Essential The Africa the Media Doesn't Tell You About

[lenfantdelacapitale]

Understand that to but there are better ways at getting your point across. Especially when you talk about the sancitity of the constitutional hall then have something like that occur. Then the bs with the jamming of signals. Makes the entire govt look elementary

Human beings are going to crack if they are put under pressure or feel like they are being taken for a ride and nothing no longer becomes sacred and civility out the window. The situation in SOuth Africa and the ANC is bad and how the govt has been mismanaging the economy and the corruption.

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

Human beings are going to crack if they are put under pressure or feel like they are being taken for a ride and nothing no longer becomes sacred and civility out the window. The situation in SOuth Africa and the ANC is bad and how the govt has been mismanaging the economy and the corruption.

as I'm new to all the particulars of SA govt and all, jjudging from the outside in, they should've been angry a loooooong time ago. But what can you expect when people put their trust in one party. Blind loyalty will only get you so much. Then when you start realizing it, you end up in the situation that this country finds itself in currently. If the ESKOM blackouts get really bad, I'm expecting hostility that this place hasn't seen in over 20 yrs and I pray it doesn't make it to that level but the possibilities for this country to become more than just an influential power from the DRC down to the Cape is being seriously handicapped by the ineptness of the ANC

 

[lenfantdelacapitale]

as I'm new to all the particulars of SA govt and all, jjudging from the outside in, they should've been angry a loooooong time ago. But what can you expect when people put their trust in one party. Blind loyalty will only get you so much. Then when you start realizing it, you end up in the situation that this country finds itself in currently. If the ESKOM blackouts get really bad, I'm expecting hostility that this place hasn't seen in over 20 yrs and I pray it doesn't make it to that level but the possibilities for this country to become more than just an influential power from the DRC down to the Cape is being seriously handicapped by the ineptness of the ANC

Last year during the elections in May the DA (Democratic Alliance) was the main opposition to the ANC and it was the 20 year apartheid anniversary, the ANC basically won by riding to coat tails of Mandela they had nothing else to run on other that they were Mandela's party who liberated the majority of the population (i.e Black South Africans) from apartheid. The economy is shyt, crime is high (due to joblessness) but you still have these Big ANC guys riding around luxury cars and having big houses and ANC passing these draconian immigration laws as if immigrants from Zimbabwe, Nigeria or DRC are the ones that are fukking up the economy. THe party just doesn't get it or don't care about getting it therefore just wants to steal money and spend it while everybody else suffers (I think the it's the latter).

Malema was basically a youth leader from the ANC who defected so there is bad blood there already.

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

Last year during the elections in May the DA (Democratic Alliance) was the main opposition to the ANC and it was the 20 year apartheid anniversary, the ANC basically won by riding to coat tails of Mandela they had nothing else to run on other that they were Mandela's party who liberated the majority of the population (i.e Black South Africans) from apartheid. The economy is shyt, crime is high (due to joblessness) but you still have these Big ANC guys riding around luxury cars and having big houses and ANC passing these draconian immigration laws as if immigrants from Zimbabwe, Nigeria or DRC are the ones that are fukking up the economy. THe party just doesn't get it or don't care about getting it therefore just wants to steal money and spend it while everybody else suffers (I think the it's the latter).

Malema was basically a youth leader from the ANC who defected so there is bad blood there already.

what was the shyt that happened at the FFE presser last night? the ANC is trying to introduce a law that would basically kill off any future of outsiders ever moving here which in turn will kill outside investment....it's like they want to ruin the place on some isolationist bs

 

[lenfantdelacapitale]

what was the shyt that happened at the FFE presser last night? the ANC is trying to introduce a law that would basically kill off any future of outsiders ever moving here which in turn will kill outside investment....it's like they want to ruin the place on some isolationist bs

I didn't know that I was in SA for 4 months last year (March-July) that's how I know about all this stuff. I didn't specifically about the law last night but it makes sense they have been extra hard on immigration especially from African countries but that could have the byproduct of affecting good things like Foreign Direct Investments like you said. It's a natural progression South Africans literally sometimes burn down foreign businesses, beat foreigners. It's also easy to stick out as an African foreigner because when I was in JoBurg most black everyday people didn't speak English they spoke their tribal Zulu Xhosa etc... if you ain't hip to that they automatically spot you as not of one them I did meet some cool ones also but that country has a rep for being extra xenophobic.

