DRC
Gorilla trekking tips: what to know before you go
These essential gorilla trekking tips will help you get the most out of this extraordinary wildlife experience Found nowhere else in the wild on Earth and once on the verge of extinction, the mountain gorilla – a subspecies of the eastern gorilla – has seen a spectacular revival. A series of conservation measures involving local communities has led to one of Africa’s greatest conservation success stories. Though still classified as endangered, today there are more than 1,000 mountain gorillas roaming the jungles of Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo, up from around 480 in 2010. Just over half reside in the Virunga Mountains, the range of eight extinct volcanoes spanning the borders of southern Uganda, Rwanda and DR Congo. The rest can be found in Uganda’s epically named Bwindi...
Paratus Expands to DRC, Connects 620KM Fibre Optic Line
Laying fibre. Image sourced from IFC.org. Telecommunications firm Paratus Group has announced its expansion into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This coincides with the news that Paratus has won, together with DRC based Global Broadband Solution (GBS), a government tender to activate a 620-kilometre fibre-optic network link between Muanda, on the West Coast, to DRC capital city, Kinshasa. Paratus and GBS have established FAST Congo to deliver, operate and maintain the network link in an exclusive 15-year license contract. Paratus Seeks to Connect Africa By adding DRC to its terrestrial network, Paratus Group claims it can now boast a unique and contiguous footprint in Africa, which includes offices in seven SADC countries, four Data Centers, five satellite teleports with 6,000 cust...
Investigations set to begin in DR Congo following the death of Italian envoy
Congolese investigators arrived in Goma on Thursday to try to clarify the circumstances in which the Italian ambassador, his guard – a carabinieri – and a driver working for the World Food Program were killed earlier this week. The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo also sent a delegation to the region to meet with members of the United Nations and other NGOs acting in the east of the country where the attack against the UN convoy took place. “The purpose of today’s meeting with the humanitarian workers based in Goma was to plan what to do next,” Christian Bushiri, Senior Advisor of the DRC presidency, told journalists. “It’s necessary to have a close collaboration between humanitarians and officials, between the State and NGOs,” he said, According to Bushiri, the government h...
DR Congo’s president becomes African Union chairman
The DRC’s President Félix Tshisekedi has now taken over the helm of the African Union to serve as the chairman for one-year. He replaces his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, following the AU’s 34th summit on Saturday. But Tshisekedi faces big challenges this year with the coronavirus pandemic hitting health service and economies hard. The continent has so far been hit less hard than other regions, recording 3.5 percent of global virus cases and 4 percent of global deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). But many African countries are battling damaging second waves while straining to procure sufficient vaccine doses. African leaders are speaking out against hoarding by rich countries at the expense of poorer ones. “There is a vaccin...
DR Congo parliament ousts pro-Joseph Kabila premier
Lawmakers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have dismissed the Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba on Wednesday evening during a parliament plenary session held in Kinshasa. The dismissal came after the majority of the lawmakers passed a vote of no-confidence to the Premier alleging his inability in the management of the country. The National Assembly approved a motion of censure against Ilunga Ilunkamba and his government by 367 votes to seven. Under the Democratic Republic of Congo’s constitution, parliamentary censure requires the prime minister to step down within 24 hours. The Prime Minister boycotted the session terming it illegitimate under the constitution and internal regulations of parliament. The session was also boycotted by pro-Kabila party Mps who also stressed ...
WHO: World records 207,500 measles deaths in 2019, amid increases in cases to 869,770
Global measles deaths increased by 50 per cent from 2016 to 2019, claiming over 207,500 lives in 2019, WHO said in a statement issued from its headquarters on Thursday in Geneva citing figures from a joint report it published with the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC). The post WHO: World records 207,500 measles deaths in 2019, amid increases in cases to 869,770 appeared first on TODAY. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair share of Internet revenue.
