African Studies Blog - Muzammil Yousuf Palla

As you may know, we studied a bit regarding the Sokoto State. Its founder was a man named  Usman dan Fuduye (or Usman dan Fodio). He was born in 1754 and passed away in 1817.  His eleventh ancestor is believed to originally be from Senegal (see F.H. el Masri). He was known as a religious scholar. He was originally taught by his father and a myriad of other teachers in a strictly orthodox environment.  Usman dan Fodio wrote many books. He founded the Sokoto State in the year 1804 through fighting in Northern Nigeria.  Furthermore, he was the contemporary of another religious personality of Africa, Ahmadou Bamba although they never actually met. El-Masry states: ".. and after the fall of Alkalawa in 1808, he retired to his spiritual field having given the administration of the Eastern part to his son, Bello and the Western part to his brother, 'Abdullähi. He died, after a year's illness, in 1817" Works Cited "Usman Dan Fodio." Religious Literacy P

Morocco is celebrating that the U.S. passed a bill giving money allocated to Morroco to the Sahara. The North Africa Post writes: "The Polisario and its mentor Algeria have launched maneuvers aiming at undermining Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces by using the economic card." They add: "The US appropriation bill, signed into law Friday by President Donald Trump and stipulating explicitly that the assistance funds allocated to Morocco will also benefit the Sahara, is another utter defeat for the separatist camp after the EU parliament approved the fisheries deal on Feb. 12 and before that, on Jan.16, the agricultural agreement, which both cover the Sahara. In adopting the bill, US lawmakers renew their strong bipartisan support for a negotiated solution to the Sahara dispute, based on autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty, and encourage US private sector to invest in the Sahara." They continue: "The Polisairo’s challenge to these agreements w

East Africa's head of state met in Arusha on Friday regarding trade-spats and tariff and non-tariff barriers as well as "crippling financial challenges" The East African website is quoted as saying: "For Kenya and Tanzania, talks on trade in sugar and tobacco hit a dead end after the EAC Secretariat was accused of failing to resolve the outstanding issue over the past seven months." Rwanda has had issues with Uganda and Burundi over diplomatic tensions and security concerns that may go out of control. The East African continues: "Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Tanzanian counterpart John Magufuli were expected to revisit the persistent trade spats between their bureaucrats since they directed that the differences be ironed out at the last summit in Kampala in February last year, with little or no progress achieved so far. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni handed over the chairmanship to Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and they are ex