Eswatini, Africa’s last absolute monarchy, marked its 55th independence anniversary with a grand celebration attended by King Mswati III and various dignitaries. The festivities took place at the Somhlolo National Stadium in Lobamba, where cheering crowds gathered to commemorate the occasion.

Addressing his people, King Mswati III used the platform to extend a message of unity and peace to the African continent. He acknowledged the power struggles and conflicts that have affected parts of Africa, particularly in the northern region, and stressed the importance of preserving peace. The monarch emphasized that such conflicts hinder progress, including initiatives like the African Free Trade Agreement, and called for prioritizing peace on the continent.

One notable guest at the event was Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who embarked on a four-day visit to Eswatini. President Tsai highlighted the significance of the occasion and the enduring partnership between Eswatini and Taiwan, which has spanned more than five decades and has been instrumental in fostering progress and development.

During the visit, Eswatini and Taiwan signed agreements, further solidifying their diplomatic ties. It’s worth noting that Eswatini is Taiwan’s last declared ally in Africa, as most African countries have established diplomatic relations with China, which considers Taiwan as part of its territory.

The celebrations in Eswatini not only marked a historic milestone in the nation’s history but also underscored the importance of diplomacy, cooperation, and peace in the broader African context.

In a move aimed at fostering closer ties and easing travel restrictions between Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), both countries have reciprocally lifted visa requirements for their respective citizens.

This significant development was formally announced by the Directorate General of Migration in the DRC, and it officially took effect on September 1, 2023. The change in visa policy coincided with Kenya’s own decision to waive visa requirements for Congolese nationals visiting Kenya.

The decision to eliminate visa requirements for Kenyan travelers to the DRC aligns with the directives of the DRC President and underscores the commitment to enhancing regional integration within the East African Community (EAC). As a result of this decision, Kenya has been moved from category 2 to category 1 in terms of visa requirements, bringing it in line with EAC regulations promoting free movement among member states.

This move towards simplified travel procedures echoes a broader trend in Africa. During the African Private Sector Dialogue Conference on Free Trade, President William Ruto hinted at the possibility that this might be the last time African citizens need to pay for visas to visit Kenya.

In recent months, Kenya has taken steps to promote visa-free travel by extending such privileges to citizens of Indonesia, Comoros, and Senegal. Additionally, Kenya and Eritrea have reached an agreement to permanently waive visa requirements for their respective citizens. Kenya is actively pursuing similar visa-free arrangements with other nations, including Djibouti, as part of its efforts to boost trade and cooperation.

In another positive development, holders of Kenyan passports are now eligible for visa-free entry into South Africa, thanks to a new visa-free regime established through diplomatic negotiations. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa played a pivotal role in facilitating this arrangement.

These progressive changes in visa policies represent significant strides towards facilitating travel and fostering closer cooperation among African nations. These developments hold the potential to greatly benefit citizens and promote regional integration across the continent.

The Senegalese Navy successfully intercepted a group of 118 irregular migrants off the country’s coast, as part of their ongoing efforts to prevent dangerous journeys towards Europe. The patrol boat stopped the migrants near Saint-Louis in the north of Senegal.

The intercepted migrants are scheduled to be transported to Dakar, although further details about their situation have not been provided as of now.

This interception is part of a series of operations aimed at curbing irregular migration, particularly via pirogues, which have surged in recent weeks. The French Navy has also been involved in these operations, documenting them on social media since August 23.

Over the past two weeks, more than 1,000 individuals aspiring to emigrate have been intercepted or rescued from these perilous journeys.

The dangers of attempting to cross the Atlantic Ocean in search of a better life are well-known, with hundreds of migrants losing their lives in the process each year. They typically embark on these risky journeys aboard modest boats or motorised pirogues, often provided by human smugglers who charge a fee for their services.

Many of these migrants aim to reach the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago, which serves as a gateway to Europe. However, the treacherous voyage remains a significant challenge, and authorities are continually working to prevent loss of life and provide assistance to those seeking safer and legal migration options.

A prominent healer in Burkina Faso, known as Amsétou Nikièma or Adja, has been sentenced to three years in prison for her involvement in an assault case on one of her patients. The controversial healer and her co-defendants faced charges of forcible confinement, assault, battery, and complicity.

The verdict was delivered at the Ouagadougou high court following a lengthy hearing. Adja was found “guilty” of “complicity in assault and battery” and was sentenced to three years in prison. Additionally, she was fined one million CFA francs (approximately 1,500 euros), accompanied by a suspended sentence.

