Nigeria’s Zamfara state endures telephone blackout as military battles armed gangs
Mobile telephone networks were shut down in the north-western Nigerian state of Zamfara, residents have reported after authorities ordered a telecoms blackout to help armed forces tackle armed gangs of kidnappers terrorising the area. Two residents of Zamfara, reached by phone after they travelled to neighbouring Sokoto State, said their...
Ousted Guinea president Alpha Konde was victim of democracy eating its defenders and abusers
Guinea President Alpha Condé’s already tarnished democratic credentials took a further hit last year when he tweaked the country’s constitution to extend his decade in power. Now he has become the latest casualty of a wave of military takeovers sweeping a region that looked to have shed its “coup-belt” moniker....
Rejected ammunition request may have jettisoned Guinea president out of power
In 2016, Mamady Doumbouya, a commander in the Guinean army, asked his superiors if he could have ammunition to train his troops in marksmanship. He never received it, he said, because they feared he would use the rounds to launch a coup. Five years on, Doumbouya did just that. On...
Nairobi’s $45 billion new Athi River Smart Green City to house two million people upon completion
Nairobi’s dispersion to the outlying areas took another turn towards the decongestion and modernisation last month following the approval of development of a smart city project in Athi River, some 30 kilometres southeast of the Kenyan capital’s central business district. The project will cost a total of Ksh5 trillion ($45...
Job references: They’re mostly ghost-written, always glowing but often meaningless
Five years into my research career, I have a folder on my computer that will be familiar to many scientists: a place where I store 30 or so letters of recommendation I have written. These aren’t recommendation letters for others, but for myself – requested by academics and colleagues whom...
South Africa Airways ready to resume domestic, continental flights on September 23
South African Airways (SAA) interim CEO Thomas Kgokolo says the airline is moving into a new era. Kgokolo made the comments when he was addressing Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises on the expected restart of the airline and on other matters concerning its subsidiaries. SAA is expected to resume...
