Mozambique echoes a year of youth-led protests across Africa
A protester reacts near a burning barricade during a "national shutdown" against the election outcome, at Luis Cabral township in Maputo, Mozambique, November 7, 2024. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
What’s the context?
'The Corrupt are Messing with a Wrong Generation' - how 2024 became the year of demonstrations by young Africans
- Seven in 10 Africans are under 30
- Voters protest cronyism, election fraud, cost of living
- Demos ripple over world's youngest continent in 2024
JOHANNESBURG/LAGOS/NAIROBI - Young Africans are on the march, with the most recent demonstrations on the streets of Mozambique rounding out a year of protest on the continent that has put ageing leaders on notice they must change - or go.
From Nigeria to Kenya, voters have demonstrated en masse in a youth-led repudiation of politics as usual, accusing the old men at the top of cronyism, bankrupt economics and poll fraud.
The latest demos hit Maputo, capital of Mozambique, in recent weeks after the ruling Frelimo party was declared victor of an Oct. 9 vote - a result many younger citizens disputed.
The Maputo protests have often met with police brutality: a power clash that has played out in at least half a dozen other African nations this year.
From the #RejectFinanceBill2024 movement in Kenya to #FearlessOctober demonstrations in Nigeria, Africa's youth-led movements are spreading on the world's youngest continent, where 70% of the population is under the age of 30.
The average age of a president in Africa is about 62, with many lambasted as out of touch and driven by personal interests.
Here are some youth-led protests to hit Africa in 2024:
Mozambique election sparks uprising
Protests escalated when authorities said the Frelimo party won re-election with a landslide victory, extending a 49-year rule. More than 56% of Mozambique's 17 million eligible voters abstained.
The results have been widely disputed, fuelling clashes between police and protesters, which rights groups and local hospitals say have killed at least 30 people, including children.
Many young people supported independent Venâncio Mondlane, who says the vote was rigged and has encouraged demonstrations.
For weeks, thousands of people have taken to the streets, shouting "Frelimo must fall", barricading roads with burning tires and throwing rocks.
Authorities hit back with tear gas and live ammunition, human rights groups said, and restricted access to the internet.
Anger at Frelimo had been mounting for months.
Last year, the death of a politically outspoken rapper, Azagaia, prompted thousands to take to the streets to mourn and challenge corruption, the cost of living and social injustice - themes the 38-year-old had made his own.
Kenyans protest finance bill
Kenya's #RejectFinanceBill2024 protests made international headlines in June after thousands of Gen Z and millennial demonstrators marched in major cities, demanding the withdrawal of a new finance bill that included a slew of higher taxes.
At least 73 protesters were killed by security forces.
After six weeks of demonstrations and a promise to reverse the bill, President William Ruto fired his cabinet and pledged to cut wasteful spending.
Human Rights Watch said Kenyan security forces "abducted, arbitrarily arrested, tortured, and killed perceived leaders of the anti-Finance Bill protests between June and August 2024".
Protestors react during a demonstration against Kenya's proposed finance bill 2024/2025, in Nairobi, Kenya, June 20, 2024. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi
Protestors react during a demonstration against Kenya's proposed finance bill 2024/2025, in Nairobi, Kenya, June 20, 2024. REUTERS/Monicah Mwangi
Nigerians challenge cost of living
In October, Nigerians demonstrated over the cost of living and poor governance, rallying under the banner #FearlessOctober.
This followed demonstrations in August in Abuja, the commercial capital Lagos and several other cities over economic reforms that have led to rampant inflation and inflicted increasing hardship on ordinary Nigerians.
In November, Nigeria charged 76 people, including 30 minors, with treason and inciting a military coup after they took part in the August protests.
Amnesty International said both protests were met with mass arrests and violence from Nigerian authorities.
Ugandans protest corruption, cost of living
Emboldened by Kenya, young demonstrators in neighbouring Uganda took to social media in July to plan an anti-corruption protest, which led to the detention of more than 70 activists.
Despite a police crackdown, dozens of people marched in the capital Kampala, some carrying banners - including one that read "The Corrupt are Messing with a Wrong Generation".
President Yoweri Museveni has ruled Uganda for almost four decades and has denied condoning corruption.
Young climate activists from Uganda are also at the forefront of pushing back against a proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which would ship crude from Lake Albert in Uganda to Tanzania's Indian Ocean coast.
Activists campaigning against the environmental and social impacts of EACOP have been beaten and arrested, and faced online surveillance and abductions, according to Human Rights Watch.
Police officers detain a Ugandan activist participating in a demonstration over proposed plans by Total Energies and the Ugandan government to build the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), in Kampala, Uganda September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Abubaker Lubowa
Police officers detain a Ugandan activist participating in a demonstration over proposed plans by Total Energies and the Ugandan government to build the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), in Kampala, Uganda September 15, 2023. REUTERS/Abubaker Lubowa
Senegalese youth challenge election day
In February, young people in Senegal, where more than 60% of the population is under 25, led nationwide, anti-government protests after a decision to delay a highly anticipated presidential vote from February to December.
What began on university campuses soon spread to big cities.
Demonstrators, including children, rejected former President Macky Sall's 10-month vote delay, which many said threatened the country's long-standing democracy.
Sall eventually reversed the decision to stall the vote, paving the way for the election of Africa's youngest leader, Bassirou Diomaye Faye.
Ghana's youth demand economic reforms
In July, a high court in Ghana blocked civil society groups from holding protests in the capital Accra, one of the organisers said, joining other African governments in trying to quell youth-led demonstrations over the high cost of living.
Organisers wanted to demand action on corruption and living conditions, as well as to protest delays in signing an anti-LGBTQ+ bill into law.
Ghana is battling its worst economic crisis in a generation after fallout from excess government borrowing was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the knock-on impacts of the war in Ukraine and higher global interest rates.
In September 2023, young Ghanaians launched #OccupyJulorbiHouse, with police blocking roads and detaining dozens of protesters who tried to approach the seat of the presidency in Accra.
Ghana's finance minister was replaced in a cabinet reshuffle five months later.
This story was updated on November 25, with details of protests in Mozambique.
(Reporting by Kim Harrisberg in Johannesburg, Bukola Adebayo in Lagos, Nita Bhalla in Nairobi; Editing by Jon Hemming and Lyndsay Griffiths.)
Context is powered by the Thomson Reuters Foundation Newsroom.
Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles
Tags
- Unemployment
- Pay gaps
- Wealth inequality
- Poverty
- Youth climate movement
- Cost of living