The prosecutor had initially requested a two-year prison sentence, with one year suspended, and a fine of three million CFA francs (around 4,500 euros). During the trial, Adja pleaded not guilty to the charges and expressed her willingness to seek “forgiveness” for the actions committed by her collaborators, whom she claimed acted without her knowledge.

Adja stated, “All I can say is ask for forgiveness from the prosecutor and everyone; my mission is to heal and not to punish.”

The victim of the assault and kidnapping, Hamidou Kanazoé, chose not to become a civil party in the case, asserting that the matter had been resolved amicably between the involved families.

Eight of Adja’s collaborators, who admitted their involvement in the assault, were sentenced to 48 months in prison and fined 500,000 CFA francs (approximately 750 euros), with their sentences suspended. They asserted that they had acted independently and without any orders from Adja.

Adja gained notoriety for her healing sessions aimed at aiding victims of “evil spirits.” Her popularity grew significantly in just three years since her first session. The healer was arrested following the circulation of a video on social media depicting the torture of a man by individuals claiming to be associated with her.

While awaiting transfer to a detention facility, Adja managed to escape with the assistance of military personnel. She was subsequently imprisoned at her request in the Ouagadougou army remand center rather than the civil prison, citing “security reasons.”

A Kenyan hospital employee, Fred Leparan, who was caught in a BBC investigation attempting to sell a baby boy on the black market, has been convicted of child trafficking. Leparan worked at Nairobi Mama Lucy Kibaki Hospital, where he accepted $2,050 (£1,600) to facilitate the sale of the baby boy who was under the hospital’s care.

Leparan’s arrest occurred in 2020 following a BBC Africa Eye investigation. He is being charged alongside another hospital employee, Selina Awour, who was arrested on child theft charges. Awuor, however, has been acquitted of child trafficking and found guilty of three counts of child neglect.

Both Leparan and Awuor are set to be sentenced by 26th September.

The BBC Africa Eye investigation began when a reporter approached Leparan posing as a potential buyer, having received information that the senior clinical social worker was involved in illegal child trafficking from the government-run hospital. A meeting was arranged at the hospital, during which Leparan, after only cursory questions about the reporter’s situation, agreed to sell the baby boy.

On the day scheduled for the transfer of the baby boy from the hospital to a government-run children’s home, along with two other children, Leparan was captured on camera falsifying the transfer paperwork. This manipulation was an attempt to deceive the home into expecting two children instead of three.

The BBC team ensured that all three children were delivered directly to the children’s home. However, Leparan was caught amending the paperwork, asserting that the child now belonged to him.

Despite the substantial evidence against him, the case against Leparan dragged on for more than two years. Leparan had the opportunity to retain a strong legal defence in Kenya but gave inconsistent and evasive testimony. He was forced to admit that he appeared in the undercover footage and later acknowledged that some of the words were his own.

Leparan even claimed not to recognise various parts of the hospital where he had worked for three years, despite footage shown in court depicting him secretly arranging the theft and transfer of the baby boy.

While the BBC investigation exposed the illegal sale of one child from Mama Lucy Hospital, a former employee who spoke to Africa Eye on condition of anonymity claimed to be aware of 12 missing children under the hospital’s care in just two months. The former employee cited corruption and the acceptance of bribes by staff as contributing factors to this issue.

Child trafficking is a significant problem in Kenya, driven by cultural stigmas surrounding infertility, adoption, and the lack of an official adoption process. Leparan’s hospital scheme represents just one facet of this complex problem.

The Africa Eye investigation also revealed traffickers arranging the purchase and sale of babies in illegal street clinics, as well as the brazen theft and sale of babies from vulnerable, homeless mothers living on city streets.

Africa’s role in the global energy transition is at a key turning point, finance and business leaders said in London on Thursday, with the potential to leapfrog ahead in green energy with the right funding and support.

The continent is rich in the commodities needed for the green energy transition and has abundant solar power, but many governments are also burdened with cripplingly high debts.

“I think, for the first time, it’s not about Africa going to a COP with an ask, it’s Africa going to a COP with an offer,” Bezos Earth Fund CEO Andrew Steer said at the Reuters IMPACT conference in London, referring to the COP28 climate summit in November.

Africa is responsible for just 4% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, but suffers from some of the biggest impacts of climate change.

Five consecutive rainy seasons have failed in the Horn of Africa, leading to the worst drought in decades, while Cyclone Freddy, one of the deadliest storms to hit Africa in the last twenty years, ripped through Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar in late February.

At last year’s COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, countries committed to establishing a mechanism to provide “loss and damage” funding for developing countries, but are yet contribute funds.

“On the loss and damage side, we’ve got some really big decisions to make right now,” Tom Mitchell, executive director of the International Institute for Environment and Development said at the London conference.

