By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – African media greeted the new British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, by recalling some of particularly cringe-worthy remarks made during his formative years in politics. The new Conservative Party leader has a history of gaffes involving Kenya and Africa, having once attacked Barack Obama saying the […]
EU Leaps to Africa’s Rescue with Clean Water
By Jeffrey Moyo BLANTYRE, Malawi (IDN) – In Karonga, a district in the northern region of Malawi, 32-year old Mavis Banda, a mother of three daughters busies herself drawing safe drinking water from a borehole located at the heart of her village. Banda and several other villagers claimed they long abandoned a local well where […]
Times Pummeled Over Job Posting Called Offensive by Africans
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – The New York Times is still recovering from the verbal bashing it received from Kenyan writers shocked and angered by the paper’s outdated references to Africa in a recent ad for the job of Nairobi Bureau Chief. How far has Africa come, wondered educator Alice […]
West Africa ‘Least Committed’ in Africa to Fighting Inequality
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) – “African countries, especially those in West Africa, are simply not doing enough” to “ensure that no one is left behind”, declares a new report, unveiling shocking figures that underline extreme inequality and poverty rampant in the region. West Africa is the African region “least committed to […]
Do More to Expand African Counter-Terrorism Networks
Viewpoint by António Guterres Following are excerpts from UN Secretary-General’s remarks to the African Regional High-Level Conference on Counter-Terrorism and the Prevention of Violent Extremism Conducive to Terrorism, in Nairobi on 10 July 2019. NAIROBI (IDN-INPS) – I would like to honour the tens of thousands of African victims of terrorism and to express solidarity […]
Burkina Faso Orders Stiff Prison Term For ‘Fake News’
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – A law adopted on June 21 but still awaiting presidential approval would send writers to jail for up to 10 years’ jail for “demoralizing the defense and security forces of Burkina Faso.” A fine of up to $3,500 would be imposed for publishing what the […]
West Africa Inequality Crisis Called Extreme in New Report
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – “Inequality has reached extreme levels in West Africa, and today the wealthiest 1 per cent of West Africans own more than everyone else in the region combined.” That was the finding in a new report published by Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI). According to […]
Russia Keen to Boost Economic and Trade Relations with Africa
By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW (IDN) – Chairman of the State Duma, Viacheslav Volodin, has urged African leaders to use the untapped enormous natural resources to vigorously pursue sustainable development goals as the best way through which to escape underdevelopment, economic dependency syndrome and neo-colonialism. In order to achieve this, Russia, he said, was prepared […]
Tanzanian Environmentalists Turning Plastic into Paving
By Kizito Makoye with Goodhope Amani DAR ES SALAAM (IDN) – It is a typically hot and humid afternoon in Gongo la Mboto on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam and Abdullah Nyambi is busy shoving plastic waste into a giant metal kiln with an iron rod ready to make pavement slabs. With a shiny […]
Online Lending Firms Leave Digital Footprints in East Africa
By Kizito Makoye DAR ES SALAAM (IDN) – When Monica Makona failed to obtain the bank loan, she badly needed to grow her business two years ago, she did not lose hope. Armed with her android smartphone, Makona tapped into TALA – a popular lending app she had previously downloaded – and within minutes she […]