– NEWS –
Kagame brings a breath of fresh air to the AU: Rwandan President Paul Kagame has officially taken over as the new Chairman of the African Union (AU). „No country or region can manage for itself, we have to work and we have to stick together“, said Kagame in his inaugural speech. Kagame took over the chairmanship from Guinea’s President Alpha Conde at the 30th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the Heads of State and Government, within the framework of the 30th AU Summit. This will be Kagame’s second major responsibility at the AU as he is also spearheading and supervising the body’s reforms process.
taz.de, newtimes.co.rw
The secret coalition between Israel and Egypt: For more than two years, unmarked Israeli drones, helicopters and jets have carried out a covert air campaign, conducting more than 100 airstrikes inside Egypt, frequently more than once a week — and all with the approval of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. The remarkable cooperation marks a new stage in the evolution of their singularly fraught relationship. Once enemies in three wars, then antagonists in an uneasy peace, Egypt and Israel are now secret allies in a covert war against a common foe. For Cairo, the Israeli intervention has helped the Egyptian military regain its footing in its nearly five-year battle against the militants. For Israel, the strikes have bolstered the security of its borders and the stability of its neighbor.
nytimes.com
Pressure mounts on Zuma: Jacob Zuma is fighting for his political survival as pressure mounts on the South African president to resign before a key national address this week. Senior leaders of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) met Zuma over the weekend to ask him to step down. Local media reported that the 75-year-old president, who is battling corruption allegations, refused. Some ANC members are pushing for Cyril Ramaphosa, the new head of the party and the nation’s deputy president, to replace Zuma as president immediately.
theguardian.com, telegraph.co.uk
Migrants found drowned near Spanish enclave of Melilla: At least 20 migrants are reported to have drowned near the Spanish enclave of Melilla on the Moroccan coast. The migrants are thought to have died while likely trying to reach Spanish shores by boat from North Africa. Authorities have not confirmed the absolute number of deaths, as there could more people still missing. The floating bodies of the migrants were found by a passenger ship on Saturday and later recovered by Spanish and Moroccan authorities, according to newspapers citing government sources.
dw.com
Cameroon crisis escalates: The conflict in Cameroon is threatening to escalate. Troops have invaded neighboring Nigeria to track down „separatist rebels“. More than 43,000 Cameroonians have fled as refugees to Nigeria to escape a crackdown by the government on Anglophone separatists, local aid officials said. Cameroon is a majority French-speaking country but two southwestern regions bordering Nigeria are Anglophone. Last October, separatists declared independence for a state they want to create called Ambazonia, sparking a military crackdown by the government of President Paul Biya.
reuters.com
UN flys out refugees from Libya tagesspiegel.de
Spanish activist in Moroccan court over people smuggling charge theguardian.com
Cash or custody: Israel kicks off deportation of African migrants reuters.com
Lufthansa relies on Africa market for growth handelsblatt.com
– BACKGROUND –
Africa needs more support in education policy: After many years of being passed over in silence, education aid is now gaining importance on the international agenda. In Africa, access to education was a major success over the past decade. But if universal access to schooling is on the right track, the continent still faces many challenges, especially when it comes to the quality of education, access to higher education and schooling for girls. A marked improvement made possible by governments in Africa focusing on the budget for education. Nowadays 17% of the GDP of countries in sub-Saharan Africa is allocated to education compared to 12% in the North. In an effort to help developing countries strengthen their collection, management and utilization of education data, high-level representatives from the private sector, international organizations, developing country governments and other partners came together at the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Financing Conference in Dakar, Senegal.
euractiv.com, africanews.com
Rails for East Africa: There is hardly anything left of the British or German railway network of the colonial era. The colonialists once built a gigantic rail network to transport raw materials to the ports and goods into the country. After independence, the tracks rotted away. But now the states of the East African Community (EAC) want to revive the rail network. One route could extend from the Kenyan coastal port Mombasa across Nairobi to Uganda and further north to the southern Sudanese capital Juba or even to Kisangani. Another route is to run from the Tanzanian Dar es Salaam to the Rwandan capital Kigali. The aim of the project is to create jobs and stimulate the economy.
taz.de
– NUMBER –
8,000 rural settlements in Ethiopia are to be converted into small towns by 2020. The reason: Since the 70s, the country’s population has tripled. The rural exodus drives people into the cities. The infrastructure is not up to the challenge, new settlements should remedy this.
spiegel.de
– QUOTE –
„Local businesses often evade taxes in these poor states by leveraging their money through subsidiaries or letterbox companies into tax havens to reduce the corporate income tax due.“
Misereor speaker for „Sustainable Business“, Klaus Schilder, accuses German corporations operating in Africa of unfair tax practices.
katholisch.de
– AT LAST –
Fossil proves existence of land bridge between Africa and Europe: A joint Egyptian-American team has found a new piece in the puzzle revealing the mystery of the great extinction of dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous era some 65 million years ago. They discovered a new dinosaur they named Mansourasaurus after Mansoura University, where the main researcher, palaeontologist Hesham Sallam, comes from. After investigations, the Egyptian-American team found a link between Mansourasaurus and one of the European dinosaurs, and this was the second surprise. A link between the two dinosaurs meant a relationship, and the possibility of a bridge between the African and European continents that linked them in ancient eras.
egyptindependent.com