Namibian Pride: activists hail overturning of law that banned same-sex acts between men.

Hello and welcome. You're watching EYE on Africa. I'm Clarice Fortuny of our top stories. A landmark ruling in Namibia gay sex ban has been ruled unconstitutional. The High Court overturned a colonial era law that banned same sex acts between men. Kenyan protesters called for a national strike on June 25th to oppose new tax hikes. The total shutdown following this week's mass demonstrations that already delayed 21 death. Ghana pays homage to 95 year old photographer James Bonar. His work immortalised the nation at a time of its independence. Capturing Ghana's first president is being held as historic. A top court in Namibia ruled unconstitutional laws banning same sex relationships in a case brought by local LGBTQ activist The Mandated back 1927, inherited from the colonial era but which Namibia maintained after gaining independence from South Africa in 1990. Charlotte Hughes has more scenes of celebration here in Namibia's capital. After a top court declared colonial era laws criminalizing same sex acts between men unconstitutional, rights groups have hailed the move as historic. This is a very, very big day and we're incredibly thankful for the High Court for choosing and deciding in our fate. But we're incredibly late, so we're incredibly proud. This means that we are one step closer to equality, we're one step closer to equal opportunity, having our rights, feeling protected, feeling safe in our own home country. Convictions under the laws were uncommon, but according to activists, the legislation fuelled discrimination against LGBTQ people, including violence by the police. The case was brought by activist Friedel Dalsab with support from the British charity Human Dignity Trust. For the past 30 years, as a gay man, we've always been criminals on the run. The court has declared this is unconstitutional and it means that younger LGBT people, younger gay men, can't dream of having a laugh that is no longer a secret, a laugh that is not a crime. But since it's against the law for same sex couples to get married in the country, activists have stressed that there is still more work to be done, living in a climate of fear from state sanctioned homophobia and hate speech that have claimed the lives of six LGBTQ Namibians in the past year. So we need that beacon of hope and that message of love and unity and inclusivity from the court. It's unclear if the government will appeal against the ruling. The picture regarding progress in LGBTQ rights across the continent is mixed. Gay sex bans were overturned in Angola and Botswana in 2021 and 2019. Uganda toughened up its anti LGBTQ laws, imposing the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality, which includes gay sex that transmits terminal illness. Kenyan protesters called for a national strike on June 25th. It follows this week's mass demonstrations against government plans to raise taxes. One person was killed and at least 200 people injured. Rights groups say live roles have been used. If someone is fighting for their rights, why use live bullets? If he'd been found with weapons, we would have said he was delinquent, but he was just walking with his friend. I'd like to plead to the police, their parents, just like we are. The pain we're feeling is the same pain they'd feel. It's really shocking to learn that we are living in a country. Youth are losing their lives for merely exercising their constitutional rights. And they were doing so. And Despite that, the police had the guts to use excessive force and kill innocent youth. You know, it's, it's really unacceptable. And protesters say the tax hikes aimed at reducing the budget deficit will raise the cost of living for Kenyans who are already struggling to make ends meet. Affordable housing is also a major issue. 70% of people living in urban areas live in informal settlements, often missing basic needs like running water. A construction company thinks investing in affordable 3D printed homes might be the solution. Shivan Silk to Center A we know goes through her daily chores in her little tin shack. She lives in Kibera, in Kenya's capital Nairobi, one of the largest urban slums in Africa. Hundreds of thousands of people live amidst a maze of rusty iron sheets. With no running water or toilets, there's little alternative for the residents. The thousands of dollars required for A1 room Government House are far beyond them. We would really love to move into better houses, but we do not have the money to afford them. Those government houses are like a dream for us, but our income simply won't allow it. The government wants to build 250,000 houses each year. In an effort to close a huge housing deficit, a French company is offering a quick solution using 3D printing technology. It's already showcasing a small number of houses across the country. The kitchen area, the housing need on the continent is huge. It's more than two million houses here in Kenya. It's more than 10 million in Nigeria. And we know that if we want to clear that backlog, we need to build differently. We need to build that scale with speed and we have a low carbon materials and this is what construction 3D printing makes makes possible so that we clear that backlog suit. A machine layers special mortar to form concrete walls, which cuts the building time by several days compared to traditional brick and mortar. But for this architect, the new technology remains limited. Brick and mortar, everybody can build their house anywhere they are. They're able to access the materials, they're able to access the tradesmen who are able to build the house and they can plan the cost, they can plan how much money they have. They can build in faces. 