ADF

VOICE OF AMERICA The border between Nigeria and Cameroon has been fully reopened for the first time in three years. Officials from the two countries met in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde, in December 2016 to review security issues and said the reopening was a clear sign of progress in the fight against Boko Haram. “Only a secured environment can provide [an] avenue for meaningful trade and commercial activities as well as unimpeded exchange of goods and services,” said Gen. Abba Mohammad Dikko, head of the Nigerian delegation. “The unflinching cooperation and support of Cameroon has indeed curtailed the menace of…

REUTERS Kenya set fire to 5,250 illegal firearms as part of a national effort to fight crimes such as cattle rustling, carjacking and terrorism. The fire destroyed weapons that had been confiscated by law enforcement officials or voluntarily surrendered to agents who were collecting illegal small arms and light weapons. “Here in Kenya, small arms are implicated in many deaths, in acts of armed violence, among them intercommunity conflicts, cattle rustling, violent crimes and poaching,” Deputy President William Ruto said in a speech before the weapons were set ablaze in November 2016. “Their presence has also intensified the threats posed…

REUTERS Tunisian security forces dismantled 160 terror cells in the first 10 months of 2016, about 45 percent more than during all of 2015, the Interior Ministry announced. A ministry statement said the country arrested 850 terrorism suspects between January and October 2016, compared with 547 for all of 2015. Security forces stepped up efforts to track down militants after Tunisia suffered three deadly attacks, including two targeting foreign tourists. In March 2016, security forces repelled the Islamic State’s attempt to take over the town of Ben Guerdan near the border with Libya. Tunisia has been the only country to…

ADF STAFF A long-serving officer of the Uganda People’s Defence Force has been named the country’s first female major general. President Yoweri Museveni announced in mid-January 2017 that Proscovia Nalweyiso, 62, was promoted to the new rank as part of sweeping changes in the military. She is also the first woman to hold such a rank in all of East Africa. Maj. Gen. Nalweyiso came to national prominence in the 1986 Bush War, also known as the Ugandan Civil War, which led to Museveni becoming president. The general, one of 20 children, became active in politics about 1979 while working…

VOICE OF AMERCA In western Kenya, children often travel great distances to attend school. Now, a program offering bikes to girls is helping them stay in school longer and avoid other issues such as early pregnancies. Loise Luseno, a 16-year-old girl from Kakamega, Kenya, used to walk about 10 kilometers to reach school. In 2015, she dropped out temporarily because of the distance. Members of her family work as subsistence farmers and earn about $30 a month — not nearly enough for food, school costs and transportation. In mid-2016, Luseno went back to school — this time on a bicycle.…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has inaugurated the first turbine of a hydroelectric plant destroyed during the nation’s civil war. “Thank all of you for being a part of this historic day — the day when big lights in a small way replaced small lights of yesterday,” Sirleaf said during a ceremony at the Mount Coffee hydroplant in mid-December 2016. The plant, built in 1967, served the Liberian capital, Monrovia, and other areas until it was destroyed in 1990. Since the end of the country’s devastating 14-year civil war in 2003, the generation of electricity has been the…

MEDIA CLUB SOUTH AFRICA A new app called Pocket Reporter is aimed at citizen journalists, community journalists for independent publishers and those who want to share their stories with the wider world. Touted as a “news editor in your pocket,” it was launched in South Africa in October 2016. Raymond Joseph, a journalist at Code for South Africa (Code4SA), says developers created Pocket Reporter because many journalists, especially freelancers, do not have access to a news editor. Pocket Reporter was developed by Code4SA in partnership with the Association of Independent Publishers. Joseph says the partners conducted market research before building…

CHARITY CHIMUNGU PHIRI/INTER PRESS SERVICE For the first time, many Malawians living in rural areas are able to easily access the internet. It was the work of C3, a communication services provider and the first commercial entity to deploy nationwide TV White Spaces (TVWS) for a nine-month trial. Only 6.5 percent of Malawians are connected to the internet. To reach rural populations, C3 built TVWS. The new network relies on unused frequencies in the television spectrum, and there are plans to extend it nationwide. Service is distributed to communities, and people access the network via Wi-Fi. “It’s a cheap and…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Zambia has ordered the national Air Force into action to fight pests that have invaded maize crops and threatened vital food supplies. The Air Force is transporting pesticides across the country so that fields can be sprayed to combat infestations of armyworms, a type of moth larvae that can decimate crops. “The Zambia Air Force has since begun to airlift chemicals,” President Edward Lungu’s spokesman said. “The president has directed that the chemicals that were purchased under emergency operations should be distributed to all parts of the country.” Julius Shawa, permanent secretary of the Agriculture Ministry, told reporters…

Story and photo by JUSTUS WANZALA/INTER PRESS SERVICE Faced with growing degradation that is swallowing large swaths of land in arid and semiarid areas, Kenya is working to stop the encroachment of the desert and add trees suited to the climate. Kenya launched a program in September 2016 targeting 5.1 million hectares of degraded and deforested land for restoration by 2030, said Charles Sunkuli, secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. He added that Kenya is increasing its forest cover from 7 percent to a maximum of 10 percent. “We have introduced an equalization fund to help communities…