Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About
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Wolfgang-Zero
Banned
Akebuland 
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
Egypt trying to thwart Ethiopia because of the Dam
When I was in Ethiopian me and a lot of the older gents were talking about Egypt and how they want to fukk over Ethiopia.
Uganda negotiating $2.3 bln loan with China to fund rail line
Thu Jan 26, 2017 | 6:36am EST
By Elias Biryabarema | KAMPALA
Uganda is negotiating a $2.3 billion loan with China's Exim Bank to fund an initial 273 km stretch of rail line the east African country is planning to build for faster and cheaper transportation, an official said on Thursday.
Landlocked Uganda eventually wants to construct a 1,700 km standard gauge railway network to connect with similar lines being built in neighbouring Kenya.
The rail links are expected to help to boost the volume and efficiency of trade between Kenya's Indian Ocean seaport of Mombasa and its vast hinterland stretching to South Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi.
"The construction of the eastern route ... will cost $2.3 billion," Standard Gauge Railway project head Kasingye Kyamugambi told Reuters, referring to the 273 km stretch between the capital Kampala and Malaba on the border with Kenya.
"Uganda is negotiating with Exim Bank of China to secure financing for the project and begin construction."
Kyamugambi did not say when a deal is expected to be finalised but said that construction -- slated to start once funds are secured -- will take 42 months.
Once fully completed, the railway will have several arms connecting it to Congo, Rwanda and South Sudan.
Both Uganda and Kenya have been using a decrepit, narrow-gauge railway line built about a century ago by the British. That old line in both countries is being operated by a private investor under a concession that runs until 2032.
In recent years officials in the east African region have been eager to invest in modern transportation and communications links such as railways, expressways and internet cables.
Once complete, the new electric rail network is expected to save Uganda an estimated $2 billion a year through lower freight costs and shorter shipment times.
Kyamugambi said the Ugandan government will contribute 15 percent to the cost of the Malaba-Kampala stretch and also pay for land for the railway corridor.
Last month a Kenyan official said that work on the country's Mombasa-Nairobi stretch of the new railway link, also financed by China, was 98 percent complete and that it would begin commercial operations in January 2018. (Editing by George Obulutsa and David Goodman)
Uganda negotiating $2.3 bln loan with China to fund rail line
Thu Jan 26, 2017 | 6:36am EST
By Elias Biryabarema | KAMPALA
Uganda is negotiating a $2.3 billion loan with China's Exim Bank to fund an initial 273 km stretch of rail line the east African country is planning to build for faster and cheaper transportation, an official said on Thursday.
Landlocked Uganda eventually wants to construct a 1,700 km standard gauge railway network to connect with similar lines being built in neighbouring Kenya.
The rail links are expected to help to boost the volume and efficiency of trade between Kenya's Indian Ocean seaport of Mombasa and its vast hinterland stretching to South Sudan, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Burundi.
"The construction of the eastern route ... will cost $2.3 billion," Standard Gauge Railway project head Kasingye Kyamugambi told Reuters, referring to the 273 km stretch between the capital Kampala and Malaba on the border with Kenya.
"Uganda is negotiating with Exim Bank of China to secure financing for the project and begin construction."
Kyamugambi did not say when a deal is expected to be finalised but said that construction -- slated to start once funds are secured -- will take 42 months.
Once fully completed, the railway will have several arms connecting it to Congo, Rwanda and South Sudan.
Both Uganda and Kenya have been using a decrepit, narrow-gauge railway line built about a century ago by the British. That old line in both countries is being operated by a private investor under a concession that runs until 2032.
In recent years officials in the east African region have been eager to invest in modern transportation and communications links such as railways, expressways and internet cables.
Once complete, the new electric rail network is expected to save Uganda an estimated $2 billion a year through lower freight costs and shorter shipment times.
Kyamugambi said the Ugandan government will contribute 15 percent to the cost of the Malaba-Kampala stretch and also pay for land for the railway corridor.
Last month a Kenyan official said that work on the country's Mombasa-Nairobi stretch of the new railway link, also financed by China, was 98 percent complete and that it would begin commercial operations in January 2018. (Editing by George Obulutsa and David Goodman)
Uganda negotiating $2.3 bln loan with China to fund rail line
loyola llothta
☭☭☭
Uganda that deal
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
What I dislike the most about these rail deals is that there's seemingly no means of knowledge/tech transfer so that these governments can start building railways themselves.
loyola llothta
☭☭☭
The Odum of Ala Igbo
Hail Biafra!
It's over. Western Sahara is finito.
