Author: Editorial Staff

THE world woke to unusual images on their television screens last week with looting, vandalism and rioting portrayed on the streets of the Senegalese capital. The worst civil unrest in Senegal in decades was short-lived, but has left a distinct mark on the country’s international image, writes NJ Ayuk. After all, Senegal has presented itself as the shining star of West Africa in recent years. In addition to the country being an oil and gas hub spot, Senegal is also a center for renewable energy investment, business development, and for galvanising growth in sectors such as tourism and fishing. Accordingly,…

TANZANIAN police have arrested a man for circulating posts saying that President John Magufuli is in ill health. Magufuli has not been seen in public for two weeks, sparking unconfirmed reports from opposition leaders that he is unwell and incapacitated. At least one man was arrested for allegedly spreading false reports that Magufuli was seriously ill in the Kinondoni area of Dar es Salaam, Regional Police Commissioner for Kinondoni Ramadhani Kingai said at a press conference Saturday. ‘There are a lot more who have been spreading false statements. We will arrest them all,’ Kingai said. Prime Minister Hassan Majaliwa has…

UGANDAN opposition figure Bobi Wine was arrested Monday while leading a protest against the detention of many of his supporters in the aftermath of a presidential election. Police arrested Wine near a public square in the capital and then drove him back to his home outside Kampala. ‘His home is now surrounded by police and the military,’ said Wine’s Twitter account. The Daily Monitor newspaper published a photo of Wine being taken away by police while he held a poster saying ‘BRING BACK OUR PEOPLE.’ ‘Don’t fight,’ Wine told his supporters when armed police grabbed him and his associates while…

ETHIOPIA has earned $610 million from Chinese built industrial parks, the Ethiopia Industrial Park Development Corporation (EIPDC) disclosed on Sunday. Behailu Kebede, Marketing and Communications Department Chief at EIPDC, said the $610 million export revenue was earned from 13 Chinese built industrial parks. Kebede added that the 13 industrial parks have created job opportunities for more than 89,000 Ethiopians, reported state broadcaster Ethiopia Broadcasting Corporation (EBC). ‘The textiles and other export related products produced by industrial parks have garnered good reviews by European and North American customers,’ Kebede said. Ethiopia currently has 13 operational industrial parks, with several more under-construction…

QUAIL breeding is helping local farmers get self-reliant in Botswana which has been known for its thriving cows and sheep sector. Five years ago, a friend offered Moso Monowe, a young farmer in Gaborone, with a few quail eggs. He instantly fell in love with the eggs, and quail breeding. After doing research, Monowe found out that quail eggs are healthier than chicken eggs and that the meat has almost no fat, which makes it even more nutritious. ‘I got attracted to quails because of its nutrition value eggs compared to chickens,’ Monowe told Xinhua. Monowe started with four birds…

AFTER months of costly shutdowns, closed borders and curtailed personal freedoms, the concept of vaccine passports is gaining traction with governments eager to plot their path through the next phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. A number of countries, including Bahrain and China, have already rolled out their own forms of certification ostensibly intended to ease future international travel or revive activity in hard-hit sectors of economies, such as hospitality. Several others are weighing whether to follow suit and embrace the idea of documentation for those who have been vaccinated against the novel coronavirus. Sceptics, meanwhile, warn a slew of possible…

AFRICAN health practitioners have always been at the forefront of some of the world’s biggest health breakthroughs, not just on the continent but abroad as well. In 1967, a team of South African doctors performed the world’s first human-to-human heart transplant. In 2017, Ugandan inventor Brian Turyabagye developed a biomedical smart jacket that can diagnose pneumonia four times faster than a doctor. Fast-forward to 2021, the continent now manages the largest HIV/Aids treatment roll-out programme in the world. As African countries scramble to secure life-saving vaccines to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, we need to ask why Africa has…

RUSSIA and China are racing to plug the Covid-19 vaccine gap in Africa, hoping to cement their influence on a continent where many countries have yet to administer a single shot. But, so far, vaccine donations from Beijing and Moscow have been small, the commercial deals they offer are costly, and some African governments are wary about a lack of data. As rich countries ramp up their inoculation drives, Africa, without the resources to pre-order Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, is being left behind. With Western nations facing criticism for hoarding supplies, flooding Africa with life-saving shots…

WITH the first batch of Covid-19 vaccines having arrived in Ghana on February 242021 via the WHO’s Covax initiative, the race to inoculate the African continent is in full swing. With a stated objective of vaccinating 60 percent of sub-Saharan Africa’s population, Africa’s vaccine drive will require time and considerable stocks of Covid-19 vaccines, write Alexandre Raymakers, Eric Humphery-Smith and Aleix Montana. Assuming that each inoculation generally requires two jabs, regional governments will likely have to procure a total of around 1.3 billion doses. With African states almost completely dependent on foreign suppliers, China has been particularly eager to offer…

IT’S an exciting time for filmmakers and movie fans around the world: Academy Awards season is here. And with several African films up for official nominations, people across the continent will be paying close attention when those nominations are announced on Monday. ‘My Octopus Teacher,’ a South African documentary about a man who formed an unlikely bond with an octopus, is on the shortlist for the Documentary Feature category, while ‘The Man Who Sold His Skin’ – a Tunisian film about a Syrian man whose body is used by an artist as a canvas — is up for a nomination…