Blog - The African Mirror

Jun

2021

Why southern Africa’s interior is an ideal place to generate solar energy

SOUTHERN Africa is popularly associated with sunshine. Does that make the region exceptionally suited to solar energy generation? HARTMUT WINKLER, Professor of Physics, University of Johannesburg With electricity shortages plaguing all parts of the sub-continent, a plentiful energy source that is becoming increasingly affordable to tap into seems like an ideal solution. Yet the rollout of solar power generating facilities has been very slow in the region. Most solar power developments in the sub-continent have been in South Africa. But even in the country, solar farms account for only 2.5% of the total electricity generated. Compare that to some European…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

India’s COVID-19 meltdown exposes new front in digital divide

WORLD

SAURABH SHARMA and ROLI SRIVASTAVA AS India's daily coronavirus cases set global records, people desperately searching for hospital beds and oxygen cylinders are finding help on social media. But for others like Ruby Yadav, who has never heard of Twitter, time and hope is running out. Travelling by rickshaw, Yadav and her mother - who is seriously ill with COVID-19 - have been turned away by nearly a dozen public hospitals in the northern city of Lucknow this week as the country's health system crumbles. "I'm losing hope. We know what will happen next, but I can't bear to watch…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

EXCLUSIVE: 350 000 people in Ethiopia’s Tigray in famine

NEWS

GIULIA PARAVICINI and MICHELLE NICHOLS AN analysis by United Nations agencies and aid groups estimates that about 350,000 people in Ethiopia's conflict-torn Tigray region are in famine conditions, according to an internal U.N. document seen by Reuters. The Ethiopian government disputes the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, according to the notes of a meeting on the situation in Tigray of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) - made up of the heads of at least 18 U.N. and non-U.N. organizations. "On the risk of famine, it was noted that the unpublished IPC analysis figures were being disputed by the…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Press freedom under lockdown across two-thirds of the globe

MEDIA FREEDOM

ED HOLT INDEPENDENT journalism is facing a growing crackdown one year into the COVID-19 pandemic as governments around the world restrict access to information and muzzle critical reporting, media and rights watchdogs have warned. Authoritarian regimes have used existing and new legislation to attack, intimidate, and jail reporters under the guise of acting to protect public health, they say, and fear the situation is unlikely to improve in many states if and when the pandemic ends. “Dictators and authoritarian leaders exploited the cover of COVID to crackdown on independent reporting and criticism. Some, instead of battling the virus, turned their…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Arrested: Ivory trafficker blamed for DRC park killings

NEWS

PARK rangers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have arrested a militia leader and alleged ivory trafficker whose fighters are accused of killing 19 rangers, authorities have announced. Jackson Muhukambuto, a former army officer who has led various militias in and around Virunga National Park, was detained in the city of Butembo on Tuesday, the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (ICCN) said in a statement. Virunga, Africa's oldest national park, is home to over half the world's mountain gorillas and hundreds of elephants. It has been plagued by violence since the late 1990s when two regional wars fought in the…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Youth demand action on nature, following IUCN’s first-ever Global Youth Summit

ENVIRONMENT

ALISON KENTISH FOLLOWING almost two weeks of talks on issues such as climate change, innovation, marine conservation and social justice, thousands of young people from across the globe concluded the first-ever International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) One Nature One Future Global Youth Summit with a list of demands for action on nature. Under three umbrella themes of diversity, accessibility and intersectionality, they are calling on countries and corporations to invest the required resources to redress environmental racism and climate injustice, create green jobs, engage communities for biodiversity protection, safeguard the ocean, realise gender equality for climate change mitigation…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Buhari tells youth to ‘behave’ if they want jobs

NEWS

LIBBY GEORGE PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has told young Nigerians that they must "behave" in order to attract jobs and investment. Buhari, speaking on Arise TV, said security was essential in order for investment in the country, where unemployment rose to 33.3% in the fourth quarter. "Nobody is going to invest in an insecure environment. So I told them, I said they should tell the youth that if they want jobs, they will behave themselves," Buhari said. "Make sure that the area is secure. So that people can come in and invest." Nigeria has struggled with high unemployment and rapid population…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Zim Air Force helicopter crashes into house, four killed including child

NEWS

AN Air Force of Zimbabwe helicopter crashed on Friday, killing three crew members and a child on the ground as it came down on a house, the Air Force said in a statement. The helicopter was on a training mission, with two pilots and a technician when it disappeared on the radar. It came down on a house in Arcturus, a farming area some 30 km east of the capital Harare. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of lives after the unfortunate accident," Air Marshal Elson Moyo said. Social media showed video of charred parts of the helicopter and…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

Fashion label Chanel invests $25 million in new climate adaptation fund

NEWS

MICHAEL TAYLOR FRENCH fashion house Chanel is backing a new climate adaptation fund that aims to raise $100 million by 2025 to invest in projects to promote sustainable agriculture, protect forests and support small-scale farmers in developing countries. The Landscape Resilience Fund (LRF) was developed by green group WWF and Swiss-based social enterprise South Pole and is starting with $25 million from luxury brand Chanel and $1.3 million from the Global Environment Facility. An independent nonprofit, the LRF aims to attract a further five to 10 additional investors to help finance small businesses and projects that foster climate-resilient agriculture and…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

At least 130 Africans feared drowned

NEWS

MERCHANT vessels and a charity ship searching the Mediterranean for boats carrying migrants have found 10 bodies floating near a capsized rubber boat believed to have had 130 people on board, French humanitarian organisation SOS Mediterranee said. Another wooden boat was still missing with about 40 migrants aboard, a spokesman for the group said on Friday. The civil hotline Alarm Phone had reported three boats were in distress on Wednesday, prompting SOS Mediterranee to launch a search "in very rough seas, with up to 6-metre waves", the non-governmental organisation said in a news release issued earlier. Three merchant vessels helped…