Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About

[Jimmy from Linkedin]

I just found these blogs today while researching, I dunno if it is here already this is a huge thread but each post is worthy of being in this thread. Please check it out brehs. Those who really need the daps or whatever could do what I didn't do and repost and eat.

Timbuktu Chronicles
[URL='http://timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com/?view=classic']"A view of Africa and Africans with a focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, technology, practical...[/URL]

Emergent Africa Inspired by George Ayittey's book 'Africa Unchained'.

 

[AB Ziggy]

Cameroon security forces torturing English speakers, Amnesty says
By Stephanie Busari, CNN
Updated 8:36 PM EDT, Mon June 11, 2018


(CNN)Cameroon is in the grip of spiraling violence that has seen security forces and armed separatists torture and attack people in the country's English speaking region, a new report by Amnesty International has said.

The human rights group says it has spoken to more than 150 victims and eyewitnesses to gather evidence of escalating violence in the northwest and southwest region of the country.

The report stated that English speakers in the country were being targeted by both the Cameroon military and armed Anglophone separatists in waves of violence that Amnesty describes as "unlawful, excessive and unnecessary."


In the report titled, "A turn for the worse: Violence and human rights violations in Anglophone Cameroon," victims gave harrowing accounts of beatings and allegations of simulated electrocution and torture carried out by the military as well as attacks on schools and teachers by armed Anglophone separatists.

Residents of Cameroon's two English-speaking provinces, which make up 20% of the country's population, have longstanding grievances against the largely Francophone central government.

They complain of being marginalized and having the French legal and education systems forced upon them, a practice that dates back to the post-colonial 1960s era.

Tensions boiled over last year when protesters took to the streets in Cameroon's Anglophone regions, later calling for symbolic independence from the West African country's French-speaking majority.

Amnesty says Cameroon's military has responded to these protests with "torture, unlawful killings and destruction of property."

Some of the people Amnesty spoke to described being severely beaten with sticks, hammers and while blindfolded by soldiers in the Cameroon army.

One man who spoke to Amnesty said he and others were arrested in December last year and tortured with their hands tied behind their backs.

"They ... gagged us and tied our faces with our towels and shorts ..." he said.

"They then made us lie in the water, face down for about 45 minutes. ... During three days, they beat us with shovels, hammers, planks and cables, kicked us with their boots and poured hot water on us ... when I tried to move and shouted, one of them used the cigarette he was smoking to burn me."

Amnesty said it had also received information about numerous instances of deaths in custody.

Graphic images of torture and mutilated bodies have flooded social media sites as Anglophone Cameroonians appeal for international help against what they say is genocide.

CNN has seen some of these graphic images but cannot independently verify their authenticity.


"Their heavy-handed response will do nothing to calm the violence -- in fact it is likely to further alienate Anglophone communities and fuel further unrest," said Samira Daoud, Amnesty International deputy director for West and Central Africa, in a statement.

For their part, armed separatists reportedly attacked at least 42 schools between February 2017 and May 2018, targeting teachers and students for not taking part in a boycott of schools, long seen as a symbol of Francophone marginalization, Amnesty said.

A teacher told Amnesty he was wounded after a masked gunman, suspected to be a member of an armed separatist group, stormed his school in the northwest province and shot him in the leg.

"The assailant ... told me that I was still coming to school in defiance of calls for a schools boycott. He then asked me to raise my hands, but before I could do so, he shot me. I fell to the ground...," the teacher told Amnesty.

"The armed separatists repeated targeting of the general population demonstrates a total disregard for human life, and is another example of the threat faced by people in the Anglophone regions," said Daoud.

Didier Badjeck, a spokesman for the army, rejected Amnesty's claims of torture and violence, dismissing them as "rumors."

Badjeck told CNN: "The Cameroon army is professional. Amnesty is writing against the armed forces based on rumors."

Badjeck labeled the armed separatists "terrorists," and accused them of attacking and burning down schools.

"Since 2016, they have been attacking schools and we are working against terrorists. The army defends itself against attackers," Badjeck said.

"If any of our soldiers is found to have breached the rules of engagement, they will be punished," he added.

President Paul Biya has condemned "all acts of violence, regardless of their sources and their perpetrators," although some see the actions of the security forces as a way to secure his 35-year grip on power.

 

[Premeditated]

Malema back at it again....

 

[Bawon Samedi]

Malema back at it again....

"At least for now"

 

[Apollo Creed]

Malema back at it again....