FAO: Nigeria, Burkina Faso, others risk famine
A new report by two United Nations agencies warned Friday of a heightened risk of famine in three conflict-torn African states and Yemen, and a high hunger risk in 16 more. The Food and Agriculture Organisation and World Food Programme warned that a “toxic combination of conflict, economic decline, climate extremes and the Covid-19 pandemic … is driving people further into the emergency phase of food insecurity”. The agencies swung the spotlight on Burkina Faso, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, all facing rising levels of acute hunger with potential risk of famine. Issuing “a stark warning” in their Early Warning Analysis of Acute Food Insecurity Hotspots, the agencies said the four countries have areas that could soon slip into famine. Some parts of the population “are already experiencing...
44,000 people missing in Nigeria, Ethiopia, other parts of Africa
Getty Images The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has revealed that about 44,000 people are registered as missing across the African continent, with nearly half of them being children. Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, Libya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Cameroon make up 82 percent of ICRC’s missing caseload in Africa, the ICRC disclosed in a statement issued on Wednesday. “As August 30 marks the International Day of the Disappeared, nearly 44,000 people across Africa are registered as missing with the ICRC at a time when restrictions put in place to curb Covid-19 create new challenges in searching for missing people,” the statement read. According to the ICRC, about 45 percent of the cases were children. “This caseload is a drop in the ocean to the...
Airtel Africa Expands Network with WorldRemit
Airtel Africa and WorldRemit have partnered to expand operations to Rwanda – which means Airtel Money is now available in DRC, Uganda, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi and Niger. Airtel Money enables mobile money users to send local and international money transfers, make utility payments, pay merchants, save money in their mobile wallets, purchase airtime and access a range of mobile financial products. WorldRemit will enable customers from across the globe to receive money into Airtel Money wallets. Users can use the free mobile app; choose Mobile Money and Airtel as the operator, then follow the prompts. /* custom css */ .tdi_3_195.td-a-rec-img{ text-align: left; }.tdi_3_195.td-a-rec-img img{ margin: 0 auto 0 0; } “The connection to more Mobile Money accounts through Airtel Africa allows us to ...
Unique Health Platform Could Benefit 800 Million Mobile Subscribers in Africa
Sourced from Redbubble and iStock. “With this platform, we have the possibility of reaching between 600 million and 800 million mobile subscribers in Africa,” says Vera Songwe, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), during the virtual launch of the Africa Communication and Information Platform for Health and Economic Action (ACIP) on 23 June 2020. ACIP is a mobile-based tool for two-way information and communication between citizens and governments. It furnishes national and regional COVID task forces with user-generated survey data and actionable health and economic insights that will enable authorities to better analyze pandemic-related problems and implement appropriate responses. Dr John Nkengasong, Director of Africa CDC says the platform offers a “unique opp...
Uganda grapples with refugee crisis amid coronavirus pandemic
As the world marks World Refugee Day on Saturday, thousands of Congolese are stranded at the Ugandan border seeking to enter the East African country after deadly tribal clashes back home. Uganda, according to government officials, has agreed to open its border entry point in the north western part of the country for three days starting from Monday to allow in an estimated 5,000 Congolese from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Uganda had closed all its border entry points to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. “We have received a letter from the Minister for Disaster Preparedness and Refugees under the Office of the Prime Minister to host the refugees in our district,” Andrew Kajoingi, resident district commissioner for Zombo, told Xinhua by telephone on Friday. “We ...
17 megadiverse countries of the world
We profile the world’s megadiverse countries, from obvious contenders like Ecuador and Brazil to one or two surprise entries It should be comforting to know that a mere 17 countries hold more than 70% of the world’s species. It should be easy to rally this small group of ‘megadiverse countries’ to protect the planet’s extraordinary biodiversity. Alas, some of these countries are also the world’s biggest consumers and polluters. In July 2000, the UN’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre recognised 17 megadiverse countries which hold the majority of Earth’s species and high numbers of endemic species (i.e. those unique to an area or country). To be termed megadiverse, a country must have at least 5,000 of the world’s plants as endemics and have marine ecosystems within its borde...
