GEM Sites Bi-Weekly Updates
May 6th- May 16, 2024
Kenya
Kenya's telecommunications industry regulator said on Monday that efforts are underway to restore internet services that have been disrupted across East Africa.
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) confirmed that a deep-sea fiber cut occurred on Sunday at South Africa's Mtunzini teleport station, affecting a number of fiber cables serving Kenya, including the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and the Seacom cables. "We wish to inform individual and corporate consumers that the recovery process has since commenced, but internet intermittency and slow speeds may remain in the coming few days before services are fully recovered," CA Director General David Mugonyi said in a statement issued in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.
The University of Nairobi on Tuesday hosted the finals of the 23rd Chinese Bridge -- Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students Kenya division.
The Kenya division finals of this year's Chinese Bridge competition covered speech, Q&A sessions and a talent show. Twenty finalists from various colleges attended the finals. Co-hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Kenya, the Confucius Institutes at four leading Kenyan universities and sponsored by several Chinese firms, the contest showcased the local youth's proficiency in Mandarin as well as their grasp of Chinese culture, including Taiji, Wushu, dance and classical music. Stephen Kiama, the University of Nairobi's vice-chancellor, said the Chinese language proficiency contest has gained traction globally, citing its role in fostering cultural and educational exchanges among civilizations.
Rwanda
All roads lead to Kigali for the 2024 Africa CEO Forum, a high-level meeting for the African private sector, which seeks harness the continent’s ability to secure “a place at the table” and command respect in global dialogues.
Happening for the second time in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, the forum is expected to attract over 2,000 participants, including several Heads of State, leaders of major private African enterprises, investors, and financiers. Hosted under the theme, At the table or on the menu? A critical moment to shape a new future for Africa, organizers say the meeting is an opportune moment to discuss what is needed to boost African development through the dynamics of growth offered by the continent’s private sector. Over two days and more than 60 panel discussions, public-private workshops, and closed-door roundtables, the forum, organizers point out, will explore a new future for Africa, addressing critical topics such as leadership, digital future, integration, and finance.
Tens of thousands of people who have been refused asylum in the UK have been added to the group of people at risk of being forcibly removed to Rwanda, the Home Office has announced.
The UK and Rwandan governments have agreed a deal to extend the cohort of those eligible to be forcibly removed to the east African country to refused asylum seekers. Lawyers have condemned the development and said it would drive asylum seekers underground. The Home Office has confirmed that some refused asylum seekers have already been rounded up by immigration enforcement officers and detained in preparation for removal to Rwanda in the next “seven to nine weeks” as part of Operation Vector. They will not have their asylum claims processed in Rwanda but will be granted residency and receive the same five-year support package as those whose asylum claims will be processed in Rwanda.
Lebanon
At some establishments, such as the American University of Beirut, students were demanding the school administration end all economic ties “with companies and institutions complicit in the Israeli occupation of Palestinians”, a statement from the protest organisers at AUB said.
More than 300 Syrian refugees headed back home to Syria in a convoy on Tuesday, leaving two remote northeastern towns in crisis-stricken Lebanon where anti-refugee sentiment has been surging in recent months.
Lebanese officials have long urged the international community to either resettle the refugees in other countries or help them return to Syria. Over the past months, leading Lebanese political parties have become increasingly vocal, demanding the Syrian refugees go back.
A tiny Mediterranean country of about 6 million people, Lebanon hosts nearly 780,000 registered Syrian refugees and hundreds of thousands who are unregistered — the world’s highest refugee population per capita. In the northeastern town of Arsal, Syrian refugees piled their belongings onto the back of trucks and cars on Tuesday as Lebanese security officers collected their U.N. refugee agency cards and other paperwork before clearing them to leave.
Malawi
251, 000 young people are going to have access of financing from MasterCard Foundation this is not a small amount of young people, it is really significant number who will directly benefit in the four ADD's in the country, at the end of this programme we are hoping to have more youth who are economically empowered to go into agriculture production, " Kawale said.
The money that has come into this programme from MasterCard Foundation will be managed by AFRA Malawi which is on of the country's development partner who is doing an excellent job to promote agriculure in Malawi and they will be working hand in hand with National Youth Council of Malawi (NYCOM). AGRA Malawi country's director Eluphy Nyirenda said they are implementing this programme as one way of adding value into agriculture sector and help to empower more young people to engage into entrepreneurship.
Zenius Milward and his fellow learners were happily enjoying an English lesson at Msenjere Full Primary School in Nkhotakota when an unexpected visitor forced its way into their classroom on that Wednesday morning of February 28, 2024.
"As we took the lesson, we saw a mountain of water entering our classroom. We're surprised to see a water flow of such magnitude because there were no rains that day," narrated Zenius. From February 27 to May 1, 2024, two districts of Nkhotakota and Karonga experienced what weather experts termed as 'prolonged heavy rains', which caused flooding of several rivers in many locations. In Nkhotakota, 152, 910 (33, 980 households) were affected while 4, 555 people were affected in Karonga district.
South Africa
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed into law a bill that aims to provide universal health coverage.
The president on Wednesday hailed the law as a major step towards a more just society two weeks before an election that is expected to be fiercely competitive. “The provision of healthcare in this country is fragmented, unsustainable and unacceptable,” he said at the signing ceremony at the Union Buildings, the seat of government in Pretoria. “For those who would like to see (their) privileges continuing, sorry, you are on the wrong boat. The boat we are on is about equality,” he said. The National Health Insurance (NHI) Act takes aim at a two-tier health system, in which a publicly funded sector that serves 84 percent of the population is overburdened and run-down while some people have access to better treatment through private insurance.
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