Morocco rejoins African Union after more than 30 years
Morocco rejoins African Union after more than 30 years
Morocco rejoins African Union after more than 30 years
The country left the Union in 1984 after a row over the status of Western Sahara. Morocco’s readmission brings hope of peace-building over the territory
African heads of state before the start of the 28th African Union summit in Addis Ababa. Photograph: Zacharias Abubeker/AFP/Getty Images
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Ben Quinn and agencies
@BenQuinn75
Tuesday 31 January 2017 14.47 GMTLast modified on Tuesday 31 January 2017 15.03 GMT
Morocco has been readmitted to the African Union more than three decades after it left when the continental body recognised the independence of the disputed territory of Western Sahara. Hopes that the move could pave the way for peace-building were bolstered after Western Sahara – regarded by Morocco as part of its historic territory – welcomed the readmission.
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, who had been campaigning since last year to join the bloc, told African leaders at the AU summit in Addis Ababa: “Africa is my home, and I am coming back home.”
The foreign minister of Western Sahara (officially the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic), Mohamed Salem Ould Salek, said on Monday that Morocco’s readmission was a “positive step for the people of Western Sahara”.
A former Spanish colony, Western Sahara was annexed by Morocco in 1975 and was the focus of conflict between Morocco and indigenous people led by the Polisario Front until a UN-brokered truce brought the armed insurgency to a halt in 1991.
A UN-supervised referendum on independence was supposed to be held in 1992 but was aborted when Morocco objected to the proposed electoral register, which it said was biased in favour of secession. A UN peacekeeping mission that attempted to organise the vote has remained in the territory ever since, monitoring the 2,700km-long sand wall built by the Moroccan army across the desert that separates the two sides.
Thirty-nine countries supported Morocco’s bid for readmission into the AU this week but nine voted against it, according to sources quoted by the Associated Press. The nine “were countries in southern Africa, except Swaziland”, said the source, who added that most of the debate was related to Western Sahara’s border.
Morocco, the only country in Africa that was not a member of the AU, left its predecessor, the Organisation of African Unity, in 1984 after a majority of the member states recognised the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
Chad’s foreign minister was elected on Monday as the new chairman of the African Union Commission, pledging to place development and security at the top of his agenda and streamline the organisation’s bureaucracy. Moussa Faki Mahamat – a former prime minister who has been at the forefront of the fight against Islamist militants in Nigeria, Mali and the Sahel – was chosen at the summit in Addis Ababa.
African leaders plan mass withdrawal from international criminal court
Decision reached at African Union summit follows announcements by South Africa, Burundi and the Gambia that they plan to leave the court
The international criminal court in The Hague. Photograph: Martijn Beekman/EPA
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Associated Press in Addis Ababa
Tuesday 31 January 2017 18.18 ESTLast modified on Tuesday 31 January 2017 18.26 EST
African leaders have adopted a strategy calling for a collective withdrawal from the international criminal court. The non-binding decision came behind closed doors near the end of an African Union summit.
It was the latest expression of impatience by African leaders with the court, which some say has focused too narrowly on Africa while pursuing cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Late last year, South Africa, Burundi and the Gambia all announced plans to leave the court, leading to concerns that other states would follow.
Desire Assogbavi, head of Oxfam International’s liaison office to the summit, confirmed the adoption of the strategy. A source close to the continental body’s legal council also confirmed it, saying countries had been divided on whether to call for leaving the court individually or together.
The source said the majority of countries also wanted the meaning of immunity and impunity amended in the Rome Statute, the treaty that set up the court in 2002. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.
Some African countries have been especially critical of the ICC for pursuing heads of state. Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir has been wanted by the court since 2009 for allegedly orchestrating atrocities in Darfur. The ICC also caused an uproar among some African nations by indicting Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta on charges of crimes against humanity for 2007 post-election violence in which more than 1,000 died. The case collapsed because of what the ICC prosecutor called lack of cooperation by Kenya’s government.
Elise Keppler with Human Rights Watch’s international justice programme said the ICC withdrawal strategy has no timeline and “few concrete recommendations for action”. She pointed out that several African countries, including Nigeria, Senegal and the Republic of Congo, have spoken up in support of the ICC in recent months.
A draft of the strategy, obtained by the Associated Press, recommends that African countries strengthen their own judicial mechanisms and expand the jurisdiction of the African court of justice and human rights “in order to reduce the deference to the ICC”.
