• African securityAfrican parliaments lead the continent's fight against weapons of mass destruction

    By Nicolas Kasprzyk

    Jihadist literature has, for a while, called for the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction — encouraging the production of ricin, botulinum, and sarin. The surge in terrorist acts and violent extremism on the continent should underscore, for all African states, the urgent need to actively prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction to non-state actors. It also confirms the relevance of UN Security Council resolution 1540

  • TerrorismAl-Shabaab leader in Somalia killed in U.S. strike

    Hassan Ali Dhoore, a senior leader of the Somali al-Shabaab Islamist group, was killed by a U.S. drone strike on Thursday. On 5 March a U.S. air strike killed more than a 100 al-Shabaab fighters in one of the group’s training facilities.

  • Renewable energyTransforming Sierra Leone renewable energy sector

    Sierra Leone has received a $300,000 grant from the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) to prepare a far-reaching national Investment Plan (IP) to transform its renewable energy sector. The IP will be developed under the CIF’s Program for Scaling Up Renewable Energy in Low Income Countries (SREP) in a collaborative approach that includes multiple ministries and stakeholders throughout the country, including private sector, commercial and development banks, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

  • Short takes -- 2Africa’s debt specter, electrifying Africa, child labor in sub-Saharan Africa, collapse of mineral prices

    The specter of high debt is raising its head again in Africa, analysts say, as sub-Saharan nations that borrowed cheaply on global markets are now squeezed by a commodities crash. On 9 February 2016, President Barack Obama signed the Electrify Africa Act after nearly two years of failed attempts to get the bill through both chambers of Congress. As Sub-Saharan Africa strives to break the shackles of poverty, its population of nearly one billion people is hard at work. The ongoing collapse of mineral prices on the international market, growing debt crisis, and dwindling revenue to finance socio-economic development in African countries has refocused attention on how to optimally use the continent’s vast mineral sector

  • Short takes -- 1Post-Ebola Sierra Leone, Nigerian devaluation, Africa’s economic growth, the African Peer Review Mechanism

    Sierra Leone’s economy growing at 4.3 percent this year because of a pick-up in mining and other sectors following the end of the Ebola epidemic. Nigeria is under pressure to devalue its currency in order to aid growth and investment in Africa’s largest economy. After decades of underperformance, Africa had economic growth rates of 5.8 percent from 2004 to 2014, democracy is now the norm rather than the exception, and corruption is being tackled. Moves are afoot to inject new life into the African Peer Review Mechanism, founded in 2003, under which African states agreed to monitor good governance among themselves.

  • Private sectorAfrica is open for business: The AfDB calls on African private sector

    Africa’s private sector will continue to lead the continent towards economic transformation, African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina said at the launch of the fourth Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan. “The ‘Africa rising’ story remains strong,” he told 500 CEOs from 43 African countries.

  • EbolaEbola no longer a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern”: WHO

    On Tuesday the WHO officials met to consider the Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa, and to decide whether the event continues to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and whether the current Temporary Recommendations should be extended, rescinded, or revised. WHOconcluded that Ebola transmission in West Africa no longer constitutes an extraordinary event, that the risk of international spread is now low, and that countries currently have the capacity to respond rapidly to new virus emergences. Accordingly, the Ebola situation in West Africa no longer constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, and the temporary recommendations adopted in response should now be terminated.

  • Also noted

    Four dangers the nuclear talks will overlook | After Brussels attacks, leaders tackle threat of nuclear terrorism | The right approach to terrorism | Is the international community out of ideas to combat terrorism? | America needs more skilled immigrant workers, study says | DHS wants input on sharing data for cyber insurance | Why airline hijackings became relatively rare | The little we know about the jihadists in our midst | What is “Google dorking,” and how did it help an Iranian hacker compromise a U.S. dam? | Infamous neo-Nazi hacker-troll claims responsibility for racist, anti-Semitic fliers at UC Berkeley; FBI investigating | US company invents gun that looks just like a cellphone; sparks criticism | Homeland chairman: ‘Active plot underway in Turkey’ | US lags behind goal to accept 10000 Syrian refugees by Oct. | Government must invest now to protect against biological threats | Google also has been ordered to help unlock phones, records show

  • CrimeFlexible security solution makes life difficult for burglars

    Ideally, homeowners want to be warned if a burglar sneaks onto their property, and farmers want to know if horses or sheep are no longer in the paddock or field they were left grazing in. Experimental physicists at Saarland University have developed a flexible security solution that can be used in gardens, driveways, business premises, or on grazing land and in woodland.

  • Liberia’s economySupporting Liberia’s effort to diversify its economy

    Liberia has huge agricultural potentials, including rubber, cocoa, cassava, and rice. About 50 percent of the country’s population lives in extreme poverty, while only two percent of the population has access to electricity. The African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has pledged to support Liberia’s effort to diversify its economy, with a particular emphasis on the agriculture and power sectors.