NEWS - The African Mirror

Feb

16

2024

Nigeria to clear debt, fix gas shortages in plan to end power woes

NEWS

NIGERIA plans to fix its chronic power woes by settling outstanding debts of about $2.16 billion to energy producers and tackling gas supply shortages to generating firms, the power minister said. Africa's largest economy has 12,500 megawatts of installed capacity but only produces about a quarter of that, forcing households and businesses, including manufacturers to resort to diesel and petrol generators. Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu told reporters on Wednesday that outstanding debts, inadequate gas supplies and ageing equipment were the key barriers hampering optimal power output. Adelabu said power generators are currently owed 1.3 trillion naira ($858.65 million), in addition…

Feb

15

2024

By The African Mirror

Italian judge rules U.N. staffers cannot be tried over Congo deaths

NEWS

AN Italian judge has ruled that two employees of a U.N. agency cannot be tried over the deaths of the Italian ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, his bodyguard and a driver in 2021 because they have diplomatic immunity. Luca Attanasio, bodyguard Vittorio Iacovacci and their driver Mustapha Milambo were killed during a botched kidnapping on a road in eastern Congo as they were heading toward a World Food Programme (WFP) project. Rome prosecutors had requested a trial for Rocco Leone and Mansour Luguru Rwagaza, who at the time of the attack were respectively the deputy chief of the…

Feb

15

2024

By CHRISTIAN AKORLIE and MAXWELL AKALAARE ADOMBILA

Ghana president replaces finance minister in reshuffle

NEWS

GHANA'S president has replaced finance minister Ken Ofori-Atta in a cabinet reshuffle after criticism of the ex-banker's leadership during the West African country's worst economic crisis in a generation. The office of President Nana Akufo-Addo said that Ofori-Atta would be replaced by Mohammed Amin Adam, currently the minister of state at the finance ministry and previously deputy energy minister responsible for the petroleum sector. It did not give a reason for the change. Ofori-Atta has been overseeing Ghana's debt restructuring efforts after the West African gold, oil and cocoa producer defaulted on most of its external debt in December 2022.…

Feb

15

2024

By The African Mirror

15 killed, 7 injured in multiple-vehicle crash along major Egyptian highway

NEWS

AT least 15 people have been killed and seven others injured in a multiple-vehicle collision in the El Amaraya area of Egypt's Cairo-Alexandria desert road, the Egyptian state news agency said. Security forces and ambulances immediately rushed to the scene of the accident. The injured were transported to the hospital for treatment, MENA quoted local authorities as saying. Traffic officers are working to restore traffic flow, and the cause of the accident is pending further investigation. Road accidents claim thousands of lives every year in Egypt as a result of speeding, poor maintenance of roads, and lax enforcement of traffic…

Feb

14

2024

By NELLIE PEYTON

South Africa asks World Court to weigh Israel’s Rafah offensive

NEWS

SOUTH Africa said that it had asked the World Court to consider whether Israel's plan to extend its offensive in Gaza into the city of Rafah requires additional emergency measures to protect Palestinians' rights. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa. Israel has denied all allegations of genocide in connection with its war against Gaza's ruling Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and asked the court to reject the case outright, saying it respects international law and has a right…

Feb

14

2024

By The African Mirror

South Africa to deploy 2,900 troops to fight armed groups in eastern Congo

NEWS

SOUTH Africa will send 2,900 troops as part of its contribution to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) force deployed to tackle armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the president's office said in a statement on Monday. The one-year deployment will cover the period between December 15. 2023 and December 15, 2024, and will cost around 2 billion rand ($105.75 million), the statement said. The 16-member state SADC approved the eastern Congo mission in May last year to help Congo, the world's top supplier of cobalt and Africa's top copper producer, address instability and deteriorating security in its restive eastern…

Feb

14

2024

By NGOUDA DIONE

Senegal cuts internet again amid widening crackdown on dissent

NEWS

SENEGAL cut mobile internet access ahead of a banned march against the postponement of a presidential election, and rights groups accused the authorities of using overly repressive tactics to stifle widespread opposition to the delay. The abrupt postponement of the February 25 vote to December has plunged Senegal into crisis and intensified a backlash against what many see as an attempt to extend President Macky Sall's mandate and a threat to one of the remaining democracies in coup-hit West Africa. After deadly clashes between protesters and police late last week, the government refused to permit a silent march planned by activist groups…

Feb

15

2024

By RACHEL SAVAGE and MARC JONES

Kenya’s double-digit debt costs sign of the tough times

NEWS

KENYA has just taken a calculated risk that paying more than 10% on a new international bond is worth it to avoid a default later in the year, even though history is littered with examples of this kind of gamble ending in tears. While interest rates have shot up everywhere over the last couple of years, a double-digit borrowing cost remains one of the most obvious warning signs that not all is well in a country. Kenya's hand was forced to a large degree, as it was facing the possibility that it wouldn't be able to cover a $2 billion…

Feb

13

2024

By The African Mirror

Family mourns Kenya’s marathon prodigy Kelvin Kiptum

NEWS

KELVIN Kiptum's devastated wife had been looking forward to watching him try to become a marathon legend as the first athlete in under 2 hours. Now she is wondering how to tell their two children that their father was killed in a car accident. Sobbing next to her in the village where they all lived, Kiptum's father is desolate that his only child has died, and with him the hopes for a better life for the family. Police said the athlete lost control of the vehicle he was driving and veered off the road into a ditch, travelling for about 60 metres…

Feb

14

2024

By JOE BAVIER and BOUREIMA BALIMA

For West African juntas, CFA franc pits sovereignty against expediency

NEWS

DAYS after Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger announced last month they were quitting the West Africa political union ECOWAS, Burkina Faso's military ruler Ibrahim Traore was already naming his next target: the region's CFA franc currency. "It's not just the currency. Anything that maintains us in slavery, we'll break those bonds," the 35-year-old army captain turned coup leader said in an interview, posted on YouTube. The three countries jointly announced on Jan. 28 they were pulling out of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) after it pressured them to restore constitutional order following a string of coups. Having…