(Reuters (Eng) 10/04/13)
Oct 4 (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics is betting on a top-end refrigerator designed not to lose its cool in Africa as a way into the continent's consumer markets, where there is growing demand for prestige products which meet local needs. The refrigerator comes with a sticker saying it is "Built for Africa", meaning that while it is basically the same flagship product on sale elsewhere in the world it has been tailored to suit local conditions. The South Korean firm's strategy is simple, and increasingly followed by a number of multinational firms looking to sell in an expanding African market - lay off the cut-rate goods, launch major products in Africa at the same time as the rest of the...
( FOROYAA Newspaper 10/03/13)
Recapping a week of debate by senior Government officials on crafting a new global development agenda integrating economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection, General Assembly President John Ashe said today it is now up to United Nations Member States to “find the common ground as a basis for moving forward with decisive action.” “In the real world in which we live, such healthy compromise is the best outcome of our joint effort. We are the ones responsible for finding such common ground,” Mr. Ashe said in his remarks at the close of the Assembly’s 2013 General Debate, for which he chose the theme, “The Post-2015 Development Agenda: Setting the Stage!” The General Debate, which opened on 24 September, provided...
(Reuters (Eng) 10/03/13)
BRUSSELS/MONTREAL | (Reuters) - European countries expressed support for an "imperfect" compromise to curb global aviation emissions on Wednesday but still face pressure to drop a key demand - to be able to apply the EU's carbon trading scheme to foreign air carriers. Delegates to the U.N.'s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are meeting in Montreal to try to hammer out a global agreement to set a path toward creating a global market-based mechanism by 2020 that would help limit growing carbon emissions in the sector. Debate at the U.N. body's triennial assembly on Wednesday focused on the most contentious aspect of a global deal - a framework to allow national or regional market-based schemes to apply to airlines before...
(Reuters (Eng) 10/03/13)
ROME | Thu Oct 3, 2013 (Reuters) - The Italian coast guard launched an operation to rescue scores African migrants on Thursday after at least three drowned when their boat sank off Sicily, officials said. A coast guard official said 60 people had been saved but more than a hundred remained in the water and the death toll was expected to rise. Those rescued came from sub-Saharan Africa, the mayor of the Sicilian island of Lampedusa said. Their boat sank off the island just four days after 13 migrants drowned when their boat foundered off eastern Sicily.
(Voice of America 10/02/13)
JOHANNESBURG — The African continent has some of the fastest growing economies in the world, but that growth is not translating into lower rates of poverty. A new survey by Afrobarometer, an independent research project that measures the social, political and economic atmosphere in Africa, shows that the majority of Africans are still deprived of the basics -- clean water, food, cooking fuel and medicine. Afrobarometer says poverty levels have barely improved in the past decade despite an average five percent growth in gross domestic product in the same period. This, according to its latest public opinion survey conducted in 34 African countries between October 2011 and June 2013. Some 76% of the more than 50,000 people surveyed reported that...
(AL Jazeera 10/02/13)
Survey says African countries have failed to reduce poverty despite economic growth experienced over the past decade. Improved economic growth over the past decade in Africa has failed to reduce poverty in a majority of countries on the continent, a new study has revealed. The Afrobarometer survey, released on Tuesday, said that despite playing host to some of the world's highest economic growth rates, many Africans still reported shortages of basic needs, including water, food, healthcare and cash. "Meeting their basic daily needs remains a major challenge for a majority of Africans, even at a time when their countries are reporting impressive economic gains," the survey found, citing data retrieved from the citizens of 16 African countries over the past...
(Voice of America 10/01/13)
LONDON — The past week's terrorist attacks in Kenya and Nigeria have renewed attention on militancy and terrorism in Africa. It's a rising trend, and a difficult one to reverse. The September 21 attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall by Somalia's al-Shabab militants was a shocking event in generally peaceful Nairobi. A week later across the continent, the midnight killing of dozens of students at a college in Nigeria was equally shocking, but less surprising. There, the government is at war with the radical Islamist sect Boko Haram. Rising militancy in Nigeria and Somalia, as well as Mali, Libya, and several other African countries, has killed thousands in terrorist attacks and civil wars. And for the most part, it is...
