First Independent Mena Newspaper
The UK government reportedly has a plan in place to be included into a new agreement with Rwanda, which provides for a payment to failed asylum seekers to return to their home countries. The UK government’s plan is understood to be a variation of an existing voluntary returns scheme, where asylum seekers, who have been […]
Despite the recent decision by the ECOWAS to lift its sanctions imposed on Niger, the stalemate between the regional bloc and the three coup-hit Sahelian countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger lingers on. Observers and analysts have pondered if the relations between the three junta-ruled countries and the Economic Community of West African States […]
The expectation for an ECOWAS single currency to be launched by 2027 is no longer realistic, according to the director-general of the West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ), Olorunsola Olowofeso, who imputed the delay to the inability of all the WAMZ member states to meet all the required criteria. “The quest for a single currency by […]
Gold production in Burkina Faso dropped significantly due to a surge in Jihadist activity in a country where military rulers have been in power since September 2022. As Jihadist groups continue to wreak havoc in the wider Sahel, Burkina Faso suffered the most, accounting for almost a quarter of people killed in terrorist attacks globally […]
Head of the African Development Bank called for an end to loans in exchange for oil or critical minerals, which helped countries like China control vast resources in the continent. In an interview with the Associated press, AFDB chief Akinwumi Adesina explained how such loans lead to undervaluing natural resources of African countries and further […]
Three Egyptian Coptic monks were killed in an attack in a monastery on March 12 in South Africa, as the country struggles with a surge in gang criminality. The three monks who belong to the Egypt-based Coptic Orthodox Church were killed in the Saint Mark the Apostle and Saint Samuel the Confessor Monastery Police said […]
Nigeria said it had secured 1.3 billion dollars needed to build a rail connection with neighboring Niger, a landlocked country. The news was announced by Nigeria’s transport minister Ahmed Alkali who said the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) would provide 85 percent of the money while the Nigerian government would provide 15 percent. The […]
Africa imports between 70 and 80% of its medicines, according to Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), who also warned that the continent suffers an annual loss of $2.6 trillion yearly due to lack of productivity caused by ill-health. Speaking at a recent ceremony in Lagos where he was honored with […]
Sudan has dismissed all reports of Iran’s intention to establish a naval base on the country’s Red Sea coast, which comes at a time when the creation of the Russian Navy in the country has been postponed indefinitely due to the ongoing fighting. Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Al-Sadiq Ali was quoted by Sputnik […]
Gunmen kidnapped 15 more students from an Islamic school in northwestern Nigeria, which comes following the abduction of more than 280 children by gunmen in the same region last week. The gunmen broke into the premises of the Islamic seminary in the village of Gidan Bakuso in Sokoto state on Saturday (9 March), snatching 15 […]