African leaders plan mass withdrawal from international criminal court
Decision reached at African Union summit follows announcements by South Africa, Burundi and the Gambia that they plan to leave the court
The international criminal court in The Hague. Photograph: Martijn Beekman/EPA
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Associated Press in Addis Ababa
Tuesday 31 January 2017 18.18 ESTLast modified on Tuesday 31 January 2017 18.26 EST
African leaders have adopted a strategy calling for a collective withdrawal from the international criminal court. The non-binding decision came behind closed doors near the end of an African Union summit.
It was the latest expression of impatience by African leaders with the court, which some say has focused too narrowly on Africa while pursuing cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Late last year, South Africa, Burundi and the Gambia all announced plans to leave the court, leading to concerns that other states would follow.
Desire Assogbavi, head of Oxfam International’s liaison office to the summit, confirmed the adoption of the strategy. A source close to the continental body’s legal council also confirmed it, saying countries had been divided on whether to call for leaving the court individually or together.
The source said the majority of countries also wanted the meaning of immunity and impunity amended in the Rome Statute, the treaty that set up the court in 2002. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press.
Some African countries have been especially critical of the ICC for pursuing heads of state. Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir has been wanted by the court since 2009 for allegedly orchestrating atrocities in Darfur. The ICC also caused an uproar among some African nations by indicting Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta on charges of crimes against humanity for 2007 post-election violence in which more than 1,000 died. The case collapsed because of what the ICC prosecutor called lack of cooperation by Kenya’s government.
Elise Keppler with Human Rights Watch’s international justice programme said the ICC withdrawal strategy has no timeline and “few concrete recommendations for action”. She pointed out that several African countries, including Nigeria, Senegal and the Republic of Congo, have spoken up in support of the ICC in recent months.
A draft of the strategy, obtained by the Associated Press, recommends that African countries strengthen their own judicial mechanisms and expand the jurisdiction of the African court of justice and human rights “in order to reduce the deference to the ICC”.
African leaders plan mass withdrawal from international criminal court
Like I said KNEW this was coming.
From Nigeria to Kenya, TechInPink bridges digital divide
ON FEBRUARY 1, 2017 3:34 AM
By Laju Iren
AT face value, Yetunde Sanni and Gertrude Nyenyeshi have nothing in common. Sanni is from Nigeria, Nyeyenshi from Kenya. They haven’t even met in person. At a deeper level however, their love for technology unites them. Both ladies founded, and now run TechInPink, an organisation that teaches women and girls coding and software development regardless of their background.
According to Sanni, who is also a full time stack developer at Andela: “We started with blogging which involves teaching other people the craft of software development, we decided to do this because we found out we have very few tech based blogs that are run by women and we took the challenge upon ourselves to transform the false that women can’t write great code tutorials.”
Although the organisation is barely a year old, success stories abound from the ‘pink techies’ efforts. There are two students that readily come to mind when we’re asked about our success stories,” said Nyenyeshi, a full stack Javascript developer.
“One is Salma, an Architecture student in Kenya, and the other is Ruth a paramedical student in Nigeria who we mentored last year. They both had no prior experience but their transformation has been tremendous. We’d also list the two events that we held in both locations a success story as the ladies were introduced and taught about programming and it makes us smile to see some of them actively pursuing opportunities to learn more.”
For the ladies, the wide gender gap accrued to technology in this part of the world is not to the detriment of women alone, but technology itself. Her words: “Technology products are used by a very diverse group of people therefore if the team producing it only takes into account the view from one side, it becomes a loss.
Having a diverse team is key to achieving the most optimal solution for a problem. I think one of the ways we can encourage more women into tech is by extending opportunities to more women to work in the tech field and expose them to diverse teams. Through this we can achieve a balanced and a more creative ecosystem.”
“Diversity sparks creativity. This is one of the key things we hold unto at TechInPink. We strongly believe that diversities in team work have a ripple effect to any ground breaking achievement. Across other continents, women in tech are under-represented and this is very dangerous to the human kind.”
Despite some challenges TechInPink has faced, it’s founders are positive about the future of African technology. So far, we believe the next silicon valley is coming from Africa. Even though there’s more to be done in technology evolution in Africa, times are changing and we see an Africa where tech is no longer a word but a reality in the industries of the future.
When asked whether their respective countries have an enabling environment for Tech start-ups, their responses are the same: “Yes, of course.” Their reasons are similar: both countries have strong tech hubs. But Nigerian, Sanni is quick to add: “We need the government to support relevant issues like inadequate power supply, hike in fuel price, unavailability of data etc.
A lot of businesses have been crippled from the listed above problems. Also, the legislators should be considerate when making regulations required for certain business needs. Sometimes last year, I was going to get a drone for a research fun project but was discouraged after I saw what it takes to own a drone in Nigeria.
