Africa News Headlines for 24 May 2014

Oil-dependent Gabon seeks to diversify economy - president
Source: The West Australian

Grenade attack rocks Djibouti cafe
Source: Aljazeera

What President Uhuru Kenyatta-led PAC report said on Anglo Leasing
Source: Standard Digital

Elephant Poachers Have a New Problem: U.S. Marines
Source: takepart

US says committed to support Africa's economic growth
Source: World Bulletin

IGAD regional heads meet in South Africa
Source: New Vision

Leadership paradigm for a new Africa
Source: The Sunday Independent

Meet the man making politics in South Africa fun again
Source: Quartz

Meet Africa's go-to guy for getting rid of corruption
Source: Independent

MAP: The U.S. military currently has troops in these African countries
Source: Washington Post

11 amazing ways to experience Africa from the air
Source: CNN

Africa in 50 years: what African women want for the future of their continent
Source: Guardian Africa network

Letter from Africa: Nigeria pride and foreign assistance
Source: BBC News

Malawi presidential poll slides into chaos
Source: Aljazeera

Mbabazi Opens Bwindi Nursing School
Source: Chimp Reports

SA, Rwanda cracks show as Kagame absent from Zuma inauguration
Source: Mail & Guardian

Africa News Headlines for 23 May 2014

Security Is Biggest Challenge to Africa's Development - Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon
Source: African Development Bank Group/AllAfrica.com

Kenya President Wants Parastatal Reforms To Focus On Profitability
Source: Bernama

South Africa’s Political Playground
Source: Africa in Transition

Obama sends U.S. troops to Chad to find Nigerian girls
Source: Battle Creek Enquirer

U.S. Oil Imports From Africa Are Down 90 Percent
Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

Terrorism: Africa’s new game changer?
Source: The Herald

Rwanda and France hold talks in Gabon in tense times
Source: New Vision

Africa should be place to flee to, not from
Source: The Star

A new frontier: Africa’s “explosive” homebrew market
Source: Financial Times

Africa Developing Unified Climate Strategy
Source: Voice of America

Top 10 richest women in Africa (Photos)
Source: Sowetan

Washington Worries Boko Haram Planning Attack on U.S. Interests in Africa
Source: NBC News

China opens multilateral approach to Africa with $2bn fund
Source: New Vision

Africa in the News: Investment in Africa Is Rising and Malawi Votes
Source: Brookings Institution

Morocco-Africa : A Cooperation Strategy with Significant Religious Dimension
Source: Medafrica

Mauritanian President lauds AfDB progress
Source: StarAfrica

Turning Africa's resources into rewards
Source: China Daily USA

Museveni meets Kagame, PTA Bank chief
Source: New Vision

New Africa Book of the Day - 21 May 2014

China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa by Howard W. French

Release Date: May 20, 2014
Publisher: Knopf

An exciting, hugely revealing account of China’s burgeoning presence in Africa—a developing empire already shaping, and reshaping, the future of millions of people.

A prizewinning foreign correspondent and former New York Times bureau chief in Shanghai and in West and Central Africa, Howard French is uniquely positioned to tell the story of China in Africa. Through meticulous on-the-ground reporting—conducted in Mandarin, French, and Portuguese, among other languages—French crafts a layered investigation of astonishing depth and breadth as he engages not only with policy-shaping moguls and diplomats, but also with the ordinary men and women navigating the street-level realities of cooperation, prejudice, corruption, and opportunity forged by this seismic geopolitical development. With incisiveness and empathy, French reveals the human face of China’s economic, political, and human presence across the African continent—and in doing so reveals what is at stake for everyone involved.

