Nigeria are champions and Cameroon loses event

A lot has happened in African football recently. On Saturday Nigeria became champions in the Women´s African Cup of Nations by beating South Africa on penalties in the final. Both nations are through to the World cup next year together with Cameroon who grabbed the last World cup spot by finishing third after a 4-2-win against Mali.

When it comes to the men´s edition of the competition, Cameroon have been stripped of hosting the event. This is because of delays in the preparation for the competition. According to BBC, Morocco, South Africa and Egypt are now candidates to host the tournament next year.

Hailu Mergia and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie in Stockholm!

Very soon two famous people from the African continent will attend events in Stockholm. The Ethiopian musician Hailu Mergia will have a concert at Fasching on November 25 and the world famous Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie will speak at Kulturhuset on Novermber 26.

Time for the Women´s African Cup of Nations!

On saturday it´s time for the Women´s Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana. Eight teams will compete for the honour of calling themselves the best national team on the continent. The final will be played on december 1. The top three teams advance to the World cup next year.

The eight teams are divided into two groups.
Group A
Ghana, Algeria, Mali, Cameroon
Group B
Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea

Nigeria are defending champions and have won the competion ten times! Only Equatorial Guinea has also managed to win the tournament (two times). One of the most shining star players of this year´s tournament is Asisat Oshoala who has been named Africa´s best player multiple times.

The Nigerian with a milestone in robotics

Another great science mind from Africa is Nigerian-born Silas Adekunle who is making a name for himself in the world of technology. He is the man behind the first intelligent gaming robot named Mekamon. Read more here: https://thisisafrica.me/nigeria-adekunle-highest-paid-robotics-engineer/

The new Biafra movement

In recent years the Biafra independence movement has been highlighted again. Why is this

happening? I decided to get in touch with Henrik Angerbrandt, a political scientist at the

Stockhollm university who is an expert on Nigeria. The following questions with answers is my

own translation of our conversation via e-mail.

When did this new Biafra movement start and why?

There has been a movement (MASSOB) that started after the transition from military government

in 1999. The movement that has mobilized lately was spurred by the 2015 elections when a

president was elected, who was in the civil war and that many in southeastern Nigeria view as

part of the power elite who they mean have marginalized the area in the national politics. Atrigger

for the current movement was also when one of the leaders for IPOB (a new separatist group)

who ran a pro-Biafra radio station in the UK was arrested. The authorities said the leader has

encouraged violence against the state, which is said to be the reason for the arrest

How strong is the movement that want Biafra as a state separated from Nigeria?

Even if the movement has succeded in mobilizing big protests in the street, I think the general

support is relatively weak, although many agree that the Igbo group has been marginalized.

Central political actors dont support this movement which is a difference from the 1960s. Many

people live in other parts of the country have their family spread out throughout the country. Most

people prefer more influence in Nigeria over having an own nation.

Can you tell us a little bit about Nnamdi Kanu, a leader of this movement?

The arrest of Kanu was the trigger for the recent mobilization. He was relatively unknown before

that and the movement has now centereda round him as a person. But he is cotroversial even in

Biafra because of his dual citizenship (also British) and not everyone view him as rooted in the

area. He has been lost for a few months and IPOB mean that he has been taken by security forces,

which is denied by the authorities. Recent pictures say that he is in Israel now, but the Israeli

authorities denies this claim. But this seems to undermine his position, because some mean that

he has fled instead of fighting for the cause.

Biafra failed to form a state 50 years ago. What meaning does this have for the current

movement,do they see this as a revenge or is the movement weakend by the attempt 50 years ago?

The recent movement is living off the legacy of the movement in the 1960s. But it is a new

generation who is running this agenda. They use the same symbols, so in some way you can call

it a rebirth of the same struggle, so you could also call it an attempt at revenge. But in this area

people are also familiar with that war means suffering. That makes people look for other

solutions, such as more inclusion into the Nigerian state.

Nigerian fashion makes a big impact

On October 24th it´s once again time for Lagos fashion week in Nigeria´s biggest city. The aim is to be a force for the Nigerian and African fashion industry. We can at least say that Nigeria recently has succeded in making a name for itself in the fashion industry. One of the better known fashion designers is Amaka Osakwe who has founded the label Maki oh. People like Michelle Obama are known to have worn Amaka Osakwes clothes. Amaka Osakwe is famous for blending Nigerian and Western influences.

The World Cup Is Over

The world cup is over for this time. The african teams unfortunately did not perform so well in this tournament. Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Senegal and Nigeria were all eliminated in the group stage.

Senegal came closest, but were eliminated due to the fact that Japan had fewer cards. Senegal is the first team in history to be eliminated because of the fair play rule.

Egypt´s poor performances at the World cup is a mystery. The national team has won the African cup of nations a record seven times. In club competions, the Egyptian teams Al Ahly and Zamalek have won most titles (eight for Al Ahly and five for Zamalek) in the African Champions league. Despite this success on continental level, the national team have only appeared in three World cups and didn´t qualify for the second round in the 2018 edition.

But we shouldn´t forget that many players in the winning French team have African backgrounds. Lets name those in the staring eleven: The central defender Samuel Umtiti was born in Cameroon, midfielder Paul Pogba´s parents are from Guinea, midfielder Ngolo Kanté has parents from Mali, Kylian Mbappé has a father from Cameroon and a mother from Algeria and Blaise Matuidi has an Angolan father and a mother from D.R. Congo.