– NEWS –
Don’t forget Africa when it comes to vaccines: Health activist Dan Owalla has called on the international community to give greater consideration to Africa when it comes to Covid-19 vaccines. Owalla has worked for the non-governmental organization People’s Health Movement in Kenya for eleven years. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that around 30 percent of people in Africa will be immunized against Covid-19 by the end of 2021 – this would mean that 70 percent would still not be vaccinated. Owalla also criticized the vaccination nationalism pursued by Europe. This undermines the understanding of health as a global good – for everyone. If only part of the world population is protected, but the other is not, then in the end no one is protected in the long term.
zdf.de
Somaliland revived by love and courage: The national budget in Somaliland is now relatively defined and transparent. Somaliland is an autonomous region that belongs to Somalia under international law. Democratic elections take place regularly and changes of office when the opposition seizes power have so far gone smoothly. Compared to its neighbor Somalia, where civil wars are still the order of the day and pirates and terrorist militias are fighting for power, peace reigns in Somaliland. Former Foreign Minister Edna Adan Ismail and Ahmed Dalal Farah, business consultant and economist at Hargeisa University, explain that many had to flee because of the war during the 1980s. Many, however, have returned – with money, experience and a vision: to rebuild the country. The people believe in this country. That’s why they come back, that’s why they invested here, explains Farah.
spiegel.de
Guinea declares Ebola epidemic: Guinea has officially declared that it is dealing with an Ebola epidemic after the deaths of at least three people from the virus. They – and four others – fell ill with diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding after attending the burial of a nurse. Community funerals, where people help wash the body of the person who has died, can be a key way of spreading Ebola in the earlier stages of an outbreak. Newly developed vaccines will be acquired through the World Health Organization (WHO), officials said. Between 2013 and 2016 more than 11,000 people died in the West Africa Ebola epidemic, which began in Guinea.
bbc.com
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Zimbabwe receives first batch of coronavirus vaccines: Zimbabwe on Monday received 200,000 doses of Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines. The country will start administering the doses this week, President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa said on his official Twitter profile. The country’s Health Ministry tweeted on Sunday that the 200,000 doses were donated by China. A further 600,000 doses from China are set to arrive in early March, information minister Monica Mutsvangwa said last week. Zimbabwe has set aside $100 million for vaccine procurement, and is looking to buy 20 million doses in efforts to immunize about 60% of its population and achieve herd immunity.
cnn.com
Senegal says troops overrun rebel camps in Casamance region: The Senegalese army said Tuesday it took three rebel bases in the restive southern region Casamance and recovered weapons during an offensive launched in late January after months of a lull in the long-standing conflict. The bases, relatively intact, belonged to the Movement of Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC), which has been leading an armed independence rebellion since 1982, said Colonel Souleymane Kandé, the local head of the Senegalese army. They were captured after artillery fire, preceding the assault by ground forces supported by planes and helicopters, said an anonymous officer who said he participated in the fighting. The Senegalese army provided no indication of losses on either side, and no assessment of the human toll is otherwise available from a reliable and independent source.
africanews.com
Will Africa be left behind when it comes to Covid vaccines? heise.de
Three NGOs who want to reintegrate child soldiers spiegel.de
Pop star Bobi Wine wants to modernize Uganda spiegel.de
Lawyers protesting against police in Tunisia allegedly attacked by officers theguardian.com
– BACKGROUND –
Africa mulls taxing Big Tech: Despite the global economic crisis caused by Covid-19, US tech companies, such as Amazon and Microsoft, are making big sales — including in developing countries. Therein lies a problem. Most of these companies based abroad pay hardly any taxes in the countries that use their digital services. African countries could benefit from increased tax revenues to strengthen their ailing economies and improve their health care systems, especially during the pandemic. Africa is losing massive revenue, according to a tax report by British nongovernmental organization ActionAid International. It states that 20 countries in the global south — including 12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa — could be missing out on up to $2.8 billion in tax revenue from some of the three big tech companies alone: Facebook, Microsoft, and Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
dw.com
Senegal’s President Sall calls for better communication with the industry: H.E. Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal, has directed that information exchange in the oil and gas sector be improved, in order for all participants to be equally well informed. “We need increased vigilance from the state, especially with regard to the men and women in the public sphere engaged in the execution and monitoring of oil contracts. We must understand that we are there to serve. There is a chain which turns with links, and each link in the chain plays its own important role,” he said. Additionally, the president called for the local content law to also be applied to the mining sector, and that the National Oil and Gas Institute take on the function of issuing certifications.
africaoilandpower.com
Thousands of skilled workers are leaving South Africa: Rand Merchant Bank chief executive James Formby says that thousands of skilled people are leaving South Africa every year, leaving major gaps in the country’s future economy. He added that it was difficult to assess exactly how many people have left the country, as the government does not track emigration data – meaning analysts have to use other countries’ information to piece together statistics. Formby said that these South Africans are not necessarily looking for opportunities and greener pastures in other countries, with many simply terrified of what’s happening in their own backyard.
businesstech.co.za
How African startups raised investments in 2020: The venture capital scene in Africa has consistently grown, with an influx of capital from local and international investors reaching unprecedented heights in recent years. To understand how much growth has occurred, African startups raised a meagre $400 million in 2015 compared to the $2 billion that came into the continent in 2019, according to Africa-focused fund Partech Africa. However, that figure isn’t the only yardstick. With other outlets like media publications WeeTracker and Disrupt Africa disclosing different results for the African venture capital market, we compared and contrasted their results last year. The result of that investigation detailed differences in methodology, as well as similarities.
techcrunch.com
– NUMBER –
Two Nigerian communities can bring their legal claims for a cleanup and for compensation against the oil company Shell and its Nigerian subsidiary in an English court, supreme court judges have said. It could take 30 years to clean up the pollution caused by oil extraction.
theguardian.com
– QUOTE –
„The pressure on the Libyans must be maintained.“
Stephanie Williams, the deputy head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) for political affairs, has called on the international community to keep up pressure on possible saboteurs inside and outside the country. She also said the new government team must be set up quickly.
faz.net
– AT LAST –
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala becomes first woman and African to lead World Trade Organization: Nigeria’s Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was appointed Monday to head the World Trade Organization, becoming the first woman and first African to take on the role amid disagreement over how the body decides cases involving billions in sales and thousands of jobs. Okonjo-Iweala said in a statement that her first priority would be quickly addressing the economic and health consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and to “implement the policy responses we need to get the global economy going again.” The appointment came after US President Joe Biden endorsed her candidacy, which had been blocked by former President Donald Trump.
pbs.org