First Independent Mena Newspaper
World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual survey of chief economists from the public and private sector is relatively upbeat about Africa, with 65% of them expecting moderate growth in sub-Saharan Africa this year, but geopolitical rifts could hit global growth. According to the WEF’s Chief Economists Outlook report, 56% of the chief economists polled anticipate a […]
Global remittances from African diaspora to their home continent are set to exceed $100bn a year amid demographic trends in Europe such as an aging population and a low birth rate that are creating a need for continued migration. Remittances to low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) grew an estimated 3.8% last year, a moderation from […]
Proceedings opened on Thursday (11 January) at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, where Israel faces accusations from South Africa that it is subjecting Palestinians in Gaza to “genocidal acts”. South Africa accuses Israel of violating the United Nations’s 1948 Genocide Convention, established in the wake of the Holocaust, an accusation that […]
The trial of Ousman Sonko, a Gambian ex-interior minister accused of crimes against humanity committed under the regime of a former dictator Yahya Jammeh from 2006 until 2016, began in a federal court in Switzerland on Monday (8 January). Sonko is the highest-ranking official under Jammeh’s dictatorship, to be prosecuted for widespread rights abuses. Sonko […]
Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto is poised to commence a “world’s biggest” $20 billion mining project in the Republic of Guinea this year, following a 27-year wait marked by several legal and political setbacks, scandals and several false dawns. The $20 billion iron ore, rail, and port development in a remote corner of West Africa […]
la Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF), the football governing body of the African continent, unveiled Monday January 8 the first names that include Egyptian Ahmed Hassan, the four times AFCON winner, to be signed up in the newly-established CAF Ambassadors program. Hassan is joined by Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan, Senegal’s El Hadji Diouf and Nigeria’s magician […]
Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has signed a law that “nullifies” the contentious memorandum of understanding between Ethiopia and a breakaway Somaliland region in a largely symbolic move expressing his government’s displeasure over the deal to grant port access. As part of the deal that was announced on 1 January, the landlocked Ethiopia will gain […]
The Polisario is again involved in the kidnapping of a young girl, adopted by a Spanish family, as she was prevented from returning to Spain after she visited the Tindouf Camps for what she tought would be sort holidays. The young Filleh mint Chahid mint Laaroussi was actually prevented by her biological family, living in […]
Chad’s Prime Minister Succes Masra announced Sunday he will not take his monthly salary that, he said, will be converted into scholarships for the promotion of excellence in 23 regions of the country. “I’m giving up my Prime Minister’s salary entirely. Every job deserves a salary, they say, but I don’t feel I’m working. I […]
Morocco will produce 50% of its fresh water needs from desalination by 2030, said water minister Nizar Bakara, as the country faces one of the harshest droughts in its recent history. Five years of drought depleted reservoirs now only 23% full, while many farming areas face bleak prospects due to halt of irrigation. By 2030, […]