AfricanLoft

Nigeria: Mobile Microfinance Takes the Stage Using SMS

CareTaker — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:28:12 +0000

A Forbes magazine report estimated “750 million households worldwide don’t have a bank account. In Nigerian about 79% of the adult adults are considered underbanked. However most of these people own a mobile phone. Over the past few years, a number of start-ups have put these facts together to form an industry that helps people [...]

Mauritius Top Child-friendly African State

Guest Author — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 22:12:03 +0000

A recently released child-friendly index shows that poverty isn’t excuse in parenting. Mauritius, an island nation about 900 kilometres east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, is the best country to grow up as a child in Africa, according to Africa Child Policy Forum, an independent advocacy agency that assessed the treatment of children [...]

Babies in Prams may Suffer Long-term Emotional Problems - UK Study

CareTaker — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:41:11 +0000

"Children pushed in prams which face away from their parents may suffer long-term emotional and language problems" - UK study.

Nigeria Oil Production Drops after Chevron Pipeline Attack

Guest Author — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:13:01 +0000

Nigeria suffered another setback in its oil sector. Following an attack on a key pipeline last week, the U.S. oil company Chevron announced it will suspend export contracts for much of its output. The destroyed pipeline feeds into the Escravos terminal in the Niger Delta region - a hot bed of militant and criminal activities. [...]

Africa Commission Seeks to Create Jobs by Backing Entrepreneurs

Guest Author — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:59:47 +0000

A group of prominent citizens, led by Tanzania’s president, Denmark’s prime minister, the deputy secretary general of the United Nations and Africa’s top diplomat, is developing a strategy to create new and better jobs for Africa’s youth. According to Voice of America report, the plan borrows liberally from the formula that made the United States [...]

Sudan, International Criminal Court : “No One is Above the Law”; Seeks Arrest Warrants for Rebel Commanders

CareTaker — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:47:17 +0000

Yes! No one should be above the law, particularly in Sudan, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor had requested arrest warrants for three rebel commanders accused of war crimes in a deadly attack that killed 12 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur, according to Washington Post. Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the commanders were responsible for the [...]

Movie: “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” - Captures the Courage of Liberian Women During the War

CareTaker — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:55:58 +0000

Liberia: Pray the Devil Back to Hell — the Best Documentary Feature at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival — is the extraordinary story of a small band of Liberian women who came together in the midst of a bloody civil war, took on the violent warlords and corrupt Charles Taylor regime, and won a long-awaited [...]

Sign of Improved U.S.-Libyan Relations - Gadhafi Son Met with Condoleezza Rice

CareTaker — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:28:40 +0000

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, one of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi sons met senior Bush administration officials Tuesday, in what the VOA calls “another sign of improved U.S.-Libyan relations”. Saif al-Islam Gadhafi sees Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Thursday, [even though] Saif al-Islam Gadhafi holds no official position in the Libyan government, but he has been a [...]

Rwandan Official Charged in France

CareTaker — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:21:27 +0000

A senior Rwandan presidential aide has been charged in a French court with complicity to murdering the former Rwandan president. Rose Kabuye has been freed on condition that she does not leave France and must appear when requested by magistrates. She has denied any involvement and her arrest has led to protests in Rwanda. Ms [...]

Madagascar Leases out Half its Arable Land…for Free!

Guest Author — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 21:19:35 +0000

Not sure if this is good or bad… South Korean firm Daewoo plans to grow maize on one million acres of land in Madagascar. The firm will pay nothing for the lease of the land. The Indian Ocean island will gain employment opportunities and infrastructural developments from Daewoo’s 99-year lease of 1.3m hectares. The leased land [...]