Akinwumi Adesina, head of the African Development Bank (AfDB), says he was in the VIP lounge of Dakar’s Blaise-Diagne International Airport with Senegal’s economic minister this week when another African dignitary walked in. The surprise guest was Moussa Faki Mahamat, head of the African Union Commission. What followed, the AfDB…
It was not a good year for improvements on corruption anywhere in the world, according to the 2021 annual report released by Transparency International on Tuesday. Overall, the Corruption Perceptions Index report shows that 86% of the world’s nations are either losing control in the fight against corruption or remain…
Three African nations have had their voting rights suspended by the United Nations because of their failure to pay the required financial contributions for member states. Sudan and Congo-Brazzaville, along with the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros, are among 10 nations that have failed to pay their dues in…
In Côte d’Ivoire, authorities announced another step forward in boosting the economy through its transport sector. Beginning Monday, the company’s SOTRA bus services — working in partnership with Italian manufacturer IVECO —will start production of new minibuses. The government’s agreements with the private sector firms call for 1,000 of the…
In keeping with its annual tradition, China’s foreign minister will make his first visits to the African continent at the start of the new year. Foreign Minister Wang Yi will begin his journey in Eritrea on January 4. He’ll continue on to Kenya and then the Indian Ocean island nation…
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced the approval of €10.5 million in investment funds to support African tech entrepreneurs through the Janngo Start-Up Fund. The funds include €7 million from the AfDB and a €3.5 million contribution from the European Union and the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific…
Kenya is moving forward with its plans to harness its ocean resources and build a “blue economy” with the newly commissioned Mombasa Shipyard. The shipyard, the largest in the region, is located at the Kenya Navy Base in Mtongwe. It’s there that President Uhuru Kenyatta was on hand to celebrate…
Politicians and business leaders from three African nations face new sanctions imposed by the United States on the basis of alleged involvement in corruption and other activities. Among them is Liberia’s Prince Yormie Johnson, a member of the West African nation’s senate who is implicated in the 1990 death of…
President Nana Akufo Addo of Ghana was set to speak as the virtual Summit for Democracy, hosted by the United States, kicked off on Thursday. Akufo Addo and Yvonne Aki-Sawyer, the mayor of Freetown in Sierra Leone, planned remarks for a discussion on “Bolstering Democratic Resilience: Building Back Better Together…
A massive outage of Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Tuesday left people across the globe waiting for services they depend on to come back online. AWS said it was aware of the problem but an hours-long outage was expected to continue until the service was fixed. Many digital services, including…
President Xi Jinping of China has pledged to deliver another 1 billion COVID vaccine doses to the African continent, an announcement he made during his speech to the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in Dakar. Xi said 600 million doses of China’s vaccines will be donated while the other…
Botswana confirmed on Thursday that a new COVID-19 variant, one that’s causing great concern in southern Africa and beyond, was detected in four people described as travelers. Botswana’s Presidential COVID-19 Task Force said the four cases of the B.1.1.529 variant were recorded on Monday. All four cases happened in people…
Explosive allegations in an investigative report released Friday put former president Joseph Kabila and his associates at the center of embezzlement claims of at least US$138 million taken from the Democratic Republic of Congo’s state coffers. The “Congo Holdup” report, a product of European Investigative Collaborations (EIC), is based on…
The United States announced new financial sanctions on Friday in connection with the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia, including sanctions imposed against the Eritrean Defense Force. “Today’s action targets Eritrean actors that have contributed to the crisis and conflict, which have undermined the stability and integrity of the…
A draft version of the decisions on climate change made at COP26 in Scotland was released Wednesday, with much of the emphasis placed on the needs of developing nations—and the admission that so far, wealthier countries have failed at their commitments. The draft document registers the regret “that the goal…