Africa

Nigerians Seeking Visas to Settle in the US Face New Hurdles

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – She’s your pediatrician. He’s your surgeon. She’s a civil engineer. He has a doctorate. She’s an Emmy Award winner. He was a Chicago Bear.

They’re Nigerian-Americans who have set down roots in Dallas, Chicago, Baltimore, Atlanta, Phoenix and Houston – the latter of which has the largest Nigerian population outside Brazil and Africa.

They are the largest group among African immigrants in the U.S. – about 327,000. They’re a tiny portion of the U.S. population, but they rank as the most successful ethnic group in the U.S.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 05 February 2020

A ‘Green’ Message Shakes Up the Industry at Mining Confab

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – After years of defending dirty extractive industries such as the mining of coal, large mining companies seemed to have switched sides and joined the Greens, or so it seemed at the African Mining Indaba held from February 3-6 in South Africa.

At the Indaba, the continent’s biggest gathering of one of its most vital industries, the companies appeared less combative than in years past. Among the highlights of the conference was a statement by Mark Cutifani, head of Anglo American, a multinational company based in Johannesburg, South Africa and London.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 04 February 2020

Photo: Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, briefs the Security Council meeting on peace consolidation in West Africa and the Sahel. New York on 8 Jan 2020. Credit: UN

Russia Shares UN Concern About Rising Terrorism in Africa

By Kester Kenn Klomegah

MOSCOW, (IDN) – UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Mohamed Ibn Chambas, told the UN Security Council’s first formal meeting in 2020 that the West African region has experienced "a devastating surge in terrorist attacks against civilian and military targets". These have "shaken public confidence" and the humanitarian consequences are alarming, he said.

: Kester Kenn Klomegah; THE WORLD; Russia; 03 February 2020

Photo: Weapons being burnt during the official launch of the Disarmament, Demobilization, Rehabilitation and Reintegration (DDRR) process in Muramvya, Burundi. Source: Africa Renewal.

African Union Campaigning to Achieve Peace and End Conflict

By Zipporah Musau, Africa Renewal

NEW YORK (IDN) – Realising a conflict-free Africa is the dream of every African. In this edition, we highlight the current hotspots; the root causes of conflicts; the various efforts in search of peaceful co-existence and development and the African Union’s quest for silencing the guns by 2020.

In 2013 African Union (AU) member state representatives gathered at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the Organisation of African Unity was established in 1963, to celebrate the body’s 50th anniversary.

: Africa Renewal; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 February 2020

Photo: Abidjan shaves a district to secure its airport. Courtesy of FR24News

Shantytowns Housing Thousands Demolished in Ivory Coast

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Bulldozers have begun demolishing homes built in the shantytowns of Abidjan, the commercial capital of the Ivory Coast, leaving thousands without shelter as authorities carry out plans to build a buffer zone around an international airport.

This comes as large numbers of Ivorians are leaving remote farms and villages for a better life.

The demolitions even destroyed the neighborhood mosque, charged Imam Issa Sankoudouma.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 February 2020

Photo: Tanzanian President John Magufuli. Courtesy of Region Week

Emergency World Bank Meeting on Tanzania Focuses on Women’s Rights

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) –The World Bank’s executive board cancelled expected action on a $500 million loan to Tanzania where teenage girls can be expelled from school because they are pregnant.

The Bank had been under pressure from rights activists and held a last-minute emergency meeting on January 27 with Tanzanian and international human rights organizations.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 30 January 2020

Image: Nigerian currency Naira. Credit: Umaizi

New Currency Stemmed as Six West African Countries Object

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – French-speaking countries will have to put the cork back in the champagne bottle after six member countries of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) comprising Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, have rejected the adoption of 'Eco' as the name of the proposed single currency for West Africa.

At a special meeting, five English speaking countries in West Africa in the Nigerian capital Abuja met on January 15 and put the kibosh on adopting the Eco as African common currency as desired by mostly , French-speaking states.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 January 2020

Photo: An olive tree planted in a schoolyard in the Marrakech region of Morocco. Credit: High Atlas Foundation.

Morocco Fails to Mobilize Rural Communities to Advance SDGs

Viewpoint by Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer is a sociologist and president of the High Atlas Foundation, a Moroccan-U.S. not-for-profit organization dedicated to sustainable development in Morocco.

MARRAKECH (IDN) – In recent years, Morocco has put in place the right frameworks for mobilizing rural communities to advance the nation’s Sustainable development Goals (SDGs), yet it falls woefully short when it comes to implementation. As someone who has been engaged in rural development in Morocco for the past 26 years, I have analyzed how these frameworks can work together and complement each other.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Africa; 21 January 2020

Photo: Showing a HIV self-test. Credit Zuberi Mussa

Tanzania Passes Law on HIV Self-Test to Tame the Deadly Virus

15-Year Old Children Can Self-Test Without Parental Consent

By Kizito Makoye

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (IDN) – Perched on a plastic chair at his shop in the bustling Sinza suburb in Dar es Salaam, Abdul* is anxiously looking at a small kit containing liquid and a stick.

“I want to know my HIV status,” says Abdul while glancing at his watch.

A moment ago, the 28-year-old trader briskly swiped a plastic swab across his upper gum to draw some fluid and slotted it into the kit for testing.

: Kizito Makoye; THE WORLD; Africa; 20 January 2020

Photo: Ola Henrikson, IOM’s Regional Director for the EU, has asked Croatia – which assumed the six-month rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) – on 1 January 2020, to encourage any discussion on migration policy as a positive contribution of migrants for inclusive growth and sustainable development, including within the EU. Credit: European Union

New Research Pleads for Recognizing Contribution of African Migrants To Sustainable Development

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) – A new set of European Commissioners has taken office in Brussels. The main migration focus of the previous cabinet of Commissioners was halting migration – which led to deals with third countries on stopping and returning refugees and migrants. People evacuated from Libya, for example, are brought to Niger and Rwanda, where they are processed before those successfully registered as refugees are taken to Europe – often after long processes filled with uncertainty.