Africa thread
- Thread starter It_Is_My_Time
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Where is BLM to complain about police brutality in Africa.
Can anybody explain how Polish refugees ended up in Uganda?
Im not sure about that one, Im impressed at what they left behind though as refugees
Fleeing bolsheviks/religious persecution?
Does anyone know what the story is with that newest of countries South Sudan ?
I heard somewhere that it was a creation of the West for some kind of political motive, just like Kosovo. Maybe to weaken some neighbouring country.
Is that true or did it form out of a purely African conflict or decision?
I'm guessing that it's just sand and some palm trees and camels wondering around given where it is on the map. The jungles start further south.
The only other thing I heard - very bad - was from some do-gooder french engineer I met when I was traveling who did some work there to help install civil infrastructure. The story he related was about skeletons chained to a tree somewhere when they were prospecting to dig a well.
I heard somewhere that it was a creation of the West for some kind of political motive, just like Kosovo. Maybe to weaken some neighbouring country.
Is that true or did it form out of a purely African conflict or decision?
I'm guessing that it's just sand and some palm trees and camels wondering around given where it is on the map. The jungles start further south.
The only other thing I heard - very bad - was from some do-gooder french engineer I met when I was traveling who did some work there to help install civil infrastructure. The story he related was about skeletons chained to a tree somewhere when they were prospecting to dig a well.
Followed a guys YouTube channel who cycled nearly continuously from France to South Africa. He skipped over South Sudan…
South Sudan is similar to Iraqi Kurdistan, it is a resource-rich (oil, agriculture) entity that was carved out from a state that was hostile to Israel.
Detached from the Anders' Army:
"At the start of 1942, the Soviet Union made an agreement with Britain and the Polish government-in-exile for the transportation of the Polish troops to Iran where they would continue training. Anders knew from personal experience in dealing with the Soviets that no Polish citizen could be left behind. He therefore took sole responsibility for the decision to evacuate civilians alongside the soldiers. The majority of evacuees crossed the Caspian Sea from the port of Krasnowodsk, while others completed the journey by rail around the inland sea. Between the first phase of evacuations in late March 1942 and the second in August 1942, approximately 41,000 troops and 74,000 civilians made the journey. Anders’ fears were confirmed after the evacuations when Soviet leader Joseph Stalin decreed all persons on Soviet soil were Soviet citizens. Although the general did his best to save his countrymen, hundreds of thousands of Poles did not make it and were condemned to forced labor or compelled to serve in the Red Army."
Stolen Childhood:
Stolen Childhood is the story of what happened to some 380,000 Polish children who, with their families, were rounded up by Stalin's orders in 1939 and deported into Asiatic Russia. Lucjan Krolikowski, a young seminarian also deported there, shared and witnessed the suffering of his fellow Poles.
Freed by an "amnesty," he joined the Polish Army, and when it moved to the Middle East, Lucjan resumed his theology studies, pronounced his vows, and became a chaplain to a Polish military hospital in Egypt. Reassigned to refugee camps in East Africa, Fr. Lucjan and the wandering Polish children met again in 1947 - a meeting that began a long and loving relationship.
In 1949 when the Warsaw Communists claimed guardianship of the Polish orphans in Africa and demanded their repatriation, Fr. Lucjan was forced into a world of international intrigue. Called by the Communists "a kidnapper on an international scale," to his orphans, he was the good shepherd who led them to Canada, where he helped his charges overcome the theft of their childhood and become secure adults in a new world. Stolen Childhood is the book of memories he wrote for them, and a cautionary history for people of good will.
Just on that note when googling about the Polish refugees in iran I came across this interesting story of Wojtek the bear. An orphaned bear cub in Iran was adopted by the Polish soldiers and joined the Polish army and became their official mascot.
en.wikipedia.org
Wojtek (bear) - Wikipedia
This is Africa baby
Have any of you been to Namibia? I'm very curious and may go at some point. Just the sandy deserts and the fact that it was one of the only significant German colonies until 1915 I think it was and remains German in culture still at least in the capital Windhoek. I get the impression it is sparsely populated compared to the other African countries. At some point I believe the South African army fought some kind of war there.
I get the impression it's one of the few safe and orderly African countries, along with neighboring Botswana. I'd consider visiting as well, but getting there is neither cheap nor easy from the Midwestern US. Maybe I'm getting old, but I can't tolerate long flights as well as I used to.
Yves cycled from France to South Africa. Watching his vids will give you a pretty good perspective of the African countries he visited. If I remember right, Namibia was indeed quite developed and stable but relatively expensive
Correction - it was Botswana that was expensive and developed. Namibia had good prices and English was widely spoken
Correction - it was Botswana that was expensive and developed. Namibia had good prices and English was widely spoken
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Does look like Botswana and Namibia are mainly nature and open space and not as many people as the neighbouring countries.
That Kalahari Desert takes up some of the space, then I think it's the Namib Desert in Namibia, which is more of a true desert, sand but no plants :
Populations in the region (millions) :
South Africa 63
Mozambique 34
Zimbabwe 16
Botswana 3
Namibia 3
Lesotho 2
Eswatini 1
Those microstates of Lesotho and Eswatini are quite packed with people. Lesotho with the highest suicide rate in the world. Why are they so miserable is it really worse that the other regions..
Mozambique has a Portuguese colonial history, Namibia, a German.
Namibia, Libya and Botswana have the lowest population density in Africa :
List of African countries by population density - Wikipedia
South Africa basically administered it during apartheid. It was a goal of theirs to annex it outright (proposed at the League of Nations). I don't think the Germans in Windhoek and Walvis Bay minded too much. This would've included the family of PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, who spent his childhood there. And of course Elon Musk is also from South Africa.
Yes, they fought against militant guerrillas (these agitators received funding not just from socialist states like the Soviet Union and East Germany but the West as well).