An estimated 42 million children entered primary education in sub-Saharan Africa overt he past decade
Forty two million more Sub-Saharan African children entered primary school between 2000 and 2008, according to a UNESCO report released this week. The Financing Education in Sub-Saharan Africa report reveals “tremendous” gains in the provision of basic education on the back of a 6 percent annual increase in real education expenditure across the region in [...]
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The arrest of Laurent Gbagbo allows president Alassane Ouattara to assert control, but an end to political tensions may prove elusive.
The arrest of strongman Laurent Gbagbo by French-backed forces has ended an extended political standoff in Côte d’Ivoire. While the development has raised hopes of a resolution to the country’s renewed civil war, it is unlikely to necessitate an immediate cease in fighting, and president Alassane Ouattara faces significant challenges in reuniting a divided nation. [...]
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Mobile Money services have taken Africa by storm. Safaricom's M-Pesa in Kenya has an estimated 13.5m subscribers.
Safaricom, Kenya’s biggest mobile operator, has announced a deal with Western Union, the international money transfer company, to enable its M-Pesa mobile money service subscribers to receive direct cash transfers from Western Union agents worldwide. “Consumers can now send money directly to the mobile ‘wallets’ of Safaricom M-PESA subscribers in Kenya from 45 countries and [...]
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Advances in biotechnology and communications offer hope for the development of African agriculture, but basic infrastructure lacking
Advances in biotechnology and communications offer hope for the development of African agriculture, but there will be no “silver bullet” for the continent’s food insecurity until the basic foundations of infrastructure and policy are put in place, according to Harvard professor and development expert Calestous Juma. Mr Juma’s latest book, “The New Harvest: Agricultural Innovation [...]
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An export ban and European Union sanctions could cut back cocoa supplies
A combination of a self-imposed export ban and European Union sanctions targeting Côte d’Ivoire could curtail talk of a cocoa market surplus during the current crop year. In January, ICCO, the International Cocoa Organisation, forecast a market oversupply of 100,000 tonnes based on assumptions of an uninterrupted supply from the West African country, which accounts [...]
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"We don’t have much awareness of the impact that we have on fragile countries. Even that expression is already a judgement that projects our own definition of what states should be”
As United Nations undersecretary general for peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guéhenno oversaw the organisation’s largest expansion in deployed personnel, but today he is cautious about the use of military intervention and critical of the UN’s ability to properly leverage its deployments. “I think we often exaggerate what military force can achieve. Myself, I was and I am [...]
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A "yes" vote for secession in South Sudan looks likely to challenge governments in Juba and Khartoum
Polling in a referendum on the independence of southern Sudan is complete, and appears to show that the autonomous region’s population have come out strongly in favour of secession. At the time of writing, figures were not available, but all indications pointed towards a majority “yes” vote on independence. The poll has been approved by [...]
More- Briefing Room: Côte d’Ivoire The stalemate that followed the November 28 presidential election in Côte d’Ivoire remains unresolved, with an internationally-recognised government headed by opposition leader Alassane Ouattara holed up in the Golf Hotel in Abidjan, protected by a ring of United Nations peacekeepers and surrounded by armed forces remaining loyal to the defeated incumbent, Laurent Gbagbo. Mr Gbagbo [...]
- Briefing Room: Egypt Egypt’s parliamentary elections have been marred by widespread accounts of vote rigging, intimidation and violence as incumbent president Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party won an overwhelming victory. While the elections were a foregone conclusion, the manner of the NDP’s victory could have implications for political and social stability in the run up to next year’s [...]
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