Morreu o escritor nigeriano Chinua Achebe, considerado por muitos o pai da moderna literatura africana. O Guardian traça-lhe o obituário aqui, fechando o texto com as palavras do autor sobre a sua recusa em aceitar uma condecoração dada pelo governo da Nigéria:
Achebe has twice rejected the Nigerian government’s attempt to name him a Commander of the Federal Republic – a national honour – first in 2004, and second in 2011. In 2004 he wrote that “for some time now I have watched events in Nigeria with alarm and dismay. I have watched particularly the chaos in my own state of Anambra where a small clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places, seems determined to turn my homeland into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. I am appalled by the brazenness of this clique and the silence, if not connivance, of the presidency … Nigeria’s condition today under your watch is, however, too dangerous for silence. I must register my disappointment and protest by declining to accept the high honour awarded me in the 2004 honours list.”
(a fotografia é de Craig Ruttle/AP)