Dynamic Africa
Formerly, "This is Africa/fyeahAfrica".
(Profile Photo by Mama Casset)
DISCLAIMER:
I do not endorse any of the products or opinions shared on this site, nor do I claim any of the work posted here to be my own - except where stated. All posts originally made by me are credited. If no credit is given then the work is either my own/written by me or reblogged from another source.
A LITTLE ABOUT ME:
Student, 24
Based in Cape Town, South Africa
From Lagos, Nigeria
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(As an unemployed media student, all donations go into ensuring my survival in this cruel world and future projects I hope to embark on).
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(since Oct. 21th 2012)
Stills from 1967 French-Mauritanian Soleil O directed by Med Hondo, that was released in 1973.
Masdar, the clean energy company and creator of the eponymous “green city” on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, launched a $32 million solar plant in Mauritania. The Sheikh Zayed Solar Power Plant, located in the capital, Nouakchott, will generate 15 megawatts of solar photovoltaic (PV) power and, according to Masdar, is now the largest PV plant in all of Africa. It will, in fact, deliver 10% of the country’s current electricity load.
Yesterday’s launch of the new solar power plant is significant for several reasons. Masdar City, only one part of the company but the immediate showpiece that comes to mind, is often derided as a fluff project in a country that is one of the world’s highest carbon emitters per capita. And while the United Arab Emirates’ massive carbon output is, of course, concerning, at the same time the UAE’s leadership has shown it is willing to be part of the solution in addressing climate change and energy scarcity. As much of the developed world from the U.S. to Japan is mired in debt and political polarization, there is an opening for such countries in the Middle East as the UAE and nearby Qatar to invest in renewables–after all, their reserves of oil and gas are finite.
Masdar kicked off the Mauritania project last fall as part of its commitment to the UN’s “Year of Sustainable Energy for All.” As announced last year by UN Secretary General Ban-ki Moon, Sustainable Energy for All aimed to expand modern energy sources to those who could least afford it; double energy efficiency worldwide; and double the amount of clean electricity and power within the globe’s total energy portfolio. The results may not have been as impressive as the goals, but arguably the UAE, Abu Dhabi and Masdar kept their end of the deal.
Mauritania’s energy grid is currently marred by energy shortages and both expensive and dirty diesel generators. Masdar claims the new solar energy plant, with its 30,000 solar panels in Nouakchott, will displace over 21,000 tons of carbon emissions annually and will provide up to 10 percent of the country’s total energy needs. Should this new plant prove to be an important anchor of Mauritania’s energy potential, more hope is on the horizon: Masdar claims the country’s wind potential is four times the its current energy demands.
A foreign policy from an oil emirate that in part relies on delivering foreign aid via renewables? The UAE is certainly moving forward with this strategy with Masdar at the helm.
We happened to be in Nouakchott, Mauritania while chilling in Africa so we decided to stop in at the country’s only record store, Saphir D’or. Turns out it rules! We chatted with Ahmede Valle, shop proprietor and seasoned DJ, about record collecting and the unifying powers of music.
Chinguetti Mosque, Mauritania
Photograph by David Clifford, 4See/Redux
Constructed in the 13th or 14th century, the spare Friday Mosque was the heart of the ancient city of Chinguetti, Mauritania, a vibrant trading center on the trans-Saharan route.
The city’s original purpose was to provide religious education to travelers, thus the importance of its mosques.
Mauritania / Mauritanie on Flickr.
Women of the Polisario Front in the Western Sahara, 1976.
Abbreviation of Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro, Spanish Frente Popular para la Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y Río de Oro, Polisario was a politico-military organization striving to end Moroccan control of the former Spanish territory of Western Sahara, in northwestern Africa, and win independence for that region. The Polisario Front is composed largely of the indigenous nomadic inhabitants of the Western Sahara region, the Saharawis. The Polisario Front began in May 1973 as an insurgency (based in neighbouring Mauritania) against Spanish control of Western Sahara.
After Spain withdrew and Morocco and Mauritania partitioned Western Sahara between themselves in 1976, the Polisario Front relocated to Algeria, which henceforth provided the organization with bases and military aid. Mauritania made peace with the Polisario Front in 1979, but Morocco then unilaterally annexed Mauritania’s portion of Western Sahara.
During the 1980s Polisario Front guerrillas, numbering some 15,000 motorized and well-armed troops, harassed and raided Moroccan outposts and defenses in Western Sahara. Morocco responded by constructing a berm, or earthen barrier, some 1,240 miles (2,000 km) long, which was completed by 1987.
In the late 1980s and early ’90s, the Polisario Front suffered a series of high-level defections and internal problems in its refugee camps. In addition, although Algerian diplomatic support continued, military support was reduced during the 1990s. Despite these challenges, the Polisario Front’s overall level of legitimacy with the Saharawis and in the global political community appeared largely undiminished.
In 1991 the Polisario Front inaugurated a new, more democratic constitution for the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic (SADR; declared by the Polisario Front one day after Spanish withdrawal in 1976). In the same year, it accepted a United Nations (UN) peace plan for Western Sahara that provided for a referendum of self-determination. Owing to disputes over voter eligibility, the referendum scheduled for early 1992 was postponed, and a series of UN-sponsored talks between Morocco and the Polisario Front were conducted.
Attempts to determine the parameters of the referendum were largely unsuccessful, however, and in 2000 the UN Security Council requested that alternatives to the referendum be considered, a process that remained at an impasse in the early 21st century.
UN-sponsored talks between the Polisario Front and the Moroccan government took place in mid-2007 amid warnings by the Polisario Front of a return to armed hostilities.
(source)
Bread salesman in Mauritania.
(via thepeacefulterrorist)
Stone House, Mauritania
A Imuhagh (Tuareg), goat leather panel from Mauritania.
(via fyeahnorthafricanwomen)
Pulaar Women, Mauritania
(via afroklectic)
