Latest news with #AfricaCenter
Eater
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Eater
A Pioneering African Fast-Casual Restaurant Shuts Down in Harlem
Teranga, an acclaimed African fast-casual restaurant founded by chef Pierre Thiam, is closing its original location inside the Africa Center in Harlem on Sunday, June 15, Time Out New York reports. The restaurant had been in operation for nearly six and a half years. 'It is with a sense of sadness and full hearts that we announce that we are closing our doors in Harlem on Sunday, June 15th,' the Teranga team said in a statement posted to Instagram. 'Thank you to everyone who shared a cup of Ethiopian coffee, a bottle of Bissap, a plate of hot Jollof and Suya, or a side of Kelewele with us.' Teranga, with its focus on putting ancient African grains like fonio front and center, was a big-deal opening back in early 2019. With his fine dining background, Thiam was best known for his work at places like the pan-African Nok by Alára in Lagos, and Brooklyn Sengalese spot Le Grand Dakar, which closed down in 2011. Shortly after Teranga's opening, former Eater NY critic Ryan Sutton hailed the bowl spot as an exciting harbinger of the future of fast-casual dining in NYC. The restaurant scooped up numerous accolades during its run, including a spot on a New York Times list of the 25 essential dishes in the city in 2021. The concept has been a precursor to other fine dining chefs remixing the lunch bowl, including Chinese spot Milu, run by Eleven Madison Park alum Connie Chung. Teranga's Midtown location at 601 Lexington Avenue (stationed inside food hall the Hugh) remains open, and, in the goodbye post, the team hinted at more Teranga locations opening in the future. It's not clear whether another restaurant will be taking Teranga's place at the Africa Center, which has been weathering its own shifts in leadership strategy. Eater has reached out to both Teranga and the Africa Center for more information on the closure. Sign up for our newsletter.
Voice of America
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Kremlin disinformation campaigns aim to discredit French military in Sahel, analysts say
On Feb. 20, Ivory Coast became the latest African nation to expel French troops, taking control of the last remaining French military base in the country. This followed the departure of French forces from Chad, which had hosted them for nearly 70 years. These moves marked the end of France's military presence in the Sahel region, after the expulsions from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, all ruled by military juntas. Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby called the French withdrawal a "new dawn for a fully sovereign Chad." Nigerian Senator Shehu Sani, with 3.3 million followers on X, claimed, "The French forces are of no use," contradicting the statistical data. Since France began withdrawing in 2022, conflict-related fatalities in the Sahel have risen by 65%, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED). Analysts point to Russian propaganda and disinformation campaigns as key drivers of the shift away from France in the Sahel. Bakary Sambe of the Timbuktu Institute told VOA that Russia has exploited anti-imperialist sentiment and historical colonial grievances to turn public opinion in Africa against France. The military leaders of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, after expelling French forces, have increasingly aligned with Russia, which has deployed Wagner mercenaries across the region. Human rights groups have accused Russian troops in Africa of committing abuses against civilians. As French forces departed Chad, identical pro-Russian messages circulated on social media, often from influencers known for pushing anti-Western narratives. X content creators including African Hub, Typical African and RT News India echoed the sentiment, framing the French withdrawal as the end of colonial exploitation, dating back to the French invasion in 1900. All three accounts posted a video of French troops' departure from Chad with identical wording that described it as France's "final humiliation." The Africa Center for Strategic Studies, affiliated with the U.S. Defense Department, notes that Russia is the primary source of disinformation in Africa, with over 80 documented campaigns targeting more than 20 countries. These campaigns leverage paid African influencers, digital avatars and manipulated media to fuel anti-Western sentiment. The ''Russian embassies appear to have helped set up a network of ostensibly African grassroots front organizations,'' the Africa Center said. These disinformation campaigns "employ paid African influencers, digital avatars, and the circulation of fake and out-of-context videos and photographs. These messages copy-and-paste from and are amplified through multiple channels of Russian state-controlled media, radio, and official communications, creating the repetitive echo chambers in which disinformation narratives become rote,'' the Africa Center reported. The Africa Digital Democracy Observatory (ADDO) tracks how digital tools shape public opinion in Africa, noting the influence of prominent pan-Africanist figures such as Kemi Seba and Nathalie