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AfricaFocus Bulletin
July 29, 2014 USA/Africa: A Dubious Summit
"Starting August 4, the Obama Administration will host a mini replica
of an African Union (AU) summit. As many as 40 heads of state from
the continent will be on hand for the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, a
conference that will look at ways to boost trade and investment in
the continent, tap into Africa's burgeoning youth population, and
promote good governance. ... Unfortunately, unless a major change is
made, the summit risks simply becoming an AU heads of state road trip
with a photo-op at the end to confirm that they visited Washington
before returning home." - Adotei Akwei, Amnesty International
July 14, 2014 Africa: Understanding Organized Crime
"We have concluded that drug use must be regarded primarily as a
public health problem. Drug users need help, not punishment. We
believe that the consumption and possession for personal use of drugs
should not be criminalised. Experience shows that criminalisation of
drug use worsens health and social problems, puts huge pressures on
the criminal justice system and incites corruption. ... We caution
that West Africa must not become a new front line in the failed "war
on drugs," which has neither reduced drug consumption nor put
traffickers out of business." - West Africa Commission on Drugs
July 10, 2014 Africa: Rapid Growth in Mobile Money
"The mobile money landscape is becoming increasingly competitive, and
this is especially true in Sub-Saharan Africa where mobile money is
already available in 36 of 47 countries in the region. ... [For one
example], Tanzania has witnessed unprecedented uptake of mobile
financial services (MFS) in the span of five years. After a humble
beginning, when less than 1% of the adult population had access to
mobile financial services in 2008, 90% had access by September 2013 -
an exponential increase. Likewise, active usage has shown similar
improvement, with 43% of the adult population actively using this
service in September 2013." - GSM Association reports
July 7, 2014 Africa: Trade Union Perspectives
"Almost all interviewees who responded to the Solidarity Center
survey, when asked about the general economic situation, noted some
economic growth. But they also were emphatic that the growth was not
accompanied by good jobs and did not trickle down or benefit the
majority of the population. ... The message that quantitative
macroeconomic growth is not sufficient to lift people out of poverty
or improve lives has [also] been a prominent theme in reports by
multilateral agencies in recent years." - Solidarity Center report,
April 2014
More on:
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AfricaFocus Archive:
by date | by place | by topic
June 30, 2014
Africa: Clean Energy Most Cost-Effective
June 23, 2014
Central African Republic: Still A Forgotten Crisis
June 16, 2014
Africa: Investor Perspectives
June 9, 2014
Nigeria: Beyond the Hashtag Debates
June 1, 2014
South Africa: Disappearing Diamond Revenue
May 26, 2014
Africa: Fraudulent Trade & Tax Evasion
May 19, 2014
Kenya: Refugee Crackdown "Counter-productive"
May 12, 2014
Africa: Report Highlights Resource Plunder
May 5, 2014
South Africa: Views from the Left
April 30, 2014
Africa: Taxation Key to Fighting Inequality
April 24, 2014
Africa: The High Cost of Remittances
April 17, 2014
Mali: Polls Show Turn to Optimism
April 14, 2014
Lesotho: "Model" Project Drains Health Budget
April 7, 2014
Nigeria: Security Forces and Insecurity
March 31, 2014
Africa: Accountability for User Fee Damage?
March 25, 2014
Nigeria: Corruption & Its International Partners
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