25 December 2019; AFP: A decade after rubber was heavily promoted as a goldmine for Ivory Coast's cocoa-dependent economy, planters are under pressure to address criticism that they are damaging the environment and weakening the country's ability to feed itself.
ADDIS ABABA, Dec 25 (NNN-ENA) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF), expressed its support to Ethiopia’s ongoing economic reform initiative, that aimed to eliminate macroeconomic imbalances and lay the foundation for sustainable and inclusive growth.
The IMF, which approved a 2.9 billion U.S. dollar funding to Ethiopia late last week, said, the support is aimed at supporting the Ethiopian government’s Homegrown Economic Reform Programme.
OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — Jihadists attacked a town in northern Burkina Faso and killed 35 civilians, most of them women, and ensuing clashes with security forces left 80 jihadists dead, the West African nation’s president announced late Tuesday.
The violence, which erupted in the town of Arbinda in Sahel region near the country’s border with Mali, lasted for several hours, according to a military statement. Seven members of the security forces who responded also were killed.
KINSHASA, Dec 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A former DR Congo prime minister and opposition leader called for the government to wage war on neighbouring Rwanda as a way to end militia violence.
The Democratic Republic of Congo was at the heart of two bitter regional wars between 1997-2003 involving its neighbours Rwanda and Uganda.
Kinshasa accused Rwanda and Uganda of trying to destabilise the DR Congo while its neighbours said militias opposed to their governments had used DR Congo as a rear base for attacks.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The mayor of Burundi’s capital says at least 15 people have been killed by landslides caused by heavy rains over the weekend.
Bujumbura Mayor Freddy Mbonimpa on Sunday evening said another 30 people were injured and dozens of homes were damaged or destroyed in the landslides earlier in the day in the north of the capital.
One 50-year-old survivor who gave her name only as Angele said she lost her four children and her husband when their house was destroyed. She said she was spared because she had been away at work.
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 (NNN-Xinhua) — With more than five million displaced people, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the African country most affected by internal displacement, according to the UN.
The displacement is mainly due to violence, and the country is home to some 517,000 refugees from neighboring countries, UN secretary-general’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
JOHANNESBURG, Dec 23 (NNN-BERNAMA-ANADOLU) — A local South African monarch who had been serving a prison term on several charges, including kidnapping and arson, was released from prison on Monday, his spokesman confirmed.
Anadolu Agency reported that Mthunzi Ngonyama told local media that King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo was released in the early morning and is now a free man.
NAIROBI, Dec 22 (NNN-KBC) – Eight West African countries will rename their common currency, CFA franc, to “Eco,” in what Cote d’Ivoire’s President, Alassane Ouattara, called a “historic” move.
Ouattara made his remarks at a press conference, in the country’s southern city of Abidjan, with French President, Emmanuel Macron, by his side.
The Eco will be pegged to the euro.
ADDIS ABABA, Dec 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ethiopia plans to cut an excise tax on sugar to 20% from 33%, according to a draft law in parliament, proposing the move ahead of plans to privatize the sugar industry as part of a government drive to open up the economy.
A trader said the tax, presented to parliament on Monday, would help domestic sugar manufacturers and consumers who are feeling the pinch from inflation running at more than 20% a year.
YAOUNDE, Dec 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A bill granting special status to Cameroon’s two crisis-hit anglophone regions was passed by lawmakers on Wednesday, national radio said, an attempt to ease two years of bloody violence.
If the Senate approves the devolution law and it comes into force, the western areas where separatists are fighting government troops will be able to develop their own education and justice policies, it said.
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