Mapping the Islamist threat across Africa

Violent Islamist campaigns have taken an acute turn since 2013 with Libya, Tunisia, Mali, Somalia, Kenya and Nigeria bearing the brunt of most jihadist attacks (see map below).

Tunisia, sick man of jihadism
“Look! We can follow the attacks in real time. It’s like being on the front lines!” says a pro-IS shopkeeper, flicking though his twitter feed, in the documentary Salafistes. Unlike Algeria and Morocco, Tunisia has not controlled travel to conflict zones. When islamist party Ennahda was in power after 2011 it encouraged young people to fight in foreign wars. How did this progressive country of just 11 million people send so many to fight for IS? Some point to the fierce repression of islamists, others to the high education levels that help plug well-connected youth into the global jihadi movement. There is also high unemployment, and despair at seeing how founding father Habib Bourguiba’s vision was betrayed by corrupt elites. The current government appears unable to get a grip on the interior ministry, with incoherent responses to the attacks on Sousse beach and the Bardo museum.

Read the original article on Theafricareport.com

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10 Moroccan Hikes That Will Stimulate Your Senses

While you might think of Morocco as solely a place to explore exotic cities, eat delicious food, and bask in the sun, it’s actually got plenty of hiking opportunities, too. The country’s varied terrain includes majestic snow-capped mountains, barren deserts, and dramatic rocky coastlines, all of which can be explored on foot. From the Atlas Mountains, to the Sahara, to forested valleys, here are 10 outstanding places to go hiking in Morocco that will stimulate your senses.

Click here to read the article on AFKTravel.com.

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Ghanaian Tech Firm Dot Com Makes First Cryptocurrency In Africa

Ghanaian tech firm Ghana Dot Com (GDC) has established what it terms as the first cryptocurrency producing farm in Africa that it expects will add to the global Bitcoin pool, Ghanaweb reported.
GDC is a descendant company of Network Computer Systems, one of the first tech pioneer companies in Africa and is credited with introducing internet in Ghana and several other African countries.
The company said it produced its first crypto coin in February 8 and hoped to add several Terahashes per second capacity in the course of the year.
“Our interest is in the Blockchain technology used in Bitcoin, which has numerous other applications beyond cryptocurrencies,” Professor Nii Narku Quaynor, the Chairman of GDC, and the Internet Pioneer in Ghana, said in a statement.
“With Bitcoin as the most successful cryptocurrency, GDC considers investment in blockchain technology as strategic for Africa,” he added.
Bitcoins, a form of unregulated digital currency created and held electronically, are slowly being adopted in Africa but have come under scrutiny by Central Bankers in some countries like Kenya where citizens have been warned against trading in them.

GDC plans to work with local academic institutions to build technical capacity in developing Blockchain applications in Ghana.

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Russia upbeat on SA nuclear plan after Egypt deal

Cape Town – The speed at which Russia and Egypt signed a deal to build a four-reactor nuclear plant in November 2015 shows how quickly a nuclear procurement process can unfold, a Russian source said on Tuesday.

The engineering, procurement and construction funding model developed by nuclear state-owned company Rosatom to secure the deal was the best solution for South Africa too, the source – who preferred to remain anonymous – explained.

He said it was a superior solution for technical, legal, political, economic and industrial reasons. “It’s the better solution,” he said. “It’s shorter. You can start the procurement programme very quickly. This is the best solution.

“The job in Egypt was done in less than one year,” he said. “We started negotiations in February and by the end of November it was signed.”

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