ADF

Morocco’s Gnawa festival attracts hundreds of thousands of people — but it’s about more than music and color. It has come to symbolize the fight against ISIS and extremism. Each Gnawa group, or Islamic “brotherhood,” is dressed in different, elaborate, colored robes. They sing, breaking off for whirling dance routines, and are accompanied by hand drums and deafening metal castanets. The Gnawa are devout Muslims, but their religion, like their music, is something of a fusion. Their belief in the spirit world and in the power of music to heal through trance ceremonies is a reminder of their links to…

A 26-year-old bicyclist from Eritrea was honored as the King of the Mountains during the sixth stage at the Tour de France in July 2015. Daniel Teklehaimanot proudly put on the maillot à pois rouges, also known as the polka dot jersey, symbolizing his victory in the stage. He took the jersey after surging to the top of the three small climbs that made up the 190-kilometer stretch from Abbeville to Le Havre. “What a moment for African cycling! What a moment for Eritrea, and what a moment for Daniel Teklehaimanot as he gives the thumbs up!” shouted a BBC…

Top Kenyan athletes, including former world marathon record holders Wilson Kipsang and Tegla Loroupe, staged a 22-day “Walk for Peace” against ethnic violence. Cattle rustling and revenge killings among rival communities are common in Kenya’s remote and impoverished northern regions, an area awash with automatic weapons. The 836-kilometer walk was organized by former Commonwealth Games marathon champion John Kelai, who marched in memory of three of his uncles who were killed in cattle raids when he was a teenager. The walk began in July 2015. Ethiopia borders northern Kenya, and armed cattle herders launch raids on each side of the…

A boy, a sheep and a stunning mountain landscape. These are the three stars of Lamb, a poignant film directed by 36-year-old Yared Zeleke. In May 2015, it became Ethiopia’s first entry in France’s prestigious Cannes International Film Festival. Shot in the highlands and forests of northern and central Ethiopia, Lamb tells the story of 9-year-old Ephraim and his beloved pet, a sheep named Chuni. The animal follows Ephraim around like a devoted dog and plays the role of best friend. When the film begins, Ephraim has lost his mother in an ongoing famine and, in order to survive, his…

Mauritania and the European Union (EU) announced in July 2015 that they had signed a “win-win” fishing accord after 16 months of heated debate. The EU bloc will contribute $112 million per year to Mauritania’s fishing industry, down from the $120 million it gave under the previous deal. The European fleet’s quota is reduced from an annual 300,000 metric tons of fish to 225,000 over the four-year contract. Stefaan Depypere, EU international affairs and markets director, said during a ceremony that the deal benefits both sides. Mauritanian negotiator Cheikh Ould Baya said exclusive rights on octopus and sardinella for local…

The United States and the African Union signed an agreement on April 13, 2015, to create the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, chairwoman of the African Union Commission, signed a memorandum of cooperation formalizing the collaboration between the AU and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the nation’s top agency for studying and fighting disease. “The West African Ebola epidemic reaffirmed the need for a public health institute to support African ministries of health and other health agencies in their efforts to prevent, detect,…

The U.S. donated $850,000 worth of military gear to Zambia to help protect the country’s peacekeepers during their deployment in the Central African Republic. The gear includes uniforms, helmets, boots and other protective items, the Times of Zambia reported. The donation was made by U.S. Ambassador to Zambia Eric Schultz at an event in March 2015 at the Arakan Barracks in Lusaka. “Zambia’s commitment to peace in Africa is admirable, and the United States salutes Zambia’s decision to join the United Nations mission in protecting innocent civilians, women and children in the Central African Republic,” Schultz said, according to mwebantu.com.…

When Kenyan police arrested six men in the vast Dadaab refugee camp near the Somali border in April 2015, their aim was to dismantle a decades-old sugar-smuggling trade that is funding Somali militants waging war on Kenya. The arrests, coming weeks after four al-Shabaab gunmen massacred 148 people at nearby Garissa University College, were part of Nairobi’s new strategy to choke off the flow of money to militants whose cross-border raids have hammered Kenya and its tourism industry. Although cash from sugar smuggling may amount to only a few million dollars, experts say such sums are enough for attacks that…

Retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu is lending his support to a campaign to ensure the rights of older people. The Nobel laureate wants the issue included in the new United Nations Sustainable Development Goals scheduled to be finished in late 2015. Nearly 900 million people are age 60 and over, representing 12 percent of the world’s population, Help Age International estimated. Tutu, 84, joined the organization’s Action 2015 campaign. “As we get older, our bodies change,” he said. “We lose some of our dexterity and physical strength. But our rights do not change. We may have fewer teeth, but we are…

There is abundant evidence that poorer people in Africa are now using the Internet. In South Africa, many new users live in poverty. Declining costs are driving the trend. Most people in Africa connect to the Internet with mobile devices, and the price of these is falling. Nokia, for example, launched a $29 Internet phone in 2015. Pay-as-you-go data can be purchased in small bundles in many African countries, sometimes in 10-cent increments. The most reliable survey conducted in 11 countries in 2011 and 2012 found that about one in three South Africans, one in four Kenyans and fewer than…