Africa

Photo: Lesedi solar power plant panels. Credit: MyBroadBand

Southern Africa Experiencing Energy Boom

By Jeffrey Moyo

LUSAKA (IDN) – Letina Phiri waits at a bus terminus in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, as loaders carry her baggage of huge solar panels to pack on the bus.

“I will sell some of the panels as soon as I get home. Where I live, not far from Kabwe town, many people in rural communities there have started electrifying their homes with solar and I want to do the same,” 51-year-old Phiri told IDN.

Even in Zimbabwe, solar energy has started to gain ground in remote areas like Seke in the country’s Mashonaland East Province.

: Jeffrey Moyo; THE WORLD; Africa; 17 October 2018

Photo: Zimbabwe Finance Minister Dr Mthuli Ncube at Chatham House early October 2018. Credit: YouTube

Zimbabweans Urged Calm as Economy Veers Toward Collapse

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | HARARE (IDN) – Citing “these difficult times,” Kentucky Fried Chicken has closed its doors, prices are soaring, bread shelves are empty and fear is growing that an economic collapse is bearing down on a fragile population that was so full of hope not long ago.

Under cover of night, Zimbabwe streets fill with street vendors, supplying necessities that shops can no longer provide. But shortages have become so acute that even the street-sellers have run out of bread and fuel.

Energy Mutodi, deputy information minister with the governing ZANU-PF urged citizens not to panic.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 October 2018

Photo: Hauwa Leman, an aide worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), killed by a faction of Boko Haram. Credit: Business Day

Young Medical Worker Executed by Boko Haram Caliphate

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – "We urge you: spare and release these women,” begged Patricia Danzi, director of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Africa. .. “Like all those abducted, they are not part of any fight."

"They are daughters and sisters, one is a mother – women with their futures ahead of them, children to raise, and families to return to."

Nonetheless, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a self-declared caliphate of Boko Haram, rejected their entreaties and executed 24 year old Hauwa Liman, an aide worker. The insurgents further vowed to make another captive, schoolgirl Leah Sharibu, a slave for life.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 16 October 2018

U.S. Gets Green Light To Boot Thousands of Ghanaian Refugees

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – A simmering dispute between the U.S. and Ghana appears to be resolved. Some 7,000 Ghanaians can now be deported from the U.S. and a key demand – that their Ghanaian citizenship be proven before deportation – has been dropped.

The dispute was settled at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September 2018.

Speaking with the press, Ambassador Baffour Adjei-Bawuah said there was no longer any dispute over the nationality of the affected persons which had been a bone of contention earlier.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 09 October 2018

Uproar Over Expulsion of Kenyan Professor by Zambia

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – China’s influence in Africa has some leaders trying hard to please their new, rich and seemingly generous foreign partners.

Zambian authorities recently roiled the nation’s waters by deporting an influential pan-Africanist professor before he could disembark at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport and before he could address a class of graduating university seniors on the topic: “Africa in the age of China’s Global Influence and Global Geodynamics.”

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 09 October 2018

Photo: Angolan President João Lourenço addressed European parliamentarians in a formal sitting in July 2018. Credit: European Union 2018 - EP

New Angolan President Makes His Presence Felt As Dos Santos Empire Collapses

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – One reason why African presidents may cling to power, even re-writing the constitution to grant them extra terms, may be the case of Angola.

Newly elected President João Lourenço is sending shivers across the continent as he relentlessly attempts to recoup billions of dollars subverted from the national treasury, including by members of the previous regime – former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, billionaire daughter Isabel and son Jose Filomeno dos Santos – aka Zenu.

The president’s son is meanwhile under arrest for the formation of a criminal organization, illegal enrichment, money laundering and corruption.

: Global Information Network; NEWSBRIEFS; 07 October 2018

Photo: Victoire Umuhoza Ingabire. Credit: The Charleston Chronicle.

Rwanda Outlaws Political Cartoons and an Opposition Leader Goes Free

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW York (IDN) – The Rwandese government of Paul Kagame has outlawed the drawing of cartoons that portray politicians/leaders in an unflattering manner.

Anyone who draws such a cartoon risks imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to Rwf1 million ($1,145). If the cartoon targets a session of parliament or a “top ranking official,” the penalty is doubled.

Media experts say this is a huge blow to the profession and will greatly hamper their work.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 07 October 2018

Photo: A horrific video circulating online appears to show women and children being blindfolded and executed at point blank range in Cameroon.

Grim Shadow Over Cameroon President's Re-Election Bid

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – As the clock ticked down to October 7 presidential elections in Cameroon, President Paul Biya remained tightlipped about a grisly video gone viral of two mothers and their infant children executed in cold blood by government soldiers.

The grainy video shows two women – one with a baby on her back and another holding hands with a young child – walking across a dirt patch. Armed men walk behind them, and one yells in French “You are B.H. (Boko Haram), you are going to die.” The women are forced to kneel. Shots ring out and the women fall to the ground, one with her child still strapped to her back.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 06 October 2018

Africa Gets Ready for Biodiversity and Climate Change Summits

By Justus Wanzala

NAIROBI (IDN) – African governments have been availing of two conferences at the UN Environment Headquarters in the Kenyan capital in September to gear up for the Biological Diversity Summit in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, and the Climate Summit in Katowice, Poland.

The African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) from September 17 to 19 provided an opportunity to prepare for the 14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD-COP14) from November 17 to 29, 2018 in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 03 October 2018

Tanzanians Search For Reasons Behind Latest Ferry Disaster

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Tanzanian President John Magufuli took action against a ferry captain and all of the crew as the number of bodies pulled from Lake Victoria in the latest maritime disaster topped 200.

Magufuli told the nation on September 21 that the captain left the ferry's steering in the hands of a person not trained for the job. The death toll has reached 223, but could go higher as more bodies are pulled out of the water.

Initial reports put the blame on overcrowding, but an investigation will determine the exact cause, the Tanzanian leader said. Some reports said the boat had a capacity to carry 100 people, but was carrying an estimated 400 instead.