Macron’s Africa trip highlights Angola space deal, Gabon forests

Macron’s Africa trip highlights Angola space deal, Gabon forests

French President Emmanuel Macron continues his African tour through Sunday, completing stops in Angola and Congo Brazzaville on Friday as he seeks to reassure leaders of France’s commitment to Africa while acknowledging that the vestiges of the colonial era are forever in the past. Macron met with his Angolan counterpart,…

Laureen Fagan

Laureen is the editor of Africa Times

Marburg virus confirmed in EG, region steps up health measures

Marburg virus confirmed in EG, region steps up health measures

Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first-ever outbreak of Marburg virus disease, with at least nine fatalities that have forced a lockdown in Nsok Nsomo and the Kie Ntem district near the border with Gabon and Cameroon. Officials with the World Health Organization (WHO) said samples were taken from those infected…

Laureen is the editor of Africa Times

Gabon, Cameroon step up health measures following EG deaths

Gabon, Cameroon step up health measures following EG deaths

In Equatorial Guinea, there’s not yet a confirmed diagnosis of the suspected hemorrhagic fever illness that has claimed up to 20 lives and forced a lockdown in the Nsok Nsomo and Kie Ntem districts near the border with Gabon and Cameroon. Health officials on Sunday were still waiting for laboratory…

Laureen is the editor of Africa Times

China’s new foreign minister begins 5-nation tour in Ethiopia

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 Fagan

Laureen is the editor of Africa Times

Ahead of COP27, Gabon hosts Africa Climate Week

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…

Mozambique elected to UN Security Council

The nation of Mozambique will join the United Nations Security Council in January 2023, following a UN General Assembly election on Thursday. Also elected to the council are Ecuador, Japan, Malta and Switzerland, all as nonpermanent members of the 15-nation body. Ten of those nations are determined by the UN…

Global monkeypox case counts rise outside of West Africa

Another case of monkeypox is under investigation in the United States, one of 12 nations seeing transmission of a virus strain linked to West Africa. The latest case, reported Sunday in the U.S. state of Florida, is believed to be linked to international travel. The World Health Organization says confirmed…

China pushes back at U.S. over Huawei-Africa comments

The Chinese government has pushed back over remarks about telecom firm Huawei and its presence on the African continent, made by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman of the United States. Sherman made her comments during a just-concluded diplomatic swing through South Africa, Angola and Gabon. In Angola, she visited…

African elephant added to IUCN critically endangered list

The African forest elephant has been added to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, following the announcement Thursday that new genetic evidence means it will be treated as a distinct species separate from the African savanna elephant. The forest elephant, Loxodonta cyclotis, is now considered critically endangered because of the…

Africa records at least 159 COVID cases in 17 nations

There are now at least 159 positive cases of the novel coronavirus on the African continent, according to health officials, with the first confirmed cases in Ethiopia and Kenya among them. The Ethiopian case involves a 48-year-old Japanese citizen who traveled from Burkina Faso on March 4 but is isolated…

ECCAS-nation leaders approve reforms at Gabon summit

It’s been nearly four decades since the vision for an Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) began, but – despite recognition by the African Union as one of its regional pillars – the organization has never achieved the cooperative stability of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) or the…

Gabon to see $150 million for protecting its rainforests

Gabon’s rainforests are critical to protecting biodiversity and containing carbon emissions, and now the West African nation has a 10-year deal with Norway to ensure the forests will be preserved. That’s according to the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI), which announced the US$150 million deal on Sunday as global leaders…

Report finds Chinese firms linked to illegal logging in Gabon, Congo

A four-year investigation by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) advocacy group traced illegally sourced timber from the forests of Congo Brazzaville and Gabon, to discover what it says are extensive holdings by a Chinese firm linked to bribery, corruption, tax evasion and ecosystem destruction. “According to evidence collected by EIA,…