President Danny Faure of Seychelles underscored the challenges facing island nations as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic took center stage at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. Faure’s pre-recorded speech was among six such talks scheduled for African leaders, in a format that replaced in-person meetings for the…
Authorities in Botswana say that toxic cyanobacteria, a kind of algae found in water sources, is behind the mysterious death of elephant herds earlier this year. Dr. Mmadi Reuben, the principal veterinary officer for the Department of Wildlife & National Parks, said Monday that the laboratory samples of water obtained…
The final report on the Boeing 737 MAX, released Wednesday by a legislative committee in the United States, finds “repeated and serious failures” by both Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The report’s introduction begins with the story of Paul Njoroge, a Kenyan living in Canada who testified…
President Nana Akufo Addo of Ghana has been elected the new head of the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and will replace outgoing chief Mahamadou Issoufou, his Nigerien counterpart. “I am fully aware of the challenges which confront West Africa,” said Akufo Addo in his acceptance speech,…
Another locust outbreak is threatening southern Africa, this time with the potential to affect some 7 million people in four more countries. Botswana has seen smallholder farmers lose entire crops, with the growing region of Pandamatenga and its key sorghum crops at risk as the country seeks to step up…
Uganda is celebrating the birth of another baby mountain gorilla, the fifth such arrival for the endangered species in the last six weeks. The latest little gorilla was born to Ruterana, an adult female in the Rushegura family group that lives in the Bwindi forest. It is her third child,…
Akinwumi A. Adesina has been re-elected to another five-year term as president of the African Development Bank, during a board vote that came on the last day of the AfDB annual meeting. Adesina received the unanimous vote of all regional and non-regional AfDB members, despite questions about his leadership raised…
The keys to the new headquarters of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat were handed over on Monday in Ghana, where the government also established a permanent residence for the first AfCFTA head. Wamkele Keabetswe Mene, the South African elected to the position in February, delivered remarks at…
African leaders joined their counterparts from across the globe on Wednesday as they extended condolences and assistance to the people of Lebanon following Tuesday’s massive explosion in Beirut. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, current holder of the African Union presidency, expressed concern for the many Lebanese families who lost…
Zimbabwe’s crackdown on anticorruption protesters has captured the attention of human rights campaigners at home and abroad, many of them using the #zimbabweanlivesmatter hashtag on Twitter to share their concerns. Among them is President Lazarus Chakwera of neighboring Malawi, who was sworn in at the end of June following new…
Nigeria’s war on corruption suffered several body blows this month after Ibrahim Magu, the chief of its Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), was suspended on suspicion of malfeasance, including collecting bribes and siphoning funds away from the EFCC. A dozen more staff members within the anti-corruption agency were subsequently…
Policies that deliver a Temporary Basic Income (TBI) for the world’s poorest people could help some 3 billion people to stay home, thereby slowing the current surge in COVID-19 transmission in developing nations. That’s according to a new report released Thursday by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), which puts…
South African photographer Daniela Zondagh captured a striking image of an empty table with 1,000 seats to help business owners in the hospitality industry illustrate the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on their livelihoods. Zondagh documented the table setup for Bosman Family Vineyards, which claims an eight-generation heritage in…
There has been little progress in the stalemate over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), according to the Ethiopian government as it continues lengthy and oft-contentious negotiations with Egypt and Sudan. Ethiopia’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that the three nations have been unable to resolve their differences over access to…
The European Union has committed €15 million to the fight against desert locusts, which have devastated crops in East Africa. It’s the worst outbreak in decades, and a new generation of locusts is now threatening the region with the potential to spread beyond the Horn of Africa and Yemen, into…