14 May 2022
Kenya/Turkana: Four seasons of failed rain are causing a drought in East Africa that threatens the very survival of up to 20 million. The north-westernmost part of Kenya, Turkana, is particularly hard hit. The BBC reports.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61437239
13 May 2022
Debt: 22 African countries are in debt distress (e.g., Mozambique, Zimbabwe) or at high risk of debt distress (e.g., Malawi, Zambia, Comoros). Between 2012 and 2020, total external debt of African countries increased from 380.9 bn USD to 702.4 bn USD – with 119 respectively 258 bn of this owed to official creditors, creditors that have diversified and now include China, India, Turkey, the African Export-Import Bank, the New Development Bank. The amount of bonds issued by African countries has tripled over the last decade. After Covid, the effects of the war in Ukraine are likely to further increase pressure on external accounts of African states, so careful debt management is a must. For this, the authors of the article (and of the book that the article summarizes) make 5 recommendations: debt transparency; good governance; legal predictability; comparability of treatment during restructuring; and a comprehensive approach (taking social et al. aspects into account, not only financial and economic aspects).
https://theconversation.com/debt-distress-in-africa-biggest-problems-and-ways-forward-182716
Kenya/FGC: Anna Qabale Duba, a nurse at Marsabit County Referral Hospital (northern Kenya) has been awarded the global nursing award for her dedication to put an end to female genital cutting (FGC). Anna Qabale Duba has also set up a foundation that aims to empower young girls. This was the first ever edition of the global nursing award – 24,000 nurses from 184 countries had submitted applications.
BBC Africa Live 13 May 2022. 6:27
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61435153
Mauritania: Tomoya Obokata, UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery recognizes that “some progress had been made in abolishing the practice” of slavery in Mauritania, but adds that “much more need(s) to be done” and Nouakchott needs to urgently take measures to implement the 2015 anti-slavery law.
BBC Africa Live 13 May 2022. 14:41