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Mail & Guardian

East African Community

latest news & developments
President Paul Kagame hosted the Nuclear Energy Innovation Summit for Africa (NEISA) at the Kigali Convention Centre from May 18 to 22
AFRICAN UNION COMMISSION

Nuclear energy is a must

Africa must embrace nuclear energy to power economic growth and meet Agenda 2063 goals

  • Editorial
2 min read
If the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is to translate into real commercial activity, this financial architecture has to grow with it.
AFRICA

East Africa trade soars to $38bn in second quarter, narrowing deficit

The increase was largely driven by exports, which surged 40.5% to $18.6 billion, reflecting rising global demand

  • Mnaku Mbani
2 min read
Misleading narratives are inflaming tensions between Southern African Development Community and East African Community nations.
ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP

The era of misinformation and disinformation is a global crisis

The battle against this manipulation is collective, requiring unified action from all who seek to preserve democracy and human rights

  • Melusi Simelane
3 min read
This 1997 image was created during an investigation into an outbreak of monkeypox, which took place in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), formerly Zaire, and depicts the palms of a patient with a case of monkeypox in Lodja, a town in the Katako-Kombe health zone. (Photo by: CDC/IMAGE POINT FR/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
AFRICA CDC

New strain of mpox cases surge in DRC and neighbouring countries

The Clade Ib strain has already jumped borders, with cases being reported in Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya in the last two weeks

  • Marietou Ba
4 min read
Transnet is falling well below its target of shifting 200 million to 220 million tonnes of freight a year, at which point — it is estimated — it will begin to make a meaningful contribution to the economy. Its current target is 170 million tonnes a year. Photo: (Karel Prinsloo/Bloomberg)
AFRICAN CONTINENTAL FREE TRADE AREA

African Development Bank rescue of Transnet has national, regional and continental implications

This investment, used as a facilitator of local production, can also help develop regional value chains and access upstream global value chains

  • Siphumelele Duma
  • Mikatekiso Kubayi
5 min read
Significant opportunity: Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta (left) and the DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi (right) with Rwanda’s Paul Kagame (centre) at the ceremony admitting the DRC to the East African Community. Photo: Tony Karumbu/AFP
BURUNDI

OPINION | Pros and cons of DRC joining the East Africa bloc

The Democratic Republic of the Congo will bring economic opportunities for the East African Community and the DRC – but it will also bring a number of major security problems

  • Stephen Buchanan-Clarke
7 min read
Bicycles are piled up as Burundian refugees crowd gather along the shoreline of the Tanganyika lake in the fishing village of Kagunga. (Photo by Daniel Hayduk/AFP)
AFRICAN UNION

Burundian refugees in Tanzania face increasing danger

Human Rights Watch has documented cases of Burundian refugees being tortured and forcibly returned by Tanzanian authorities

  • Mausi Segun
4 min read
Supporters of the ruling party the National Council for the Defense of Democracy – Forces for the Defense of Democracy (CNDD-FDD) react during the opening of the campaign in Gitega, central Burundi, on April 27, 2020, ahead of the Presidential and General election scheduled for May 20, 2020 despite the Covid-19 pandemic. (Tchandrou Nitanga/AFP)
AFRICA

Election preview: Burundi braces for divisive vote

The poll is going ahead with virtually no precautions besides prayer to protect citizens against the spread of Covid-19

  • Amindeh Blaise Atabong
5 min read
Pippa Green will take over from Johan Retief who resigned last year after more than nine years in office. (David Harrison/M&G)
EAST AFRICA

Tanzania pushes for delay to regional EU trade deal amid concerns over their industry

‘The trade deal with the EU gives East African Community member states duty- and quota-free access for their goods to the EU’

  • Staff Reporter
2 min read
United we stand: Southern African Development Community leaders at the opening ceremony for the 33rd SADC heads of state and government summit in Lilongwe
AFRICAN ECONOMY

Africans negotiate ‘one trade regime’ for common market

Officials of three African economic blocs held talks on a "one trade regime" that would forge a common market spanning the continent.

  • Jay Deshmukh
3 min read
The free trade area envisaged for southern and eastern Africa will comprise of 600-million people and have a combined GDP of R1-trillion.
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY

African free trade area on the horizon

Nations in southern and eastern Africa are progressing towards an agreement on a free trade area that wil comprise of nearly 600-million people.

  • Mike Cohen
1 min read
Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete.
EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY

Kikwete says Tanzania won’t pull out of troubled EAC

Tanzania’s President Jakaya Kikwete says his country will not pull out of the East African Community despite having issues with the organisation.

  • Sylivester Ernest
3 min read
COMMON MARKET FOR EASTERN AND

African leaders push for single market

Leaders from three major African trading blocs met in the Ugandan capital on Wednesday met to push for a single market.

  • Staff Reporter
2 min read