Nigeria to Complete Major Gold Mine
Located in Osun state, the Segilola Gold Project is
Thor’s most advanced high-value gold project in West Africa. It has an
indicated resource of 556,000 ounces, an inferred resource of 306,000 ounces
and a probable reserve of 448,000 ounces according to data obtained from the
firm’s website. Regional infrastructure lender, Africa Finance Corporation
(AFC), is also an investor in the gold project with a $78 million debt-equity
financing. Thor is looking to start operations at the mine by early 2021.
SOURCE: Ventures Africa
Grim Day as Cameroonians Tackle Landslide
Rescuers in the town of Bafoussam have been looking for
survivors in the remains of houses flattened by earth dislodged after heavy
rainfall. Regional governor Fonka Awa Augustine said people had built homes on
unsafe ground despite government warnings. Heavy rains have continued beyond
the regular rainy season.
SOURCE: BBC
Fear in Uganda’s Gay Community
Last week, a Ugandan minister attempted to reintroduce a revoked
2014 law allowing capital punishment for people convicted of gay sex.
Meanwhile, police arrested 16 activists on suspicion of homosexuality, which is
illegal in Uganda and punishable with up to life in prison. The government’s
renewed anti-gay focus has led a long-castigated and already fearful community
to lie low, with some LGBT people forced into hiding.
SOURCE: VOA News
Johannesburg City Fights for Control After Cyber Attack
Johannesburg city council member Funzela Ngobeni said the hackers gained access to the city’s computer systems last Thursday and gave them until Monday to make the payment of four bitcoins, which is equivalent to 500,000 rands, according to the council. The officials are refusing to pay and the ultimatum date has now elapsed.
SOURCE: CNN
Preschools in Kenya and Tanzania Boost Learning
Countries across sub-Saharan Africa have made impressive
progress towards achieving universal school enrollment over the past few
decades. But schooling isn’t the same as learning. Recent studies reveal that
children in this region learn remarkably little at school. For example, only
one in five third-grade students in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda have
second-grade literacy and numeracy skills, and less than one third of
sixth-grade students in Southern and Eastern Africa can solve a simple
subtraction problem.
SOURCE: Conversation
The Peddling of ‘Soft Power’ in Africa
China’s increasing state-backed media presence in Africa has
stoked fears among Western observers. But current evidence shows the plan to
increase Chinese soft power through official outlets who portray the Asian
giant in a positive light has had limited impact. Instead, it is Africa’s
rapidly evolving landscape of digital technology that offers Chinese media influence
the most room for growth. The African continent—a major destination for
China’s Belt and Road projects, international trade, and private businesses—is
at the forefront of this effort.
SOURCE: Quartz Africa
Lessons from The Prudhoe Community
South Africa embarked on a land reform process in 1994 to
address the country’s tragic history of inequitable land distribution along
racial lines. One of the aims of the process is to provide redress for people
dispossessed of their rights in land as a result of racially discriminatory
laws or practices.
SOURCE: Africa.com
South Sudan’s Machar Urges Delay to Unity Government
The spokesman for former rebel leader Riek Machar said he did not believe he
would be able to join a unity government on Nov. 12 – a deadline agreed in
September after months of talks, broken ceasefires and pressure from the United
Nations, the United States and regional powers. There was no immediate comment
from President Salva Kiir or from other countries who helped broker the accord.
U.S. officials said this month they would not accept any more delays and might
impose sanctions if deadlines are not met.
SOURCE: Reuters
Search for More Bobsled Talent Ensues After Olympic History
On a warm September morning in Lagos, as more than 30 Nigerian
athletes prepared to take part in the country’s maiden bobsled and skeleton
tryouts, Seun Adigun was there to encourage them. She represented Nigeria on
both occasions, in 2012 in London for the women’s 100-metre hurdles and in 2018
in PyeongChang as part of the women’s bobsled team.
SOURCE: Aljazeera
Don’t Sleep on Tunis
“This would never have happened so openly even 10 years ago,”
one of a group of young Tunisians shouts to me over the bass pulsing out of
refrigerator-size speakers. We are at a garishly lit, open-air nightclub in
Gammarth, a suburb of Tunis so packed with bars it resembles a theme park for
adults. There’s a swimming pool, and a few people in the crowd seem like
they’re just a cocktail away from jumping in.
SOURCE: New York Times