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

I didn't know that I was in SA for 4 months last year (March-July) that's how I know about all this stuff. I didn't specifically about the law last night but it makes sense they have been extra hard on immigration especially from African countries but that could have the byproduct of affecting good things like Foreign Direct Investments like you said. It's a natural progression South Africans literally sometimes burn down foreign businesses, beat foreigners. It's also easy to stick out as an African foreigner because when I was in JoBurg most black everyday people didn't speak English they spoke their tribal Zulu Xhosa etc... if you ain't hip to that they automatically spot you as not of one them I did meet some cool ones also but that country has a rep for being extra xenophobic.

yea, some crazy law that would prohibit foreigners from purchasing property....I'm pretty sure that would have a pricetag on it though. I've traveled a bit around the Gauteng & Limpopo provinces and I've never ran into any problems. It's almost that everyone is infatuated by the black American guy that's in their midst or something. It's been all love since I got here.

 

[lenfantdelacapitale]

yea, some crazy law that would prohibit foreigners from purchasing property....I'm pretty sure that would have a pricetag on it though. I've traveled a bit around the Gauteng & Limpopo provinces and I've never ran into any problems. It's almost that everyone is infatuated by the black American guy that's in their midst or something. It's been all love since I got here.

That's good that you getting love don't stunt though there is a reason the compounds/houses in SA have crazy security systems and high walls

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

That's good that you getting love don't stunt though there is a reason the compounds/houses in SA have crazy security systems and high walls

Oh that's one reason I try not to kick it at the crib too hard. Feels like I'm in a damn jail cell

 

[BigMan]

there were fist fights in the American Senate, South Africa will grow from this

 

[Poitier]

Hip, hip, hooray! 10 significant projects that were completed in Africa in 2014
31 DEC 2014 09:25MIKOLAJ RADLICKI

Railways, pipelines, highways...and a pirate prison in Somalia. Some serious folks stayed up late and did the hard work!


Train between Lobito and Benguela in Angola. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

AWAY from politics, 2014 saw the completion of several momentous economic projects in Africa, set to transform countries and regions even further. The launch of these projects is set to bring communities closer together, encourage investment and facilitate more development.

Here are only 10 of these projects that have been accomplished in Africa this year.

1. Conakry - Bamako highway

At the very beginning of 2014 the African Development Bank (AfDB) opened its $17 million infrastructure project between Guinea’s capital Conakry and Bamako in Mali. The transnational intercity highway is the only point of entry and exit between the two cities.

Having been heavily overcrowded, catering for thousands of people daily, the new road has remodelled transportation in the region, at the same time significantly improving safety. Before the completion of the highway breakdowns were rampant, forcing some drivers to remain on the road for days. This 938km distance can now be covered in 12 - 16hours. More importantly, the goods from the border of Guinea, an area which relies on its sales to Bamako, can now arrive in the Malian capital in no more than 30min.(Completed: January 2014)

2. Abidjan Bridge, Cote d’Ivoire

One of Cote d’Ivoire’s biggest projects in history has been completed this year. A $300 million bridge in Abidjan now connects the two halves of the city through the Ébrié Lagoon.

The bridge, 592m long, is part of a more complex motorway development between the lagoon, Bulevard Mitterand and Bulevard Giscard d’Estaing, totalling a 6.7km route. The project, financed partly by Africa Finance Cooperation (AFC) from Nigeria, is an important achievement in Cote d’Ivoire’s capital, which struggles with good infrastructure. Connecting the port area by an expressway will significatly improve the time taken for goods to go in and out of the country, a blessing especially to the cocoa producers - the world’s biggest. The bridge, however, will not be free. The french group Bouygues which built the bridge wants to impose a toll for motorists of about 500 - 1,000 CFA francs ($1 - $2). Many say this might be unaffordable to the general public.

3. Pirate Prison in Somalia

Since the start of the war on piracy off the Somali coast in 2005, the world has increasingly moved together to curb the loss of lives and property taking place around the Gulf of Aden. In April 2014 the president of Puntland, Abdiweli Mohamed Ali Gaas, officially opened the biggest pirate prison ever built in the Horn of Africa.

