Africa
Zimbabwe street vendors sell cloth masks to make ends meet
Zimbabwe market stall owner Aaron Makaya saw a new business opportunity when President Emmerson Mnangagwa made face masks mandatory in public places to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The 21-year old had been stuck at home in the capital Harare and living off meagre savings since the start of a nationwide lockdown at the end of March. Confinement measures were extended by two weeks on May 1 – another month without income for informal workers like Makaya. Meanwhile, factory-made face masks turned out to be unaffordable for most in a country crippled by poverty and hyperinflation. Makaya and other informal workers jumped on the opportunity to make money by sewing and selling cheaper cloth masks at intersections. “We started selling these masks on Monday when we noticed that people intendi...
Ivory Coast’s Guillaume Soro faces war crimes lawsuit in France
File Photo Ivory Coast’s former prime minister Guillaume Soro, a rebel leader before he entered politics, is facing a lawsuit in France for war crimes, torture and murder, lawyers told AFP. The plaintiffs say the case is being filed in France because Soro has been living in the country since 2019. Late last month, he was handed a 20-year jail term in Ivory Coast for embezzlement, money laundering, and buying a mansion in the West African country’s main city Abidjan with public money. The Abidjan court fined him nearly seven million euros ($7.6 million), ordered the confiscation of his Abidjan home and barred him from civic duties for five years, which effectively eliminates the 47-year-old from contesting presidential elections due in October. Soro denies all accusations. The latest lawsui...
Yaya Toure backs Didier Drogba’s bid for Ivorian FA presidency
Getty Images Yaya Toure is backing former Ivory Coast team-mate Didier Drogba’s bid to become president of the Ivorian Football Association (FIF). The Chelsea legend announced he would be running for the post in September 2019, though his campaign took a major hit at the end of April. In a recent vote between former Ivory Coast players, 11 of the 14 votes went to current incumbent Sory Diabate. Drogba and current vice president Idriss Diallo won zero votes between them, with three former players withdrawing from the vote. “It’s time for change in our football. It needs modernity,” said Toure. “When I say I support Drogba, it’s also for the good of the country, to have a former player of his kind investing himself in Africa.” Drogba represented his country 105 times and announced his intent...
Activists press Morroco on fate of 39 political prisoners
Associated Press The fate of 39 Saharawi Political Prisoners in Moroccan jail have become the focus of a new regional campaign from African activists who are asking King Mohammed VI of Morocco to release the men for fear of their exposure to the coronavirus disease. The Movement for the Liberation of Western Sahara, (NMLWS) issued a statement on Wednesday in Abuja through its Nigerian coordinator, Oladipo Fasina, a philosophy professor and noted advocate for academic freedom. According to the statement, the Saharawi prisoners, held for seeking independence for Africa’s last colony, “are in grave danger of contracting the coronavirus as a result of their underlying health conditions resulting from extreme torture and hunger strike they have undergone as prisoners.” Mr Fasina said, “this arb...
Climbing the seven summits: a route to the top
Climbing the seven summits – the highest mountain on every continent – is an improbable dream of mine… but that’s the beauty of dreams I have always loved trekking and climbing. I usually spend several weeks of any given year on the grades of the Scottish Highlands or Welsh Snowdonia or ideally further afield such as the Arctic Circle Trail in Greenland or the K2 base camp trek in Pakistan. It was one of these trekking trips – to Tanzania in 2010 – that ignited something new inside me. It was while climbing Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, that an idea, an ambition, began to formulate. My hobby deepened into passion and I realised that I wanted to achieve something great: to climb the seven summits, the highest mountain on every continent. Mountain Continent Altitude Tech....
Happiest countries in the world 2020
The happiest countries in the world 2020 have been ranked in the latest World Happiness Report. For the third year running, Finland holds on to top spot Happiness is a nebulous thing; hard to grasp and harder to hold onto. Scientists, economists and philosophers have defined it through the ages as a combination of different things, among them health, wealth, companionship and security. Various indices attempt to rank the happiest countries in the world on an annual basis. The World Happiness Report from the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) is particularly interesting as it ranks 153 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be. The SDSN employs an international group of economists, neuroscientists and statisticians to survey citizens on their subject...
