West Africa: graveyard for dead TVs, computers and cell phones The world’s discarded electronics are piling up in West Africa, creating some opportunity and much danger Ours is an age of obsolescence. Computers, cell phones and televisions seen as cutting-edge today will be, in a very short time, out of date and thrown away as trash. People generate about 40m tonnes of digital detritus every year and this figure is increasing 4% annually, according to a 2012 International Labour Organisation study. E-waste, comprising all electrical and electronic waste, from cell phones and laptops to air-conditioners and washing machines, is the…
Shaun Swingler
Burkina Faso to Côte d’Ivoire: Africa’s busiest migrant corridor Even slim increases in potential income draw immigrants from one poor country to another Since 1990 more than a million people have travelled between Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire, making it Africa’s busiest migrant route, according to the World Bank. Many of the estimated 2.1m expatriates living in the two countries, according to 2010 World Bank figures, travelled along a 1,228km stretch of mostly smooth road that connects Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, with Côte d’Ivoire’s commerical capital, Abidjan. Movement along this African artery is spartan compared to the world’s most travelled…
