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REUTERS A radio campaign in Burkina Faso led to a significant rise in sick children getting medical attention and could prove to be one of the most cost-effective ways to save young lives in poor countries. Scientists say that a radio campaign in rural areas that promoted seeking treatment for three of the biggest killers of children under 5 — malaria, pneumonia and diarrhea — saved about 3,000 lives. The campaign, which the researchers said used a “saturation” method of intensive radio transmissions over an extended period to promote behavior change in a population, ran in Burkina Faso between 2012 and…

VOICE OF AMERICA Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS An entire generation has been born since Nelson Mandela’s 1990 release from a South African prison, where he spent almost three decades for his anti-apartheid activism. Ndaba Mandela wants to make sure those young people understand his grandfather’s role — and his values — in fighting for racial equality and trying to heal divisions in post-apartheid South Africa.  “That is the very reason why I wrote this book,” Ndaba Mandela says of Going to the Mountain. His goal with the memoir is to show the elder Mandela “not as this huge, great icon”…

REUTERS Photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES Côte d’Ivoire, the world’s top cocoa producer, plans to build a 60- to 70-megawatt biomass power generation plant running on waste from cocoa pods, part of its aim of developing 424 megawatts of biomass power generation capacity by 2030. The plant, which will enable Côte d’Ivoire to diversify its electricity generation sources, was among five projects to receive grants from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency. Others included a hydropower project in Kokumbo, in the central part of the country. The biomass power station, the first in Côte d’Ivoire, would be based in the southern cocoa…

THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION Photo by THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION Halima Sheikh Ali is the proud owner of one of the few ATMs in Wajir town in northeast Kenya. But rather than doling out shilling notes, it dispenses something tastier: fresh camel milk. “For 100 Kenyan shillings [$1], you get a liter of the freshest milk in Wajir County,” she said, opening a vending machine advertising “fresh, hygienic and affordable camel milk” to check the liquid’s temperature. East Africa, one of the world’s biggest camel producers, also produces much of the world’s camel milk, almost all of it consumed domestically. “Camel milk…

BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS Photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES Rwanda has begun producing locally built cars at Volkswagen’s new factory in the capital, Kigali. The Polo is the first model being made at the site, and the German automaker plans to reach annual production of 5,000 cars in the first phase by also building its Passat, Tiguan, Amarok and Teramont models. Volkswagen, Europe’s biggest carmaker, has invested $20 million in Rwanda and is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs. The company plans to sell vehicles and use them in an Uber-like car-sharing system that will let people book rides using smartphones.…

VOICE OF AMERICA Photo by REUTERS East African leaders have agreed to build a railroad and highway network to improve regional travel, trade and security. In their 14th meeting on the plan in mid-2018, representatives of eight countries gave Kenya the go-ahead to continue building its standard-gauge railways to the Uganda border. Kenya is finishing the second phase of the rail line between Nairobi and Naivasha. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told his counterparts that plans are underway to extend the line. Uganda and Rwanda also are planning to extend railway connections to the countries after Kenya completes its part. The meeting…

REUTERS Photo by REUTERS Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, has arranged more than $4.5 billion in financing for his Nigerian oil refinery project and aims to start production in early 2020. Dangote, who built his fortune in cement, is constructing the world’s largest single oil refinery with a capacity of 650,000 barrels per day to help reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum. Despite being a crude oil exporter, Nigeria imports the bulk of its petroleum because of a lack of domestic refining capacity. Lenders will commit $3.15 billion, with the World Bank’s private sector arm providing $150 million, Dangote said. He…

WORLD BANK Photo by AFP/GETTY IMAGES Fourteen West African countries with 27 national electricity utilities are working to build an integrated regional power market. The West Africa Power Pool is completing the physical interconnections to send power across borders. About 7 percent of the region’s electricity is traded among the 10 already-connected countries. It is anticipated that by the early 2020s the most critical cross-border links will be in place, making it possible for electricity to flow throughout West Africa from countries with cheaper, cleaner and more abundant energy resources to those lacking them. Access to electricity in West Africa is…

The Rules of the Manden Charter Echo Today ADF STAFF Photo by REUTERS When the warrior Keita Sundiata learned that his home tribe had been conquered by a neighboring king, he went to war, using a borrowed army and forming a coalition of neighboring kingdoms in what is now Mali. He crushed his enemy’s forces, consolidating what came to be known as the Mali Empire. He was just getting started. About 1235, he gathered a group of wise men, including the king he had defeated. With them, he composed the Kurukan Fuga Charter, or Manden Charter, one of mankind’s first constitutions.…

CLUES This 19.5 hectare reserve is a palm forest that is mostly unchanged since prehistoric times. The area has the world’s largest number of coco de mer palm trees, which bear the largest seed in the plant kingdom. The area shows how the tropics looked before the evolution of more advanced plants. British Maj.-Gen. Charles George Gordon believed the area was the original Garden of Eden. ANSWER  Vallée de Mai Nature Reserve, Seychelles