First Independent Mena Newspaper
Australian iron ore company, Fortescue Metals Group, has signed a deal with Gabon, to explore an iron ore deposit in Belinga, north-east of the country, with short-term investment put at $200 million. Fortescue per the deal will commence mining in the second half of 2023. The company in a statement said with the mining convention […]
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has called for a ceasefire after clashes in a disputed town in the breakaway region of Somaliland left at least 13 people dead. Tensions have been building in Las Anod, the capital of the contested Sool region, since December last year, as the region has been a point of conflict […]
France, the former colonial master in the Sahel, is receiving a series of blows as its foothold shrinks on the back of growing anti-French sentiment and increasing Russian incursions. After their retreat from Mali following a ten-year failure to eradicate Jihadist groups, now Burkina Faso asked France to withdraw its troops from the country within […]
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s top diplomat, indicated Tuesday that Moscow was keen to provide assistance to Sahel and Gulf of Guinea countries fighting terrorism, as he was on a two-day trip to ally Mali. “The fight against terrorism is of course a reality for the other countries in the region”, he said at a joint press […]
Cameroon under the directives of President Paul Biya has lined up for a $34.7 million loan from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to finance the Presidential Plan for the Reconstruction and Development of the Anglophone Regions of Northwest and Southwest. The plan estimated at around $3 billion encompasses three phases namely rehabilitation and development of […]
Senegal and Liberia Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding to curtail “illegal and unauthorized” fishing activities within their respective maritime borders. Pape Sagna Mbaye, Senegal’s Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Economy, and his Liberian counterpart Metieh Glassco signed in capital Dakar the agreement, which according to the Senegalese side, will enable the arrest in Senegalese […]
The trafficking of counterfeit medicines in the countries of the Sahel leads to the death of 270,000 people a year, revealed the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In its most recent report, UNODC highlights the consequences of the intense trafficking of counterfeit medicines in the countries of the Sahel, fueled by the […]
The lack of employment more than religious belief is what is driving people to join fast-growing extremist groups in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a report by the UN Development Program (UNDP) based on interviews with hundreds of former fighters across East, West and the Horn of Africa. The new UNDP report’s findings thus challenge traditional […]
Dozens of Sudanese protested in the capital Khartoum Monday (6 February) against “normalizing” diplomatic relations with Israel, after last week’s surprise visit by the Israeli foreign minister. The demonstrators held banners blaming Sudanese military leader Abdul Fattah al-Burhan for committing a “betrayal,” chanting “no normalization” with Israel. The protest comes only days after an official […]
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Mali Tuesday (7 February) for talks with its junta leaders who only two days earlier ordered the rights chief with the UN peacekeeping mission in the country to leave for expressing views against Russia’s Wagner Group in Mali. Lavrov’s visit of fewer than 24 hours will be his […]