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THE STAR, Kenya Kenya is working with France on a project to give communities around Lake Victoria access to clean water and improve security in some of the nation’s slums. France has given Kenya a $43 million grant that will cover 27.5 percent of the project. In the deal, signed in 2015, the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation project was allocated $5.4 million and the slums upgrade project received $38 million. French Ambassador Remi Marachaux said 21 floodlights will be erected in slums in Nakuru, Eldoret and Mombasa. Another 27 floodlights are under construction in Machakos, Nairobi and Naivasha, he…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Zimasa Mabela grew up under apartheid in a South African village just two hours’ drive from the ocean, but it wasn’t until age 18 that she first saw the sea. Now 38, she is the first black woman to command a South African naval vessel. Lt. Cmdr. Mabela recalled that her first visit to the beach coincided with the end of white rule in 1994 — and she caught the historic wave of change that followed. “I wasn’t terrified of the water,” she said, gazing out from the bridge of her sleek minehunter, the SAS Umhloti. “In my…

DEFENCEWEB Sierra Leone commissioned a new patrol boat to monitor fishing vessels and poachers in its territorial waters. President Ernest Bai Koroma presided over the ceremony on November 11, 2015, in Freetown. The boat, Fisheries Patrol Vessel Sorie Ibrahim Koroma, is named after a former vice president. In his address, Koroma said poachers pose serious challenges to the fishing industry, which contributes to the nation’s healthy living, employment and economic activity. He said the government has increased revenue generation in the fishing industry from $1.5 million in 2007 to $6.5 million in 2014, adding that managing it well will further…

VOICE OF AMERICA A senior official at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said the group’s policies to combat violent extremism in the region are worth replicating elsewhere. Remi Ajibewa, ECOWAS director for political affairs, said member nations have been sharing intelligence and information to combat numerous terror organizations, including the Nigeria-based extremist group Boko Haram, whose attacks in Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria have killed thousands. Speaking during a panel on violent extremism at United Nations headquarters in New York, Ajibewa said the ECOWAS bloc’s rich body of counterterrorism experience includes national and regional counterterrorism strategic training,…

THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE The Nigerian Navy is using an Israeli-designed, United Arab Emirates-built Falcon Eye mass surveillance system to track activity in the Gulf of Guinea. The waters off the coast of Nigeria are notorious for piracy, especially kidnappings and oil theft, and the technology is intended to help the country’s Armed Forces combat maritime crimes. Rear Adm. Raphael Osondu said piracy is a persistent threat to Nigeria’s economy and that countering it is a military priority. Falcon Eye’s six electro-optical stations allow for the monitoring of aircraft, vessels and offshore oil infrastructure. The system has a range of up…

VOICE OF AMERICA Scientists may have hit on a way to prevent the transmission of malaria with a drug originally developed to treat parasitic illnesses. The drug, whose creators were honored with a Nobel Prize, is called ivermectin, and it’s being tested in parts of Africa. Ivermectin has completely revolutionized the treatment of worm diseases such as river blindness and elephantiasis and could lead to their eradication if it’s used effectively. Now it appears ivermectin may be effective against the spread of malaria. Vector biologist Brian Foy of Colorado State University in the United States led a study in Burkina…

VOICE OF AMERICA Confidence was just 14 when her aunt married her off to a 42-year-old man. The now-22-year-old Zimbabwean says the experience shattered her. Her husband was abusive, as were his other wives. “After two years of marriage, life was so difficult for me that I tried to kill myself by drinking rat poison,” she told Human Rights Watch researchers. The group, in highlighting the issue, released several girls’ accounts but omitted their last names. “Child marriage ruined my life,” Confidence said. “Now I do not work and cannot find a job because I stopped going to school.” It’s…

VOICE OF AMERICA Tanzanian President John Magufuli is going full throttle in the fight against waste and corruption. Tanzanians say they like his take-charge approach, though it is not new for him. Magufuli was nicknamed “The Bulldozer” for similar efforts during his 15 years as minister of works. On his first day in office in November 2015, Magufuli made a surprise visit to the Finance Ministry, where he castigated civil servants who were not at their desks. Magufuli has banned foreign travel for most government officials. He cut a bloated delegation for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malta…

UNITED NATIONS NEWS SERVICE Noting the significant impact climatic activities have on Africa, the World Bank Group announced a plan to increase climate resilience and low-carbon development. “The consequences of climate change for Africa are devastating and threaten to push millions of people into extreme poverty by 2030, largely due to lower crop yields and higher food prices, and negative health impacts,” said Benoit Bosquet of the World Bank in late November 2015. The new blueprint, “Accelerating Climate-Resilient and Low-Carbon Development: The Africa Climate Business Plan,” aims to bring attention to and help fund climate-resilience programs and low-carbon plans in…

Story and photo by AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE A Ghanaian inventor and church leader who started out trying to make voice-controlled television sets is telling the world’s auto giants to move over. Kwadwo Safo Kantanka — nicknamed “Apostle” because he also runs a network of churches — has realized his dream of developing and marketing cars “Made in Ghana.” “It’s been in the pipeline since 1971,” said Kwado Safo Jr., one of the inventor’s sons. “It started with the old man, so it’s been a long time coming.” Kantanka’s electric sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks have got Ghanaians talking on social media,…