Category: Entertainment

OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO —

The Pan-African Film Festival of Ouagadougou returns to Burkina Faso this weekend after being canceled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One Burkinabe director, who has made a film documenting a nursery for the infants of sex workers, talks about the importance of telling African stories through cinema.

Moumouni Sanou is a documentary film director from Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina Faso’s second largest city.

In 2019, he made a film, which is being screened at The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, or FESPACO.

Night Nursery follows the story of an older woman who runs a nighttime home for sex workers’ children in Bobo Dioulasso.

Sanou said he wants Night Nursery to humanize sex workers.

Sanou said the idea was to show a different side to sex workers, which is very rarely seen. In Burkina Faso and in the rest of Africa this profession is frowned upon, he said. “But it is also the oldest profession in the world. When we see these girls, people say they are bad people because they are sex workers,” he adds.

FESPACO has been running since 1969 and this year will feature films from around 30 African countries in its official selection. Cinema professionals and cinephiles travel from all over Africa and beyond to attend.

“FESPACO is one of the biggest African film festivals, and for me to be selected and represent Burkina Faso in the documentary film section will mean this film will be seen by the whole world, not just by Africans,” Sanou said.

Ardiouma Soma, the director of FESPACO, says that this year, the event will also host the African International Film & TV Market — known as MICA — for the first time.

Soma said, because this year the MICA will be held at FESPACO they have invited distributors, whose names he prefers not to mention, to Ouagadougou. He said the market will allow them to find new projects that are in post-production and also films that are already finished but not scheduled for FESPACO, so that they can buy them for their own platforms.

Last year, FESPACO, which usually happens every two years, was cancelled due to COVID-19. Burkina Faso is also in the middle of a conflict with terrorist groups linked to Islamic State and al-Qaida.

Burkina Faso’s culture minister, Élise Foniyama Ilboudo Thiombiano, said it is important the festival goes on.

She said it’s a challenge for Burkinabè to continue to be able to keep the festival going every two years. But it is through cinema we can see the vision of Africans and the people who live on this continent, she adds. She points out that her predecessors all made sure FESPACO remained a focal point for Africa and she intends to do the same.

As for Sanou, he is hoping Night Nursery could receive an award, and the recognition it needs to win a wide audience.

Source: Voice of America

A South Sudan women’s rights activist has been named one of three winners of an award given by Amnesty International USA recognizing women who the group says “protect the dignity, liberties and lives of women and children in crisis regions.”

Riya William Yuyada, executive director of Crown the Women-South Sudan, was honored for her commitment to women’s safety, equality and empowerment in South Sudan.

Named for an Italian-born American human rights activist who spent years defending women unfairly persecuted by oppressive governments, the annual Ginetta Sagan Award comes with a grant of $20,000.

Norma Andrade, a human right defender in Mexico who works with mothers of slain daughters, and Naw K’nyaw Paw, who helps displaced women and girls in Thai refugee camps, were co-winners, Amnesty told VOA.

Yuyada told South Sudan in Focus that she accepted the award on behalf of women and girl activists in South Sudan.

“I feel excited, and I must say it is not just an award recognizing Riya for her outstanding work toward the fight for women’s rights, but also an award for all the South Sudan women who are working hard for better [conditions] and all the girls and women that I work with,” Yuyada told VOA.

Crown the Women-South Sudan has carried out mentorships in 10 schools in Juba to inspire girls to stay focused in school and to promote girls’ education.

The largest group of out-of-school children in South Sudan are girls, according to the UNICEF. Poverty, child marriage, and cultural and religious beliefs hinder girls’ education.

Yuyada’s group also links older South Sudanese women as mentors with younger women struggling to overcome challenges.

Yuyada plans to use some of the $20,000 award money to build a healing center for survivors of rape and other gender-based violence in South Sudan.

“My dream has always been to have a healing studio or healing center for survivors of sexual violence, especially survivors of rape,” she said. “So, I will acquire a piece of land with it and then see what follows next.”

Yuyada said the recognition from the award will pave the way for her to connect with the two other women who have won the Sagan award.

“We are three this year uniquely, so I believe this award is going to help me tap into the network of Sagan’s family … to amplify further issues on women and girls’ human rights here in South Sudan and [across] the continent,” Yuyada said.

Source: Voice of America

Paul McCartney has revisited the breakup of The Beatles, flatly disputing the suggestion that he was responsible for the group’s demise.

Speaking on an episode of BBC Radio 4’s “This Cultural Life” that is scheduled to air on Oct. 23, McCartney said it was John Lennon who wanted to disband The Beatles.

