have decided to...

tell their story of what they hunt is. Which is what we're doing here on the African News Review. Is telling the story, like you said earlier, stop waiting for what they're going to do. You do something, be much more proactive. So happy birthday to both humans Lee, of course, to the late great Genoa Chabe. And yes. And so until next week,

Milton Allimadi (01:04:53.626)
Yes, happy birthday ancestor.

Adesoji Iginla (01:05:00.113)
It is good night and God bless.

Milton Allimadi (01:05:04.379)
See you

Adesoji Iginla (01:05:05.823)
See you next week.