Hey, this is Sham, your very own news curator.
So, Issue #391 took me a day longer than usual because I got totally engrossed in a book to make sure I nailed the story. This issue might feel a bit more intense since I'm diving into some heavy topics. I’m asking you to listen to the stories of survivors from two events: the genocide of the Yazidis in Shingal/Sinjar in Iraq in 2014, and the massacre of the Ndebele people in Zimbabwe during the 1980s. Both communities are still dealing with the aftermath, and I made sure to really focus on the survivors' stories to give you a fuller picture.
I know one newsletter is just a tiny drop in a vast ocean (of knowledge), but I hope that by curating these links and sharing what I’ve learned, we can connect more deeply with these tough anniversaries and topics.
On a lighter note, I've got some cool stuff to share too: a Nigerian legend, a new Kurdish horror movie, African space agencies' acronyms, and much more.
That's it from me. Catch you in your inbox next week!
Sham
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🔍 Estimated reading time: 10 min 🔍
You have access to all of my sources by clicking on what's underlined.
Big shout-out to Wikimedia Commons for the helpful maps.
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10 years after the Shingal genocide: How are the Yazidis doing today?
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What happened
Since 2014, Yazidis come together on August 3 to remember the genocide ISIS committed against them in Shingal/Sinjar, Iraq. They honor those who died, those still missing, and support affected families. They also raise awareness about the survivors' ongoing struggles and ask the international community for support.
Why this matters
Even after ten years, Yazidis face big challenges. At least 2,700 Yazidis are still missing, according to the United Nations.
Refresher: In 2014, ISIS took control of a large part of Iraq and Syria, including the Shingal region in northern Iraq, where many Yazidis lived. They killed over 10,000 Yazidis and kidnapped 6,000. The UN called this a genocide. ISIS saw Yazidis as "infidels" (fake news, obviously) and committed terrible acts, including murder, forced conversions, enslavement, forced labor, torture, and rape.
Has anyone ever held been accountable for these crimes? There have been some legal actions. Germany has prosecuted eight ISIS members, including three for genocide. The Netherlands and Sweden are planning trials. In Iraq, as The New York Times reported, a court sentenced one of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's wives to death for crimes against Yazidis. However, a report by FYF, Yazda, and the Sinjar Academy says more needs to be done. The US and UK haven't charged anyone specifically for crimes against Yazidis. There is also criticism that Kurdish forces didn't do enough to protect Yazidis during the genocide.
How are survivors doing today?
Luckily, a lot of survivors have turned to media in many different countries to tell their stories.
- For example, SBS Kurdish talked to Khalid Taalo. 19 of his family members were captured by ISIS in 2014. Until now, 12 of them have been back by buying them back and seven are still missing. Listen to the episode here; it's in Kurdish.
- BBC World Service's Sarah Ehrlich talked to witness Mirza Dinnayi, who organized a rescue mission to save dozens of people. Listen to the story in this episode of the Witness History podcast.
- Abid Shamdeen, co-founder of Nadia's Initiative, talked to the Conflict, Power & Persuasion podcast of the Canadian International Institute of Applied Negotiation. He talks about the history of violence, that August 3 isn't really an isolated event (Yazidis have faced many violent campaigns against them by different actors in history), why they're (Nadia and the initiative) focusing on collecting evidence and accountability, and so on. The conversation lasts more than an hour; if you have the StepUp app, let's connect there, start the episode and get walking.
Did you know that the largest Yazidi community outside of Iraq lives in Germany? In the United States, as I learned on this episode of the Nebraska Public Media News podcast, they mostly live in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Where to go now from here?
There are many suggestions for moving forward. One idea is to set up an international tribunal to prosecute ISIS crimes, using evidence collected by civil society organizations and UNITAD, a UN investigation team. This tribunal should also look into individuals and organizations that supported ISIS.
There’s also the issue of Yazidi safety. Around 157,000 internally displaced people (IDPs), many of them Yazidis, live in camps in the Kurdistan Region, reports Rudaw. The Iraqi government wants to close these camps, but the Yazidi community and the US government are concerned about security (there are different armed groups there) and lack of reconstruction in Shingal, the Yazidi home region.
