First Independent Mena Newspaper
Emerging and frontier markets in Africa now have a reason for cautious optimism in 2024 following a recent announcement by The Federal Reserve (Fed) signaling possible cuts of up to 75 basis points in the coming year. New forecasts from central bank officials showed a turn from the hawkish rate environment Fed Chairman Jerome Powell […]
Fresh allegation has resurfaced in Nigeria that Chinese firms operating in the West African country employ prisoners from China, but although the validity of the rumor is questionable, the presence of large numbers of Chinese workers laboring on infrastructure projects built by Chinese companies is one of the most controversial aspects of China’s economic engagement […]
The United States had delivered more than 40% of commitments made at the United States-Africa Leaders Summit (USALS) one year ago, which hosted about 50 African heads of government in Washington DC, senior US government officers have said. Speaking during a digital press briefing on the one year anniversary (14 December), they pointed out that […]
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has called for a united front with African leaders on demands for reparations for transatlantic slavery and colonial-era damages, as they gathered on Tuesday (14 November) in Accra for a four-day conference that aims to explore how to address such historical injustices. Speaking at the opening session hosted by Ghana, its […]
African nations have been divided over which side to support in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, but African leaders have still unanimously called on warring parties to halt deadly confrontations that erupted on 7 October when the Palestinian militant group launched a surprise assault. With the African Union (AU) having been divided over the […]
The West African sub-region annually loses $26 billion to illegal fishing and illicit trade in marine resources, a senior Ghanian official has warned, echoing a recent report by an independent intergovernmental body that globally, nature is declining at rates unprecedented in human history, and species’ extinction is accelerating at an alarming rate. In an address […]
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) has potential to increase cross-border remittances by migrants, according to a new report by World Bank, even as international markets remain the largest sources. The AfCFTA has the potential to make cross-border transactions such as remittance transfers by migrants within Africa cheaper through the Pan-African Payment and Settlement […]
Sweden’s Right Livelihood Award, known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize”, has in 2023 honored work of two women activists from Africa to provide safer abortion access in the continent and in the area of environmental protection in Kenya, as well as a humanitarian group that rescues migrants in the Mediterranean Sea. The 2023 laureates “stand […]
Despite setbacks from military coups in Mali and Niger, the European Union is planning to launch a new military-civilian mission in Africa in the fall, whose aim is to prevent instability triggered by jihadi groups, a German newspaper has reported. EU member states have agreed to launch the mission in the Gulf of Guinea in […]
Niger, led by a junta, Thursday August 24 indicated that Mali and Burkina Faso can intervene military on its soil should the country be confronted by any aggression in the backdrop of a possible military action by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), to restore deposed leader Mohamed Bazoum. Oumarou Ibrahim Sidi, the […]