$8B Aid Package Aims to Bolster Horn of Africa Economy
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
International donors pledged $8 billion in development aid for projects across eight countries in the Horn of Africa, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon announced at the start of a visit to the region in October 2014.…
France Partners with Sahel Allies to Launch Operation Barkhane
DEFENCEWEB
French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has announced his country’s intention to deploy more than 3,000 Soldiers to begin military operations under a broadened trans-Sahel counter-terrorism initiative set to operate from…
Ugandan Forces Thwart al-Shabaab Attack
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Ugandan security forces stopped a cell of Somalia’s al-Shabaab insurgents in the nation's capital that was planning an imminent attack.
Police arrested people in September 2014 in raids two weeks after Ugandan…
‘Homegrown’ Plane Takes to the Skies in South Africa
DEFENCEWEB
A reconnaissance light aircraft built by a South African company has made its maiden flight and has become the first military aircraft fully designed and built in Africa. A product of the Paramount Group, the Advanced…
Nigerian Naval Commander Hails Drop in Oil Theft
The Nigerian Navy announced that crude oil theft fell 67 percent in 2014.
Rear Adm. Charles Obiora-Medani, flag officer of Eastern Naval Command, said theft dropped from about 2.6 million barrels per month in January to about 800,000…
ECOWAS Defense Chiefs Map Out Collaboration
ECOWAS
Defense chiefs from across the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have pledged greater cooperation to combat shared threats.
The September 2014 meeting of the Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDS) in…
Kenyan Rangers at War with Rhino Poachers
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
With camouflage uniforms, assault rifles, night vision goggles, thermal imaging devices and radios, wildlife rangers in Kenya’s Ol Jogi rhino sanctuary prepare for night patrol in the “war” against poaching.
“It…
War Veterans turn to farming
ADAM BEMMA/IPS
Along the fertile banks of the White Nile, a war veteran’s co-op is planting for a food-secure future in South Sudan, a country potentially facing famine.
Wilson Abisai Lodingareng, 65, is a farmer and founder of…
Niger’s Traditional Leaders Promote Maternal Health
Story and photo by JOAN ERAKIT/IPS
Dry, hot and often plagued with sandstorms, Niger has a population of more than 17.2 million. Insecurity, drought and cross-border crime contribute to this West African nation’s fragility, in which only…
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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,…