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Victims of the Gukurahundi massacre in Zimbabwe are still searching for justice and compensation
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What happened
Speaking of justice, a few thousand kilometers to the south, survivors of another massacre are still waiting for justice and an opportunity to tell their story. 40 years ago, between 1983 and 1987, an army unit within the Zimbabwe military killed more than 20,000 people (this is according to the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe; there are no exact figures on hand, however; some also say 80,000) in Gukurahundi. Recently, the government of Zimbabwe announced that it will soon hold public hearings around the Gukurahundi killings, SABC reported. President Emmerson Mnangagwa wants to promote "healing, peace and unity."
Why this matters
A lot of people bear the scars of the Gukurahundi massacre today. This is the first time a Zimbabwean government has taken what seems like concrete steps to address the 1980s mass killings in Matabeleland and Midlands regions, writes Nizbert Moyo in The NewsDay.
Did you know that "Gukurahundi" loosely translates from the Shona language (one of the main languages spoken in Zimbabwe, alongside English and Ndebele) to mean "the early rain that washes away the chaff"?
Tell me more
In a podcast episode of DW AfricaLink, Zenzele Ndebele, founder of Cite ZW, tells Josey Mahachi about how the national conversation around the Gukurahundi killings has taken place so far. Ndebele says that it took some time for the massacre to be discussed publicly in the country. Only in 1998, then-president Robert Mugabe (who ruled the country for more than 29 years) described that time as "a moment of madness" (he knew exactly what had happened, according to an old dossier found by Botswana-based INK Centre for Investigative Journalism in collab with some Zimbabwean reporters) and that the victims should be compensated (this has never happened). And then it became a topic again in 2017, when now-president Emmerson Mnangagwa came into office (as a result of a coup d'état) and members of civil society were able to bring it back on the national agenda.
Were these killings a genocide or a massacre?
There is heated debate about whether these killings can be described as a "genocide" or not. Most people killed were mainly Ndebele-speaking people from the Matabeleland and Midlands regions. Various lobby groups have classified it as "genocide", while the Zimbabwean government continues to claim it was a police operation to rid the country of political opponents, and not because of what ethnicity the people belonged to (which would definitely classify it as a genocide). In the same episode I linked to earlier, Ndebele talks about why he thinks the killings were a genocide.
- Quote: "The 5th Brigade would say, 'we are here to finish off Ndebele' ... People were killed because of who they were, that particular tribe. Yes, Robert Mugabe might have wanted the one-party state, but he specifically went after the Ndebele, and everything that happened in a genocide happened. People were targeted because of their tribe, women were raped, some of the kids killed, people were buried alive, and so on. The aim was to kill dissidents, and to them a dissident was anyone who was the age of 12 and up and male... basically, a dissident was a Ndebele."
- History of the Shona and Ndebele: "There have long been strong feelings between the majority Shona people of Zimbabwe and the Ndebele people in the south of the country. It dates back to the early 1800s when the Ndebele were pushed from their traditional lands in what is now South Africa by the Zulu and Boer. The Ndebele arrived in what is now known as Matabeleland, and in turn pushed out or required tribute from the Shona living in the region," writes Alistair Boddy-Evans for ThoughtCo.
What would be considered justice for the survivors?
Ndebele comes with some very personal stories from survivors he's interviewed:
- Quote: "I got a message from a young girl who told me that she was born in 1982, her father disappeared when she was six months or so. She's never heard anything about her father, she doesn't know what happened. She was asking me whether I can help her look for her father. ... There are so many people who have these stories, who don't know what happened to their parents, who could not go to school because their parents had been killed, who could not get ID documents ... because they no longer had parents ... They want closure. There are people whose parents are buried in shallow graves or in mass graves, and all what they need is permission from [the] government to exhume these people and give them a decent burial."
However, he also says, "justice" might be too far-stretched of a goal in the Zimbabwean context, "because the people who were involved in the genocide are the one in power now." While Mugabe, the main perpetrator of the Gukurahundi massacre, is no longer in power, other responsible individuals continue to hold senior positions in government, including the current presidency, confirms Ntibinyane Ntibinyane in an article for GIJN. (Oof...)
