South Africa was the latest African nation to be battered by extreme weather, as flooding rains led to water rescues and swaths of the nation were thrown into the dark by damage to facilities of state-owned utility provider Eskom. The national weather service warned that rains were expected to continue…
Greenpeace Africa, alongside a coalition of groups from central African neighbors Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville, says it is promoting climate action from Kinshasa instead of COP25 in Madrid because eight delegates were denied timely visas. The annual climate conference is hosted in Spain this year instead of…
Frustrated South Africans suffered through another round of power cuts on Thursday evening, as embattled state utility provider Eskom warned that it needed to extend the load shedding “in order to protect the power system from a total collapse.” Eskom had earlier warned of the potential for power cuts because…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
There are at least 11,000 children working in Madagascar’s southern mica mining region, where poverty means that sometimes entire families are exposed to dangerous health and safety conditions. That’s according to a new report from human rights advocates at Terre des Hommes, which found that between 56 and 62 percent…
Embattled President Evo Morales has stepped down in Bolivia, where the dramatic developments since the country’s October 20 election have implications for the wider Global South – among them Africans concerned about the competing narratives emerging from the small but resource-rich nation. “The coup plotters who raided my house and…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré of Burkina Faso called for three days of mourning following news of an attack on a convoy of mining employees working for Canadian firm SEMAFO, one that has shocked both nations. He’s also called on his nation to raise up volunteer defense groups in a…
By all accounts, the talks over Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam hosted by the United States were positive, with the parties agreeing to a series of four future meetings to work out their disputes over impacts to the Nile River – a sticking point for Egypt and Sudan. Those meetings,…
Morocco has increased its climate change commitments linked to the 2015 Paris Agreement. Eritrea and Benin have decreased theirs, and they represent half of just six nations globally that have reviewed these commitments since – commitments that aren’t delivering fast enough on climate action. That’s according to a report released…
Mauritius, Rwanda and Morocco were the top-performing African economies listed in the “Doing Business 2020” report released Thursday by the World Bank Group. The annual ranking looks at 190 nations and evaluates the business environment on the basis of 10 measures such as access to credit, with an overall ranking…
Egypt says it is shocked and holds “deep concern” over comments made by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed that appear to threaten a military response over the nations’ impasse on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project. Abiy, speaking to the Ethiopian parliament earlier in the day, said Ethiopia could…
Following last week’s round of power cuts, South African utility provider Eskom said Monday that the likelihood of load-shedding episodes in the coming week was low – but some South Africans said they were still seeing hours-long blackouts anyway. “The system remains constrained and vulnerable and any unexpected shift, such…
Participants in the three-day African Oil & Power conference, which runs through Friday in Cape Town, are showcasing African industry’s efforts to align with this year’s theme of “Make Energy Work.” Gwede Mantashe, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy in South Africa, served as keynote speaker on Thursday with…
Products from Zimbabwe and Democratic Republic of Congo are among those from five nations to be seized by the United States at its borders because they are believed linked to forced-labor violations. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Tuesday it initiated its investigation following complaints from…
As the Chinese celebrate the government’s 70th anniversary, a new paper on Beijing’s relationships with African nations explores how Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects are actually being implemented – and it offers a few surprising conclusions. The paper from the Brookings Institution in the United States is part of…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
The heightened rhetoric following Saturday’s attack on Saudi Aramco oil infrastructure seemed more heat than light, as the United States accused Iran of being responsible – which Iran denies – and threatened retaliation in keeping with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s wishes. It’s still uncertain how much structural damage was…