“I didn’t instigate the split,” McCartney said. “That was our Johnny.”

The band’s fans have long debated who was responsible for the breakup, with many blaming McCartney. But McCartney said Lennon’s desire to “break loose” was the main driver behind the split.

Confusion about the breakup was allowed to fester because their manager asked the band members to keep quiet until he concluded a number of business deals, McCartney said.

The interview comes ahead of Peter Jackson’s six-hour documentary chronicling the final months of the band. “The Beatles: Get Back,” set for release in November on Disney+, is certain to revisit the breakup of the legendary band. McCartney’s comments were first reported by The Observer.

When asked by interviewer John Wilson about the decision to strike out on his own, McCartney retorted: “Stop right there. I am not the person who instigated the split. Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said, ‘I am leaving The Beatles.’ Is that instigating the split, or not?”

McCartney expressed sadness over the breakup, saying the group was still making “pretty good stuff.”

“This was my band, this was my job, this was my life. So, I wanted it to continue,” McCartney said.

Source: Voice of America

Ethiopia’s Seifu Tura Abdiwak won the Chicago men’s marathon on Sunday and Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich the women’s race.

The 24-year-old Tura completed the 42-kilometer course in 2:06:12, beating out American Galen Rupp, who finished close behind with an official time of 02:06:35.

Chepngetich, 27, finished her race in 02:22:31, with Emma Bates of the United States coming in second at 02:24:20.

One of the best-known long-distance races, the Boston Marathon, is set for Monday in the northeastern U.S. city. The coronavirus pandemic caused the race, normally run in April, to be moved to Monday’s date.

Source: Voice of America

PARIS —

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that his country will return 26 African artworks — royal thrones, ceremonial altars, revered statues — to Benin later this month, part of France’s long-promised plans to give back artwork taken from Africa during the colonial era.

Discussions have been under way for years on returning the artworks from the 19th century Dahomey Kingdom. Called the “Abomey Treasures,” they currently are held in the Quai Branly Museum in Paris. The museum, near the Eiffel Tower, holds thousands of works from former French colonies.

Macron said the 26 pieces will be given back at the end of October, “because to restitute these works to Africa is to give African young people access to their culture.” It remains unclear when exactly they will arrive in Benin.

“We need to be honest with ourselves. There was colonial pillage, it’s absolutely true,” Macron told a group of African cultural figures at an Africa-France gathering in the southern city of Montpellier. He noted other works already were returned to Senegal and Benin, and the restitution of art to Ivory Coast is planned.

Cameroon-born art curator Koyo Kouoh pressed Macron for more efforts to right past wrongs.

“Our imagination was violated,” she said.

“Africa has been married to France in a forced marriage for at least 500 years,” Kouoh said. “The work (on mending relations) that should have been done for decades wasn’t done…It’s not possible that we find ourselves here in 2021.”

A sweeping 2018 report commissioned by Macron recommended that French museums give back works that were taken without consent, estimating that up to 90% of African art is located outside the continent. Some other European countries are making similar efforts.

Three years later, few artworks have been returned. To facilitate the repatriation of the Abomey Treasures, France’s parliament passed a law in December 2020 allowing the state to hand the works over and giving it up to one year to do so.

The Africa-France meeting Friday was frank and occasionally heated. Macron, who is trying to craft a new French strategy for Africa. met with hundreds of African entrepreneurs, cultural leaders and young people.

Speakers from Nigeria, Chad, Guinea and beyond had a long list of demands for France: reparations for colonial crimes, withdrawal of French troops, investment that bypasses corrupt governments and a tougher stance toward African dictatorships.

Macron defended France’s military presence in Mali and other countries in the Sahel region as necessary to keep terrorists at bay, and he refused to apologize for the past.

But he acknowledged that France has a “responsibility and duty” to Africa because of its role in the slave trade and other colonial-era wrongs. Noting that more than 7 million French people have a family link to Africa, Macron said France cannot build its future unless it “assumes its Africanness.”

Source: Voice of America

GENEVA —

A report by U.N. human rights chief Michele Bachelet finds some progress has been made in the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the report finds extensive violations and abuses continue unabated in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. Bachelet is calling for a system of what the U.N. calls “transitional justice” to address the situation.

The report says the total number of human rights violations and abuses in eastern Congo dropped slightly during the period between June 1, 2020, and May 31, 2021, compared to the year before.

Despite this decrease, it says the number of people killed in summary and extrajudicial executions rose to more than 600. That includes nearly 400 people killed by a rebel group in Ituri province, and 236 people killed by members of the Congolese security and defense forces in the provinces of Ituri and North Kivu.