“At the moment, we’ve got developing countries paying way more in debt repayments back to richer countries than they ever hope to receive in climate finance or support.”

Sanjeev Gupta, executive director of financial services at the African Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development institution, said a continuation of the status quo would be devastating.

“There is a set of vulnerable people in Africa – and other parts of the world – where the effect on them will be so catastrophic it will reach genocidal levels,” Gupta said.

SOURCE OF RENEWABLES

At the same time, there is an increasing focus on how African nations can tackle the climate crisis – especially by boosting renewable energy.

While rich in critical minerals, including cobalt used in electric vehicle batteries, and home to 60% of the planet’s best solar resources, Africa receives just 2% of global clean energy spending, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Cristina Gamboa, CEO of nonprofit World Green Building Council, said African cities could be in an advantageous position as populations boom.

“Eighty percent of the infrastructure Africa needs by 2050 has not yet been built,” Gamboa said at the IMPACT conference.

“They’ve come to a recognition that it is good development to leapfrog and go into the clean energy transition now.”

FOSSIL FUELS

Still, banishing fossil fuels from the continent entirely faces some strong resistance.

“We cannot and will not run away from doing fossil fuel-based investing because the development needs of the continent are so huge,” the AFC’s Gupta said.

“The world still needs energy security, the world still needs energy source diversity. No energy mix in the world in the next 50 years says no oil and gas, so why would we not develop our resources and fund our own fiscal budgets, but we are also doing renewables.”

The Lagos-based AFC is 42.5%-owned by Nigeria’s central bank, 47.6% by other African financial institutions and 9.8% by industrial and corporate shareholders.

A report released this week by development charity ActionAid said that banks worldwide gave $3.2 trillion to the fossil fuel industry in Global South countries in the seven years since the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which agreed to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius by slashing emissions.

Nairobi, Kenya, witnessed a ‘people’s march’ on climate as the African Climate Summit commenced on Monday, drawing attention to the continent’s climate challenges and concerns about the global agenda’s alignment with rich-nation interests.

The demonstrators, accompanied by a marching band, voiced their frustration with the expectations placed on African countries to adopt cleaner practices while facing a lack of promised support. The march highlighted the need for systemic reform and the criticism of carbon markets as a tool in climate action.

Babawale, an activist from Friends of the Earth Africa, called for the decolonisation of Africa’s energy system and a focus on systems change rather than climate change. Demonstrators also demanded the targeting of fossil fuels and an end to the neo-colonial scramble for oil and gas in Africa.

The African Climate Summit, which opened with a ministerial session and the presence of more than a dozen heads of state, seeks to amplify Africa’s voice on climate issues and secure greater financing and support. Young people have called for a stronger role in the process.

Kenyan President William Ruto emphasised the economic opportunities, mineral wealth, and shared prosperity that can arise from addressing the climate crisis. He urged the immediate delivery of the $100 billion pledged annually by rich countries to developing nations.

The summit has also seen protests against projects like the TotalEnergies-funded East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline in Uganda and Tanzania. Activists called for more subsidies for solar power to scale up renewable sources.

Africa faces substantial loss and damage due to climate change, projected to range from $290 billion to $440 billion from 2020 to 2030, depending on the degree of warming, according to the U.N.

While Kenya derives 93% of its power from renewables and has implemented measures like banning single-use plastic bags, it faces challenges such as deforestation for infrastructure projects and limited access to electricity for millions of Africans.

The summit is attended by prominent figures including U.S. climate envoy John Kerry and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who acknowledge the climate crisis’s impact on Africa and the need for action.

As the summit addresses climate issues, the continent’s leaders and activists continue to call for tangible commitments, meaningful change, and a fair global approach to combating climate change.

Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, marked a significant milestone on Monday with the official launch of commercial operations for the Lagos Blue Line rail project. The commencement date, long-awaited and postponed multiple times, is expected to provide much-needed relief to Lagos residents grappling with chaotic traffic situations.

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, joined fellow Lagosians and state officials in celebrating the launch of commercial operations for the Blue Line rail. The rail system is set to serve a daily ridership of at least 250,000 individuals, bringing substantial reductions in travel time along the Mile 2-Marina corridor within the state.

With a population of over 20 million residents, Lagos has been notorious for its traffic congestion. The Blue Line project was conceived as an innovative mode of intra-city commuting, with the specific aim of reducing the city’s heavy reliance on a single transportation mode.

Passengers who had the opportunity to ride on the train expressed their satisfaction with the service, describing it as a smooth and organised experience. Engineer Joseph Akinpelu highlighted the environmental benefits, stating that the electrically powered rail system would reduce pollution and make transportation more seamless and comfortable.

