AFRICA

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa | Xinhua | Cyril Ramaphosa, leader of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), took the oath of office as the nation’s president for the next five years Wednesday at a ceremony in Pretoria, the administrative capital. “As the President of the Republic, I will work with …

KIGALI, Rwanda | Xinhua | Rwandan President Paul Kagame on Monday accused Western countries of adopting “double standards” on democracy, ahead of next month’s general elections in the East African country. Kagame, who has been president of Rwanda since 2000, was responding to a question about critics who accuse him …

However, this trade performance remains modest compared to regions like Asia and Europe. ANALYSIS | ISAAC KHISA | Intra-African trade recorded an improvement in the past year but remained relatively low compared to other regions, according to Afreximbank’s African Trade Report 2024, titled “Climate Implications of the AfCFTA Implementation.” The report, …

13 African countries are at high risk of debt distress and 6 are already in debt distress Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA | THE INDEPENDENT | The African Development Bank has launched a new initiative to support and develop homegrown solutions to the debt challenges that countries on the continent are facing. Dubbed …

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopian | Xinhua | Scholars have called for the Nile Basin countries to join forces to fairly utilize the Nile River to meet their peoples’ soaring demand for water, energy, and food. The call was made on Saturday in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, on the margins of …

NAIROBI, KENYA | Xinhua | The rollout of a vaccination drive to prevent healthcare workers in Africa from contracting the Ebola virus while on duty is in the works, a senior official from GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance has said. Francisco Luquero, GAVI’s head of High-Impact Outbreaks said that inoculating frontline …

KHARTOUM | Xinhua | For the second year, the Sudanese welcome the Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, without the usual joy of celebration, as the traditional rituals are becoming unaffordable during the civil war killing thousands, displacing millions, and collapsing the economy. According to Islamic traditions, Muslim families …

NAIROBI, Kenya | Xinhua | Every Sunday, several streets of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, as well as its suburbs, usually bustle with activity involving mainly young people. The youngsters normally take photos in all manner of poses as others make skits and record videos using their phones. The photos …

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania | Xinhua | The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) on Thursday announced that passenger train operations will be suspended from June 18, 2024, until further notice. “This suspension has been necessitated by various operational challenges that the authority is facing,” TAZARA said in a statement signed by …

Nigerian billionaire Benedict Peters to kickstart Zimbabwe lithium production next year, driving Africa’s lithium market gains. SPECIAL REPORT | BIRD AGENCY | Nigerian industrialist Benedict Peters’ Bravura Holdings will start production at a Zimbabwean lithium project in 2025, boosting Africa’s drive to retain more profits from the global lithium boom, …