U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif, who presented the report to the U.N. Human Rights Council this week, said violations by Congolese armed forces continue to pose serious concerns.

“These violations undermine efforts deployed to secure the east of the country,” she said. “I urge the government to take the necessary measures to ensure that military operations of the armed forces against armed groups are conducted in strict compliance with human rights and international humanitarian law, and that violations by any members of the security forces are investigated and prosecuted promptly in accordance with the right to fair trial standards.”

During the reporting period, Al-Nashif said, Congolese courts have convicted nearly 300 members of the DRC armed forces, Congolese national police as well as members of armed groups on various charges. Some were found guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

She says it is critical that the DRC implement a system of transitional justice so perpetrators of violations and abuses continue to be prosecuted.

“As the High Commissioner has stated during previous sessions of the Human Rights Council, transitional justice is key to unblocking the vicious circle of violence that persists in the DRC,” Al-Nashif said. “The establishment of transitional justice mechanisms needs to effectively address impunity, guarantee access to justice and redress for victims, and ensure the implementation of guarantees of non-repetition.”

Transitional justice is a strategy, a way for countries emerging from conflict and repression to deal with human rights violations that are too large for a normal system of justice to tackle. It can include setting up special courts to prosecute gross human rights violations, reforming the existing justice system, or establishing a truth and reconciliation commission.

U.N. Human Rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told VOA that the U.N. cannot prescribe what form transitional justice should take in the DRC. This, she says, “depends on what the victims and civil society in the country demand.”

DRC Minister for Human Rights, Albert Fabrice Puela, says his government is determined to set up a National Commission for Transitional Justice and create a national reparation fund for victims of serious crimes.

Source: Voice of America

MANILA —

Boxing legend Manny Pacquiao is officially hanging up his gloves.

The eight-division world champion and Philippine senator on Wednesday announced his retirement from the ring.

“I would like to thank the whole world, especially the Filipino people, for supporting Manny Pacquiao. Goodbye boxing,” the 42-year-old said in a video posted on his Facebook page. “It is difficult for me to accept that my time as a boxer is over. Today I am announcing my retirement.”

Pacquiao finished his 26-year, 72-fight career with 62 wins, eight losses and two draws. Of those 62 wins, 39 were by knockout and 23 by decision. He won 12 world titles and is the only fighter in history to win titles in eight different weight classes.

His retirement from boxing followed a disheartening defeat to Yordenis Ugas in Paradise, Nevada, on Aug. 21. The younger Cuban boxer beat Pacquiao by unanimous decision, retaining his WBA welterweight title. It was Pacquiao’s first fight in more than two years.

“Thank you for changing my life. When my family was desperate, you gave us hope, you gave me the chance to fight my way out of poverty,” Pacquiao said in the video. “Because of you, I was able to inspire people all over the world. Because of you I have been given the courage to change more lives.”

Pacquaio had hinted at retirement recently. It had also been expected because he is setting his sights on a bigger political battlefield. Earlier this month, he accepted his political party’s nomination and declared he will run for Philippines president in elections next May.

He has accused the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, his former ally, of making corruption worse in the Philippines. He promised to fight poverty and warned corrupt politicians they will soon end up in jail.

Pacquiao’s rags-to-riches life story and legendary career brought honor to his Southeast Asian nation, where he is known by the monikers Pacman, People’s Champ and National Fist.

He left his impoverished home in the southern Philippines as a teenager and stowed away on a ship bound for Manila. He made his professional boxing debut as a junior flyweight in 1995 at the age of 16, fighting his way out of abject poverty to become one of the world’s highest-paid athletes.

Eddie Banaag, a 79-year-old retiree, said Pacquiao was his idol as a boxer and he watched almost all of his fights. But he believes the boxing icon should have retired earlier.

“He should have done that right after his victory over (Keith) Thurman,” Banaag said of Pacquiao’s win over Thurman on July 20, 2019, in Las Vegas, Pacquiao’s second-to-last fight. “It would have been better if he ended his boxing career with a win rather than a loss.”

Still, Pacquiao believes he will always be remembered as a winner. Hundreds of millions of dollars in career earnings and his record in the ring leave no doubt.

“I will never forget what I have done and accomplished in my life,” Pacquiao said Wednesday. “I just heard the final bell. The boxing is over.”

Source: Voice of America

As the setting sun turns the Arghandab river violet, seven young Taliban turn in a circle on the bank, singing and dancing in traditional Afghan style.

The scene would have been unimaginable 20 years ago, when the hard line Islamist group were first in power and banned music outright.

