Paris, France | AFP | Telecoms and internet giants unveiled Thursday a mammoth project to lay a subsea cable around Africa to boost internet access to the underserved continent. The consortium, which includes China Mobile International, Facebook, Orange and Vodafone, said a cable 37,000 kilometres (23,000 miles) long will make landfall in 16 countries in …
Read More »Virus crisis adds to woes of Africa’s oil producers
Libreville, Gabon | AFP | For years, African oil-exporting countries have vowed to wean themselves off crude — but for many, this uphill task may become mountainous after the coronavirus pandemic caused the energy market to collapse. Here is a snapshot of how sub-Saharan oil exporters are faring: – Who …
Read More »A pledge for Africa
To overcome the current global public-health and economic crisis, rich countries must support Africa COMMENT | ABIY AHMED | The world will not be free of the COVID-19 pandemic until all countries are free of the coronavirus that causes it. This simple fact underscored the urgent need for the …
Read More »Coronavirus shuts down Africa’s tourist industry
Africa’s hotels, tour operators and airlines are all reeling from the impact of coronavirus. The African Business Magazine’s Liam Taylor surveys the situation The Serena Hotel in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, is a luxurious complex of conference facilities, fine dining spaces and landscaped gardens. In normal times Geoffrey Ssejongo, a waiter, would be …
Read More »Wake up call on Chinese racism
The actions of Chinese officials in Guangzhou exposed them as really not different from apartheid South Africa COMMENT | HILDA MUKIIBI | Professor Makau Mutua, the maverick Kenyan academic, columnist and Chair of Kenya Human Rights Commission drew praise and consternation in equal measure recently when he called on the …
Read More »Postponing AfCFTA would be a mistake-African business leaders
But CSOs say carrying out negotiation virtually will defranchise majority of the stakeholders Kampala, Uganda | ISAAC KHISA | African Business leaders across the continent have signed a joint letter calling for the ministers and heads of state to stick to the July 1 deadline for the free trade agreement …
Read More »Herbal medicine for COVID-19
Is this hope or gloom for Africans? COVER STORY | THE INDEPENDENT | The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it encourages innovations in the search for potential treatments for the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) including repurposing drugs, traditional medicines, and developing new therapies. COVID-19, a newly identified strain of …
Read More »Deforestation in Africa accelerates: UN food agency
Paris, France | AFP | Africa is the only continent in the world where deforestation is accelerating, according to key findings of a five-year report released Thursday by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In South America, where some countries have been blamed for rampant forest exploitation, the rate of forest loss was …
Read More »UK investor Gridworks eyes African utilities overhaul
In too many countries, transmission and distribution remain the responsibility of badly managed state utilities. Gridworks CEO Simon Hodson explains to David Thomas how his organisation plans to invest to make the sector commercially sustainable In the barren, rocky wasteland at the southern edge of Kenya’s remote Lake Turkana sit the whirring turbines …
Read More »COVID-19: Africa advised to prepare for a worst-case scenario
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A new campaign has been launched to increase financing for Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to raise its capacity for securing essential diagnostics and medical supplies needed for COVID-19 response in Africa. The One by One; Target COVID-19 campaign, spearheaded by Africa-CDC, the …
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The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price