CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Morocco battles drought
Morocco’s King Mohamed VI has ordered a rescue package of $1.1-billion in an effort to mitigate the harsh drought the country is facing. One in three people are employed by its agriculture industry. Morocco seems to be the country hit hardest by the North African drought, which is the grain belt’s most severe in 30 years. Water has already been rationed in all the kingdom’s provinces.
Abiy open to ‘talks’
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that his government would be open to negotiation talks with rebel groups this week. Federal forces have been engaged in battle with rebels from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front since November 2020. “So far there has been no negotiation. However, the fact that we haven’t had negotiations doesn’t mean there will be no negotiation altogether. Negotiations, dialogue doesn’t mean the problem has been solved: it means seeing whether there’s an alternative route to [get] rid of a problem,” Abiy said.
No rituals in films
Nigeria’s government has ordered filmmakers to remove content around “money rituals” from their films because suspected murderers claim to learn their ways from social media. “Many have also blamed Nollywood for featuring money rituals in some of its movies, saying this has negatively influenced the vulnerable youth. To mitigate this, I have directed the National Film and Video Censors Board …to take this issue into consideration while censoring and classifying films and videos,” said information and culture minister Lai Mohammed.
Senegal’s new stadium
A stadium that seats 50 000 people was unveiled in Senegal by President Macky Sall to a crowd of citizens, as well as VIP guests such as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo÷an and Fifa boss Gianni Infantino. Built in 18 months by Turkish company Summa at a cost of $270-million, the facility is named after former president Abdoulaye Wade and will be the only one in the country certified to host international football events.
No Covid swabs here
Zanzibar is going to use non-invasive EDE technology to detect Covid-19, the first country on the continent to do so. The technology has been used to test about 20 000 people at a success rate of 93%. “When it comes to conducting Covid tests, there have always been a lot of problems, and these tests were really invasive, but this is the first non-invasive test, but also the first test of its kind in Africa. So, for us, it’s a huge success for Zanzibar,” said President Hussein Mwinyi.
DNA saves elephants
A group of conservation scientists and veterinarians are using DNA testing to track how ivory traffickers are operating. This allows them to move endangered species of forest elephants to safer areas where they are less likely to be poached. Africa’s elephant population continues to dwindle: a century ago it sat at 5-million, decreasing to 1.3-million by 1979. It now hovers at about 415 000. About 500 tonnes of elephant tusks are shipped from the continent each year.