03 July 2022
Morocco/Burkina Faso/Football: The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) has got underway yesterday. Hosts Morocco beat Burkina Faso 1:0. Today Sunday, Uganda plays Senegal.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/62025438
Côte d’Ivoire/Football: The next Africa Cup of Nations has been postponed to January/February 2024. It had originally been planned to take place in June/July 2023, but that is the height of rainy season in Côte d’Ivoire, so it is not a good time of year at all. Five years back, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) had ceded to pressure from European football clubs who are unhappy to have to release players in the middle of their season. This year’s competition in Cameroon was already played in January/February, so it’ll be the second in a row. The Caf president has also announced the launch of a new “African Super League” in August 2023 – in addition to the existing African Champions League – “some of the biggest and most prominent investors and sponsors” are apparently “abnormally” interested in sponsoring the event.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/africa/62030041
Egypt: Several Red Sea beaches have been closed by the authorities after two shark attacks killed two tourists. “The region accounts for about 65% of tourists visiting the country.” Though these are by no means first times, shark attacks are rare in the Red Sea.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62029779
02 July 2022
Gambia: A ban on timber exports has been decreed with immediate effect. The measure is to stop smuggling, especially of rosewood – declared an endangered species in 2017. With the country’s own rosewood resources close to depletion, it is mostly rosewood from the Casamance that is exported from Gambia: 300,000 tonnes between 2017 and 2020 were exported to China according to a BBC investigation. The article includes a 8-minute BBC video about rosewood tree felling in the Casamance, its smuggling to the Gambia and exporting from there.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-62020407