Kenya invests $10 million in aquaculture centre in Kisumu to rejig region’s floundering blue economy  

Kenya invests $10 million in aquaculture centre in Kisumu to rejig region’s floundering blue economy  

Once completed, the aquaculture centre, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki said, is expected to significantly support thousands of small-scale fish farmers, complementing other government-driven blue economy initiatives aimed at enhancing food security and boosting income for fishing communities around the lake.

Read more
Top scientists flee US following Trump’s research funding cuts; the academics prefer to work in Europe, Asia – even Africa!

Top scientists flee US following Trump’s research funding cuts; the academics prefer to work in Europe, Asia – even Africa!

More than 200 federal grants for research related to HIV and AIDS were abruptly terminated last month. Cuts to grants from the US National Institutes of Health for Covid-19 research were revealed, and the government began a $400-million reduction in research grants at Columbia University in New York City, because of campus protests supporting Palestinians in the conflict with Israel.

Read more
Kenya and Uganda strike deal to share Angololo water to generate power, irrigate 4,000 hectares of land

Kenya and Uganda strike deal to share Angololo water to generate power, irrigate 4,000 hectares of land

The project is expected to transform lives and communities through food security and livelihoods, access to clean water and sanitation, energy for development, environmental conservation, job creation and regional integration. The project was identified in 2010 and is aligned with Kenya’s Vision 2030 and Uganda’s Vision 2040.

Read more
Tales of boats sinking with migrants across the Gulf of Aden are common but Ethiopian youth would rather that than the poverty at home

Tales of boats sinking with migrants across the Gulf of Aden are common but Ethiopian youth would rather that than the poverty at home

Boats carrying migrants across the Gulf of Aden regularly sink. In March, the IOM reported that four boats had capsized off the coast of Yemen, with more than 180 migrants feared dead. Even for those who survive the crossing, traversing war-ravaged Yemen is itself fraught with danger.

Read more
‘I’m going to Saudi Arabia or to my grave: How hope became frustration, then despair among Ethiopia’s Oromo youth under PM Abiy

‘I’m going to Saudi Arabia or to my grave: How hope became frustration, then despair among Ethiopia’s Oromo youth under PM Abiy

The government or its militias “can accuse anyone of being OLA and try to get money from them. If you don’t pay, you’ll be put in prison, and unless you pay you won’t get out,” Østebø says. “There is so much discontent and hopelessness.”

Read more
UNICEF: Donor funding cuts leave 13 million children in Eastern and Southern Africa at risk of severe malnutrition

UNICEF: Donor funding cuts leave 13 million children in Eastern and Southern Africa at risk of severe malnutrition

In South Sudan, malnutrition among children under five as well as pregnant and breastfeeding women, remains a critical concern. This year, over two million children under five are at risk of acute malnutrition (both moderate and severe acute malnutrition), a 26 per cent increase from 2024.

Read more
Kenya and Uganda to streamline land use along border in the north to curb resource-based conflicts

Kenya and Uganda to streamline land use along border in the north to curb resource-based conflicts

Governor Lomorukai described the process as crucial and emphasised that it will aid in resource mapping, enhance cross-border trade and establish systems to prevent conflicts linked to livestock and human movement across the border.

Read more
Kenya’s trade minister warns unbridled utterances on conflict in Sudan will further hurt tea, fruit exports

Kenya’s trade minister warns unbridled utterances on conflict in Sudan will further hurt tea, fruit exports

Cabinet Secretary Lee Kinyanjui expressed concern over recent public utterances by political figures on regional conflicts, stressing the importance of maintaining Kenya’s non-partisan foreign policy in the region.

Read more
Kenya, Ethiopia sign free-trade deal to hasten implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area

Kenya, Ethiopia sign free-trade deal to hasten implementation of African Continental Free Trade Area

Ethiopian Minister of Trade and Regional Integration Kassahun Gofe underscored the importance of concluding negotiations to kick start the implementation of the simplified trade regime to accelerate trade between the border communities of the two countries.

Read more
Blue economy: Stakeholder petition Kenyan parliament to rescinded ‘flawed’ draft law for not  treating fisheries as a distinct economic sector

Blue economy: Stakeholder petition Kenyan parliament to rescinded ‘flawed’ draft law for not treating fisheries as a distinct economic sector

On April 7, he said, LVA formally wrote to the clerk of the national assembly, to petition parliament to suspend the bill and launch a comprehensive and inclusive legislative review. The bill, he said, was a replication of the outdated 2016 provisions that were developed without a guiding national aquaculture policy and failed to recognise aquaculture as a distinct economic sector.

Read more