New swarms of locusts are coming from Ethiopia and Somalia into Kenya, as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its partners continue to fight back against crop destruction in a part of the world where it is least afforded. The FAO said Friday it was…
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is sending $10 million to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to help combat a devastating locust infestation in East Africa and Horn nations. “The locust invasion is the worst Kenya has seen in 70 years, and the worst in nearly a…
A new eight-minute video from Islamic State is the first such material produced in Somalia and demonstrates the carefully cultivated IS influence in the Horn of Africa, according to a Washington DC-based security monitoring group. “So far, Somalia is the only ISIS entity to release a threatening video against the…
The Australian arm of global NGO Plan International says that when it comes to East Africa’s drought and food shortage, there’s often a wide gap between perception and reality when appealing to donors. The organization says it sampled 100 social media comments posted to stories about the crisis and the…
The Africa Competitiveness Report was released Thursday at the World Economic Forum on Africa meeting in Durban, with some muted positive trends despite the overall economic stagnation. Lagging infrastructure improvement, weak financial sector development and low levels of regional trade continue to be key constraints to growth. Yet the report,…
Despite a rapidly transforming world, bringing about change remains a difficult prospect. One example is Tanzania’s upcoming election on October 25th. For the first time in 55 years the ruling party, CCM (Party of the Revolution), faces the prospect of defeat if the elections are free and fair. Unfortunately, the…
Freeman Aikaeli Mbowe is a Member of Parliament and Chairman of Chadema, Tanzania’s leading opposition political party.
Senior Burundian officials have announces they are in support of dialogue with the opponents of President President Pierre Nkurunziza’s administration. “Political dialogue is an ongoing process in Burundi. We have remained open and ready to talk to whoever has a stake in this crisis,” the government spokesperson, Gervais Abayeho, told The…