(Voice of America 10/01/13)
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Both the African Union and the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) have held countless meetings and conferences on increasing intra-Africa trade. Efforts so far, however, have not translated into results. How intra-Africa trade can be improved is one of the most discussed topics at the AU and UNECA. African countries do only 11 percent of their foreign trade with other countries on the continent. In comparison, Asian countries do 50 percent of their trade with each other, while European Union countries do 70 percent. UNECA Regional Integration and Trade Division Director Stephen Karingi said several conferences during the past decades were needed to find common positions. “They have had to come up with common positions...
(Voice of America 10/01/13)
WASHINGTON — The number of hungry people in the world is down slightly, but not enough to meet development goals, according to a new United Nations report. The report, written by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said one in eight people worldwide, or 842 million, suffers from chronic hunger. That figure is a decrease from last year’s estimate of 868 million, and down 17 percent from the early 1990s, but it is not low enough to reach the goal world leaders set of reducing the proportion of hungry people in developing nations by half by 2015. “This goal is close and has been reached in many countries,” said FAO statistician and study author Piero Conforti. The target for...
(UN.org 09/28/13)
As the United Nations General Assembly continues its annual high-level segment, a host of African leaders stressed today that while the continent’s progress is beyond doubt, consolidating social and economic gains requires international, regional and local approaches that better protect African livelihoods and ensure that agreed development targets can be achieved. In his address, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, President of Tanzania said that is vital to complete the “unfinished business” of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) so that Governments can make informed decisions about the shape of the post-2015 agenda. The theme of this year’s General Debate, “Setting the Stage” afforded an opportunity to closely examine the successes and gaps in MDG implementation. One crucial element going forward will be to...
(Voice of America 09/27/13)
UNITED NATIONS — World leaders meeting at the United Nations have been calling for a coordinated response to terrorist attacks in Africa following the deaths of at least 67 people in an attack by Somali militants in Kenya. The attack on Nairobi's Westgate Mall put African terrorism back into the world spotlight. U.S. President Barack Obama said he is working with African leaders to dismantle terror networks while Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan said the fight must be united. "We maintain that terror anywhere in the world is terror on all of us. And, we call on global leaders to come together and fight terror," said Jonathan. Nigeria is currently engaged in a fight with terrorists from a group called Boko...
(Ethiopian Radio and Television Agency 09/27/13)
Ethiopian Airlines plans more aggressive approach for their Seychelles route. The Top Resa tourism trade fair in Paris was the opportunity for Gashaw Mekonnen, the new GM of Ethiopian Airlines based in France to meet Minister Alain St. Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture, and Bernadette Willemin, the Seychelles Tourism Board's Director for Europe, and discuss a more aggressive approach for the airline when looking at the Seychelles. Mekonnen was accompanied for his meeting by Christophe Labiche, the Head of Product at Ethiopian Airlines France. The meeting in Paris reviewed the approach in place by the Seychelles Tourism Board Offices in making the Ethiopian Airlines route to Seychelles more known among tour operators and travel agents. The...
(Ghana Business News 09/27/13)
Mr. Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General and Chair of the Africa Progress Panel, has challenged governments in Africa to wisely manage revenues that come from the continent’s natural resources. In managing these resource rents, he urged African “leaders to invest more upfront to relieve the pressing human needs that constrain Africa’s development.” Mr. Annan was speaking at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) on September 26, 2013 to mark the opening of the 2013-2014 academic year in Geneva. The lecture was as well to celebrate the move of the Graduate Institute to its new campus, ‘Maison de la Paix’. Speaking on the theme “Is Africa’s mining boom helping or harming its people?” Kofi Annan bemoaned the...
