Newly appointed Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang arrived in Ethiopia on Tuesday, as part of Beijing’s tradition to begin each year with a diplomatic tour of African nations. Talks in Ethiopia focused on investment and economic development, according to Ethiopian officials. “The relationship between the two countries remains steadfast,” said…
Laureen is the editor of Africa Times
Climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, scheduled to wrap up on Friday, will continue through at least Saturday, according to Egyptian media outlets citing Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. Shoukry said he remains concerned about many outstanding issues at the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference. Shoukry met with United Nations…
President William Ruto of Kenya made the African case for climate action at COP27 on Monday, focusing on loss and damage funding and delays he called “cruel and unjust” as Africans already experience catastrophic impacts. “Loss and damage is not an abstract topic of endless dialogue: it is our daily…
As the COP27 climate conference begins in Egypt, participants in the “Running Out of Time” relay are closing in on their final destination of Sharm el-Sheikh with a message of urgency on climate action. The relay route has covered 18 countries, beginning in Glasgow, Scotland—site of COP26 last year—and winding…
With COP27 in Egypt just a month away, global leaders have stepped up the call for changes in international financing entities to better facilitate the climate transition, especially in some of the world’s most challenged nations. Frans Timmermans, the executive vice president for the European Union Green New Deal, said…
A high-level meeting in Gabon has African leaders focused on how the continent can provide solutions to the global climate crisis, with President Ali Bongo Ondimba welcoming ministers and delegates from 42 nations as well as United Nations representatives. “In less than three months, the UN Climate Change conference will…
The death of Al Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, announced Monday by the United States, brings some closure to Kenyans and Tanzanians who remember the 1998 embassy attacks, as well as diplomats who recall the terrorist bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam that claimed 224 lives. “I am thinking of…
China hosted Wednesday’s meeting on security among BRICS nations, with South Africa, Russia, Brazil and India attending the virtual session led by Yang Jiechi, director of China’s foreign affairs commission. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping expressed mutual solidarity on political issues including China’s proposed Global…
African heads of state were among global leaders sending their condolences to the United Arab Emirates on Friday upon the news that President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan had died. He was 73 years old. The news of his death was announced via state media, along with plans for…
The United Nations warns that amid other concerns about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the impact on wheat and food supply reaches far beyond its borders and has the potential to make matters worse in countries like Somalia that are already challenged by a hunger crisis. “For months now, developing…
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…
An Israeli company scrutinized for its role in supplying spyware to foreign governments, a number of them on the African continent, has been placed under new restrictions by the United States government. NSO Group, which develops and supplies Pegasus software, is now on the Entity List at the US. Department…
Sekou Siby of Côte d’Ivoire survived the September 11 attacks in 2001, but many did not—and dozens of them were also immigrants to the United States who, like Siby, worked at the World Trade Center that day. As Americans gathered at the weekend to mark the 20th anniversary of terror…
The United Nations mission in Libya expressed its concern over the whereabouts of a key Government of National Unity official who remains missing after an abduction last week. Rida Faraj Fraitis, chief of staff for a GNU deputy prime minister, disappeared on August 2 after attending a meeting at GNU…
Morocco, Egypt and Rwanda are just three of the nations where governments and their leaders are named in an ongoing investigation into the use of Pegasus spyware supplied by Israeli tech company NSO Group. The Pegasus Project, coordinated by the Paris-based NGO Forbidden Stories, looks at how the technology is…