AfDB, AU heads hold ‘surprise’ talks in Dakar airport lounge

AfDB, AU heads hold ‘surprise’ talks in Dakar airport lounge

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…

3 African nations lose UN vote over member dues

3 African nations lose UN vote over member dues

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…

Côte d’Ivoire transport sector gets a boost with new bus production

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…

AfDB, Janngo announce €10.5 million in startup investment funds

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…

New U.S. sanctions target Liberian leader

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…

African leaders speak at Summit for Democracy

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…

Outage knocks Amazon Web Services users offline

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…

China pledges 1B COVID vaccine doses for Africa

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…

Report puts Kabila, BGFI at center of global financial investigation

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…

U.S. places sanctions on Eritrean leaders, warns Ethiopia of same

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…