Garowe, the region’s capital, was chosen as the location for the 500-persons prison, a project funded by the United Nation’s Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The initiative comes four years after Puntland’s first commitment to Anti-Piracy in 2010 and is an important statement in the direction of civil rights and international law within the country. (Completed in April 2014)

4. Abu Jifar Airport, Ethiopia

At the cost of $49 million, the Ethiopian Airports Enterprise reconstructed Abu Jifar Airport in the town of Jimma in Oromia state, Ethiopia’s largest region. The new airport, aiming at boosting regional trade and country’s tourism, will handle flights between Addis Ababa, Gambela, Assosa and Arbaminch the capital cities of Gambela and Benishangul-Gumuz regions and the largest city in the Gamo Gofa Omo zone respectively.

The airport is able to accommodate 220 passengers at any given time and serve aircrafts the size of a Boeing B737 jetliner, used by Ethiopian Airlines. Today, a plane ticket from Addis-Ababa to Jimma costs approximately $200 return. (Completed in April 2014)

5. Kenyan Solar Project

The largest solar project in East Africa has been completed in Kenya, at the Williamson Tea farm in Bomet County. The solar system will cut Williamson Tea’s energy costs by around 30%, supplying clean solar electricity during the daytime to meet most of the tea processing factory’s energy demand, at a cost approximately three times lower than using an alternative diesel generated power.

Williamson Tea says it is now saving 1,200 tonnes of CO2 per year. Solarcentury’s solar park in Bomet is one of only six systems in the world that uses “Solar Fuel Saver” (SFS) technology, which allows the production of power to work concurrently with a generator, creating a more steady power supply.(Completed May 2014)

6. Benguela railway, Angola

In August this year the China Railway Construction announced the completion of its second biggest railway project on the continent - a 1,344km line connecting Angola’s port towns with its inland cities, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia.

The Benguela railway, today comparable to the Beijing-Shanghai line, was originally built by white settlers who began work in 1903. However, following Angola’s civil war the railway ceased operation as infrastructure was destroyed. In 2005, China Railway Construction proposed a 67-station project of a designed speed of 90km per hour costing $1,83 billion.

Bengula railway is currently the largest, longest and fastest railway to be built in Africa. (Completion August 2014)

7. Natural Gas plant, Ghana

With a power deficit of over 400 megawatts the Ghanaian capital Accra struggles to provide continuous sustainable energy to its citizens. Power cuts are commonplace and the main energy company of Ghana has even threatened to inflict 24-hour power cuts.

A natural gas project in the coastal town of Atuabo has been built to improve this situation and secure foreign investment in the country’s capital. Ghana, West Africa’s second largest economy, has been stricken by financial woes - its currency depreciating against the dollar by more than half creating serious budget imbalances. The gas plant not only will provide the 480 - 550 megawatts of extra power, but also reduces the expensive electricity imports from abroad.

8. Akwa Ibom Football Stadium, Nigeria

The Nigerian town of Uyo received a 30,000 capacity international Akwa Ibom Football Stadium. The stadium, financed by the state government, was officially opened by President Goodluck Jonathan and his counterparts from Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire on November 7, 2014.

The two-tier structure, which uses all natural grass and high-tech floodlights and also contributes a 400m track for athletes, has been dubbed the “Nest of Champions”. With a very modern design, Akwa Ibom stadium was modeled on the Allianz Arena in Munich.

Costing an approximate $96 million the project aims to develop sports participation in Akwa Ibom state and the growing interest of Nigerian youth in football - the country’s national sport. Principally, however, the stadium is home to the national team, Nigeria’s Super Eagles. (Completed in November 2014)

9. Jasper Power Project, South Africa

Another solar power plant was launched this year - Africa’s biggest. The 96 MW Jasper Power Project in the Northern Cape of South Africa is now operational, generating enough power to supply 80,000 households.

This enormous project, developed and financed by SolarReserve, Intikon Energy, and the Kensani Group, is yet another step for South Africa towards attaining a goal of 18 GW of clean energy capacity by the year 2030. The Jasper Power Project comes in particularly handy as it prevents power shortages, allowing for more stable production and thus attracting further investment - both local and international - strengthening South Africa’s already solid economic reputation. (Completion in November 2014)

10. Kilwa - Dar pipeline, Tanzania

The 530km gas pipeline, running from the coastal Mtwara region and Songo Songo in Kilwa district to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, has been all but completed this December. A few weeks ago the latest project status report indicated that only a 7km section remained to be completed.

