ADF

DEFENCEWEB The Kenyan government has asked Parliament to pass a bill to establish the Kenya Coast Guard Service, a maritime security force that would operate on the high seas to prevent maritime crimes such as robbery, piracy and trafficking. The bill would allow the service to be partially staffed by civilian professionals from the Public Service Commission. Trained security service personnel drawn from the police, Army and intelligence services would form its rank and file. The service, which will be commanded by a director general, primarily will be deployed to fight crime in Kenyan territorial waters but could help the…

ADF STAFF A group of Chadians has founded a center dedicated to the study and prevention of violent extremism and the deradicalization of jihadists. This founders of the center in N’Djamena, Chad, hope it will become a research and study laboratory, with communication organs, including a journal, and programs to rehabilitate and deradicalize former extremists. Ahmat Yacoub Dabio, an advisor working in the Chadian government who specializes in human rights advocacy and mediation, is one of the driving forces behind the project. He said it is a deeply personal cause born out of Chad’s turbulent period that lasted from 1965…

DEFENCEWEB The South African National Defence Force is ready to assist in preparations for “Day Zero,” when the metropolitan water supply in Cape Town is projected to run dry. If this day does come, Soldiers could be deployed as sentries or guards at water distribution points. There is also discussion of military escorts for water tankers. At a briefing in Cape Town, a senior provincial police officer said up to 80 Soldiers could be deployed. In addition to national police, it appears Cape Town metropolitan police and other municipal security services are handling what is reported to be the first…

WORLD BANK A social safety net program in South Sudan that temporarily provides income to poor and vulnerable households in Juba is being expanded to six other areas of the country. The public works component of the World Bank’s Safety Net and Skills Development Project is operating in Juba and includes road repairs. It is benefiting 6,000 households, of which an estimated 70 percent are headed by women. The public works program has transferred close to $1.6 million as income for 652,049 total person-days worked, to about 85,000 people from 10,865 households. Cash transfers provide increased purchasing power for basic…

VOICE OF AMERICA Political parties in Cameroon have set an ambitious goal in 2018 — to put women in at least 30 percent of elected offices. Three hundred women selected from associations around Cameroon have been campaigning in markets, universities and popular spots in the capital, asking women to register to vote. Cameroon will have a series of important elections in 2018 — local, parliamentary and presidential. Political parties have made public commitments to achieve a United Nations-established benchmark of at least 30 percent female representation. The government has echoed that commitment, calling on parties to put forth a higher…

VOICE OF AMERICA Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf has become the first Somali to lead the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. “I am humbled by this election,” he said. “And I feel that it actually shows the trust placed in me by my colleagues. That’s why I’m extremely grateful to them. I hope that I will be able to meet their expectations and to perform the responsibilities entrusted to me in the best way possible — to show them that they have actually made the right choice in electing me as their president.” The 15-member court is the…

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS As a student, Leah Wangari imagined a glamorous life as a globe-trotting flight attendant, not toiling in dirt and manure. Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya’s skyscraper-filled capital, the 28-year-old said farming was the last thing on her mind. The decision to drop agriculture classes haunted her later, when her efforts in agribusiness investing while running a fashion venture failed. She made her way to an unusual new reality TV show, the first of its kind in Africa. Don’t Lose the Plot trains contestants from Kenya and neighboring Tanzania and gives them plots to cultivate, with a…

REUTERS Standing by a towering equatorial forest, Jean-Noel Kouame’s new breeze-block house may be beyond the reach of Côte d’Ivoire’s power grid, but it’s perfectly located for solar power. Buoyed by success in East Africa, off-grid solar power startups are pouring into West Africa, offering pay-as-you-go kits in a race to claim tens of millions of customers who lack reliable access to electricity. The main challenge facing smaller companies now is how to raise enough money to supply the expensive solar kits in return for small upfront payments from customers. In Abidjan, Kouame doesn’t know when, or if, the national…

SEYCHELLES NEWS AGENCY An environmental performance index has ranked the Seychelles first out of 180 countries in the climate and energy category, lauding its use of renewable energy. The Environmental Performance Index 2018 ranks countries in 24 categories, including air pollution, sanitation, climate and energy, fisheries, and agriculture. In the climate and energy category, the island nation has made an “impressive leap in the global rankings from its 179th baseline position to first place,” said the report. Principal Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Wills Agricole said the ranking is due to the efforts the Seychelles is making in the…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Angola is working to diversify its oil-dependent economy. One natural and readily available resource is fish, but a lack of equipment and know-how has meant the industry has struggled. President Joao Lourenco took office in September 2017 promising to deliver an “economic miracle” that would transform the Southern African nation, where the United Nations says more than half of the population lives on less than $2 a day. The collapse in 2014 of the price of crude oil, which provides 70 percent of all revenues and nearly all hard currency, put immense pressure on the country to diversify.…