First Independent Mena Newspaper
South Africa and its neighbors were at the center of a tussle for influence this week when US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in turn arrived for a diplomatic visit, offering a rare moment of leverage for regional governments intent at using the opportunity to gain concessions and increase trade […]
Africa is “less safe, secure and democratic” than it was 10 years ago, says a new report on African governance released by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation on Wednesday, January 25, citing a surge in military coups and armed conflicts. The democratic backsliding now threatens to reverse decades of progress made in Africa, according to an […]
Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov slammed Tuesday France for interference in the internal affairs of African countries and support to terrorist organizations on the continent. Lavrov was speaking at a joint press conference with his Eswatini peer Thuli Dladla in capital Mbabane, as part of an African tour. “By supporting terrorists in Libya, France has […]
The African Fertilizer Financing Mechanism (AFFM) has received a $10.15 million financing from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) destined to support agricultural projects for small scale farmers in Kenya, Mozambique and Uganda. NORAD’s contribution will enable the AFFM to provide credit guarantees for up to 36 months in the three countries, with the […]
The African Development Bank predicts the continent’s growth will be stronger-than-expected at 4% this year. Its cautiously optimistic economic outlook is partly based on the expectation that China will continue to re-open after three years of strict Covid-19 policies “Despite the confluence of multiple shocks, growth across all five African regions was positive in 2022- […]
Ahead of its annual meeting taking place in Davos in Switzerland, the World Economic Forum (WEF) says that short-term fixes to the energy crisis including subsidies and coal consumption could imperil the transition to net-zero, while proposing several solutions that have a special resonance in the context of some African countries, such as Senegal and […]
Special economic zones (SEZs) are mushrooming in Africa and while many challenges lay ahead, these zones have shown considerable potential for they can play a tremendous role in the development of the African continent. Policymakers all across Africa have increasingly resorted to SEZs with the aim of turning around their countries’ economic fortunes, as they […]
African nations need to do more to address the widespread displacement, killings and other abuses that have come about from the continent’s many conflicts, according to a new report published this week by Human Rights Watch. The report that summarizes human rights trends in 23 African countries has found that in many countries on the […]
Africa should not be an arena for international competition between world powers, China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Wednesday while inaugurating the new headquarters of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a pan-African health body. Qin is on a five-nation African tour, a week after bidding farewell to Washington, D.C., […]
China’s new Foreign Minister Qin Gang has kicked off an African tour on January 9 for his first foreign trip to counterattack US strategy to sideline the Asian giant in Africa. Qin Gang will visit Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin and Egypt from Jan. 9-16, spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily media briefing. The Chinese […]