Africa Blog Roundup: M23, South Sudan, Mali, al Shabab, and More

Commentary on the Democratic Republic of Congo and the fall of Goma to forces from M23:

• Jason Stearns (and here).
• Kris Berwouts at African Arguments.
• Amb. John Campbell.
• Michael Nelson.

Dipnote/US State Department:

What surprised me on this trip, however, were the enormous logistical challenges faced by humanitarians who were trying to help and protect both the refugees and the communities that host them. Yida in Unity State and the Maban camps in Upper Nile are very difficult places to reach and quite far from South Sudan’s capital city of Juba. In the rainy season, the dirt roads to both areas are completely cut off for months at a time. This has meant that aid supplies have to be stockpiled in advance of the rains or flown in at incredible expense.

Internally Displaced: “The South Sudan National Archive: Taking Stock.”

Peter Tinti: “What Has the US Already Tried in Mali?”

Two pieces on Somalia’s al Shabab:

• Abdi Aynte: “The Somali militant group al-Shabaab is currently losing ferocious battles against Kenyan troops in Southern Somalia –  part of an African Union peacekeeping mission. However, they are winning a strategic war back in Kenya; this is the battle for hearts and minds.”
• And Amb. David Shinn flags a new study (.pdf), “Lights, Camera, Jihad: Al-Shabaab’s Western Media Strategy.”

Justin Scott:

The richest literary prize in the world, the Nobel Prize, carries a US$1.1 million purse. The richest lit prize in Africa, the NLNG Nigeria Prize for Literature, doesn’t quite match up, but it does guarantee the winner a whopping US$100,000. It’s been around since 2004, with the purse increasing from $20,000 to $40,000 in 2006 and finally to $100,000 in 2008. The latest prize, awarded at the start of November, went to Chika Unigwe for her novel “On Black Sisters Street.” Though there has been widespreadpraise for Unigwe across the Naijanet, talk of the politics of her win has been muted.

These politics have been addressed before, but critiques focus mostly on the kinds of novels — those that confirm Westerners’ pessimism and faithlessness about Africa’s future — that tend to win. Thus far, talk of who sponsors the prize and why that matters has been nonexistent.

What are you reading today?