African Nations Cup round-up: glimpses of flair, real excitement promised for knock out stages
By Brendan Kelly
The main theme of African football at international level recently has been that of shock results and big name exits as Nigeria, Egypt and Cameroon all failed to grace the African Cup of Nations this year. The finals of the tournament have proved to be no different with some incredible results in the group stages, throwing it wide open as the quarter-finals leave all the odd makers perplexed as to what might happen next.
The most obvious place to start is group A, where Senegal, who had a squad that caused pundits to tip them as possible favourites, were dumped out by the second group game. Demba Ba, so devastating in the Premier League this year for Newcastle this year failed to register a solitary strike in this year’s competition. Newcastle will of course be delighted to see him and his compatriot and new signing Papiss Cisse return earlier than expected, but for Senegal’s fans there will be major dissatisfaction at their inability to gain a point, let alone qualify from the group.
Demba Ba shows his frustrations against Equatorial Guinea
Senegal sees dramatic escalation in homophobic persecution
International pressure on Uganda as the country attempts to pass an anti-homosexuality bill is important, but other nations remain havens of anti-LGBT oppression. Cary Alan Johnson and Ryan Thoreson call for an end to the criminalisation of same-sex relationships that is fuelling homophobia in Senegal and elsewhere.
BY PAMBAZUKA NEWS
Authors: Cary Alan Johnson and Ryan Thoreson
The global outcry against Uganda’s ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’ could not be more deafening. Opponents of the legislation have condemned the effort not just to put gays in prison, which is already the law in Uganda, but to further criminalise the ‘promotion of homosexuality’, require that suspected gays and lesbians be turned in to authorities, and to punish some individuals – including those who are HIV positive or those euphemistically called ‘repeat offenders’ – with death.
The governments of Canada, France and Sweden have branded the bill wrongheaded. From Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to President Barack Obama himself, the US, a major foreign donor to Uganda, has made its disapproval of the legislation clear. Usually silent religious leaders, from Anglican and Catholic church leadership to Saddleback church’s Rick Warren and other evangelical Christians, have condemned the bill’s promotion of the death penalty, imprisonment for gays and lesbians, and the threat its provisions pose to pastoral confidentiality.
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