Across the 54 Countries in Africa, these are the 5 top stories you may have missed:
Ethiopia rejects external mediation over dam crisis
The Ethiopian Government have reportedly opposed calls by Sudan for outside mediators including the United States in the ongoing dispute over construction of a massive hydroelectric dam on the Nile River – Africa News reports
Dina Mufti, the spokesman for Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters that the East African nation is generally opposed to mediation by outside parties even though the African Union is welcome to help.
“The tripartite talks between Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam should be concluded between the three countries themselves, not through mediators,” he said.
Zimbabwe: Schools reopen under strict COVID-19 protocol
Examination classes in Zimbabwe have smoothly gone back to school yesterday with teachers and pupils following the World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines – All Africa reports
Grade 7, Form 4 and Form 6, the three examination classes in the country opened yesterday after President Mnangagwa and the health authorities cleared the schools reopening soon after the relaxation of the lockdown level.
The rest of the classes will go back on Monday 22nd March.
Nigeria: Buhari appoints Oyebode Oyetunde as ED at AfDB
Nigeria’s President Buhari has approved the appointment of Dr Oyebode Oyetunde as The Executive Director for Nigeria at the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire – The Guardian reports
Buhari’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made this known in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday, 16th March.
Egypt ups state employees’ minimum wage, pensions, and salary
Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has issued directives for the rise in remuneration for all state employees and a rise in the monthly minimum wage – News Central Africa reports
Bassam Rady, the presidential spokesman, stated that the president ordered the earmarking of EGP 37 billion in the draft budget for 2021/22 to increase salaries as well as to raise the minimum wage from EGP 2,000 to EGP 2,400.
According to reports, the directives was issued during a meeting reviewing the new draft budget for the fiscal year 2021/22 with Finance Minister Mohamed Maait and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.
Tanzania gov’t urged to ‘explain mystery’ of Magufuli’s absence
The main opposition party in Tanzania has urged the government to “explain, in full, the mystery surrounding” President John Magufuli’s three-week-old absence from office – Aljazeera Africa reports.
The opposition party insisted that the public has the right to know about his whereabouts and who is running the country. Magufuli last appeared in public on February 27 and has been absent since then.
Speculation has been rife that the 61-year-old is ill with the coronavirus – though the prime minister said last week the president was healthy and hard at work.