We meet a broad spectrum of China’s dogged emigrant population, from those single-handedly reshaping African infrastructure, commerce, and even environment (a self-made tycoon who harnessed Zambia’s now-booming copper trade; a timber entrepreneur determined to harvest the entirety of Liberia’s old-growth redwoods), to those just barely scraping by (a sibling pair running small businesses despite total illiteracy; a karaoke bar owner–cum–brothel madam), still convinced that Africa affords them better opportunities than their homeland. And we encounter an equally panoramic array of African responses: a citizens’ backlash in Senegal against a “Trojan horse” Chinese construction project (a tower complex to be built over a beloved soccer field, which locals thought would lead to overbearing Chinese pressure on their economy); a Zambian political candidate who, having protested China’s intrusiveness during the previous election and lost, now turns accommodating; the ascendant middle class of an industrial boomtown; African mine workers bitterly condemning their foreign employers, citing inadequate safety precautions and wages a fraction of their immigrant counterparts’.

French’s nuanced portraits reveal the paradigms forming around this new world order, from the all-too-familiar echoes of colonial ambition—exploitation of resources and labor; cut-rate infrastructure projects; dubious treaties—to new frontiers of cultural and economic exchange, where dichotomies of suspicion and trust, assimilation and isolation, idealism and disillusionment are in dynamic flux.

Part intrepid travelogue, part cultural census, part industrial and political exposé, French’s keenly observed account ultimately offers a fresh perspective on the most pressing unknowns of modern Sino-African relations: why China is making the incursions it is, just how extensive its cultural and economic inroads are, what Africa’s role in the equation is, and just what the ramifications for both parties—and the watching world—will be in the foreseeable future.

Howard W. French is author of A Continent for the Taking: The Tragedy and Hope of Africa (2005) and contributed photographs (with poems by Qiu Xiaolong) to Disappearing Shanghai: Photographs and Poems of an Intimate Way of Life (2012). He is a former correspondent for the New York Times and teaches journalism at Columbia University.

Africa News Headlines for 20 May 2014

Africa’s First Bitcoin ATM Ready for May Launch
Source: CoinDesk

8 Facts about China's Investments in Africa
Source: Brookings Now

Kenya tourism in turmoil amid terror warnings
Source: Fox News

President Bongo to Open World's First African Citizens' Summit in Gabon May 23 at New York Forum Africa
Source: Digital Journal

Confronting fundamental sexism in Africa
Source: Aljazeera

How clean and fair are Africa's mines?
Source: Deutsche Welle

M & G Media launches Africa digital news platform
Source: NewsDay

Islanders drinking less? Large drop recorded in Seychelles alcohol consumption
Source: Seychelles News Agency

Kenya authorities have enhanced security at key installations
Source: Coastweek

Foreign Investment in Africa Seen at Record $80 Billion in 2014, Report Shows
Source: Wall Street Journal

China is a good friend for Africa, ready to support elephant conservation
Source: eTurbo News

The web at 25: what impact has it had across Africa?
Source: The Guardian

Africa investors looking beyond negative headlines -World Bank
Source: Reuters

Betty White To Join Jack Hanna At Heart Of Africa Kick-Off
Source: WBNS-10TV

Africa: Land of Milk and Beef?
Source: AgWeb

Africa’s collective GDP is at least a third larger than officials say it is
Source: Quartz

Gabon Set to Host Afreximbank Economic Forum
Source: AFK Insider

U.N. Eyes African Oil Levy To Fight Disease
Source: Beverly Hills Courier

African art: a good investment?
Source: The Telegraph

Africa News Headlines for 16 May 2014

Mbabazi: Museveni may not run in 2016
Source: The Observer

Farm Workers in Africa Pessimistic About Their Lives
Source: Gallup World

Architecture: Africa in the making
Source: The Africa Report

Life on the run from homophobia
Source: Mail & Guardian

Premier Commits To Carry On Fight Against Poaching And Ivory Trade
Source: China Topix

Tullow may start fracking in Kenya
Source: Irish Examiner

Kenya angry at Western travel warnings as tourists leave
Source: Globe & Mail

2015: Foreign military assistance and Nigeria’s internal politics
Source: National Mirror

Howard French On China’s ‘Wild Rush’ Into Africa
Source: China Digital Times

Kenya activist takes railway project to court, again
Source: Turkish Press

De Beers Sponsors Africa Youth Games
Source: Rapaport/Diamonds.net

NNLG facilitates training of 180 Nigerians in ship building in South Korea
Source: Business Day