Digital solutions
Things like this are very discouraging to an average Nigerian who is trying to be creative and innovative.”
For Nyenyeshi, the case is quite different: “Kenya has companies and the government too, offering digital solutions to the people. We have more and more tech meet-ups and events at the tech hubs happening and having basic computer skills has been tagged as an important skill to have, we see the government trying to equip primary schools with laptops for each child as a learning tool.
Of course, there are challenges still being encountered i.e devices are still too expensive, lack of electricity in some areas, resistance to change, tech hubs only limited to certain areas but we are getting there.”
From Nigeria to Kenya, TechInPink bridges digital divide
ON FEBRUARY 1, 2017 3:34 AM
By Laju Iren
AT face value, Yetunde Sanni and Gertrude Nyenyeshi have nothing in common. Sanni is from Nigeria, Nyeyenshi from Kenya. They haven’t even met in person. At a deeper level however, their love for technology unites them. Both ladies founded, and now run TechInPink, an organisation that teaches women and girls coding and software development regardless of their background.
According to Sanni, who is also a full time stack developer at Andela: “We started with blogging which involves teaching other people the craft of software development, we decided to do this because we found out we have very few tech based blogs that are run by women and we took the challenge upon ourselves to transform the false that women can’t write great code tutorials.”
Although the organisation is barely a year old, success stories abound from the ‘pink techies’ efforts. There are two students that readily come to mind when we’re asked about our success stories,” said Nyenyeshi, a full stack Javascript developer.
“One is Salma, an Architecture student in Kenya, and the other is Ruth a paramedical student in Nigeria who we mentored last year. They both had no prior experience but their transformation has been tremendous. We’d also list the two events that we held in both locations a success story as the ladies were introduced and taught about programming and it makes us smile to see some of them actively pursuing opportunities to learn more.”
For the ladies, the wide gender gap accrued to technology in this part of the world is not to the detriment of women alone, but technology itself. Her words: “Technology products are used by a very diverse group of people therefore if the team producing it only takes into account the view from one side, it becomes a loss.
Having a diverse team is key to achieving the most optimal solution for a problem. I think one of the ways we can encourage more women into tech is by extending opportunities to more women to work in the tech field and expose them to diverse teams. Through this we can achieve a balanced and a more creative ecosystem.”
“Diversity sparks creativity. This is one of the key things we hold unto at TechInPink. We strongly believe that diversities in team work have a ripple effect to any ground breaking achievement. Across other continents, women in tech are under-represented and this is very dangerous to the human kind.”
Despite some challenges TechInPink has faced, it’s founders are positive about the future of African technology. So far, we believe the next silicon valley is coming from Africa. Even though there’s more to be done in technology evolution in Africa, times are changing and we see an Africa where tech is no longer a word but a reality in the industries of the future.
When asked whether their respective countries have an enabling environment for Tech start-ups, their responses are the same: “Yes, of course.” Their reasons are similar: both countries have strong tech hubs. But Nigerian, Sanni is quick to add: “We need the government to support relevant issues like inadequate power supply, hike in fuel price, unavailability of data etc.
A lot of businesses have been crippled from the listed above problems. Also, the legislators should be considerate when making regulations required for certain business needs. Sometimes last year, I was going to get a drone for a research fun project but was discouraged after I saw what it takes to own a drone in Nigeria.
Digital solutions
Things like this are very discouraging to an average Nigerian who is trying to be creative and innovative.”
For Nyenyeshi, the case is quite different: “Kenya has companies and the government too, offering digital solutions to the people. We have more and more tech meet-ups and events at the tech hubs happening and having basic computer skills has been tagged as an important skill to have, we see the government trying to equip primary schools with laptops for each child as a learning tool.
Of course, there are challenges still being encountered i.e devices are still too expensive, lack of electricity in some areas, resistance to change, tech hubs only limited to certain areas but we are getting there.”
From Nigeria to Kenya, TechInPink bridges digital divide
loyola llothta
☭☭☭
I guess bags been dropped off. How you try to run to the Europeans just to come back
Just add France forgod sake S/o to kenya , Zimbabwe, and SA tho
thatrapsfan
Superstar
Chadian Foreign Minister now heads the AU. Compromise pick between Senegals FM and Kenyas. Glad Amina didnt win shes a hack as is Uhuru.
I guess bags been dropped off. How you try to run to the Europeans just to come back
Just add France forgod sake S/o to kenya , Zimbabwe, and SA tho
Its not just them but all those North African countries including Egypt. They found out the hard way that the Euros and Arabs did not care for them and now their crawling back to o'le "black Africa."