3D printing as a technology as it is currently doesn't offer all those options. Kenya's government is trying to find other solutions. Parliament recently passed a new housing tax to be used to build more affordable and more decent housing. And in other news, in brief, the official death toll from this year's Hajj pilgrimage has soared to more than 1000. Egypt accounts for more than half of the facilities. More countries are also mourning their losses, including Tunisia. President Hai Sayed has sacked Ibrahim Chahibi, the minister of religious affairs. The International Criminal Court unsealed an arrest warrant for Liad AK Shali. The Malian is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Tibuktu in 2012 2013. The warrant covers an attack on a military base during which more than 14 Malian soldiers were executed and Gerhard revoked the operating licence of a French nuclear fuel producer. Urano at one of the world's biggest uranium mines sits on an estimated 200,000 tonnes of the metal used for nuclear power and weapons. Mining was meant to have started in 2015 but development was frozen after the collapse in world uranium prices. The Niger government had warned it would take away Urano's licence if development work had not started by June 19. Sierra Leone has lost 35% of its forest cover over the past 25 years due to deforestation. Its chimpanzee population has also been decimated and is 10 times smaller now than in 1970s. In the mountains of the capital Freetown, the Takugama Chimpanzee Sanctuary is fighting to save the species. Seymour, Martin, Sarasako and some red piece of the story. At the Takugama Sanctuary, Nico the chimpanzee is being taught how to thrive once again in the wild. With the aid of a stick, he has to gather the food from the small puzzle before him. The exercise was custom designed by one of the on site staff to stimulate arm movement. So when he came in, his humerus was completely fractured in half. It was a pellet wound, a bullet wound from when he was captured. Most likely that his family would have been killed and he was injured in the process. He was only young. He was less than two. That was more than 10 years ago, but hunting is still a reality in Sierra Leone. Last year, the park received dozens of young chimpanzees whose families had been killed. New residents are held in quarantine and vaccinated before being placed in the rehabilitation section. After that, they are released into a larger area protected by the sanctuary. But the mission stretches further than the confines of the pen. I think that is good. Let's go beyond, fix it here. Joko and his colleague work as part of a team of Rangers. Today. They have left the sanctuary to plant video cameras in the surrounding area to monitor the nearby population of wild chimpanzees. They also take on the poachers during the morning hours. Make sure that I watch for the traps. When I see this trap, I make sure that I destroy it. And then maybe sometimes we look to see some hunters, we chase them out and then we arrest them, take the gun from them. The Takugama Sanctuary is partly financed through ecotourism. The park offers visits, hikes and stays in lodges nestled in the heart of the forest. It employs close to 100 people from local communities. You cannot practice conservation when people are hungry. We work with about 100 plus communities. If you promote ecotourism as the next livelihood event for them and initiative for them, I think the chances are better in terms of they will protect the environment. Their efforts are beginning to pay off, in large part due to the work of the sanctuary. The government declared chimpanzees as Sierra Leone's national animal. In 2019, James Bonar opened one of the country's first photo studios in Ghana. That's where he immortalised the nation at the time of its independence. He photographed Ghana's first president, Doctor Kwame Kruma, and several major national events. For his 95th birthday, Ghana is holding a three month festival to pay tribute to his work. Here's a report by Justice Baidu and Theodor Abiu James Bano back in Jamestown, the community of his birth for the first time in years. For decades, he photographed lived life here. His Forever Young studio was set up here in 1953. First time that and notice that photography or my work is being recognized at home, you know, and and that something that is on my heart that I had wanted to say I can say today his photos of this community are being exhibited at the same spot where they were taken. He make me feel, remember my grandmother and my grandmother, my grandfather when I was living with them. You see the kind of dressing that they dress that the kind of dressing that my grandmother was living. If I see the picture, I see those years between the 50s and the 70s. James took close to 40,000 pictures of life in Ghana. We've been working on his archive for seven years and the idea was to ask curators and artists from Ghana to take to take over the archive and to propose their own curatorial statement and their own project. As part of this festival, a workshop is organized with James Banos Photo Archive. Because of my conversation with James, you always felt that we need to learn how to archive. You need to learn the awareness of why photos are so important. And I felt that before we actually teach people to even honor his photos, we need to actually honor our family photos first because then we have a better understanding of why he was photographing during that time. Music and dance are also part of the Bano at 95 birthday celebrations. The festival would last through till the end of June with the publication of Mr. Bano's photos and other artifacts in a book. He's in good shape. Well, thank you for watching Eye on Africa. Stay on France 24 for more news.