Search Results for: Ethiopia

BY PAUL COCHRANE, IN BEIRUT; AND MOHAMMED YUSUF, IN NAIROBI

IN late January, oil production and exports came to a halt in South Sudan over a transit pricing dispute with its former overlord north Sudan. With no compromise in sight, the newly independent Africa country is mulling other transport options, but, even if production were to resume, it will be months – at best – before its oil sector gets back on its feet.…

BY MJ DESCHAMPS

THE POOREST countries in the world have an unprecedented opportunity to attract investment in the pharmaceutical sector, according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The study stressed how large research and development-based pharmaceutical transnational corporations facing the expiration of blockbuster drug patents are entering into partnerships with profitable generic manufacturers in developing countries as a survival strategy.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

Egypt protests bring disruption and uncertainty to tobacco sector

The Egyptian revolution has left the tobacco sector guessing about its future in Egypt. Will the new government rein in planned smoking restrictions? Protests disrupted tobacco manufacturing in Egypt, but the sector has recovered.…

BY WACHIRA KIGOTHO

CLASSIFIED as a failed state, Somalia is one of the world’s poorest countries, but oil production could change its fortune. Indeed, politically fractured Somalia is being touted as a potentially rich oil and gas producer. Given security, Somalia is increasingly regarded as economically strategically-located, a view fuelled by recent interest by Chinese and western nations’ oil and gas investment companies.…

BY PACIFICA GODDARD

FOR those doubters who claim the world’s senior anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) organisation the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) does not have much clout, a look at the case of Ecuador makes instructive reading. Last February, the Paris-basedFATF issued a stinging criticism of this South American country, with a public statement officially listing Ecuador as a country with serious AML/CFT deficiencies, along with such dubious fellow travellers as Angola, Ethiopia and North Korea.…

By Keith Nuthall, International News Services

Both projects draw on the eight volume Unesco-coordinated General History of Africa written from 1964 to 1999 which tried to create a standard for the continent written from an African rather than a colonial European perspective.

An evaluation study on using this general history in higher education throughout the continent will be written this year.…

BY WACHIRA KIGOTHO

TO say Somalia is a mixed bag for the tobacco industry is an understatement. On the one hand, there is a very weak formal government, whose writ does not run in much of the country. So no public place smoking bans, advertising restrictions and ingredient controls to worry about in this east African country: tobacco is sold freely through a thriving private sector.…

By Keith Nuthall

Historians are working with Unesco and educationalists to try to develop a common African history syllabus, including the teaching approach and pedagogical materials. The ambitious project will initially focus on helping primary and secondary schools across the continent and, this coming year, an assessment will consider how universities in Africa could benefit from such work.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HISTORIANS are working with Unesco (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and educationalists to try and develop a common African history syllabus, teaching approach and pedagogical materials. The ambitious project will initially focus on helping primary and secondary schools across Africa, and this coming year an assessment will consider how universities in Africa could benefit from such work.…

BY WACHIRA KIGOTHO

EAST Africa is developing as an important source of biofuels and biofuel feedstock, with governments keen to attract foreign direct investment for this potentially strategic rural development option.

Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Sudan, and Tanzania are countries where foreign companies are competing to acquire land for biofuel projects.…