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 […]
A Colonial-Era Law Banning Same-Sex Relations Is Defeated
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – If a democratic society is characterized by “tolerance, diversity and open-mindedness,” three countries in Africa have now reached that pinnacle. Botswana joined Angola and Mozambique in de-criminalizing same-sex relations in June 2019. High Court Justice Michael Lebruru, in his defining decision, added: “human dignity is […]
Nigeria Restores the Study of History in Public Schools
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – The government of Muhammadu Buhari is bringing back the teaching of history in all basic and secondary schools – ending a decade in which departments of history were dismantled or merged into other programs as having little earnings potential for the high school graduates. In […]
Ethiopian Old Guard Rejects Prime Minister’s Sweeping Reforms
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | ASMARA (IDN) – Since becoming prime minister of Ethiopia in April 2018, Abiy Ahmed has launched a wide-ranging programme of political and economic reforms, not all of which have met with favour by supporters of the federalism-based constitution and system of the land-locked country on the […]
Continuous Influx of Eritrean Refugees Challenges Ethiopia
Viewpoint by Kristina Melicherová BRUSSELS (IDN) – Refugee and host communities in Ethiopia came together on June 20 to commemorate World Refugee Day through various cultural activities, organized within refugee camps as well as urban settings. But the reality behind the festivities is that hundreds of Eritrean refugees continue to cross the border between Eritrea […]
The Pillaging of Mineral Resources Leaves Behind Poverty Holes for Africans
By Jeffrey Moyo HARARE (IDN) – More than a decade ago, he lost his home as diamond miners from China razed it to the ground searching for the gems. Still, today, 74-year old Tobias Mukwada lives with his family in shanty thatched huts they erected hoping that perhaps one day the Chinese diamond merchants would […]
Orthodox Church in Ethiopia Blocks Gay Group Planning Tour
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Pride parades, gay friendly diners, movies, books and fashion. The gay life style is coming to town but the welcome mat is still far from ubiquitous. Ethiopia, home to Abiy Ahmed, the “hugging president”, has yet to come to terms with LGBT or Q. In […]
African Cocoa Growers Demand Better Prices or No Sale!
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) – Strike! That’s the sound of the world’s top two producers of cocoa who say they are suspending their sales for better prices. The governments of Ivory Coast and Ghana are trying this time-honored strategy to address the imbalance between farmers’ income and money made by […]