 

[Akata Man Bromo]

Malema back at it again....

When I was In SA my driver fukked with him heavy breh I gotta go back

 

[Yehuda]

African Trade Insurance sees annual portfolio doubling to $7 bln in 2022

JUNE 12, 2018 / 10:35 AM / UPDATED 12 HOURS AGO

NAIROBI (Reuters) - African Trade Insurance expects its annual insured trade and investment portfolio to double to $7 billion within five years, driven by new members including Ghana and Nigeria.

Chief Executive George Otieno said the annual portfolio would rise by $1 billion this year to $3.5 billion and double to about $7 billion by 2022.

The investment risk insurer is owned by 14 African nations and other organisations such as the African Development Bank.

It was formed in 2001 with World Bank support to offer insurance for large investment and financing projects against risks such as sovereign default, war and insolvency, to spur investment by companies and private equity into Africa.

“We are likely in the next five years to have another 20 countries on board,” Otieno said in an interview. He said ATI’s net profit grew 55 percent in 2017 to $10 million.

Nigeria, which could bring $500 million worth of business to be insured by ATI once it signs as a member, was expected to complete the membership process before the end of 2018, he said.

Otieno said ATI had encouraged global insurance firms like Swiss Re and Lloyds of London to take on more exposure on the continent. It partners with those firms for re-insurance.

“Some of those international insurers would not touch sovereign risks if we are not involved,” he said.

Major insurance projects on the continent insured by ATI include electricity generation projects in Kenya and a $200 million mining project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

African lenders, including Morocco’s Attijariwafa, are also turning to ATI to insure their cross-border lending as they look to expand across Africa, Otieno said.

ATI said it would also help investors eyeing Ethiopia insure themselves against currency risks.

Last week Addis Ababa said it would sell stakes in its national airline and telecom operator to foreigners.

The nation of 100 million people has a managed exchange rate and it is frequently plagued by dollar shortages.

“We should be opening an office in Ethiopia within the year,” said John Lentaigne, ATI’s chief underwriting officer.

Reporting by Duncan Miriri and Carlos Mureithi; Editing by Maggie Fick and David Evans

African Trade Insurance sees annual portfolio doubling to $7 bln in 2022

 

[AB Ziggy]

Google will open an AI center in Ghana later this year, its first in Africa
KYLE WIGGERS@KYLE_L_WIGGERS JUNE 13, 2018 8:03 AM

Above: Google logo on display at the Made by Google event held in October in San Francisco.

Upcoming Events

• Transform: The AI event of the year for growth marketers. Aug. 21 - 22
• VB Summit: The best in AI. An invite-only executive event. Oct. 22 - 23

Tech giants are pouring money into artificial intelligence. Baidu and Google spent between $20 and $30 billion on AI in 2016 alone, according to research from McKinsey. In Google’s case, a portion of that investment went to AI centers in China and France, and the Mountain View company shows no signs of slowing down. Today, Google announced its next AI research center will be in Accra, Ghana.

“In recent years, we’ve … witnessed an increasing interest in machine learning research across the continent,” senior Google AI fellow Jeff Dean and staff research scientist Moustapha Cisse wrote in a blog post. “Events like Data Science Africa 2017 in Tanzania, the 2017 Deep Learning Indaba event in South Africa, and follow-on IndabaX events in 2018 in multiple countries have shown an exciting and continuing growth of the computer science research community in Africa.”

Google said that employees in the new AI center, which will open later this year, will work closely with local universities, other research centers, and policymakers on the potential uses of AI in Africa. This is Google’s first center devoted solely to AI research in Africa and, as far as we can tell, the first from any tech giant (beating Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft to the punch).

“[W]e’re excited to combine our research interests in AI and machine learning and our experience in Africa to push the boundaries of AI while solving challenges in areas such as health care, agriculture, and education,” Cisse and Dean wrote.

The Google AI Center in Accra expands on Google’s efforts in the region. The company said 10 million Africans have completed its digital skills training program, and Launchpad Accelerator Africa, its tech startup incubator, is actively supporting 100,000 developers across 60 companies.

Google isn’t the only one investing in AI programs abroad. Early in 2018, Samsung announced the opening of new research centers in Toronto; Moscow; and Cambridge, England. Ecommerce company Etsy said it would open AI R&D offices in Toronto by the end of this year. And in January, Google and Facebook pledged to expand their AI investment in France.