The pipeline will be used to produce 3,900 MW of electricity through an installed capacity of 784 MMcf/d of gas (Millions of Cubic Feet Per Day). With the estimated gas reserves of 43 trillion cubic feet valued at around $430 billion, the cost of the project is believed to be in the range of $1.3 billion.

The pipeline is projected to decrease the costs of thermal electricity in the country from $0.34 to $0.12. The proponent of the pipeline, Wentworth Resources Limited, declared in a statement: “The project is the beginning of Tanzania’s future as a significant gas producing country and we are proud to be a partner in this endeavour.” (Completed in December 2014)

http://mgafrica.com/article/2014-12...eted-in-africa-this-year#.VOjVzAo2avI.twitter

 

[Poitier]

Abdi Latif Ega
February 20, 2015
Choking off the Somali hawalas

• anne-nivat's blog

In the global imagination, the conceptual idea of Somalia derives from the notion of the uncanny, fantastic and primitive savage. The mainstream media has managed to frame this oriental construction of Somalia using the dehumanizing nomenclature of “pirates,” “warlords” and “terrorists.” These caricatures are exhumed from a long-dead history and then projected as marauders of our twenty-first century conscience.

It began with Black Hawk Down operation, then carried on following the manhunt for three mysterious figures accused of bombing the East African American embassies in 1998. They had supposedly sought ayslum in Somalia. A decade later, a drone attack targeted one of the accused bombers yet no one saw the body, as much as these gruesome events are paraded trophy-like on the news. Anything goes and is justifiable under the auspices of the War on Terror - including the suspension of the rule of law, by the rule of exception. Somalia has faced this again, again and again. The idea of collective punishment is something too well known and almost internalized, even by Africans themselves.

The most recent decision by the Merchant Bank to stop processing Somali money transferring organizations in the United States should be construed as part of this continuum. The Merchant Bank out of California processed 80 percent ($250 million) of the funds being transferred by these businesses. Their claim that it’s “too risky,” is based on compliancy concerns regarding U.S. Treasury Department regulations. There is no evidence to corroborate this worry about “risk” or anything else to substantiate the bank’s response.

In the decade after 9/11, the treasury, the F.B.I and American intelligence agencies have been keenly watching—with something of a forensic eye—Muslims in the United States. From student organizations at American colleges to the money transfers of Muslim citizens to their families and friends abroad, government surveillance knows no bounds. Despite it all, they haven’t found much—here in the States, or abroad.

Constant surveillance and heavy-handed regulations have, during the past decade, brought forth no high-profile case, nor even a consistent prosecution of these so-called financial backers of “terror.” Those prosecutions that have been undertaken mainly target lone operators processing insignificant amounts. Most famously, the government nabbed an old Somali lady in the United States that was discovered to be harboring a “tremendous” amount of cash intended to fund terrorist activities. In fact, her holdings amounted to a few thousand dollars.

When we consider the larger economic impact of the Merchant Bank decision, we see that this is not just a simple mater of compliance. It is a matter of market aggression. Traditional U.S. money corporations like the Western Union, Money Gram, and Barclays will almost certainly step in to fill the void left by the small Somali companies, and make billions of dollars in the process. To be sure, there has been a noticeable proliferation of Western Unions in virtually every Post Office in Nairobi, and the banks of Addis Ababa. Their vigorous media campaigns and sponsorship of huge Africa-wide events suggests they’ve already effectively muscled in to new territories. Before 9/11, their presence was unnoticeable, if not absent all together.

Private business has long found it difficult to penetrate into indigenous money transferring markets which thrive virtually everywhere along Africa’s eastern horn—from little village stores, in places long forgotten and dismissed by neo-liberal capital, to the very centers of power across the region. But these outposts have never been abandoned by local people, who have continued to find ways to transfer money despite dislocation and war. And they have done so across vast territories, from the utterly remote Haud region--where displaced Somali pastoralists move across the borders of Somalia and Ethiopia—to the town markets of central Kenya, where mama mbogas (produce hawkers-turned-electronics-dealers) transfer capital through the hawala system, along with partner Somali businesswomen make frequent trips to Dubai. These networks also include retail store collectives who send a representatives to China to purchase goods on behalf of an entire mall, often to the tune of millions of dollars. These are only a few instances of how intricate this money flow is in relation to not only the remittances to families, which constitute billion plus dollars annually, but also to the internal flow between people and businesses.

