The death toll in Rwanda has risen to 130 following heavy rain and floods that devastated parts of the country’s northwest and southern regions earlier this week. Prime Minister Édouard Ngirente visited the Rubavu District to attend funeral services and assist families on Wednesday. It is one of the nine…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Climate change may be contributing to a rise in maritime piracy, according to a new study from criminologists based in Macau and the United States. The researchers looked at 15 years of data on piracy attacks in the South China Sea and along the East African coastline, in places like…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
South Africa will not revoke its participation in the International Criminal Court (ICC), despite comments made by the African National Congress and President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier in the week. That’s according to a statement from the presidency, assuring that South Africa will remain a signatory to the Rome Statute that…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
On the sidelines of the first-ever Kinshasa Economic Forum in March, the EU launched an initial mobilization of €50 million into the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC’s) critical minerals sector. The investment underlines just how important Congolese resources are to the rest of the world, with the country home to…
African countries account for seven of the 10 most at-risk nations for climate disaster, according to a new report from the International Rescue Committee (IRC). The organization, with global headquarters in the United States, put Somalia at the top of the list due to its extreme food insecurity made worse…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Sub-Saharan Africa has been subject to grave human rights violations in multiple nations, according to a new State of the World’s Human Rights report released by Amnesty International on Tuesday. The report authors say it highlights “the failure of global and regional institutions, including the UN Security Council and African…
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As if the Nile River isn’t already affected by enough climate and regional geopolitical pressure, now there’s a new report on how heavy metal toxicity may be causing irreversible damage to its waters. Scientists with the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California found that the impacts…
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African leaders are celebrating news of successful negotiations for a High Seas Treaty, the long-awaited United Nations agreement to protect global oceans and ecosystems through international cooperation. The treaty, approved by delegates to the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), follows years of talks that…
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By Daniel Jasper With the recent commitment to create the Loss and Damage fund at COP27, a robust and ongoing conversation around World Bank reform, and a renewed United States interest in Africa, there is emerging recognition of the urgent need to support communities on the front lines of climate…
Despite progress on peace in Ethiopia, Libya and South Sudan, the United Nations Secretary General told leaders at the African Union (AU) summit that the continent needs a comprehensive approach on climate, human rights and development in order to secure a peaceful feature. “The Central African Republic, and the forward…
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Africa’s largest hydropower dam, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, is the focal point of still-unresolved tensions between Ethiopia, neighboring Sudan and downstream Egypt because of impacts to Nile River water resources. Most recently, talks in Egypt included the GERD diplomatic impasse during a visit from Tony Blinken, the United States…
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Pope Francis began a week-long visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan on Tuesday, arriving in Kinshasa and speaking alongside Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi during a ceremony in the garden of the Palais de la Nation. The pontiff recalled the natural beauty of DR Congo in his…
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Progress in African governance has stalled since 2019 due to security challenges and the economic and health impacts of COVID, as well as “widespread democratic backsliding” that poses a threat to development, according to the just-released annual report from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Data from the Ibrahim Index of African…
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By Jeffrey Smith One of my personal highlights of 2022 was being present in Kenya in the days leading up to and during that country’s general elections, held on August 9. I was fortunate to have been invited to participate with a diverse team of accredited observers, mostly consisting of…
Along the border between Botswana and Zimbabwe, researchers are using computer model simulations to understand the impacts of human-wildlife conflict and how to reduce its costs to both the community and the surrounding ecosystem. Still a pilot program funded by the European Union, the approach is used in the Hwange-Kazuma-Chobe…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times