TONY COX, host:
Now, onto other news from Africa. Uganda holds its first multi-party elections in over two decades. But many wonder if the outcome will be any different than the last two elections. And bird flu discovered in Nigeria, the U.N. saying it could spell disaster for the region. Plus Picasso in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Joining me to discuss the latest developments across the continent is NPR special Africa correspondent, Charlayne Hunter-Gault. Charlayne, thanks for joining us.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT reporting:
Happy to be here, Tony.
COX: Let's start out talking about the elections in Uganda. Now, Museveni, the voting for him this week is happening amid much controversy. So tell us what's going there.
HUNTER-GAULT: Museveni is likely to win, not least because as president now and for the past 20 years, as you said, he controls the state and machinery, and because he also jailed his opponent, Kizza Besigye, who returned from exile to campaign, only to be arrested on charges of rape and treason that go back many years, charges that he denies and that he attributes just simply to political opposition.
Now, he was released on bail to campaign, but it's only been in the last few weeks, and he's been constantly having to go back to court. So this is having a very chilling effect on this election. Moreover, Museveni took power in what even some Democrats would call a good coup, in that he did rid the country of Idi Amin, a man who was regarded as a murder, tyrant. There are very few Ugandans who can't tell of relative or another who was murdered by Idi Amin. And then there was Milton Obote, who wasn't much better. He brutally oppressed the people.
And some in the West regarded Museveni when he came to power as a new kind of African leader, and he was roundly applauded. Even he said that 10 years is long enough for anybody to be president. But all that has changed.
COX: Another big story coming out of Africa this week has to do with the devastation, the potential of bird flu in Nigeria. How bad is the problem there, and how serious is it going to get?
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT reporting:
Well, it's really serious. I mean, nobody's died in Africa yet, but experts are saying that this virus--all it needs to trigger a pandemic is its capacity to spread easily to humans, and the potential is so great in Africa--not least because of the dire poverty and the hunger.
I'm told it's so bad in Nigeria that people are actually picking up the dead chickens and taking them home to cook, thinking that if they cook it, it will remove the virus, if in fact, they even know. Because as you know, people don't have modern means of communication, often, in the rural areas and the World Organization for Animal Health is saying that this strain of the HSNI virus, as it's called, is highly pathogenic, which can kill humans.
COX: You know, so much, Charlayne, of what we hear coming out of Africa is often sad news or tragic news, just like the bird flu. But in this case, there's something that is quite the opposite and very interesting, and I'd love to hear you tell us more about this: Picasso in South Africa.
HUNTER-GAULT: It's amazing. Tony, 24 of the master works of Pablo Picasso--some never seen before in public, many from the Paris museum and some from his own family collection--are sitting there in South Africa, and people are coming in droves to see it. And what's so amazing about it is that you see the influence of African art on Picasso because they have--the curator, a woman named Marilyn Martin--has brought in African ritual masks from all over the continent and put them beside these masterworks of Picasso. And there is no question, if you look at a Dogan mask or you look at some of the other masks of some of the unknown artists, you can actually see the influence on cubism and all of that on Picasso, this master painter.
COX: What's been the reaction? I can only imagine.
HUNTER-GAULT: Oh, the reaction has been great. I mean, Tablon(ph) Imbeke(ph), who's Mr. Renaissance Man himself, says that this is a great contribution to the African Renaissance. They're proud, not only to have this great international exhibit in South Africa, but as Imbeke says, it's a reminder of the proud cultural heritage highlighting African influences in European art. African art also influenced Matisse with his bold colors and ceremonial patters. Jacques Lipschitz looked to Africa for solutions to formal anesthetic problems. You know, they talk about Africa being the cradle of mankind, being the place from which mankind sprang, and Africa rarely gets credit for something like this, which has had such an impact on the artistic world, and it's going to travel around the country so that they will see the major contribution that Africa made to art and modern art in the 20th century.
COX: Sounds absolutely fascinating. NPR special Africa correspondent Charlayne Hunter-Gault. Charlayne, thanks as always.
HUNTER-GAULT: Thank you, Tony.
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