African Update

Gabon and Equatorial Guinea beckon 2012 African Cup of Nations (Afcon)  [19/01/12]

January and February 2012 is football time in Africa. During these two months the continent will be showcasing, once again, one of the most festive and celebrated football tournaments in the world. The sixteen countries that made it through the qualifications will be parading the cream of their very best players, many of whom ply their trade in Europe and elsewhere outside the continent. All this will be happening live in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, co-hosts to the 28th Afcon edition which kicks off on 21st January in Bata (Equatorial Guinea) with the final on 12th February in Libreville (Gabon).More

Guinea Bissau bids farewell to president Sanha  [19/01/12]

Thousands of people, including two African heads of state, bid farewell Sunday to Guinea Bissau president Malam Bacai Sanha at a state funeral in the capital Bissau.More

Cape Verde name airport after Mandela  [19/01/12]

Mandela will on February 11 mark 22 years since he was freed from prison, where he had spent 27 years. Cape Verde has decided to rename its Praia International Airport after South Africa's former president Nelson Mandela, an icon for freedom in Africa, a government statement said Monday.More

ANC: Zuma: Address by the president, at the 100th anniversary of the ANC, Mangaung  [15/01/12]

Source: The African National CongressMore

Gabon and Equatorial Guinea beckon 2012 African Cup of Nations (Afcon)  [15/01/12]

January and February 2012 is football time in Africa. During these two months the continent will be showcasing, once again, one of the most festive and celebrated football tournaments in the world.More

S.Africa's ANC accused of living in past after centenary  [13/01/12]

South African media criticised the ANC on Monday for celebrating its past at the expense of the present as the last merrymakers from the party's 100th anniversary celebrations headed home.More

African leaders heap praise on ANC's liberation role  [13/01/12]

African leaders hailed South Africa's ruling ANC in centenary celebrations for the continent's oldest liberation movement which inspired regional struggles for freedom.More

World Bank backs Morocco solar megaproject  [07/01/12]

The World Bank said Thursday it would lend Morocco $297 million in support of the huge 500 megawatt Ouarzazate solar project.More

Esperance conquer Africa thanks to Afful goal  [03/01/12]

Ghana defender Harrison Afful scored midway through the first half to give Tunisian club Esperance a 1-0 victory over Moroccan visitors Wydad Casablanca Saturday and the African Champions League trophy.More

African music stars sing for new Vatican CD  [03/01/12]

Three popular African singers have released a CD in collaboration with Vatican Radio to spread the message of the African Synod and mark the pope's trip to Benin.More

World Bank backs Morocco solar megaproject  [03/01/12]

The World Bank said Thursday it would lend Morocco $297 million in support of the huge 500 megawatt Ouarzazate solar project.More

New African Fashion Issue  [03/01/12]

New African Fashion Issue

In its first fashion issue, New African Woman explores the growing fashion industry on the continent, which is drawing attention on the world stage. This issue introduces readers to up and coming African fashion designers from across the continent. In particular, Johannesburg, Nairobi and Dakar have become hubs for the industry. However, we also meet the Ghanain Nana Afua Atwi, the UK’s top model of color, Mary-Ann Kaikai (Mammy Yako) from Sierra Leone, and the Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara.More

Visiting Czech President hails “historic” trip to Senegal  [01/01/12]

Visiting Czech President Vaclav Klaus described his trip to Senegal at the end of November as “historic”, claiming that his talks with President Abdoulaye Wade have been “friendly and constructive”.More

Ethiopia: Familiar, Exotic Churches  [31/12/11]

A visit to an Ethiopian church can be a confusing experience for Westerners. There they find the Christian religion they know from back home, but it comes in an exotic form which is sometimes reminiscent of, say, India.More

Women are narrating the future  [31/12/11]

Nigeria’s Wole Soyinka received the Nobel Prize for Literature in December 1986 at a colourful ceremony in the Swedish capital Stockholm. He was the first African writer to be honoured with the prestigious prize. Alexander Macbeth on how Soyinka’s Nobel has influenced the development of African literature 25 years on.More

Ghanian social entrepreneur picks UN award  [31/12/11]

Ghanaian social entrepreneur, Kwaku Kyei has been selected as a winner of the 2011 UNEP SEED Initiative Award. The Awards recognize inspiring social and environmental entrepreneurs whose businesses can help meet sustainable development challenges.More

Ugandan works on space project from mother's backyard  [31/12/11]

Chris Nsamba says that at one time or another every successful scientist has been called a madman, and some think he is crazy about working to send the first Ugandan into space -- from the backyard of his mother's home.More

Africa: the new pot of gold for mobile telecoms  [31/12/11]

Mobile subscribers in Africa have increased by 20 percent annually over the past five yearsAfrica's lag in land-based telecoms infrastructure has propelled the continent directly into the mobile age, opening up short-term growth prospects unparalleled in the world.More

Without Václav Havel  [31/12/11]

“Hope is definitely not the same thing as optimism. It is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out… (It is the) ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.”More

President Pires accepts 2011 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership  [30/12/11]

Pedro Verona Rodrigues Pires, the former President of Cape Verde, this evening accepted the 2011 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership at a gala ceremony in Tunis hosted by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. The Ibrahim Prize recognises and celebrates excellence in African leadership. It is an annual award worth US$5 million over 10 years and US$200,000 annually for life thereafter.More