2016 Tutu Fellow Peter Biar Ajak has become a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School. He started his Fellowship in August 2022.
In his new role, Peter is working on a book manuscript about the ways South Sudanese can realize their political aspirations. Peter was wrongfully detained without trial by the South Sudan National Security Service.
2016 Tutu Fellow Dorothy Ghettuba has been promoted to Director of Africa Originals Series at Netflix. Previously, she was Manager, Africa Originals Series at Netflix. In this new role, she will continue to build on the library of original series she has already developed for Netflix.
It gives her greater latitude to source and bring African stories to the screen, and continue to grow an important market for the company.
Digital TV Research, says that Netflix ended 2021 with approximately 2.61 million streaming subscribers in Africa and this is anticipated to grow to around 5.84 million by 2026.
2016 Tutu Fellow Succès Masra PhD has offered condolences to the Deby family in a gracious message via social media on the death of Chad’s President, Idriss Deby, who was killed by rebels in the north of the country in April. Succès thanked the former president for the thirty years he had had as leader of the country.
Succès is a prominent opposition politician who had to seek shelter within the US embassy perimeter in N'Djamena only the month prior to Deby's death because of a security crackdown on his supporters. Protests erupted when Deby announced he was running for a sixth term, along with changes to the qualifying age of presidential candidates in a measure to disqualify the opposition. Deby was controversially re-elected to a sixth presidential term, only to be killed just hours later in circumstances in the north of the country. His government played an important role in countering Islamic terrorism in the region and was supported by former colonial ruler, France, to that end.
On 6 February 2021, 2016 Tutu Fellow Succès Masra PhD, sought shelter within the US Embassy security perimeter in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena. The President of the National Human Rights Commission negotiated his exit and the US Embassy received assurances from the government of Chad that Succès would not be arrested if he left the embassy grounds and would be allowed to return home unhindered. Succès refused this negotiated settlement for only himself and instead demanded the release of his fellow companions who were arrested and charged during protests. The United States issued a statement emphasizing their commitment to defending democratic values, but asked Succès to leave, none the less.
The US has also called on the government of Chad to respect the rule of law, to respect the right of the people to demonstrate, and to ensure a transparent and fair judicial process for those persons detained following protests demanding social justice and political change.
