ADF

Students Create Nigeria’s Online Jobs Giant BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS Three students had time on their hands in the summer of 2009 when university lecturers in Nigeria went on strike. Instead of slacking off, Ayodeji Adewunmi, Olalekan Olude and Opeyemi Awoyemi started an online job search company. Five years later, their startup, Jobberman, is worth millions of dollars, employs 125 people and is still growing. Although Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy, it still has considerable unemployment problems, in particular among young people who are also more likely to be connected to the Internet. Jobberman has become the largest job placement…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Zimbabwe’s telecommunications giant Econet has launched an international debit card with MasterCard in a move expected to cut reliance on banknotes in the cash-strapped country. Econet said it expects to issue at least 3 million debit cards over the next five years, equal to roughly a quarter of Zimbabwe’s population. The EcoCash mobile companion debit card, which is linked to its mobile money service, also is expected to increase financial inclusion in a country where most people do not work in the formal economy. “This is the first time that physical MasterCard debit cards are available to people…

ADF STAFF Abebe Bikila’s run to international fame started by accident. Abebe had wanted to run the marathon for Ethiopia in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. But his reported personal best time in the marathon was faster than the world record, and race officials were skeptical. He was passed over in favor of another runner, who subsequently broke his ankle playing football. Abebe, then a private in Haile Selassie’s Imperial Army, was chosen for the team only as a last-minute replacement. Abebe’s running shoes for the Olympics were a poor fit, causing blisters. He decided to run barefoot, as…

Clues This complex served as the home of the sovereigns of the Kingdom of Imerina in the 17th and 18th centuries. The number of structures rose to about 20 during the late 18th-century reign of King Andrianampoinimerina. By the late 20th century, there were 11. The largest and most prominent structure was known as the “Queen’s Palace” after Queen Ranavalona I. A 1995 fire destroyed or damaged all structures in the complex, but the Queen’s Palace and other buildings have been restored. ANSWER: The Rova of Antananarivo, Madagascar

West of the town of Upington, South Africa, is mostly desert. But nearby a tower looms on the horizon. It stands 5 kilometers down a bumpy dirt road, a 200-meter cylinder stretching to the sky, surrounded by more than 4,000 large, wall-like solar mirrors. It may look like the set of a science fiction film, but this is Khi Solar One, Africa’s first concentrated solar power project. The 140-hectare plant will produce 50 megawatts (MW) of energy and reduce South Africa’s carbon dioxide emissions by 138,000 metric tons a year. Khi Solar One forms part of the Department of Energy’s…

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Sam Brown Jr. grins and flashes a thumbs-up as he snaps onto his longboard, taming the monstrous wave rearing up behind him. The 21-year-old Liberian has joined a growing number of surfers in the West African nation, attracted by one of the world’s last unspoiled paradises for the sport. Surf tourism is slowly picking up as the country gains a reputation for its faultless left-hand point breaks — locations where waves break offshore — its spectacular beaches and warm water. It has been said that the first surfers appeared in Liberia in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until…

Population-Centric Security Looks at Defense from a New Perspective ADF STAFF Construction of Ghana’s Weija Dam has been one of the most successful public works projects in recent decades. Just west of the capital, Accra, the dam captures water from the Densu River that flows down 116 kilometers from the mountains to fill a reservoir, providing drinking water for 70 percent of the people in the capital. However, when the mountainous area is hit with a particularly intense rainy season, as happened in 2014, the reservoir fills to the brim and must be drained. In June 2014 as water levels rose,…

Over the past two decades, security sector reform (SSR) has emerged as a principal means for promoting peace and stability in Africa. Now a newer concept known as population-centric security sector transformation (SST) seeks to advance the cause by establishing links between a nation’s security sector and society at large, and by focusing on threats to individuals’ socio-economic conditions and personal safety. For security professionals at all levels, this involves improving professionalism and ethics training, encouraging civil-military partnerships, supporting democratic governance, and examining how best to respond to the everyday security threats faced by citizens. Although the lack of universally…

Maj. Gen. Cyprien Ndikuriyo of Burundi’s Ministry of Defense and War Veterans spoke on June 24, 2014, at the U.S. Africa Command Academic Symposium at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre in Accra, Ghana. The following is a portion of his remarks, edited and translated from the original French. After a recent period of internal instability, Burundi has embarked on an important political transition with the goal of re-establishing the conditions for durable peace. At the same time, the security environment in Burundi itself, as well as the whole region of Central Africa and the world, is changing.…

BBC NEWS AT BBC.CO.UK/NEWS Entrepreneurs Nissan Bahar and Franky Imbesi are increasing computer access by providing an operating system on a USB thumb drive. They are testing the project in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, and hope to sign up 150,000 people in the country. Bahar and Imbesi’s Keepod USB stick will revive old PCs and let users have their own computer experience — desktop layout, programs and data — at a fraction of the cost of providing a laptop, tablet or other machine to each person. The pair have teamed up with LiveInSlums, a nongovernmental organization operating in the…