(Times of Zambia 09/26/13)
President Michael Sata has said Africa needs a permanent seat on the United Nations (UN) Security Council. Delivering his keynote address to the 68th session of UN Heads of State annual general debate on Tuesday night, Mr Sata said it was Zambia’s and Africa’s desire for the continent to have a permanent seat on the Security Council. He said negotiations for Africa to have permanent representation on the UN Security Council organ were long overdue and reiterated the need to conclude them as defined by the Ezulwini Consesus. Mr Sata said the efficacy of the Security Council should be manifested in its adaptation to the prevailing global realities of international peace and security and the legitimacy realised through an all-inclusive...
(Voice of America 09/26/13)
ADDIS ABABA — Experts say Africa's economy is expected to grow by 4.8 percent in 2013, and exceed five percent growth in 2014. Statistics compiled by the African Development Bank, the U.N. Development Population and the OECD Development Center indicate Libya will be the fastest growing African country, followed by Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast. The African Economic Outlook report of the African Development Bank and its partners projects that Africa’s gross domestic product -- the measure of goods and services produced -- will grow by 5.3 percent in 2014. Central and West Africa are the fastest growing regions, mainly because of their commodities. GDP Growth in AfricaGDP Growth in Africa Anthony Simpasa of the African Development Bank said the...
(BBC News Africa 09/26/13)
Nelson Mandela is continuing to respond to treatment at his home in Houghton, according to South African President Jacob Zuma. The former South African president, 95, returned home at the start of September after almost three months in hospital. In his statement, President Zuma thanked the global community for their support but did not go into detail about Mr Mandela's condition. Previous statements have often said he is "critical but stable". Mr Mandela was admitted to hospital in Pretoria in June with a recurring lung condition. Family members have spoken of their happiness at having Mr Mandela home again. "Our revered former president continues to respond to treatment at his home," said President Zuma on Wednesday. "His family and our...
(Voice of America 09/25/13)
The U.S. military has moved its fleet of drones from a key Horn of Africa air base to a more remote location. A Pentagon official tells VOA that the unmanned aircraft have been moved from Camp Lemonnier, a U.S. base in Djibouti, to another location in the country. The official says the new location alleviates traffic issues that resulted from having drones share the same runway with regular base traffic and commercial air traffic. Camp Lemonnier is located at the Djibouti international airport. The Washington Post reported Wednesday that the relocation took place after a string of crashes raised fears in Djibouti about the risk of collisions between drones and passenger planes. The newspaper says local officials had expressed concern...
(CNN 09/23/13)
(CNN) -- Africa is in the middle of an amazing demographic shift. Our continent is the only one where the size of the younger generation is rising significantly. Our population is already 16 years younger than in China, and this is only the beginning. Within less than three generations, four out of ten of the world's youth will live on our continent. This demographic dividend -- and the energy and enthusiasm it brings -- offers us a unique advantage which other continents facing the prospect of a rapidly aging population and dwindling workforce can only envy. In a world changing with breakneck speed, it is young people who are best equipped to identify and deliver fresh solutions to our problems...
(Voice of America 09/21/13)
WASHINGTON, DC — Can the United States take a trade law that’s helping to increase African exports, and make it better? That’s what African and American politicians, economists and policy makers are discussing as they consider the future of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA. The legislation, which expires in two years, drops duties and tariffs on thousands of products from the continent. Supporters say it’s generated hundreds of billions of dollars in trade and investment opportunities. Most African development specialists and policy makers would like to see AGOA extended, at least for another ten years. Some would like to add other low income countries outside Africa or include a wider range of products. A new study by...
(BBC News Africa 09/20/13)
The African Union has called a special summit to discuss a mass withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in protest at the trial of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto. A letter sent to the ICC signed by African leaders says Mr Ruto's presence in The Hague will disadvantage Kenya. The AU has previously accused the ICC of "hunting" African leaders and ignoring atrocities elsewhere. The ICC says it is standing up for victims of crimes wherever they are. The extraordinary summit will be held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on 13 October. Days before the start of Mr Ruto's trial this month, Kenya's parliament voted to leave the ICC. This decision will not affect the trial of Mr...