Can Africa shake its toxic past?

In Zimbabwe, crisis is in the air again. Two years after the country’s long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was ousted in a military coup, a crippling energy crisis forces people to live by candlelight as the economy is lurching back towards hyper-inflationary territory. After years of turmoil under Robert Mugabe, the…

Arnaud Gallet

Arnaud is a French freelance writer with an African heart who has lived in 10 different Sub-Saharan countries in the past decade. He is currently based in Paris.

Togo’s Gnassingbé, Tony Blair talk economic development

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was in Togo on Wednesday, meeting with President Faure Gnassingbé as part of a long-term consulting project to boost economic development in the small West African nation. Blair has been doing consulting work with African countries for the past decade, and launched the Tony…

AfDB gets high marks for development aid transparency

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,…

EU signs new economic agreement with Liberia

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…

Kenyatta focuses on unity in State of the Nation address

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya delivered his State of the Nation address Wednesday with an emphasis on unity amid the lingering consequences of last year’s bitterly contested presidential election. To that end, he praised unsuccessful Nasa candidate Raila Odinga for seeking to heal their divisions and called on Kenyans to…

IPBES report shows critical need to protect Africa’s biodiversity

Biodiversity continues to decline in every region of the world, and that’s especially a concern for Africa, according to newly released regional reports from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). “Africa is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and this is going to have…

Malawi launches new sustainable development strategy plan

Malawi launched its new five-year development plan on Tuesday during a ceremony at Kamuzu Palace, the State House in Lilongwe. The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) III emphasizes climate priorities, alongside agriculture and water resources, in a vision that runs through 2022 and builds on the previous version. It…

Beijing fires back at Tillerson’s China-Africa remarks

China has fired back at the United States after claims by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson that Beijing’s approach to African development is one of dependency and indebtedness. Tillerson, now in Ethiopia as he begins a five-nation African tour, made the remarks prior to departing the U.S. “We partner…

Morocco hosts 400 leaders at China Africa Investment Forum

Hundreds of African government and business leaders are joining their Chinese counterparts in Morocco as the country hosts the China Africa Investment Forum. They were welcomed by Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Morocco’s trade minister, with a number of high-level leaders on hand for panel discussions. Monday’s CAIF sessions focused on China’s…