Features | - Part 198

Hunger Used as a Weapon of War in South Sudan, Amnesty Says

JUBA (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Sudanese government forces and rebels have used hunger as a weapon of war in a region once seen as the country’s breadbasket that’s been ravaged by killings, gang-rapes and looting over the past year, Amnesty International said. Civilians’ access to food in the southern region of Equatorial, where conflict spread last July, is “severely limited” after combatants cut supplies, looted from markets and homes and targeted civilians, the…

President Trump Travel Ban Said to Start Thursday Evening U.S. Time

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Trump administration will introduce new restrictions on travel to the U.S. by refugees and migrants from six countries as of 8 p.m. eastern time Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter. The rollout of the measures, which follows a U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday allowing parts of an executive order to proceed, is being led by the State Department. The timing is aimed at giving embassies…

South African Miners Apply to Court to Block Government Charter

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JOHANNESBURGH (Capital Markets in Africa) – Johannesburg South Africa’s mining companies have applied to the High Court in Pretoria to block the government’s Mining Charter, arguing that the new rules would destroy the industry. The Chamber of Mines, which represents mining companies, has applied for an urgent interdict that would halt the implementation of the charter, published by the Department of Mineral Resources on June 15, it said in an emailed statement Monday. The group plans…

Kenyan President Pledges Investment Plan in Hunt for Votes

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – Kenya’s ruling Jubilee Party pledged to transform East Africa’s largest economy into a middle-income nation by 2022 by boosting investment in public infrastructure and technology and offering increased financing for small businesses. President Uhuru Kenyatta’s party also said it will increase the number of poor and elderly on free health care and offer free education to some primary and secondary public school students. The number of elderly receiving state grants would…

Protest-Hit Ethiopia Region Plans Oil Company to Calm Unrest

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ADDIS ABABA (Capital Markets in Africa) – A central Ethiopian region that’s seen almost two years of sporadic anti-government protests is planning a new private oil company and is in talks to import Middle Eastern crude, part of an economic initiative authorities say will address some of the roots of the unrest. Oromia Petroleum Share Co., the planned venture, will import the oil via Djibouti, process it at a new large-scale refinery and distribute it…

African Leader Son’s Multimillion-Euro Splurge on $80,000 a Year

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Equatorial Guinea (Capital Markets in Africa) – The son of Equatorial Guinea’s president bought real estate, a Bugatti Veyron, a Cartier watch and bottles of prestigious Romanee Conti wine on his $80,000-a-year position as a government minister. French prosecutors are demanding he account in court for these and other purchases, which total more than 100 million euros ($112 million). Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, agriculture minister for more than a decade, is accused of amassing real…

The Leader Who Caused a Slump: Zuma Blamed for South Africa Mess

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – The last time South Africa fell into recession, in 2009, it was because of the global financial crisis. This time around, economists and business executives agree, the cause is a person: the president. Jacob Zuma’s erratic political moves are breeding policy uncertainty and reluctance to invest, helping explain why the economy of the continent’s most industrialized nation contracted for a second straight quarter in the three months through March. Finance,…

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