ADF

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Gabon banned the sale and consumption of pangolins and bats, which are suspected sources of the COVID-19 outbreak in China. Pangolins are critically endangered and have long been protected, but they are sold in the markets of the capital, Libreville, where their meat is popular. They have long been illegally trafficked to China, where they are highly prized in traditional medicine. The Central African nation is 88% covered in forest, and hunting and bush meat have long been a way of life. The Water and Forest Ministry said early studies indicate COVID-19 was a “combination of two different…

ADF STAFF The Ugandan government has launched a digital land registry system to reduce fraud and land rights disputes.  The system has been in the works since 2010 and is operational in all 22 ministry zonal offices of the country. The program is a partnership between Uganda’s Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and the French company IGN FI. A World Bank loan financed the program. “We’ve seen a tenfold reduction in the time it takes to carry out transactions,” Christophe Dekeyne, CEO of IGN FI, told Radio France Internationale. “All of the data entered into the NLIS [National…

ADF STAFF As desert locusts spread across East Africa in February 2020, Uganda deployed 2,000 Soldiers to battle the pests. Ugandan troops used pesticide on the ground as authorities tried to secure helicopters for aerial spraying. However, Maj. Gen. Sam Kavuma, deputy commander of land forces for the Uganda People’s Defence Force, said locusts can evade such efforts.   “One challenge, which is being solved, that is aerial support to spray them,” Kavuma told Voice of America. “We deal much with those which are on the ground. And when we kill them, or during the spray then they jump and…

ADF STAFF France and several of its allies have announced the formation of a new task force to fight terrorist groups in West Africa’s Sahel region. Thirteen countries are task force members: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Mali, the Netherlands, Niger, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom. A statement said the task force would be operational by early 2021. It is called “Takuba,” which means “saber” in the Tuareg language. The Sahel region, extending from Senegal east to Eritrea, has been home to a steady rise in violence. In January 2020, the United Nations envoy for…

ADF STAFF The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) killed several top Boko Haram commanders during airstrikes on settlements near Lake Chad. “The airstrike was executed on the heels of impeccable intelligence reports,” said Brig. Gen. Bernard Onyeuko, acting director of Defence Media Operations, of the March 18, 2020, operation. Onyeuko added that the reports showed that top Boko Haram “commanders as well as some of their fighters and designated suicide bombers had assembled at the location for meetings, aimed at orchestrating coordinated attacks.” The strikes were part of Operation Decisive Edge, a mission to decimate strongholds used by the extremist group.…

VOICE OF AMERICA Officials at South African National Parks say cooperation with neighboring Mozambique has been key to reducing rhinoceros poaching in the famous Kruger National Park. Kruger is home to the world’s largest wild rhino population and has proven a tempting target for poachers who for years jumped the park’s borders. South African rangers, their Mozambican counterparts and private business people leasing land from Mozambique’s government met with journalists along the border fence between the two countries during a park-organized media trip to the Marula North region of the Kruger. This area used to see heavy rhino poaching originating…

VOICE OF AMERICA Debate on the future of the CFA franc in the six-member Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) has intensified after the announcement that eight African countries agreed to change the name of their common currency to “eco.” They also severed the CFA franc’s links to France. The CFA franc used by West and Central African states is considered by many as a sign of French interference in its former African colonies. Louis Nsonkeng, a researcher and economic lecturer at the University of Bamenda-Cameroon, said when the eco becomes legal tender, the eight West African states will…

VOICE OF AMERICA The World Health Organization says East Africa has the highest rate of cervical cancer in the world. Kenya has begun a mass vaccination of girls against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can lead to cervical cancer. The vaccine is being welcomed by HPV patients, who hope their children will be protected better than they were. Jacinta Agunja, 30, tested positive in 2016 for one of the HPVs that leads to cervical cancer. After two years of intensive and expensive treatment, she was free of HPV and did not get cancer. Agunja hopes Kenya’s mass vaccination of girls,…

VOICE OF AMERICA Meat may be meeting its match, as more and more South Africans are experimenting with vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. Veganism, which entails cutting out all meat and animal-derived products, such as dairy, eggs and honey, is slowly growing globally. A Google Trends report puts South Africa at 14th globally in searches for “vegan,” the only African nation to rank so high. Other African countries, including Nigeria and Kenya, are also reporting an increased interest in veganism. One 200-member community in Nairobi is entirely vegan, reports Deutsche Welle. Yvonne Iyoha of Nigeria founded the blog Eat Right Naija…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE In a humming factory in Kenya’s highlands, tea is hand-plucked from the fields, cured and shredded into the fine leaves that have sated drinkers from London to Lahore for generations. But Kenya’s prized black tea isn’t fetching the prices it once did, forcing the top supplier of the world’s most popular drink to try something new. In the bucolic hills around Nyeri, factory workers are experimenting with a range of boutique teas, deviating from decades of tradition in the quest for new customers and a buffer against unstable prices. Like the bulk of Kenya’s producers, they’ve been manufacturing…