Author: Editorial Staff

VOTERS in Somaliland are casting their ballot in parliamentary and local elections on Monday, highlighting progress in the semi-autonomous region of Somalia that over the years has avoided the destructive violence plaguing other parts of the Horn of Africa country. Long queues were reported in the early hours of Monday in the capital Hargeisa. Some of the voters have been queuing up to two hours prior to the opening of polling stations at 7:00 a.m. local time. The President of Somaliland Muse Bihi Abdi told VOA Somali that the election should be conducted in a peaceful manner. ‘If one has a dispute when the election passes, the…

TWO agreements, namely the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA), and Project Development Agreement (PDA), which will facilitate the construction and  upgrade of 223 kilometres of roads linking Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been signed by the governments of the two nations. The IGA was signed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and Chrisrophe Lutundula Apala, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of DRC, while the PDA was signed by Alexis Gisaro Muvunyi, the Minister of Infrastructure and Public Works of DRC and Bageya Waiswa, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Works and Transport of Uganda. The project, the…

CAPE Coast Green City project that is aimed to transform Cape Coast, a city, fishing port, and the capital of Ghana’s Central Region  into a green, smart and sustainable model city has been launched. The project is a brainchild of Mamdev Ghana Limited, a construction company and the projects lead consultant, in partnership with STEADY/X LTD, an Alternative Education Support company based in Accra, and Haitech Technologies, an Information Technology firm. It is backed  by the Government of Ghana together with the chiefs, people of Cape Coast, and persons in the diaspora. Speaking during the launch of the project, the Chief Executive Officer…

ZIMBABWE ministry of mines and mining development has informed Todal Mining, a venture controlled by Eurasian Resources Group, that its platinum mining concessions could be seized because no progress has been made in developing them. The Bokai and Kinonde concessions may be taken over under the ‘use-it/lose-it principle’ which allows the state to repossess idle mining claims, minister Winston Chitando said in a letter to Todal dated May 28 and seen by Bloomberg. The mines ministry confirmed the veracity of the document. ‘I note with concern that over the last few years there have been several changes to the work programme…

GERMANY has agreed to fund projects in Namibia worth 1.1 billion euros ($1.3bn) over 30 years to atone for its role in mass killings and property seizures in its-then colony more than a century ago, according to a Namibian government spokesman. Thousands of Herero and Nama people were killed by German colonial forces between 1904 and 1908, after the tribes rebelled against German rule in the colony, then named German South West Africa. Survivors were driven into the desert, where many ended up in concentration camps to be used as slave labour and many died from cold, malnutrition and exhaustion.…

THE African Development Bank and the government of Tanzania have signed loan agreements totalling $140 million to finance the construction of the 50-megawatt Malagarasi hydropower plant in Western Tanzania. The agreements cover a $120 million sovereign loan from the Bank and $20 million from the Africa Growing Together Fund (AGTF), administered by the Bank. Emmanuel M. Tutuba, Permanent Secretary at the Tanzania Ministry of Finance and Planning, and Nnenna Nwabufo, Director General of the Bank Group’s East Africa Regional Development and Business Delivery Office, signed the agreements. The funds will be used to construct the plant and an evacuation transmission…

ZIMBABWE has made digital advancements, including a revolution in mobile money which has resulted in about 7.67 million mobile wallet holders in a country of 14.5 million people, according to a new Zimbabwe Digital Economy Diagnostic report launched by the World Bank Thursday. This puts Zimbabwe among the leaders on the African continent in the use of mobile money. According to the report, the first-ever in the country, Zimbabwe has a relatively well-developed digital payment system, where 96 percent of all transactions in the country’s formal sector are conducted through digital means and only 4 percent are cash-based, with the…

A bloc of southern African nations said on Thursday it will work to shore up Mozambique’s security forces as they battle an escalating insurgency linked to Islamic State, but made no mention of proposals for a military intervention. Members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), including neighbouring South Africa, have favoured the idea of regional military action as the violence has worsened and the threat to regional stability has grown. Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi (pictured), however, has said in the past Mozambique should handle certain aspects of the response alone for reasons of sovereignty, and resisted suggestions of foreign…

GAMBIA’S truth and reconciliation commission began hearing its final witness Thursday after more than two years of probing alleged abuses committed under ex-president Yahya Jammeh. Jammeh seized power in 1994 as part of a bloodless military coup in the tiny West African state. He then ruled with an iron fist until January 2017, when he fled to Equatorial Guinea after losing presidential elections to a relative unknown, Adama Barrow. Gambia’s government subsequently established a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) to investigate alleged abuses committed while Jammeh was in power. More than  370 witnesses have testified since January 2019 -…

LESOTHO is facing the loss of revenue from water and power sales to South Africa and may see its share of an undersea communications cable seized after it breached the terms of a contract with Frazer Solar GmbH. Under a global enforcement order, following the award of 50 million euros ($61 million) in damages in an arbitration case in South Africa, Frazer said in a statement Tuesday that it has taken legal action to seize royalties that would be paid to Lesotho’s government by the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority SOC as well as payments for power from Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.…