 

[Samori Toure]

Malema back at it again....

That Indian was on this shyt . That sumbytch just realized for the first time that he is in the land of the Zulus. Time to bounce out Ghandi, because White means Indian too.

 

[Premeditated]

That Indian was on this shyt . That sumbytch just realized for the first time that he is in the land of the Zulus. Time to bounce out Ghandi, because White means Indian too.

oh, he got smoke for Indians too. EFF been going in on them lately.

 

[Premeditated]

Congo to Start $13.9 Billion Hydropower Project This Year

• Rival consortia submitted joint bid for plant last week
• Project director says single consortium will seek financing

The Democratic Republic of Congo plans to start work this year on the frequently delayed Inga 3 hydropower project, after receiving a joint bid from two previously competing consortia of investors.

One group led by China Three Gorges Corp. and another including Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA of Spain submitted a joint bid on June 6 for the project that will produce 11,000 megawatts and is predicted to cost $13.9 billion, Bruno Kapandji, director of the Agency for the Development and Promotion of the Grand Inga Project, said at a conference Wednesday in Lubumbashi in southeast Congo.

read another source that South Africa is one of the funders

lets do this yall

 

[Red Shield]

Malema back at it again....

At least for now :doomed:


Dude probably hopes it doesn't come to that, but has to figure it is going to....

oh, he got smoke for Indians too. EFF been going in on them lately.

Really?


Got any links?

 

[Bawon Samedi]

read another source that South Africa is one of the funders

lets do this yall

 

[Yehuda]

Non-invasive test for malaria wins RAEng’s Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation

15th June 2018 11:49 am

A non-invasive test for malaria has won a Ugandan software engineer the Royal Academy of Engineering Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.

Matibabu non-invasive test for malaria

Brian Gitta created the device, which works in conjunction with a mobile phone, after he and members of his team developed malaria, which caused them to miss lectures during their time at Makerere University in Kampala.

Dubbed Matibabu, the low-cost, reusable device clips onto a patient’s finger and requires no specialist expertise to operate. The results are available within one minute (compared to 30 minutes with current tests) on the phone that is linked to the device.

A beam of red light shone through the user’s finger detects changes in the shape, colour and concentration of red blood cells, all of which are affected by malaria. Team member Shafik Sekitto told the Guardian that people infected with malaria have parasites in their blood that produce waste, one type of which is magnetic. The magnet in Matibabu detects this anomaly and sends the results to a mobile device.

Matibabu is currently undergoing testing in partnership with a national hospital in Uganda, and is sourcing suppliers for the sensitive magnetic and laser components required to scale up production.

Gitta & Sekitto

The device is aimed at individuals, health centres and diagnostic suppliers. The team also aims to set up Matibabu on the streets to allow people to do a single test at a time.

Through their participation in the Africa Prize, the Matibabu team have been approached by international researchers offering support and are currently writing up their findings into an academic paper, to be published within the next few months.

“We are incredibly honoured to win the Africa Prize – it’s such a big achievement for us, because it means that we can better manage production in order to scale clinical trials and prove ourselves to regulators,” said Gitta. “The recognition will help us open up partnership opportunities – which is what we need most at the moment.”

Gitta wins the first prize of £25,000. At an awards ceremony in Nairobi, Kenya on 13 June 2018, four finalists from across sub-Saharan Africa delivered presentations, before Africa Prize judges and a live audience voted for the most promising engineering innovation.



The three runners-up, who each win £10,000, are:

• Collins Saguru, a Zimbabwean working in South Africa, for AltMet, a low-cost, environmentally friendly method for recovering precious metals from car parts
• Ifediora Ugochukwu from Nigeria for iMeter, an intelligent metering system that gives Nigerian users transparency and control over their electricity supply
• Michael Asante-Afrifa, from Ghana for Science Set, a mini science lab that contains specially developed materials for experiments

The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, is Africa’s biggest prize dedicated to engineering innovation. It encourages sub-Saharan African engineers to develop innovations that address crucial problems in their communities in a new way.

Non-invasive test for malaria wins Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation

 

[Premeditated]

At least for now :doomed:


Dude probably hopes it doesn't come to that, but has to figure it is going to....




Really?


Got any links?

just from today alone Majority of Indians are racist: Malema
“We were not all oppressed the same. Indians had all sorts of resources Africans didn’t have, Coloureds as well. The majority of Indians are racist. I’m not saying all, I’m saying majority,” Malema told the gathering.