In essence, the network of money transfers not only constitutes the humanitarian lifeblood of the region, but also represents the human face of local and transnational economies in East Africa, and indeed, beyond. Yet the popular portrayal that these networks are ad hoc and unmanageable results from great prejudice towards the continent, and that western ideas of modernity will save the day. President Obama has pledged money to resuscitate an anarchic Somalia in the name of fighting terror. And all the while, the US Treasury Department has been choking off the Somalihawalas, actions that have been met with widespread indifference from Somalia’s neighbors.

Despite its dreadful reputation resulting from the caricatures and mischaracterizations about its people, a large part of Somalia has been peaceful and safe and prosperous. Somaliland, Puntland, and even the capital Mogadishu, known mostly as the setting for Black Hawk Down, has been enjoying something of a recent resurgence. Stability, democratization, and a growing economy, based in part on networks of money-transfer, are returning to these areas, and the Somali reputation for business acumen is alive and well throughout the East African region. All of this suggests that it may be time to consider Somalia through a new lens, one which emphasizes the indomitable spirit and resilience of its people—a people who have seemingly—to quote Fela Anikulapo Kuti—“cheated death.”

Image via CBS Minnesota.

Abdi Latif Ega is a long-time resident of Harlem, New York. Guban is his first novel in a series of novels on the Horn and specifically Somalia, from the medieval times until the present. The author self identifies as an African-American originally from Somalia. He studied Jazz theory and Performance, and has an undergraduate degree in History and English. Abdi is currently a PhD candidate at Columbia University. He is currently working on The Doorman, a novel set in Manhattan.

 

[Poitier]

A thousand years ago, one boy with a dream of becoming a great warrior is abducted with his sister and taken to a land far away from home.
Thrown into a world where greed and injustice rule all, Bilal finds the courage to raise his voice and make a change.
Inspired by true events, this is a story of a real hero who earned his remembrance in time and history.


Official Website: https://www.bilalmovie.com
Like us on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/bilalmovie
Follow us on TWITTER: https://twitter.com/bilal_movie
Follow us on INSTAGRAM: @bilalmovie

 

[Poitier]

White House Nomination of United States Ambassador to Somalia


Press Statement
Jen Psaki
Department Spokesperson
Washington, DC
February 24, 2015

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President Obama, today, nominated Katherine S. Dhanani to serve as the first United States Ambassador to Somalia since 1991. This historic nomination signals the deepening relationship between the United States and Somalia. It also allows us to mark the progress of the Somali people toward emerging from decades of conflict. Somalia has considerable work ahead to complete its transition to a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous nation. The United States is committed to supporting Somalia on this journey as a steadfast partner. If confirmed, the Ambassador will lead the U.S. Mission to Somalia, currently based at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. As security conditions permit, we look forward to increasing our diplomatic presence in Somalia and eventually reopening the U.S. Embassy in Mogadishu.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2015/02/237868.htm

 

[Poitier]

 

[Poitier]

Meet the digital natives trailblazing internet use in Africa: 6 facts you need to know
25 FEB 2015 18:11CHRISTINE MUNGAI

In 1998 there were less than 2 million mobile subscription in Africa. Today there are over 630 million.


Photo from an MTN Zambia ad making the point that the young ones have crashed the digital party.

THE United Nations recently observed “Safer Internet Day”, joining the global call for child online safety. It is a call driven partly by the fact that creatures known as “digital natives” will double in the developing world, growing from 22.8% to 53% of young Internet users.

These are worries that were inconceivable in Africa just 20 years ago.

In the late 1990s, Africa was in the throes of a privatisation spree, particularly in the telecoms market. Five countries privatised their telecom operators between 1996 and 1997 – Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Ghana, Senegal and South Africa – compared to just one privatisation in 1990-1995.

Fifteen new private mobile cellular companies started up operations between 1995 and 1997. Ghana awarded its second network operator licence in 1996 to ACG Telesystems, a consortium led by Western Wireless of the United States. Around the same time, Uganda awarded a second network operator— the MTN Uganda consortium— a full service license including cellular.

In Kenya, a local company called Kencell - which would later go through three turbulent rebrandings and burn through nearly a dozen CEOs in just over a decade – had just clinched the country’s first mobile operator license.