What about the public hearings? Is this a good step?
It's unclear right now what is going to happen to all these, well, testimonies, if you will. It's also not yet clear whether journalists are going to be allowed to cover these so-called public hearings live or be part of them. Ndebele has somewhat optimistic opinions, "our generation might not be able to solve the issue of Gukurahundi... it has taken other countries 100 years to solve the issue of genocide. So, one day, this issue will be solved, but the question is when and when it happens, we need to have those testimonies and the stories of what happened." However, many of those affected are skeptical, and say justice cannot come from a government made up of officials who are alleged to have been involved in the killings, and one they say has not yet fully recognized the weight of the crimes that have been committed, writes Shola Lawal for Al Jazeera English.
Good to know: Ibhetshu LikaZulu is an organization that has been erecting memoral plaques for victims of Gukurahundi. They put one up that Thandekile Moyo talks about in an opinion piece for Zimbabwe's The NewsDay. On the plaque were these words: "The government of Zimbabwe is responsible for these heinous activities. You will always be remembered. We cry for justice."
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Bad
Bangladesh: At least 91 people were killed in violent clashes between anti-government protestors and police units across Bangladesh. Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled to West Bengal, India. Protestors had stormed the prime minister's residence and the National Parliament building in Dhaka. (Sky News)
Nigeria: Protests against President Bola Tinubu's economic reforms continue across Nigeria, as security forces fire tear gas at protestors and the government orders curfews across several northern states. At least 14 people have been killed so far. (Al Jazeera) In the same week, at least 19 people were killed during a suicide bombing by Boko Haram at a market in Konduga, Borno State. (Punch)
Japan: Japan's Nikkei 225 stock market index fell by over 12%, suffering its worst two-day decline in history and its largest daily percent drop since Black Monday in October 1987. (Reuters) In the same week, the Japanese Meteorological Agency issued excessive heat warnings for 37 of the 47 prefectures amid heat waves, where at least 59 people have died from heat stroke since April. (NHK)
Somalia: 37 people were killed, and 212 others were injured in a mass shooting and suicide bombing by Al-Shabaab militants near the Beach View Hotel on Lido Beach in Mogadishu, Somalia. (Hiiraan Online)
Turkey: Turkey blocked internet access to Instagram, following comments made by Turkish communications director Fahrettin Altun that condemned Meta Platforms for taking down Instagram posts offering condolences or expressing sorrow towards the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. (Reuters) In the same week, the Turkish defense ministry said that it targeted Kurdish militants in northern Iraq with air strikes, killing 13 people. (Reuters)
North Korea: South Korea reports that as many as 1,500 people may have been killed by floods in North Korea caused by the remnants of Typhoon Gaemi. (Al Jazeera)
India / Bangladesh: The death toll from the landslides caused by torrential rains in Kerala, India, increased to 296 people, with at least 240 others still missing. (Onomanorama) In Bangladesh, at least 12 people are killed and more than 250 people are declared missing. (Reuters)
Sudan: The Global Famine Review Committee declared a famine in Darfur, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. (Reuters) In the same week, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the military junta leader of Sudan, survived an assassination attempt carried out with a drone strike while he was visiting a military base in Gibet. Five people were killed. (Middle East Monitor)
Interesting...