Angola's oil exports to fall in July-shipping list
Source: Reuters

Private reserve joins efforts on wildlife conservation in Tanzania
Source: eTurbo News

US Embassy in Kenya requests security upgrade
Source: Martins Ferry Times Leader/AP

Can cross-border cooperation save the endangered rhino?
Source: PBS Newshour

Trafficking and Torturing Eritrean Refugees
Source: Dissident Voice

Africa News Headlines for 15 May 2014

Young leaders plot brighter future for Africa
Source: Cape Argus/IOL News

Interview: Dispelling myths about Chad
Source: How We Made It In Africa

Sudan denounces UN claims LRA leader is present in its territory
Source Sudan Tribune

Gabon drops three firms from oil licensing deal
Source: Business Recorder

Orchid fever grips South Africa
Source: IOL Lifestyle

Britain, U.S. warn citizens of high risk of attacks in Kenya
Source: Chicago Tribune

Rwanda, Uganda kick-start regional railway project
Source: New Vision

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s Visit to Africa: A (Rail)road to Success in Sino-African Relations?
Source: Brookings Institution

Advancing Economic Freedom: An Antidote to Boko Haram
Source: The Heritage Foundation

How to feed Africa and sustain the environment
Source: The Africa Report

How wildlife crime links us all to conflicts in Africa
Source: New Scientist

U.S. Africa Command Team supports Department of State-led support effort in Nigeria
Source: DefenceWeb

Kagame’s Singapore of Africa Economy Rewards Debt: Africa Credit
Source: Bloomberg

What homes Africa’s super rich spend their billions on
Source: Standard Digital

Crisis response Marines positioned closer to Africa
Source: Marine Corps Times

The S Africans making it big in America
Source: TechCentral

The U.S. Military’s New Normal in Africa
Source: Huffington Post

Africa's Richest Woman Plans To Increase Stake In Portuguese Bank
Source: Forbes

Criticism Leveled at China on Africa Investment Is 'Absurd,' Says Ambassador
Source: Wall Street Journal

The surge in Africa direct investment
Source: Financial Times

Nigeria, South Africa among foreign investors’ choice locations in Africa
Source: Premium Times

Africa assumes onus on disaster relief with catastrophe insurance pool
Source: Reuters

Chinese Money In Africa Directed Away From Oil, Toward Other Sectors
Source: International Business Times

Mineral Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Critique
Source: The African Executive

Boko Haram in Nigeria: The Way Forward
Source: Brookings Institution

China Inc. Moves Factory Floor to Africa
Source: Wall Street Journal

From winery to factories, Chinese firms investing billions in South Africa
Source: South China Morning Post

Africa News Headlines for 14 May 2014

Poachers Slaughter Dozens of Elephants in Key African Park
Source: National Geographic

China to Extend Over $12 Bln in Aid to Africa
Source: China Digital Times

The Second Scramble For Africa Is In Foreign Investments
Source: AFK Insider

How to deliver on 'Africa's promise'
Source: Devex

Mayor’s R107 000 trip to Gabon
Source: The Mercury/IOL News

African cities to unite in Africa Day cultural festival
Source: News24

Let South Sudan learn from South Africa
Source: New Vision

Stop the scramble: Africa rewards patient investors
Source: Financial Times

UN to hear call to boost African technology adoption
Source: IT Web Africa

Muslims and Christians in Africa Work Together to Prevent Malaria
Source: Live Science

Does Debt Forgiveness Work? Ask Africa
Source: Huffington Post

Why A Middle East Telecom Firm Is Choosing A Moroccan Partner To Expand In Africa
Source; Forbes

Mbabazi youths in Museveni U-turn
Source: The Observer

South Africa, Swaziland proposed rail link on hold
Source: BD Live

What the Kenya Railroad Says About China's Approach to Africa
Source: International Business Times

US Restricts Intel from Nigeria on Missing Girls
Source: Military.com

Will Nigeria’s government acknowledge Boko Haram’s prisoner exchange proposal?
Source: PBS Newshour