We all know how the story unfolds: mobile takes Africa by storm, with a compounded annual growth rate in subscriptions growing at 2,000% in a decade.

At the start of Africa’s mobile revolution in 1998, there were less than 2 million mobile subscriptions, says data from the African Development Bank (AfDB), and 86% of these were in South Africa. By 2008, South Africa’s “market share” had been whittled down to 18%, and today, latest data from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) indicates that there are 630 million mobile subscriptions on the continent.

In that time, there is a generation that has grown up with no inkling of what the world was like before mobile phones, or the Internet. Meet the “digital natives”, defined as a young person between the ages of 15 and 24 with five years or more experience using the Internet.

1. About 5.2% of the world population is considered to be digital native, shows latest data from the ITU in a report titled Measuring the Information Society 2013. It may seem like a tiny fraction, but the overall figure masks great variations between and within nations, from a low of 0.13% to a high of 16%.

Where the online population is concerned, youth are clearly overrepresented, so when we take digital natives as a proportion of youth, globally the figure shoots up to 30%. The global leader is South Korea, where virtually all young people – 99.6% - are digital natives.

2. In Africa, the fraction of youth said to be digital native is about 9.2%. Morocco’s youth are in the lead, with nearly half of young people aged 15-24 (45.8%) in 2012 being digital natives, followed by Mauritius (42.8%), Tunisia (36.7%), and Egypt (34.9%).

But position five is a country you may have written off, for its abysmal economic performance in the past fifteen years. It’s Zimbabwe, with fully 25% of its young people considered digital natives, ahead of more prosperous countries like South Africa (18.6%), Nigeria (16%), or Kenya, that gets much of Africa’s IT accolades and is angling to be the continent’s “Silicon savannah” – about 18% of Kenya’s youth are considered digital natives.

A country will have a high percentage of digital natives if it has relatively high levels of youth and at least medium levels of Internet use; high levels of Internet use; or some combination of the two.

Having a big youth bulge, and a large rural population, tends to bring this figure down, such as in Nigeria.

3. Digital nativism is correlated with secondary, and especially tertiary education levels. Zimbabwe is Africa’s most literate country, so that makes its reading habits (and by extension, its media and information-seeking habits) rather insulated from the day-to-day vagaries of the economy.

4. However, the relationship between primary education enrolment and digital nativism is not as all as strong as in the higher levels, the data shows. This wrinkles the rationale behind school laptop programs, such as the one promised by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta – which seems to have now been quietly shelved after being mired in corruption allegations and opposition.

To be fair, it takes time for children to grow and the impact of having laptops around them to become clearly measurable. Rwanda took the plunge and its One Laptop per Child project has seen over 203,000 laptops distributed to primary school pupils, making it the third largest deployment of laptops to schools globally after Peru and Uruguay.

5. In sheer numbers, however, Egyptian digital natives are in the lead – 5.5 million Egyptian youth are digital natives, followed by Nigeria (5.1m), Morocco (2.8m), South Africa (1.8m) and Sudan (1.7m).

Algeria (1.5m), Kenya (1.5m), Tanzania (1.5m), Tunisia (796,000) and Zimbabwe (700,000) round out the top ten. Globally, China is the country with the biggest number of digital natives, at 75 million of them, followed by the US at 41 million.

6. Although in Africa only one in ten young people may be digital natives, those young people are often their nation’s drivers in terms of getting online and trailblazing a new digital future for their country.

This is especially true in the countries that have a low Internet penetration overall, such as Eritrea, Burundi, Sierra Leone and Niger.

In these countries, the percentage of young people online is more than twice as the population as a whole. This places digital natives in a unique position, and so as early adopters, they drive forward ICT use in their country; and their skills will be in great demand as economies becomes more connected.

“Paradoxically, while most of the literature on digital natives focuses on high- income countries, the most important location for the application of this concept is likely to be the developing world,” the ITU report states.

In richer countries, there is less of a gap in Internet use between the youth population and the general population, and so the digital natives actually have less of an impact.

WORTH KNOWING

•Digital immigrants: People born before the internet, and have migrated to the modern technology. Some are the parents of the digital natives.

•Digital descendants: Born into and brought up in the world of digital itself and introduced from start to its ways and universe. They are pure digital citizens, untouched by old technology. A few are children of the older digital natives.