East Africa emerges as a trade hub

East Africa is emerging as a trade hub to rival sub-Saharan Africa’s two heavyweight states of South Africa and Nigeria, according to analysis by Barclays published on Thursday. However the UK bank identifies five “sleeping giants” that present significant new for foreign companies; Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Tanzania and Ghana. This quintet which are “playing catch-up after significant political and economic...

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South Africa crash, Ghana win, Nigeria draw

Mauritania shocked South Africa 3-1, Ghana edged Rwanda 1-0 and Nigeria were held 0-0 by Tanzania Saturday in Africa Cup of Nations matchday 2 qualifiers. A blunder by goalkeeper and captain Itumeleng Khune after five minutes cost South Africa a goal in Nouakchott and set the home team on the road to their greatest Cup of Nations triumph. Khune allowed a long-range Ali Abeid free-kick to slip from his grasp into the net and Bafana Bafana...

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WHO-raised team develops guidelines for ‘IVF’ in Africa

A team of experts raised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has developed Fertility Guidelines especially on the practice of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF)/Assiated Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) in Africa. President African Fertility Society (AFS), Prof Oladapo Ashiru, in a press release, yesterday, the WHO experts hadon September 4, 2015, in Geneva, Switzerland, completed a week long meeting, making evidence-based recommendations on...

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Veteran City investor hopes to power up Africa

Veteran investor Jerome Booth, who has long extolled the virtues of emerging markets, is to launch a new investment fund that will focus on renewable and conventional energy projects in Africa. New Sparta Asset Management plans to invest in at least three power stations, each of which will need at least £50m of equity. The group, which has a number of economists on its board, including Sunday Telegraph columnist Liam Halligan, is about to launch...

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Egypt announces parliamentary election will start in October

Egypt will hold a long-awaited parliamentary election in two phases starting on 18-19 October, the election commission has said. The first phase of voting had been due to begin in March but the election was delayed after a court ruled part of an election law was unconstitutional. The second phase will take place on 22-23 November, the election commission told a news conference. Egypt has been without a parliament since June 2012 when a...

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Fly Africa to open new routes in East and West Africa

Southern Africa-focused low-cost airline Fly Africa will expand to fly new routes to destinations in East and West Africa, Gabon's president said on Saturday. "One of the biggest contributions that we as Africans can make to Africa's development is to open the skies for direct affordable travel between African states," said Ali Bongo at the New York Forum in Gabon's capital Libreville. A statement from Fly Africa said that the expansion was...

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South Africa's Bidvest Group profit rises on food business

South African conglomerate Bidvest Group reported an 8.6 percent rise in annual profit on Monday, buoyed by its food service business. Bidvest, whose business spans auto showrooms, shipping and catering, said diluted headline earnings per share totalled 1,882 cents in year to end-June, slightly better than the mean estimate of 11 analysts in a Reuter’s poll. Headline EPS is the most widely watched profit measure in South Africa and strips out...

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Africa: Uhuru Kenyatta to Revive Ailing African Peer Review Mechanism

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta is leading efforts to give a fresh impetus to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which was initiated 12 years ago to institutionalise good governance and democratic leadership on the continent. The Kenyan leader, who was elected APRM forum chairperson in June, will convene a summit of heads of state on September 11 to resolve the problems that have frustrated the initiative, including failure by states...

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Whale watching in South Africa is an experience you will never forget

There aren’t many places on Earth where you can perch on a massive white sand dune – or sit outside a bar, cold beer in hand – and watch whales frolic in the surf.But that’s what hordes of people flock to do along South Africa’s south coast. Around this time of year, southern right whales start making their way from the Antarctic to calve and mate. They come in to the protected shores around the southern tip of Africa to have their babies...

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Le Clos, Van der Burgh, Coventry Highlight All Africa Games’ Athletes

The 11th edition of the All Africa Games is coming full circle, as the host of the original Games back is 1965, Brazzaville, Congo, is set to host the continental competition again for the 2015 version. The 2015 All African Games, which encompasses a total of 34 sporting disciplines, is set to kick-off on Wednesday, September 2nd, with swimming events slated to take place September 6th-11th. 2015 All Africa Games Official SiteThe multi-national...

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India, South Africa to play Gandhi-Mandela series

All future bilateral series between India and South Africa, including South Africa's forthcoming tour of India, will be called the Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela series, the two boards have announced. The Test series, the BCCI and Cricket South Africa said, will be played for the Freedom Trophy. "BCCI, on behalf of every citizen of our country, is able to pay tribute to these great leaders by naming the series after them, and appeals to each...

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South Sudan president signs peace deal despite concerns

South Sudan's president signed a peace deal on Wednesday to end a 20-month conflict with rebels, but he told regional African leaders at the ceremony that he still had "serious reservations". President Salva Kiir, who has led South Sudan since it seceded from Sudan in 2011, last week asked for more time for consultations, drawing threats of U.N. sanctions if he failed to ink it within a two-week deadline. "With all those reservations...

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Ethiopia’s Space Programme Ready For launch

High above the crowded streets of Addis Ababa, among fields where farmers lead oxen dragging wooden ploughs, sits Ethiopia’s space programme.Operational for only a few months, the specialized equipment — the first in eastern Africa — has propelled Ethiopia into an elite club of African countries to have embarked on a space programme. For Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation, the programme is aimed to give it a technological boost to...

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Harper’s Government Helping Canadian Mining Companies Plunder Africa’s Resources

Canadian policy in Africa can be summed up in nine words: Do what is good for Canadian-owned mining companies. Despite rhetoric about aid to the poorest people in the world, the Harper Conservatives have worked assiduously to ensure that Canadian corporations profit from Africa’s vast mineral resources. Even widespread criticism of their operations has failed to dampen the Conservatives’ support for Canada’s many mining interests in Africa....

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Unlocking Africa’s Trade Potential

Africa’s rise challenges the imagination. During the last decade, Sub-Saharan Africa was home to six of the world’s ten fastest-growing economies. During the next five years, the region’s GDP is expected to grow 30% faster than that of the rest of the world. And, during the next 35 years, the continent will account for more than half of the world’s population growth, according to the United Nations. These trends will give African...

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S.Africa to impose 10 pct steel import tariff - industry group

South Africa's government will impose a 10 percent import tariff on steel imports to protect the struggling industry, with the possibility of hiking them further, an industry body said on Monday. Cheap imports from China are hurting steel makers in South Africa, which currently does not have import duties on steel. As many as 200,000 jobs are at risk due to a global supply glut of the commodity, ArcelorMittal South Africa has warned. "The...

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