Democratic Republic of Congo: illegal logging The world’s second-largest rainforest is in Africa, but it is diminishing at an alarming rate Sprawling across the heart of Africa, the Congo basin covers 3.7m square kilometres and is home to the planet’s second-largest tropical rainforest after the Amazon. The forest spans six countries in central and western Africa: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Republic of Congo. It contains thousands of plant, bird and mammal species. As the reservoir for a quarter of the world’s carbon, it is sometimes referred to as the Earth’s “second…
Eleanor Whitehead
Nigeria: Fulani militia As Nigeria fights jihadists in the north-east and militants in the oil-producing south, a third conflict is simmering at its centre Traditional leaders in Riyom, a town in Plateau State, say they have been suffering for 15 years. Since the turn of the century their tribe, the Berom, has been locked in conflict with Fulani herdsmen. They blame the nomads for raiding their villages, trampling their crops and appropriating their land. “We are refugees in our own land,” grumbles Gyang Dahoro, a local monarch, pointing to the horizon where charred houses are strewn like skeletons under rainy…
East Africa streamlines customs posts and accelerates trade One-stop borders: Faster, more efficient and less corrupt by Eleanor Whitehead Scenes of trucks backed up for endless kilometres are all too familiar at Africa’s overland border crossings, leading to high costs, chronic inefficiency, corruption and sluggish trade competition. Trucking companies complain that they waste an average two to three days at East African border crossings. “Borders constitute between 10 and 15% of the total transit times,” explained Hosea Nyangweso, principal civil engineer with the East African Community (EAC), a five-country bloc dedicated to regional cooperation comprising Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and…
Africa’s fake pharmaceuticals Bogus medicines threaten healthcare gains across Africa by Eleanor Whitehead In June 2012 Angolan customs agents found more than they bargained for when conducting a routine check on containers shipped from China to the country’s capital, Luanda. While inspecting electronic speakers bound for local markets, the customs officials uncovered 1.4m packets of Coartem, a leading antimalarial drug produced by the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis. The amount was large enough to treat over half of Angola’s annual malaria patients. The catch was that the confiscated drugs were not genuine. They were counterfeit. This seizure turned out to be…
Nigeria’s fight against Boko Haram Corruption in the military, police and among politicians thwarts curbing the Islamist terrorists Since the abduction last April of 200 schoolgirls by Nigeria’s militia group Boko Haram, the world has been watching the west African nation’s fight against the insurgents and wondering why it is failing so badly. Part of the answer lies in corruption. Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden”, wants to impose Islamic rule in Nigeria. The rebels have been waging war against the government from their stronghold in the country’s north-east since 2009, but have become more audacious in…
Nigeria’s All Progressive Congress: high hopes or fading dreams? The creation of Nigeria’s first credible opposition party met with great excitement in 2013. Will it maintain its momentum? Nigeria is a political paradox: a multi-party democracy that has been led by just one party since it transitioned from military rule in 1999. For 15 years, no opposition has come close to challenging the dominance of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Not at least, until the All Progressive Congress (APC) emerged last year as the first credible opponent in the history of this civilian rule. Suddenly, the game seemed to have…
Nigeria: mall aboard A new generation of Nigerian consumers is drawing retailers from all over the world At the turn of the century well-off Nigerians struggled to shop in style. Most had to jostle in local markets to buy food or travel to the UK, US or Middle East to replenish their wardrobes. Then in 2005 the Palms Shopping Mall opened its doors in Lagos’s affluent Lekki peninsula in the commercial capital’s south-east. Since then its gleaming interior corridors have housed throngs of immaculately-heeled shoppers who peruse clothing stores such as Puma and Lacoste, stock up their larders in Shoprite,…
The Trans-African Highway A road network linking Africa’s major cities is far from complete, 43 years on Driving from Cape Town to Cairo has long held a romantic allure for many adventurers. What about travelling from Dakar on Senegal’s Atlantic Ocean coast to Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden, or from Mombasa, Kenya to Lagos, Nigeria? The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) conceived this dream more than 40 years ago and named it the Trans-African Highway (TAH). UNECA first proposed this roads network in 1971, when most of the continent’s countries were emerging from colonial rule. They were…
Nigeria’s military decline Boko Haram is capitalising on the rot at the core of Nigeria’s army In a small hospital in the Diffa region of south-east Niger, a roomful of Nigerian soldiers wait patiently for medical staff to change their bandages. Their bullet wounds seep blood onto the floor of the whitewashed chamber. The air is heavy with the smell of disinfectant. These are just a handful of the roughly 300 Nigerian forces that retreated across the border in November 2014, after militant Islamist group Boko Haram attacked the town of Malam Fatori in Nigeria’s north-east. Now, lying three to…