Yamb. The U.S. State Department said Seba was closely working with Russian political operatives linked to the now deceased oligarch and Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, seeking to influence elections in Madagascar. Yamb has been involved in Russian-backed activities, including attending the 2019 Russia-Africa summit. During the 2023 Niger coup, Russian content creators falsely claimed that ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) was planning an invasion of Niger, a narrative debunked by ECOWAS leaders. Russia has also expanded its cultural influence in the Sahel, establishing "Russian Houses" across the region. In N'djamena, Chad's capital, VOA's Henry Wilkins visited one such "Russian House" last month. Unlike Western cultural institutes, these Russian centers are involved in propaganda efforts, with some training journalists to spread anti-Western disinformation, Wilkins reported. The Russian Embassy in Chad and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to VOA requests for comment. Russia's goal, according to Constantin Gouvy of the Clingendael Institute, is to replace Western powers such as France as the primary partner for the Sahel states using disinformation to destabilize the region. Sambe of the Timbuktu Institute suggests that Russia's actions in Africa are a form of retaliation against NATO, particularly France, for its role in European geopolitics.
New York Times
27-01-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
The Africa Center's New Leader Focuses on Connection
The Africa Center in New York has named a new leader, Martin Kimani, a former Kenyan diplomat with a multidisciplinary background who embodies the wide spectrum of offerings the institution is embracing as it expands its audience. Kimani, 53, a former permanent representative of Kenya to the United Nations who also held other government positions in Kenya, started as the organization's new leader on Jan. 21. His appointment comes nine months after Uzodinma Iweala, chief executive of the center, announced he was stepping down after seven years. Kimani, who is Kenyan with American residency, has a background in security — he served as Kenya's special envoy for countering violent extremism, for instance — and has experience working in political risk analysis, and bond and currency sales. His background is a departure from the Center's past leaders who worked in the arts and humanities. But Kimani said his previous work positions him to build on the diverse programming the Africa Center has embraced that goes beyond art exhibitions to include lectures on geopolitics, author readings and visits from sitting African presidents. 'By the time Uzo took over, there was a lot of frustration about where the Center was heading, and things that have not worked out,' Kimani said in a recent interview, discussing the former director and the era that preceded him. 'He has fought that and brought it to a more vibrant phase. I want to build on what he's done.' The Center, in Harlem, went through years of stumbles and transitions as it changed locations and transformed from an art museum to an institution that is more broadly focused on building connections among Africa's diaspora community. Kimani said he plans to keep that focus but also to build connections with residents of the neighborhood. 'We should be not just having people flying in from all over the world to the Africa Center, but making Harlem and the immediate neighborhood feel like there's something serving them right next door,' he said. Kimani also plans an initiative to reach the significant slice of the city's migrants who have arrived from Mauritania, Senegal, Angola, Guinea and elsewhere in Africa. He said he envisions 'a place where we can have a complex, possibly painful but really necessary conversation between people of African descent and recent African migrants.' 'There needs to be a real connection,' he said. 'We're looking at each other across the gulf. The solidarity is not where it should be.' Kimani holds a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in war studies from King's College London and a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy from the University of New Hampshire. He most recently served as executive director of New York University's Center on International Cooperation. He has lived in New York since 2020, in addition to a stint on Wall Street during the mid-1990s. 'I discovered there were many things I could be good at, but making money wasn't one of them,' he said with a laugh. Raising money will be a part of Kimani's new job. The Africa Center has received significant funding from the city over the years but still needs $4.25 million to help pay for its construction plans. It occupies only about 20 percent of some 70,000 square feet of the space allotted for it in a tower at the top of Museum Mile designed by Robert A.M. Stern. (The building also includes 17 floors of luxury condos.) 'I want to try and go beyond the big-money philanthropy to find more modest contributions,' he said. 'And that has to be on the back of programming. That's what makes people believe and feel. If we get the programming right, I think we'll have an easier time generating more fund-raising.'
