New report accuses Tanzania police, courts of complicity in wildlife crimes
In late November 2020, a judgment was made in an appeal case in the High Court of Tanzania at Mtwara, a small port city near the Mozambique border. The appeal was filed by Tanzania’s Director of Public Prosecutions against Mateso Kasian (also known as ‘Chupi’ which means ‘underwear’ in Kiswahili),...
How major wildlife crimes in Tanzania are covered up and convictions quashed
When a Tanzanian court overturned the conviction of a notorious wildlife poacher and ivory trafficker Boniface Matthew Malyango mid-last year, conservationists held their breath. Years of tracking down and assembling the evidence and the resources that were committed to the protection of wildlife and the environment had been dealt a...
Africa’s Free Trade Area carries hopes of wonder drug for struggling economies
Created by the Free Trade Agreement in 2018, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) came into effect on January this year. Expectations are high that the new economic and trading bloc will open up borders for more intra-Africa trade. Since the World Trade Organization creation, the AfCFTA is the...
‘Fake news is the currency with which opinion shapers peddle their influence’
The growth of fact checking in Africa has established one cardinal fact: sources and spreaders of fake news are routinely opinion shapers. At government level, they are in the executive, the judiciary, the legislature or security formations. Beyond the government, the business community, keen to have advantage over rivals, spreads...
Fake vs fact: Disinformation risks security, public health and democracy in Africa
The rise in disinformation in Africa poses a threat to security, public health and democracy, fact-checkers warn. The African Centre for Security and Strategic Studies (ACSSS) says combatting misinformation requires building the capacity of Africa’s fact-checking community and improving media literacy. The process, they say, is painstakingly slow and risky...
Storm before a lull: African economies to bounce back after coronavirus chaos
Africa is set to recover from its worst recession in half a century. Real gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to grow by 3.4 per cent in 2021 after contracting by an estimated 2.1 per cent in 2020, mainly due to Covid-19 related disruptions. The estimates are based on the...
EU slaps sanctions on South Sudan army general for human rights violations
The European Union has imposed sanctions on a South Sudanese army general allegedly involved in serious human rights violations, such as arbitrary executions and killings, the Sudan Tribune reports. Citing EU statement issued on Monday the agency reported that Maj-Gen Gabriel Moses Lokujo of South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF)...
Kenya Rugby Union unveils plans to take the sport to the grassroots
The Kenya Rugby Union has made public its strategic plans to develop the game. The implementation of the plans kicks off this weekend when the development and training and education departments host a Get into Rugby course on Saturday March 20 at the Impala Grounds in the capital Nairobi. In...
Scientists awed after bonobos in Congo Forest adopt infants outside their group
Attentive parenting appears across the animal world, but adoption is rarer, especially when youngsters taken in are not kin. Now researchers have witnessed bonobos adopting infants from outside of their own communities. Two females, each from a different bonobo group, in the Luo Scientific Reserve in Congo took charge of...
When humanity destroys its forests, it cries about ‘big loss’, then cuts down more
Environmental organisations and the civil society have turned the spotlight on lack of effective regulations against wanton destruction of forests, warning that humanity faces serious self-destruction. Speaking at a virtual press conference ahead of the March 21 International Day of Forests 2021 and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030,...
