Africa

Photo: African leaders and heads of international organizations as well as the UN Secretary-General joined G7 heads of state and government on May 27, the concluding day of the Summit. Credit: G7 Italy.

UN Chief Underscores the Need to Invest in Africa's Youth

By Jutta Wolf

BERLIN | TAORMINA (IDN) – The Group of Seven (G7) leaders has in its 'Taormina Communiqué' underscored that "Africa’s security, stability and sustainable development are high priorities". But it has yet to respond to UN Secretary-General António Guterres' specific call for the need to invest in young people, with stronger investment in technology and relevant education and capacity building in Africa.

The two-day G7 summit in Italy, in which the leaders of six other industrial nations – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan and the U.S. also took part, concluded on May 27 in Taormina, a hilltop town on the east coast of Sicily, Italy.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 May 2017

/Hermine Tomaino Ndam Njoya (right) is out to educate Cameroonians on the whole range of activities that can be developed along the coffee value chain. Credit: N.K. Chimtom

Blazing the Trail with Coffee Culture in Cameroon

By Ngala Killian Chimtom

YAOUNDE (ACP-IDN) – Hermine Tomaino Ndam Njoya is arguably Cameroon’s largest coffee farmer. Her farm spans some 150 hectares, and she depends on the labour of a whole village to keep the farm alive.

But what sets her apart is not just the size of her farm. What makes her different is that she is a woman excelling in a venture generally reserved for men.

Growing up in her native Noun commune in Cameroon’s West Region, she saw her parents tend their coffee farm with great care. “So I fell in love with coffee,” she says, smacking her lips after a sip of the aromatic drink.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 27 May 2017

Photo: A cow belonging to one of the villagers in Chikandakuvi area in Hwange lies dead on the ground in the bush with about half of its remains already devoured by stray lions after they pounced on the unfortunate animal. In another picture, a hide of a cow eaten by stray lions in Chikandakuvi is spread on the ground in the bush. Credit: Jeffrey Moyo | IDN-INPS

Lion Conservation at Odds with Zimbabwe’s Villagers

By Jeffrey Moyo

HWANGE, Zimbabwe (IDN) – “On the fateful night, I heard the lions roaring and coming closer to my cattle kraal and when I got up to find out what was happening, I saw Verikom being pulled to the ground by about five lions. I was afraid and just ran back into my bedroom hut,” says Mehluli Ncube.

“My wife begged me not to go outside again that night and the following morning we found Verikom’s carcass lying about 45 metres from our kraal, with half of the animal gone. We could only take what meat was left to eat at home.”

Verikom was the name of Ncube’s bull, and it had fallen victim to a pride of stray lions that had pounced on his kraal in Magoli, a village in Hwange in Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland North Province.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 May 2017

Photo: Katse Dam, one of Lesotho Highlands Water Project funded with foreign aid. Credit: Ntsoaki Nkoe | IDN-INPS

Foreign Aid Not the Answer for Africa

By Ntsoaki Nkoe

MASERU, Lesotho (IDN) – Research indicates that the African continent as a whole receives roughly 50 billion dollars of international aid each year – yet instead of drastically improving the living conditions of those living below the poverty line, this aid often makes the rich richer, the poor poorer and hinders economic growth, not to mention catalysing the vicious cycle of corruption.

Economist Dr. Moeketsi Majoro – former Minister of Economic Planning in Lesotho who has also worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – believes that after the many mistakes made in aid operations, donor countries have now learned lessons about how their generosity had been turned into supporting dictatorships, undermining domestic economic activity and creating dependencies.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 May 2017

Photo: Daniel Osiemo, acting NEPAD Kenya Secretariat Chief Executive Officer (left) and Estherine Fotabong, Director of Programmes (right), NEPAD agency addressing the press during the launch of the Skills Initiative for Africa consultative Workshop held in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: Wanzala Justus | IDN-INPS

Access of African Youth to Labour Market Receives Boost

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – The African Union (AU) in collaboration with the government of Germany has established an initiative to help young Africans acquire practical skills for meeting the needs of labour markets.

The aim is to strengthen their occupational prospects in view of the continent’s unemployment crisis.