Uganda: Uganda Police arrested and charged fourteen Ugandan opposition officials and lawmakers with terrorism charges for their participation in anti-government and anti-corruption protests last month. (Reuters)
Algeria / France / Morocco / Western Sahara: Algeria withdrew its ambassador from France after France declared its support for the Western Sahara Autonomy Proposal, which was proposed by Morocco in 2007. (RFI)
Vietnam: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam elected President Tô Lâm as the new General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, succeeding Nguyễn Phú Trọng, who died on July 19. (CNA)
Mali: Mali cut all diplomatic relations with Ukraine for providing intelligence to Tuareg rebels that enabled them to ambush and kill large numbers of Wagner Group mercenaries and Malian troops. (CNN)
Venezuela: Several countries recognized Edmundo González as President-elect of Venezuela. (AFP)
Armenia / Turkey: Turkey and Armenia resumed talks aimed at normalizing diplomatic relations and agree to simplify visa rules for some passport holders. (Al Arabiya)
Good
Guinea: A criminal court in Guinea sentenced former president and military leader Moussa Dadis Camara to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity while suppressing an opposition rally in Conakry in 2009. (Al Jazeera)
Kyrgyzstan / Tajikistan: (Even though I'm not a fan of nationalism, but this will hopefully lead to more peace) Kyrgyzstan said that 94% of its border with Tajikistan has been agreed upon by officials from both countries. (RFE/RL)
United States: The Biden administration provisionally suspended all migrant permits allowing Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans to enter and stay in the United States for up to two years following suspicions of fraud by several migrant financial sponsors. (AP)
Ethiopia: 5 million Ethiopian youth are set to benefit from a nationwide digital skills training initiative dubbed "The 5 Million Ethiopian Coders Initiative", launched by the government in partnership with the United Arab Emirates. (Empower Africa)
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Read… "The Last Girl" (link to Wikipedia) by Nadia Murad, an autobiography by one of the survivors of the genocide that ISIS committed against the Yazidis in Iraq in 2014. Last week, I finally made time to read this memoir. On the occasion of the 10th year that the world is reminded of what happened on August 3, I picked it up on Audible and dove into it. I’m glad I did. I feel like the "story" around this rather recent genocide is told through one specific filter/language and for the longest time, I was struggling to grasp what had happened on an emotional level. I knew the numbers, the facts… but what did that look and feel like? And, most importantly, is there any hope left? Short answer: Yes, there is, but you have to really look for it. What I especially enjoyed about reading Murad’s memoir is how close I get to life in Sinjar. Murad zooms in on life in her native village of Kocho, which she lovingly refers to as the "Paris of Sinjar", years before the genocide happened.
Listen to "One Love" ( link to song) by Onyeka Onwenu. This legendary singer from Nigeria died last Tuesday at 72. Onwenu was also a famous actress and journalist. Her passing was sudden, so you can imagine all the tributes on social media. Even the Nigerian president wrote one and dubbed her "the Queen of Songs." Onwenu became famous in the 1980s with songs that were romantic, motivational or... political (encouraging peace and national unity). Her "One Love" was one such song, and she released it together with the return of military rule following Nigeria's aborted second republic. As a journalist, she was the voice of the documentary " Nigeria: A Squandering of Riches", and as an actress, she was a supporting role in the movie adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun and the Netflix original Lionheart.
If you are in Cape Town, South Africa this week… The General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), the first to be held in Africa, will take place there. Here's what the IAU does: Naming space stuff, setting rules and standards for astronomy (like how to measure distances in space and how to classify different objects, like deciding what counts as a planet) or promoting international cooperation. If you've only known about NASA or the ESA, here are more abbreviations to save as a mental screenshot: Several African countries have also established their own space agencies. For example, South Africa has the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), Nigeria has the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), and Egypt has the Egyptian Space Agency. These agencies, like NASA and ESA, lead space missions, satellite launches, and research projects, too.
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The first Kurdish (Sorani) horror movie | My friend Banu sent this to me late last night, and I just had to share it with you. I'm a huge fan of horror (but only during daylight), and the news that a Kurdish horror movie is hitting cinemas in the Kurdistan (Region of Iraq) is the highlight of my year. YouTuber Zhyar Handren reviews and reacts to the movie's trailer, sharing his excitement with his audience.
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A 45-year-old man in Indonesia allegedly killed his 60-year-old neighbor after he was hurt and became annoyed by the latter’s persistence in asking him why he was not married, The Straits Times reported.
Guess we got the answer.
(This is not funny-funny, but it would have been in a cartoon where the neighbor is an animated stone or something else that wasn't alive.)
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Hey, I'm Sham, the person behind this newsletter. Since 2014, I email a bunch of strangers once a week, curating news headlines from Asia, Africa and the Americas. I work under the assumption that, here in the West (I live in Berlin, Germany), we don't read or know much about the global majority, aka the rest of the world.
My goal is to help you burst your Western-centric bubble.
If you want to know more about me, visit my website or follow me on Twitter or Instagram.
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