Governor Sanwo-Olu also announced that almost four million citizens in the state already possessed Cowry cards used for public transport, and these cards could be used for the Blue Line as well. He further disclosed a 50% reduction in Blue Line fares.

The Blue Line project’s first phase, Phase I, was initially scheduled for completion in 2011 but encountered delays due to funding shortages and changes in government leadership. Upon full completion, the entire 27km Blue Line is expected to transport approximately 500,000 passengers daily, offering a significant solution to Lagos’ transportation challenges.

In a significant move to protect rhinos from poaching, the world’s largest rhino farm, the 7,800-hectare Platinum Rhino farm in South Africa, has been acquired by the NGO African Parks, which is associated with Prince Harry.

The farm, which houses 2,000 white rhinos, was founded by wealthy businessman John Hume in 2009 with the aim of breeding and conserving the endangered species. However, due to the high costs associated with the project, Hume put the farm up for auction in April, hoping to find a buyer who could continue the conservation efforts.

With no buyers emerging, the rhinos faced the looming threat of poaching. African Parks, supported by the South African government and conservation groups, stepped in to secure the future of these majestic creatures.

John Hume, 81, acknowledged the challenges of breeding rhinos, calling it an expensive hobby. He revealed that he had spent a total of $150 million on the conservation efforts but had run out of funds to continue the project.

African Parks did not disclose the purchase price but emphasised its moral obligation to protect the rhinos from further decline. The organisation’s CEO, Peter Fearnhead, stated that he had not originally intended to become the owner of a business breeding rhinos in captivity, let alone 2,000 rhinos.

South Africa is home to nearly 80% of the world’s white rhino population, with estimates indicating fewer than 13,000 specimens remaining. The country has become a hotspot for rhino poaching, driven by demand from Asia, where rhino horns, made of keratin, are used in traditional medicine for their alleged therapeutic or aphrodisiac effects.

In 2022, South Africa recorded the loss of 448 rhinos to poaching, despite reinforced anti-poaching measures in national parks. Poachers have adapted their tactics, targeting more vulnerable private parks where rhinos are easier to access.

African Parks’ acquisition of the Platinum Rhino farm is part of a broader strategy to reintroduce farmed rhinos into the wild over the next decade, with plans to transfer them to protected areas in Africa. This ambitious project aims to reduce the risks to the species and gradually phase out the breeding programme.

One approach to combat rhino slaughter is preemptive dehorning, a procedure that involves removing the coveted horns, which can then grow back. In South Africa, trade in rhino horns within the country is allowed, albeit controversially, while export remains illegal.

John Hume previously stirred controversy in 2017 when he organised an online sale of rhino horns to raise funds for conservation efforts, sparking public outrage and debate within the private sector. With the acquisition of the Platinum Rhino farm, African Parks is taking a significant step towards protecting rhinos and preserving their future in the wild.

Kenya, a leading proponent of renewable energy in Africa, is striving to further harness the potential of solar energy, despite taxation hurdles that affect the affordability of solar technology for consumers.

Kenya generates over 70% of its energy from renewable sources like geothermal, hydro, and wind power. Solar energy is gaining traction for industrial and residential use, driven by its reliability and lower operational costs compared to the initial installation capital.

To encourage the adoption of solar power, the Kenyan government has provided incentives such as zero-rated importation of certain solar components like panels and inverters. However, solar technology imports continue to be subject to import duties and over 15% value-added tax, which increases the overall cost for consumers.

President William Ruto, speaking at the inaugural Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi, emphasised the continent’s potential to become entirely self-sufficient in energy by leveraging renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal, sustainable biomass, and hydropower.

Clean Power, a Nairobi-based solar energy company, has witnessed increased interest from various industries, including steel manufacturers and edible oil factories, due to the reliability and cost-effectiveness of solar energy. Rashmi Shah, the Solar Managing Director for Clean Power, highlighted the company’s achievements, stating that they have completed 25,000 kilowatts of installations in the last six years.

Solar energy offers significant environmental benefits, as it reduces air pollution, minimises temperature increases, and has a positive impact on the climate. Some home installations have allowed individuals to go completely off the grid, providing them with uninterrupted power during national blackouts.

The World Bank reports a rise in the deployment of solar mini-grids in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the number increasing from around 500 in 2010 to over 3,000 today. Additionally, the United Nations’ environmental agency highlights that 60% of the world’s best solar sites are located in Africa, with vast untapped potential as only 1% of this energy source is currently harnessed.

Despite the challenges posed by taxation, Kenya is committed to promoting solar energy adoption as a clean, sustainable, and cost-effective solution to its energy needs, with the hope of inspiring similar initiatives across the continent.