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AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE In Nigeria, jollof rice isn’t just a tasty dish — it’s a national obsession. Dozens of top Nigerian chefs gathered for Lagos’ inaugural jollof festival in August 2017, showcasing their personal twists on the tangy, tomatoey rice to a crowd of hundreds of hungry foodies. Imoteda Aladekomo, a 31-year-old chef who has been making jollof for four years, has led the way in reinventing the national staple, creating several variants through her company, Eko Street Eats. “It’s so popular because it’s easy to customize,” she said while preparing take-away boxes at the jollof fair. “Rice is really easy…

SABC The African Union announced it has begun collecting funds from member states as part of a larger effort to pay for peacekeeping on the continent. Dr. Donald Kaberuka, AU high representative for the financing of the Peace Fund, delivered an update on the fund to the United Nations Security Council. The fund is projected to be responsible for 25 percent of AU peace operations and support costs by 2020. Predictable financing for peace efforts on the continent has long been an AU goal. Members of the Heads of State Summit of the organization first endorsed the AU Peace Fund…

VOICE OF AMERICA Cameroon and Nigeria are touting a naval partnership that lets them clamp down on piracy, trafficking and illegal fishing. The latest success story occurred in May 2017 when the Cameroonian naval vessel Le Ntem was traveling through Nigerian territorial waters and encountered a suspicious fishing vessel. Capt. Fabrice Ntieuche of the Cameroon Navy said the vessel disobeyed instructions to stop until authorities threatened to use force. He said all the occupants aboard the fishing boat were arrested. Ntieuche said ships on patrol don’t hesitate to threaten force, including firing warning shots, since the area around Calabar once…

SOUTH AFRICAN RESERVE FORCE COUNCIL South African Air Force (SAAF) helicopters performed emergency firefighting and rescue operations in Western Cape in June 2017. Over the course of a day, the helicopters dropped nearly 720,000 liters of water onto the raging fires. They also flew rescue missions, including to Buffels Bay, where fires forced residents onto the beach. The three Oryx medium transport helicopters were based at Port Elizabeth and dropped the contents of 359 buckets onto fires burning in the towns of Knysna, George and Plettenberg Bay. SAAF personnel reported 408 houses were burned down in Knysna with more than…

LUSAKA AGREEMENT TASK FORCE The Lusaka Agreement Task Force (LATF) has shut down an international syndicate that was smuggling ivory from Africa to Asia. The six-month operation led to the arrest of seven suspects believed to be responsible for trafficking 106 pieces of elephant tusk weighing 1.8 tons. The ivory originated in Uganda and was hidden in 15 wooden crates declared to contain coffee beans. The shipment left the seaport in Mombasa, Kenya, and was destined for Vietnam. Those arrested include a financier, a customs officer in Mombasa who allegedly cleared the container without scanning it, and a clearing agent…

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, WIRE REPORTS The World Health Organization (WHO) elected Dr. Tedros Adhanom of Ethiopia as its director general, the first person from Africa to lead the global health organization. The election came after a hotly contested campaign, which Tedros won over two other candidates. In taking charge of the organization with 7,000 employees in 150 countries, he pledged to reform the WHO bureaucracy, tap new sources of funding and focus on a mission of bringing universal health coverage to people around the world. “Health is a means to development. It’s not actually a waste — it’s the smartest thing…

NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has acquired new helicopters and is reactivating old aircraft to better combat security challenges in the country. Chief of Air Staff Sadiq Abubakar announced the acquisitions at the inauguration of the newly built Air Force Secondary School and Airmen Transit Accommodation in Lagos State. The Air Force has taken delivery of the first of 12 Mi-35 helicopters that will be crucial to defeating Boko Haram, he said. “This has contributed immensely toward equipping the service to conduct counterinsurgency operations and also contend with other emerging security challenges across the country,” Abubakar…

INTER PRESS SERVICE With a new international treaty, an increasing number of African countries are committing to phasing out mercury, a significant health and environmental hazard. Research has shown that maternal exposure to mercury from contaminated fish can cause learning disabilities in babies. When inhaled, mercury vapor can affect the central nervous system, impair mental capacity and, depending on levels of exposure, be fatal. “Despite the danger that mercury poses, it is still widely used, especially in Africa, and this is of great concern,” said Olubunmi Olusanya of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Environment. “While Africa does not manufacture mercury-added products,…

THE WORLD BANK Shirley Kamara, an expectant mother, smiled as she received medical care at C.H. Rennie Hospital in Kakata, 68 kilometers north of Monrovia, Liberia. “Our hospital is far better now since the Ebola outbreak,” she said. “We are encouraging our people to come here because everything is getting better.” C.H. Rennie Hospital in Liberia’s Margibi County was one of the facilities hardest hit during the Ebola outbreak that began in 2014; 14 of its health workers died. But, as a result of international attention, health-care services have since improved, said Dr. Asinya Magnus. “Ebola revolutionized health services in…

THE WORLD BANK In Tanzania, the 3,600 residents of the village of Gidewari once lived a life of striking irony, trekking more than 8 kilometers each day for water, despite living next to a lake. Lake Gidewari contains saltwater, and thus its water is unfit to drink. “My first chore very early each day was to go and fetch just one 20-liter jerrycan of water from Dareda Catholic Church, which is a 5-kilometer walk, and then walk back home,” said Rosalie Margwe, a wife and mother of three. “The water there was also not clean, but we had no option.” For…