African dust has been getting a lot of media attention in Europe and the United States, as it contributes to everything from the yellow-tinged skies of Portugal during the recent Iberian Peninsula heat wave to the suppression of storm formation in this year’s slow Atlantic Ocean hurricane season. It is…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Prosecutors in Kenya have called for the arrest of more than a dozen people, including the heads of the National Land Commission (NLC) and managing director of the state-owned Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), following a fraud and corruption investigation into the country’s USD$3.2 billion railroad project. NLC Chairman Mohammed Abdalla…
The president of Zanzibar, the semi-autonomous Indian Ocean island nation belonging to Tanzania, has completed a visit to Indonesia that saw seaweed cultivation as a top priority of a trip focused on economy and trade. President Ali Mohammed Shein visited a processing facility in West Java operated by Agar Swallow,…
The government of Djibouti and the Dubai-based DP World firm exchanged fire in a battle of words at the weekend, following the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) ruling on Friday that Djibouti’s seizure of the Doraleh Container Terminal violates the parent company’s “valid and binding” agreement to operate the…
DP World said Thursday that it will be reviewing its options after the London Court of International Arbitration ruled that Djibouti’s seizure of the Doraleh Container Terminal in February violates the “valid and binding” agreement to operate the strategic port near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The LCIA decision finds that…
China’s President Xi Jinping delivered an address to the BRICS Business Forum on Wednesday that urged leaders to seize an unprecedented moment of global opportunity while warning against the rise of nationalism, a pattern seen in the United States and some European countries. “The next decade will see faster changes…
As part of its External Investment Plan, the European Union has approved €800 million for investment earmarked for Africa and the regional “neighborhood” countries, a number of which also are North African states. The funding will support programs including a new lending alternative for refugees or the internally displaced, who…
The African Development Bank was ranked fourth in the world in the latest Aid Transparency Index Report, an independent measure of the world’s major development and humanitarian agencies. “The index found that while organizations provide information on the objectives of their operations, only four DFIs – the Asian Development Bank,…
President Yoweri Museveni, known for the occasionally wordy post on whatever topic is at hand, has taken to Facebook to defend a controversial tax, imposed on social media and money mobile users, that went into effect at the beginning of July. Museveni pointedly said he wanted to use social media…
President Muhammadu Buhari begins a two-day visit to Morocco on Sunday, and will meet with King Mohammed VI to discuss economic partnerships between the two nations. The leaders will focus on strengthening existing agreements on the fertilizer industry, as well as education cooperation, the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline project and establishing…
Botswana continues to be an economic bright spot in southern Africa, with the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) assessment showing a rebound from slower GDP growth in 2017 that’s tied to stronger diamond sales and higher government spending. The IMF assessment team, led by Enrique Gelbard, completed a visit to Gaborone…
The European Union has signed a new Economic Cooperation Agreement with Liberia, and provided an initial €27 million in funding for the West African nation’s budget for the 2018-2019 fiscal year. The commitment follows President George Weah’s trip to attend the annual European Development Days (EDD) Summit, held this week…
Sushma Swaraj of India is one of five foreign ministers meeting in Pretoria this week as the BRICS ministers convene ahead of the full summit in Johannesburg in July. On her way to the meeting, she stopped in Mauritius to visit Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, affirming their close cultural…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Uganda’s parliament has passed legislation banning the import of cars more than 15 years old, in a compromise of an original proposal that would have seen the vehicle-year threshold as lows as eight. Government officials said the law, which will go into effect on July 1, is meant to boost…
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Thursday that it will integrate Islamic banking, which now has a presence in more than 60 countries, into its financial stability assessments in nations where Islamic finance commands at least 15 percent of the banking sector market. Beginning in 2019, they’ll use the Core…