And just months ago the riverbed was the site of bloody clashes between the Taliban and government forces — the concrete bridge the men are dancing under is cleft in two, destroyed in fighting.

But now a chorus rises from the rocky bank, as they move from side to side, clapping their hands and chanting the lyrics of a patriotic Afghan song: “Send me a hello from Kabul… I miss you very much.”

When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, all entertainment, including singing and dancing, was forbidden.

But these younger Taliban do listen to music — even if most of it is religious.

Since the group’s return to power in mid-August, even its leaders seem to have relaxed slightly on the topic — at least in larger cities, where people are not being punished for listening to music.

The young Taliban under the bridge have come here to relax before they head back to Kandahar, the group’s spiritual birthplace, just 10 kilometers (six miles) away.

Although the origin of their song is unclear, it celebrates national unity in a country riven with ethnic and tribal divisions.

“This song belongs to us, it belongs to our country,” says Hafiz Mudasir, a dancer in his twenties.

We had a plan’

Like his companions, he is tall, thin and bearded — and still full of excitement at his group’s victory after two decades of fighting the US-led occupation and the former government.

“Twenty years ago, American troops arrived, but we had a plan,” he says.

Taliban fighters took Kabul on August 15 following a lightning offensive launched in May as the United States and NATO began their final withdrawal.

They have promised a more moderate brand of rule this time — though they have made clear that they will run Afghanistan within the restrictive limits of their interpretation of sharia law.

“We’re not doing anything bad. It’s our enemies who are spreading rumors, saying we’re killing people,” says Hafiz.

But many in Afghanistan are distrustful and fear a return to the harsh rule of the 1990s.

‘The price you pay’

As the sun vanishes below the horizon, the dancers are joined by 20 or so other Taliban members.

They spread out rugs on the pebbles of the riverbank and begin to pray in the fading light.

Bread and melons await them when they are finished.

As evening falls, a line of vehicles passes by the foot of the bridge, splashing across the riverbed to get to the other bank.

They used to be able to use the bridge, until last December, when the Taliban, looking to isolate Kandahar, detonated a vehicle stuffed full of explosives on it.

The bridge collapsed in the middle, leaving a 10-metre-wide hole with government forces on one side, and the Taliban on the other.

A police station on the Taliban side came under attack by the militants, who sent suicide bombers to kill the policemen trapped there.

But that attack — like many others that saw civilians killed — does not appear to stir Hafiz’s conscience.

He tells AFP such violence is the price the Taliban pay to “spread Islam in the region.”

And if an innocent is killed, “he can thank God, because it’s good to die a martyr.”

Source: Voice of America

Mogadishu, Dozens of Somalis posed for selfies and chattered excitedly in rows of red, plush seats as they waited for the start of their country’s first movie screening in three decades.

Among the crowd in the National Theatre was 24-year-old Kaif Jama, the writer and star of both films on the program – the horror story “Hoos”, about a single woman moving into an empty house, and a not-so-romantic comedy called “Date from Hell”.

“This means something for everyone including me. This is for every Somali who wants to make movies,” Jama said, wearing a traditional Somali dress striped silver, yellow and green.

She left Somalia when she was six and moved between Kenya and Uganda before settling in Cairo aged 19.

Since then, she has made 60 short films and skits with Somali filmmaker Ibrahim CM.

Somalis have spent years watching Indian and Arab films on their televisions, she said. “But if our own movies come to cinemas and TVs then every single Somali person and child will be shaped and influenced by their own culture,” Reuters reported.

The National Theatre, a gift from China’s Mao Zedong, opened its doors in 1967.

It became an important home for Somalia’s rich storytelling tradition, hosting plays, musical extravaganzas and, in the 1980s, pan-African film festivals.

After the overthrow of president Siad Barre in 1991, clan-based warlords blasted each other with anti-aircraft guns and fought over the theatre, which they used as a base. The building was hit so many times that the roof collapsed a year into the conflict.

Islamist militants who seized control in 2006 took over the building. They banned all forms of public entertainment – from concerts to football matches – that they considered sinful.

African Union peacekeeping troops clawed back control of the capital in 2011 and the new Western-backed Somali government reopened the venue the following year. But just three weeks after that, a suicide bomber from the Islamist al Shabaab insurgency struck during a ceremony, killing six people. The building reopened again in 2020.

Mogadishu resident Hassan Abdulahi Mohamed remembered spending half a Somali shilling on a movie ticket and one shilling on snacks at the theatre in the 1960s.

Source: Bahrain News Agency