Africa News Headlines for 13 May 2014

Book Reveals Wider Net of U.S. Spying on Envoys
Source: New York Times

SA the ‘drunkest’ country in Africa
Source: The Citizen

Assessing Africa’s readiness for multi-million dollar tech startup deals
Source: Technology Zimbabwe

Uganda at centrestage of Pan African tourism debate
Source: New Vision

Africa is buzzing with entrepreneurial spirit
Source: KSPR/CNN

Global crisis on torture exposed by new worldwide campaign
Source: Amnesty International

High fees on diaspora funds holding back Africa’s growth
Source: Standard Digital

Eskom eyes the rest of Africa
Source: SAPA

Developing Africa Losses $15 Billion in Tax Revenue Over Decade
Source: Wall Street Journal

Indian IT companies tap Africa’s new-fangled fad for technology
Source: Economic Times

Cooperation, trade and education key to Africa's success – Coleman
Source: Media Club South Africa

David Brooks: Get to know the real Africa
Source: The Fresno Bee

American Billionaire Ronald Lauder Is Funding Africa's Cheapest Car
Source: Forbes

Africa is rising – but much remains to be done – WEF
Source: Business Day

The reason every book about Africa has the same cover—and it’s not pretty
Source: Quartz

U.S. Marines Lock & Load: Close Ranks With Anti-Poachers
Source: Global Animal

Scientist urges nuance for Africa-China timber policies
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation

Death of Ambassador of Togo Under Investigation in Gabon
Source: Prensa Latina

Majority of African Farm Workers Struggle to Afford Food
Source: Gallup World

Africa News Headlines for 8 May 2014

Snip Decision: Africa's Campaign To Circumcise Its Men
Source: NPR All Things Considered

Michelle Obama's hashtag help sign for Nigerian girls irks Twitter critics
Source: Washington Times

How Africa Can Capitalize on Its Progress
Source: Wall Street Journal

South Africans disappointed by growing inequality
Source: Marketplace

Examining the state of media freedom in Southern Africa
Source: Bizcommunity

36 million arrivals and counting: Sub-Saharan Africa keeps growing
Source: TTG Digital

We Must Break Money Transfer Monopolies in Africa, Says WorldRemit
Source: MarketWatch

Cost of Somali piracy falls, but West Africa piracy increasing: Report
Source: Business Insurance

Civil War Invades An Elephant Sanctuary: One Researcher's Escape
Source: NPR Morning Edition

Report says Africa loses 50 bln USD in illicit cash flows
Source: Shanghai Daily

Nigeria, South Africa partner to push intra-African economic integration
Source: Business Day

Security Worries Cloud African Economic Picture
Source: Wall Street Journal

Global cost of Somali piracy 'halved' in 2013
Source: Aljazeera

Let’s reduce trade barriers, Uhuru tells Abuja panel
Source: Daily Nation

Peacekeeping Missions Lack Trust In Central African Republic
Source: NPR Morning Edition

Hell Is an Understatement: A report from the bloody, crumbling Central African Republic
Source: The New Republic

LRA leader within S. Sudan’s disputed region, says UN
Source: Sudan Tribune

An Hour With Africa’s Richest Man
Source: TIME

ANC losing parliamentary seats in South Africa's elections
Source: The Africa Report

France to Keep Troops in Africa Against Extremists
Source: ABC News/AP

China Proposes China-Africa Regional Aviation Plan
Source: Channels

Africa Features High On Emirates Airline Priority List
Source: Wall Street Journal

Fast growing retail and e-commerce in Africa offers Huge potential – DHL
Source: PC Tech

Content nodes to accelerate Africa’s Internet
Source: Biztech Africa

U.S. Team To Assist Nigeria In Locating Kidnapped School Girls
Source: NPR Morning Edition

Kenya: Uhuru Kenyatta Helped Launch a “Visa free travel in Africa”
Source: Geeska Afrika

Africa Should Not Follow China's Model, Beijing's Ambassador Says
Source: Forbes

What’s Wrong With the Electrify Africa Act
Source: The Nation