Most hit are young people, with around 60 percent of the unemployed under the age of 25. Key players in implementation of the initiative are the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the German government’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation, as well as the German KfW Development Bank. NEPAD is a socio-economic development flagship programme of the AU.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Africa; 10 May 2017

Photo: Chadian president Hissène Habré with US president Ronald Reagan at the White House June 1987. Courtesy of Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum

Senegal Court Sets a Precedent by Convicting Ex-Chadian Ruler for Crimes Against Humanity

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Last May a court in Senegal convicted and sentenced to life-imprisonment Hissène Habré, the former ruler of Chad, for the crime of torture and crimes against humanity. On April 27, 2017 an appeal court upheld the sentence and now Habré, who ran from Chad after a coup in a military transport that airlifted him, his entourage and a Mercedes to what he hoped would be a luxurious exile in Senegal, is languishing in an ordinary prison cell.

Habré’s government killed more than 40,000 people during his presidency from 1982 to 1990, when he was deposed. The American government made a last minute effort to save but failed. He had long been an important, if secret, ally. He was, according to Michael Bronner, writing in the respected Foreign Policy magazine in January 2014, “The centrepiece of the Reagan Administration’s attempt to undermine Muammar Gadaffi who had become an increasing threat and embarrassment to the US with his support of international terrorism”.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 02 May 2017

Photo: Panellists speaking during the First All Africa Post-Harvest Congress held in Nairobi, Kenya from March 28 to 31, 2017. Photo taken on March 30 by Justus Wanzala.

Combating Aflatoxins to Curb Africa’s Post-Harvest Losses

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – Forty percent of the food produced in Africa is lost, largely due to poor product handling, storage and processing practices, with aflatoxins often responsible for much of this loss in the post-harvest phase.

Aflatoxins are poisonous and cancer-causing chemical produced by certain moulds (Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus) which grow in soil, decaying vegetation, hay and grains.

At the 1st All Africa Post-Harvest Congress held in Nairobi from March 28 -31 to tackle the problem of post-harvest food losses in Africa, ‘aflatoxin management, food safety and nutrition’ was one of the issues on the agenda, with experts calling for improved post-harvest handling of food.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 19 April 2017

Tipoff Leads Anti-graft Swat Team to Recover Bundles of Cash

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK | LAGOS (IDN) – Neatly-bound bundles of fresh U.S. dollars, Nigerian naira and British pounds totalling over $50 million were recovered by an anti-graft “swat team” in a raid at the Osborne Towers, a luxury building in an upscale section of Lagos.

The raid was orchestrated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) acting on a new policy targeting corruption and ordered by President Muhammadu Buhari. The policy provides an incentive for whistle-blowers who stand to receive between 2.5 and 5 percent of the recovered amount when ill-gotten gains are found.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 18 April 2017

France Pays a ‘Debt of Blood’ to African Vets from WW Ii

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK | PARIS (IDN) – Fifty years after over a million Africans fought and thousands died for France during the ferocious battles against the Hitler regime in World War II (1939-1945), French President Francois Hollande has given citizenship and full pensions to African survivors of that war and other conflicts.

In a ceremony at the Elysee Palace in Paris on April 18, the veterans – aged between 79 and 90 – received their new certificates of citizenship. Hollande said France owed them "a debt of blood".

"France is proud to welcome you, just as you were proud to carry its flag, the flag of freedom," the President told a group of 28 surviving vets.

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 18 April 2017

Photo: Enos Masini, (in a grey suit and a tie) head of Kenya’s National Tuberculosis Leprosy and Lung Disease Programme, speaking during an event to mark the 2017 World TB Day in Kiambu Town, Central Kenya. Credit: Justus Wanzala

Kenya Targets Children in Steps to Combat TB

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (ACP-IDN) – In Kenya, a high burden tuberculosis (TB) country, infants and young children are at very high risk of developing severe and often fatal strains of the disease, and are estimated to comprise 10-11 percent of all TB cases.

In order to combat the disease, primarily among children but also the population in general, the country is putting mechanisms in place, including better equipment for TB testing, and in 2016 became the first country in the world to roll out child-friendly TB medicines.

Overseen by TB Alliance, an international non-governmental organisation that supports the development of affordable tuberculosis drugs, the medicines are easier for caregivers to give and for children to take and are expected to help improve treatment and child survival.