Dakar, Senegal | AFP | Qatar’s emir landed in Senegal on Wednesday at the start of a six-nation tour of West Africa as Doha seeks out new markets after Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries cut ties with the wealthy emirate. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani’s is expected to visit …
Read More »GLOBAL COMMENT: Resetting Africa-Europe relations
Just as 16th century Europe needed African gold, 21st century Europe needs African migrants COMMENT | IBRAHIM ASSANE MAYAKI | In October, the European Union announced a plan to invest €40 billion ($47.6 billion) in Africa, a “Marshall Plan” for the continent that would boost economic growth, create jobs, and, ultimately, …
Read More »Why our nations remain poor
African elites are victims of their own delusions about distorted history of developed countries THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | On Dec.01, I attended the Joseph Mubiru Memorial Lecture hosted by Bank of Uganda and featuring Prof. Ha Joon Chang of the University of Cambridge. A brilliant economist lecturer, …
Read More »African footballers in charity match for Boko Haram displaced
Kano, Nigeria | AFP | Nigeria’s former Arsenal striker Nwankwo Kanu led a team of African all-stars in a charity football match on Thursday, to raise money for people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency and highlight their plight. Kanu, Senegal’s El-Hadji Diouf, Fabian McCarthy of South Africa and Cyrille …
Read More »6,000 IS jihadists could return to Africa, AU warns
Algiers, Algeria | AFP | Up to 6,000 Africans who fought for the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group in Iraq and Syria could return home, the African Union’s top security official warned Sunday, calling on countries to prepare for the threat. Smail Chergui, the AU’s commissioner for peace and security, said …
Read More »North Korea’s African friends face test of loyalty
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | Old alliances between North Korea and several African nations forged at the height of the Cold War will not be swept away easily. While threats from the United States and UN sanctions have forced many governments on the continent to keep their distance …
Read More »Rethinking politics in Africa
How events in Zimbabwe expose the false assumptions that inform explanations of developments on this continent THE LAST WORD | Andrew M. Mwenda | There is a widespread assumption that presidents in Africa who rule for long do so out of personal greed for power. This accusation has been made against Robert …
Read More »COMMENT: Research for policy makers
Six barriers that make it difficult for African states to use research for policy COMMENT | WILLEM FOURIE | African policymakers need access to high quality evidence to implement the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) successfully. The SDGs are arguably the most broad-ranging development goals to be ratified by United Nations member …
Read More »Three decades on, stigma still stymies HIV prevention and treatment
Kampala, Uganda | LINDA-GAIL BEKKER | There have been great strides and many important victories in the fight against HIV. Scientific innovations and sustained investment have been the most important weapons in this ongoing battle. Nevertheless the epidemic retains a powerful grip – especially on people in Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, 19.4 …
Read More »Tillerson plans Africa trip for early 2018
Ramstein, Germany | AFP | Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met US military officers on Wednesday to prepare for a trip to better coordinate American security and diplomatic strategy in Africa. Tillerson plans to make the trip in the first quarter of 2018, the State Department said, after he dismissed …
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