In The News

The Guardian: Egypt to Fine People Who Pester Tourists

Ruth Michaelson May 7, 2018
The Egyptian parliament has approved a law ahead of the summer tourism season seeking to clamp down on alleged harassers. As Ruth Michaelson observes for the Guardian, the law allows “authorities to fine up to EGP 10,000 (about £405) anyone found to be pestering tourists ‘with the intention of begging or promoting, offering or selling a good or service.’” Ultimately, this measure intends to...

Quartz: China’s Growing Africa Footprint

Abdi Latif Dahir March 12, 2018
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ended a five-nation diplomatic tour of Africa one day early, as African and US officials compare China’s growing trade and investment with the US security role. The US has one permanent base in Djibouti. “But last year, China opened its first overseas naval base there too, provided loans to the country, and built a railway connecting its seas to the Ethiopian...

Mail & Guardian: Ethiopia’s Crisis

Simon Allison March 8, 2018
Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous country after Nigeria and could soon overtake Kenya as East Africa’s largest economy. But the country is in political crisis with protests, violence by security forces, and the media under censorship. “The international NGOs and think-tanks that operate in Ethiopia are complicit in maintaining the veil of silence. Many agree to refrain from any criticism...

Quartz: Teacher in Ghana Teaches Windows on Blackboard

Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu March 2, 2018
A teacher in Ghana posted photographs of himself on Facebook teaching his students about the Windows computer operating system. The students lack computers, so Richard Appiah Akoto makes detailed drawings on the chalkboard and they copy the diagrams in their notebooks. His posts went viral: “His photo was seen as both a bit of ironic fun about life in Africa but also as a source of inspiration...

The Wall Street Journal: China Is Winning the Global Race to Control Batteries

Scott Patterson and Russell Gold February 15, 2018
China listed electric vehicles as one of seven strategic priorities in 2011 and now dominates the markets for batteries from mining cobalt in Africa to production. More than half of the world’s cobalt is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a Wall Street Journal articles describes small-scale miners, often working in unsafe conditions, selling ore to Chinese buyers. “Those buyers then...

Reuters: Ramaphosa Elected President of South Africa

Wendell Roelf February 15, 2018
Jacob Zuma, in power since May of 2009, resigned as South Africa's president on orders from the African National Congress, the ruling party. Cyril Ramaphosa, a lawyer, former trade unionist and businessman, was nominated to become next president by the National Assembly. He will serve as president until elections in 2019. Ramaphosa’s “stated commitment to boosting growth and stamping out...

Mother Jones: S Africa Leadership, Climate Crisis

Nathalie Baptiste February 1, 2018
The metropolitan area of Cape Town has about 4 million people, and officials warn that the city’s water supply, dependent on rainfall, could go dry in April. Droughts, poor planning, population growth, urban migration and high consumption rates contribute to water supply challenges in Cape Town. Restrictions of 50 liters per day have been imposed for residents, but compliance has been uneven....